Fastlane (2022)

The 2022 **WWE SmackDown Fastlane** was the seventh Fastlane professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's SmackDown brand division. The event took place on March 11, 2022, from the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was WWE's first smackdown pay-per-view since 2018.

 City
 Attendance

Elimination Chamber
NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver

2021
2023

Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Daniel Bryan to retain SmackDown's Universal Championship with Edge as the special guest enforcer. In other prominent matches, Drew McIntyre defeated Sheamus in a No Holds Barred match, Seth Rollins defeated Shinsuke Nakamura, Big E defeated Apollo Crews to retain SmackDown's Intercontinental Championship, and Alexa Bliss defeated Randy Orton in an intergender match thanks to the return of "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt following a three-month storyline absence.

## Event

### Pre-showEdit

During the Fastlane Kickoff pre-show, Riddle defended the United States Championship against Mustafa Ali (accompanied by his Retribution stablemates T-Bar, Mace, Slapjack, and Reckoning). In the end, Riddle performed a Bro-Derek on Ali from the top rope to retain the title. Following the match, Ali yelled at Reckoning and Slapjack, causing them to walk out on him, after which, Mace and T-Bar attacked Ali with a double Chokeslam.

### Preliminary matchesEdit

The actual pay-per-view opened with Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (accompanied by Reginald) defending the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against SmackDown Women's Champion Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair. In the climax, as Banks applied the Bank Statement on Baszler, Belair attacked Jax to prevent Jax from breaking the submission, however, Jax shoved Belair onto Banks, voiding the submission. As Banks was arguing with Belair, Baszler took advantage and performed a roll-up on a distracted Banks to retain the titles. Following the match, Banks blamed Belair for their loss and slapped Belair before departing backstage.

Following the match, the commentators spoke about the scheduled match between Shane McMahon and Braun Strowman, after which, footage was shown from earlier in the day that Shane injured his leg during his training. After the footage, Shane came out of the trainer's room wielding a crutch and with his knee wrapped up. Elias and Jaxson Ryker then approached Shane about doing a concert at WrestleMania. Shane then stated that he has an idea.

Next, Big E defended the Intercontinental Championship against Apollo Crews. Big E reversed a pin attempt by Crews into his own pin attempt to retain the title. Following the match, Crews attacked Big E.

Backstage for an Old Spice advertisement, Akira Tozawa was in search of 24/7 ChampionR-Truth, who was hiding in the Old Spice display. Old Spice representative Joseph Average (portrayed by NXT and WWE Performance Center trainee Erik Bugez) then accidentally pinned R-Truth to win the championship after the shelf of deodorants fell over. R-Truth then performed a roll-up on Average to win back the title for his record 51st 24/7 Championship.

After that, Shane McMahon came out to the ring and introduced Elias (accompanied by Jaxson Ryker). Shane allowed Elias to preview his WrestleMania concert, however, after Elias began playing his guitar, Shane cut him off and announced that Elias would be taking his place in his scheduled match against Braun Strowman, who then made his entrance. Strowman performed a Running Powerslam on Elias to win the match.

In the following match, Seth Rollins faced Shinsuke Nakamura. In the climax, Rollins performed a Black Magic Kick and a Curb Stomp on Nakamura to win the match.

After this, Drew McIntyre faced Sheamus in a No Holds Barred match. McIntyre performed a Future Shock DDT on Sheamus onto a television monitor before performing the Claymore Kick to win the match.

In the penultimate match, Randy Orton faced Alexa Bliss in an intergender match. Before the match started, Orton began to spit up a black liquid. During the match, Bliss used supernatural powers, such as causing a lighting rig to fall which nearly landed on Orton and shooting a fireball at Orton. In the end, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt—who had not been seen since Orton set him on fire at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in December 2020—tore through the ring canvas, appearing very grotesque with charred skin. Bliss, who was perched atop the turnbuckle, pushed Orton into The Fiend, who then attacked Orton with a Sister Abigail, allowing Bliss to pin Orton to win the match.

### Main eventEdit

In the main event, Roman Reigns (accompanied by Paul Heyman) defended the Universal Championship against Daniel Bryan with Edge as the special guest enforcer. In the climax, Bryan accidentally incapacitated the referee, after which, Reigns performed a Spearon Bryan, which prompted Edge to take over as the official. While Bryan applied the Yes! Lock on Reigns, Jey Uso entered the ring and performed a superkick on Edge and Bryan, after which, Jey retrieved a steel chair. As Jey attempted to attack Bryan, Bryan countered and attacked Jey with the chair. Bryan tried to attack Reigns with the chair, however, Reigns ducked and Bryan accidentally struck Edge. As Bryan then applied the Yes! Lock on Reigns once again, Reigns visibly tapped out, however, there was no referee to notice and in response, an enraged Edge attacked both Bryan and Reigns with the steel chair before departing backstage. A second referee came down and Reigns pinned Bryan to retain the title.