On paper, the main event of WWE’s Fast Lane pay per view is fantastic. Brock Lesnar vs. Intercontinental champion Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns in a match to determine who gets a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match in the main event of Wrestlemania 32 against Triple H. With a depleted roster, the WWE creative team still found a way to scrounge up three main event stars for a big match. Unfortunately, these three men are very familiar with the main event.
Since June of 2014, there have been only three pay per view main events that didn’t feature at least one of these men. None of these men appeared in the Survivor Series main event in 2014, the Extreme Rules main event in 2015, or the main event of Night of Champions in 2015. Considering that Brock Lesnar is a part time performer, Roman Reigns missed time for injury, and Dean Ambrose took a couple of months off to film a movie, it’s incredible that they’ve still managed to appear in the main event of eighteen of the last twenty-one main events.
The WWE Universe will never get tired of seeing Brock Lesnar. Wherever he goes, the wildly entertaining Paul Heyman follows, and they leave a trail of broken WWE superstars. Brock might be the most devastating force the WWE has seen in their prestigious history. His UFC and NCAA championship backgrounds give him the kind of credibility that just can’t be booked.
The same cannot be said for Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. While the fans love Ambrose, it has become apparent that the WWE has no intention of pushing him to the top of the card. As stated before, Ambrose has appeared in many of the pay per view main events, but he has yet to get the pinfall in a singles match. In fact, the only win he has was over Seth Rollins at the Elimination Chamber pay per view in 2015, and that was by disqualification. Sadly, it seems that the only reason Dean Ambrose appears in these matches is to make other people look good by getting pinned.
The opposite is true for Roman Reigns. Since Seth Rollins was forced to vacate the tile following an injury on November 4th of last year, Reigns has won and lost the WWE World Heavyweight Championship twice. Admittedly, he lost the title the first time because Sheamus cashed in his Money in the Bank contract following a grueling match with Dean Ambrose at Survivor Series. Then, he lost it in the Royal Rumble match, where he was supposed to defend it against 29 of the WWE’s best and brightest. The WWE tried their best to protect Reigns by having him suffer an injury halfway through the match, so they could cart him away from the action for half an hour.
Unfortunately, it’s not 1998 anymore, and the WWE fans know better. This didn’t make Reigns a sympathetic underdog in the eyes of the fans, it made him look like someone who the brass didn’t trust to carry the main event. This isn’t very reassuring considering that Reigns has to be the favorite to not only win the main event of Fast Lane, but to defeat Triple H at Wrestlemania 32, winning his third title over the course of five months.
That’s damaging for Reigns, and the title’s image. Over the last 70 days, there have been four different title reigns. Before that, the previous two reigns lasted 444 days. It’s simply bad writing to have the title change hands as often as it has.
What really frustrates WWE fans is that the booking is really predictable moving forward. The way that Dean Ambrose has been booked doesn’t give the WWE Universe much hope that he has a real shot at defeating Reigns or Lesnar. That leaves the two participants of last year’s Wrestlemania main event as the probable winners.
Brock Lesnar cannot be allowed to win for two reasons. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, whoever eventually pins Lesnar will get the push of a lifetime. When Vince decided to have Brock Lesnar pin the Undertaker at Wrestlemania, he made a huge investment. Brock Lesnar was the first man in WWE history to be capable of beating the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Whoever beats him will inherit that push. If Brock Lesnar wins the triple threat, the WWE can’t afford to have him lose to Triple H. This brings up the second problem. Brock Lesnar can’t be WWE World Heavyweight Champion again. His schedule keeps him off TV for most of the year, and it’s inconceivable that he would lose his title or his push at an event any smaller than Wrestlemania.
The WWE know this, so they’ve planted the seeds. During the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at the Royal Rumble, the Wyatt Family eliminated Lesnar. Considering that Bray Wyatt and company didn’t go on to win the event, this move was done on purpose. This move was done to set up Bray Wyatt vs. Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania. Considering the Wyatts have interrupted countless matches since debuting in the WWE, it’s not possible, but probable that they’ll cost Brock Lesnar this match, protecting him without putting the title on him again.
So Roman Reigns has to pin Dean Ambrose. He has to pin Ambrose so that he may go on to Wrestlemania against Triple H and finish what he couldn’t last year. Triple H is 46 years old, and an executive of the company, he can’t be expected to hold the title for very long. It’s insulting to the WWE universe that they can figure out the participants and results of a Wrestlemania main event three months in advance.
The Wyatts will interfere, costing Brock Lesnar his shot, and then Roman Reigns will pin his brother, Dean Ambrose, and secure his spot in the main event of Wrestlemania 32.
