Fastlane 2016

Fastlane 2016 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE which took place on February 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. It was the 2nd Fastlane event.
==Background==
Fastlane featured professional wrestling matches that involved wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that played out on WWE's primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed villains or heroes as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
At Royal Rumble, Triple H won the Royal Rumble match by eliminating Dean Ambrose to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. On the January 25 edition of Raw, Stephanie McMahon announced a Triple threat match that feature Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar at the event and the winner would face Triple H at WrestleMania for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
At Royal Rumble, Kalisto defeated Alberto Del Rio to win the WWE United States Championship. On the February 1 episode of Raw, it was announced that Kalisto would defend the title against Del Rio at the event.
On the February 1 episode of Raw, Brie Bella defeated Charlotte in a non-title match. On the February 8 episode of Raw, it was announced that Charlotte would defend the title against Brie at the event.
On the February 1 episode of Raw, Sasha Banks defeated Becky Lynch by disqualification due to Naomi and Tamina attacking Banks. After the match, Lynch saved Banks from Naomi and Tamina. On the February 8 episode of Raw, it was announced that Banks and Lynch would face Naomi and Tamina at the event.
On the February 15 episode of Raw, Kevin Owens won a fatal five-way match also involving Tyler Breeze, Dolph Ziggler, Stardust and previous champion Dean Ambrose to win his second Intercontinental Championship. Ziggler confronted Owens and challenged him to an Intercontinental championship match at the event. Later in the show, it was announced that Owens would defend the title against Ziggler at the event.
On the February 15 episode of Raw, it was announced that Edge and Christian would host The New Day on The Cutting Edge Peep Show at the event.
On the January 25 episode of Raw, Bray Wyatt defeated Kane. After the match, The Wyatt Family attacked Kane. On the February 1 episode of Raw, Big Show defeated Erick Rowan. After the match, the Wyatt Family attacked Big Show. On the February 8 episode of Raw, Wyatt defeated Ryback. After the match, the Wyatt Family attack Ryback. On the [[February 15, 2016 Monday Night RAW results|February 15 episode of Raw, Big Show defeated Braun Strowman by disqualification due to the Wyatt Family attacking Big Show. Post-match, Ryback and Kane came out to assist Big Show. On February 16, it was announced that Ryback, Big Show and Kane would face the Wyatt Family members Luke Harper, Rowan and Strowman in a Six-man tag team match at the event.
== Reception ==
Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net "felt letdown by the overall show until the main event". This was in spite of "some good matches", because the entire Fastlane event failed to leave Powell "anxious to see WrestleMania", with "the Hunter vs. Reigns match just doesn't feel main event worth". For the matches, Powell was high on the main event ("very good" and without "a dull moment"), Jericho-Styles ("good drama down the stretch ... Jericho did a really nice job of acting like he was in agony as he sold the Calf Crusher") and the women's title bout ("an entertaining match with Brie using a lot of her husband’s moves"). Additionally, the Wyatts losing was "very surprising". For the negatives, Powell suffered network streaming issues for the women's tag match and the Intercontinental title match, Edge and Christian's segment "was terrible", and for Axel-Truth, Powell said, "I watched a pay-per-view and a WWE Superstars match broke out."
James Caldwell of PWTorch.com reviewed the event, with three match being rated 3.5 out of 5 stars: the main event, Jericho-Styles and Owens-Ziggler. The world title match was described as "WWE main event-style roller-coasting with ups-and-downs and twists and turns playing off the TV, but it was inevitable Reigns was winning, taking some of the steam out of the match." Caldwell criticized the "tone-deaf", "Super Cena booking" of Reigns as WWE failing to change the "presentation for a non-main-eventer masquerading in a main event role". Styles-Jericho had "few slip-ups on big spots", but a "very good, clear story" and "a very strong finish". Owens-Ziggler and Brie-Charlotte (2 stars) were both described as bouts where "the audience didn't really buy the babyface challenger having a shot to win". Del Rio-Kalisto was rated 3 stars and the women's tag match 2.5 stars. The six man tag-match was rated 2.25 stars, with Caldwell questioning if the Wyatts needed to resort to "another promo/sneak-attack trying to save face after another big loss". Caldwell was also negative on Edge and Christian's segment as "none of this made any sense from a character alignment perspective", as well as the Axel-Truth match for even happening, writing that "the PPV has gone off the rails, like a third hour of Raw."
Dave Scherer of PWInsider.com praised the main event match as "really, really good", but criticized the match result as Vince McMahon ignoring "the voice of the people ... especially when the crowd made it really clear that of the two, they wanted Dean" over Roman Reigns. Scherer was most positive regarding the Styles-Jericho match, describing it as "freaking awesome. AJ did what AJ does and WWE let him do it ... And kudos to Jericho for being a veteran stud here." For the women's matches, Scherer wrote that the title match "could have been the best match I have ever seen Brie have", while the tag bout was "good, solid". The Intercontinental title match, was "great", as was Kevin Owens' performance in it. The United States title match was "solid", but Scherer criticized "how they are booking ADR" as "wasting him". Lastly, Scherer dismissed Edge and Christian's segment as an "in show ad".
==Match Preview==
Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio 	Preview
Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks vs. Team B.A.D. 	Preview
Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler 	Preview
Six-Man Tag Team Match 	Preview
Charlotte vs. Brie Bella 	Preview
Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles 	Preview
The Cutting Edge Peep Show 	Preview
Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar	Preview
==Results==
;
;
*Pre Show: Kalisto (c) defeated Alberto Del Rio [2:1] in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match to retain the WWE United States Championship (10:32)
:*Kalisto beat Alberto Del Rio by DQ (4:32)
:*Alberto Del Rio beat Kalisto (0:18)
:*Kalisto beat Alberto Del Rio (5:52)
*Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks defeated Team B.A.D. (Naomi & Tamina) by submission (10:09)
*Kevin Owens (c) defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship (15:11)
*Ryback, Big Show & Kane defeated The Wyatt Family (Braun Strowman, Luke Harper & Erick Rowan) (w/ Bray Wyatt) in a Six-Man Tag Team Match (10:36)
*Charlotte (c) (w/ Ric Flair) defeated Brie Bella by submission to retain the WWE Divas Championship (12:28)
*AJ Styles defeated Chris Jericho by submission (16:25)
*Curtis Axel (w/ Adam Rose, Bo Dallas & Heath Slater) defeated R-Truth (2:48)
*Roman Reigns defeated Dean Ambrose & Brock Lesnar in a Triple threat match for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 32 (17:38)
==Other on-screen talent==
;Commentators
*Michael Cole (PPV)
*John Bradshaw Layfield (Pre-show + PPV)
*Byron Saxton (Pre-show + PPV)
*Mauro Ranallo (Pre-show)
*Carlos Cabrera (Spanish)
*Marcelo Rodríguez (Spanish)
;Pre-show Panel
*Renee Young
*Corey Graves
*Booker T
*Jerry Lawler
;Interviewers
*JoJo	
;Ring announcer
*Lilian Garcia
*Eden
*Tony Chimel
;Referees
*John Cone
*Darrick Moore
*Chad Patton
*Dan Engler
*Rod Zapata
*Mike Chioda
==See also==
*List of WWE pay-per-view events
*WWE Event History
*Event gallery
*Fastlane
==DVD release==
* [ Fastlane 2016 on DVD]
==External links==
* Fastlane 2016 Official Website
* Fastlane 2016 Kickoff on WWE Network
* Fastlane 2016 on WWE Network
* Fastlane 2016 at CAGEMATCH.net
* Fastlane 2016 Pre Show at CAGEMATCH.net
* Fastlane 2016 at Online World of Wrestling
Category:Fast Lane PPV
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events
Category:2016 pay-per-view events