The 3 Count: WWE Fastlane 2023

The 3 Count: WWE Fastlane

Indianapolis – The Capital city of the fine state of Indiana and home of racing and basketball lore, this Indianapolis crowd was given the hosting duties of a surprisingly solid but short “B Show” in WWE Fastlane.

A show typically known as one of the final stops heading into WrestleMania, WWE changed up their format with this show being the final stop before two of WWE’s biggest shows in Crown Jewel and a three-hour drive up Interstate 65 North to Chicago for the Thanksgiving tradition in Survivor Series.

As preparations are set for Crown Jewel is we are here to bring you the WWE Fastlane edition of the 3 Count.

1.) The Judgment Day has run its course

Unpopular opinion, but over the weeks heading into WWE Fastlane, it feels that this faction has just become stale.

If we are going to break it down, let’s get to it. The group has suffered from the control-C, and control-V elements of being in repetitive rivalries against the likes of Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn.

The North American and World Women’s Championships have ultimately suffered while being in the hands of Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley respectively, and speaking of these championships, what was the point of having Dominik lose the title at No Mercy in the first place if it was going to ultimately cause Trick Williams short term character damage, and Rhea Ripley as champion has been middling at best and lackadaisical at worst.

The blowoff between Balor and Priest has been awful and taking too long to materialize and it just feels like the people who are suffering between all of this are Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, and the NXT North American championship division in its entirety.

There’s so much missed opportunity for the likes of Balor, Priest, and Ripley, the only person that really benefits from the Judgement Day is Dominik because from a character standpoint, he’s the most over as a heel but is it really heat or go away heat. Rhea as a character isn’t hurt per se but her reign as champions has ultimately been suffering.

2.) LA Knight (Yeah) is the clear choice to challenge Roman Reigns

The popularity and rise of the former Eli Drake has been a revelation that the WWE has experienced in a similar vein to Diamond Dallas Page during his tenure in WCW. Knight has become the people’s choice to the point where even Paul Heyman and John Cena had to acknowledge (pun intended) the “megastar” as the next big thing in WWE.

Knight has been riding a lot of positive momentum since Money in the Bank despite not winning the briefcase, but it has seemed to be that WWE is going with it having Knight in high-profiled matches, storylines and with Knight being in the midst of this supposed third inning, Reigns vs Knight looks to be the money match for Riyadh.

It makes sense, granted WWE won’t put the title on Knight but it’s a test for the main event picture, and it could easily be rewarded with a secondary title along the lines.

Kick Out: Where is the Damage CTRL storyline going?

Hate to say it, but it seems directionless without any tension. Maybe it’s Triple H’s long-term booking going forward with IYO SKY and Bayley being in between the very thing that Bayley failed to win. It was over a year ago that this group was formed,

Bayley wasn’t able to win the title as Bianca Belair had a stranglehold on the Raw Women’s Division at the time. Bayley losing the title is more so an indictment on her not being able to get the job done, and IYO having the title is a reflection of Bayley’s failure since returning from her injury back in the Summer of 2022.

Right now, it may be a slow burn, even to the point where Indiana’s All-Star PG, Tyrese Halliburton called out the circumstances at hand in the WWE Fastlane post-conference.

It’s only a matter of time, but the question is, when?

3.) Seth Rollins’ championship reign is becoming a casualty of fan base disapproval

As much as it is appreciated that we have a consistent champion within the company, it’s been relatively a mixed bag with Seth Rollins as the Worlds champion. Nothing against Seth Rollins, as of this past Monday, it seems that Rollins will be facing off against Drew McIntyre for the title at Crown Jewel.

However, it does seem that the consensus is already turning against Rollins in a similar vein to his Universal Title run in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2019. The issue is more so, it’s not that Seth Rollins is the champion, it’s more so that there are people that the fans feel that should’ve been champion, or the one to dethrone Rollins.

Starting with Finn Balor; the story made sense for Balor to get their revenge. However, with Judgment Day shenanigans that are going to shenan, Balor ultimately suffered big losses halting his momentum into the main event picture.

As for Shinsuke Nakamura, the issue with Shinsuke was how dumb he was made to be. Nakamura in storyline was trying to quote on quote, pick his spot, but ended up looking stupid refusing the challenges that the champion was calling for.

Nakamura seemed like a skip-over feud after so much promise with their heel turn on the post-SummerSlam 2023 edition of Monday Night Raw.

Rollins is just a product of ill timing. Nothing against his work, nothing against his gimmick, and absolutely nothing against him as a wrestler. However, Rollins at this point is facing the same uphill battle as a champion, and with McIntyre challenging for the title at Crown Jewel, it might just be a consensus of wanting Drew to win above Rollins retaining.

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