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The New Day def. Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev

The road to #KofiMania has seemed as uncertain as ever over the past few weeks, but New Day still rocks: Big E & Xavier Woods earned a decisive win over Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev at Fastlane Kickoff, potentially providing ya boys with some leverage as they attempt to strong-arm Kofi Kingston back into the WWE Title picture from which he was unceremoniously booted by Mr. McMahon a few weeks back. Big E & Woods did not seem fazed by those stakes. It helped that the team they faced was a budding one -- at this same event last year, Nakamura & Rusev fought each other -- which meant New Day's opponents were still finding themselves on the fly. For all their inexperience, however, Nakamura & Rusev at least chose a sturdy cornerstone on which to build their gameplan: Keep Big E out of the ring.

Indeed, it often seemed like New Day was wrestling two different matches: One where Xavier Woods was in the match and one when Big E was, and the latter was well-scouted enough that the former was forced to shoulder the load. Woods couldn't gain much traction against Rusev's power and Nakamura's strong-style dissections, though he showed his heart kicking out of one potential match-ender after another to keep his team in the hunt.

Big E made his presence known in the clutch, however, by throwing a meddling Nakamura into the timekeeper's area, forcing a flustered Rusev to break the Accolade. Now staring at a two-on-one disadvantage, The Lion of Bulgaria pounced and pounced poorly, connecting dome-first with the turnbuckle and suffering a match-ending Midnight Hour in short order. The lesson? A good strategy is key, but it remains, as ever, only half the battle.

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SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos def. The Miz & Shane McMahon; Shane attacked Miz after the match

None of it worked. Not The Miz's hometown good vibes, not the presence of good-luck charm George Mizanin at ringside, not even the signature daredevilry of Shane McMahon. The Co-Besties, a.k.a. the Best Friends, a.k.a. McMiz, are neither SmackDown Tag Team Champions, nor are they apparently even a tag team anymore. At the very least, they likely aren't friends, if we're to take Shane's stunning, post-match attack of The Awesome One at face value.

Of course, heinous ambushes are part and parcel of the game in a tag team division, but the former SmackDown Commissioner's mugging was doubly shocking because it came on the heels of one of his squad's finest moments in the short-lived alliance, a match in which Shane literally went above and beyond to get to the cusp of victory against The Usos: In what will undoubtedly be this match's signature moment, The Prodigal Son knocked Jimmy Uso flat out of the sky with a Coast-to-Coast as the titleholder attempted to pancake Miz with a top-rope splash.

The maneuver didn't just launch a thousand .gifs; it gave The A-Lister new life in a match where Jimmy & Jey competed like they were looking to send a message, even going so far as to add new maneuvers to their repertoire -- a pop-up Samoan Drop; a two-man swinging neckbreaker -- as examples of the kind of chemistry and creativity that can only come about after years of teaming together. Miz, too, was looking to send a message; with his father in the front row, The Awesome One had been rolling like a house on fire all match and saved the finishing touch for last. At the old man's urging, Miz ascended the top turnbuckle and attempted a Frog Splash of his own, only to be kneed by Jimmy and rolled up for three.

Cleveland still showered Miz with a hero's reception in the wake of his defeat, and Shane seemed content to let his partner have his moment. At least until he bulldozed Miz from behind, pie-faced Mr. Mizanin in the crowd and locked The Awesome One in a triangle as Mr. Miz watched in horror. Tears will doubtlessly be shed for the sudden demise of one of SmackDown's purest friendships, but perhaps the mourners shouldn't be surprised. Shane is a self-professed student of the game, and the lesson about friends has been told time and time again. The last word on tonight might be that it was simply Miz's turn to learn it.

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SmackDown Women's Champion Asuka def. Mandy Rose

In 2018, Mandy Rose was the first elimination in the Women's Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber Matches, and she seemed to be struggling to find her legs in the wake of Absolution's breakup. Asuka, meanwhile, still hadn't lost a match and was on the cusp of what looked like an inevitable march to the SmackDown Women's Title at WrestleMania.Fast-forward to now and Asuka has the title, though she's proven somewhat vulnerable to the odd fluke or ill-gotten loss -- one of which was dealt out by Mandy, who earned a title opportunity as a result.

Clearly a lot can change in a year -- even EC3 seemed to identify Mandy as a prospect on the rise in a backstage confrontation during which The Top One Percent finally broke his silence. But could Cleveland, the city of underdogs, play host to perhaps the most unlikely championship victory in recent memory?

It could not. Though Sonya Deville boasted about how Mandy held the "mental edge" against The Empress of Tomorrow, Rose typically only gained the advantage when Deville got involved, either by climbing up on the apron to distract Asuka or rooting around under the ring in search of an equalizer. If The Jersey Devil gave Mandy her best chance to accomplish the impossible, however, she also inadvertently dashed her hopes: When Sonya produced a Kendo stick from beneath the ring, she made the mistake of leaving the ring apron bunched up on the canvas. Mandy slipped as she ricocheted off the ropes, Asuka capitalized with straight kick to the jaw that put Mandy down for three, and the would-be champion was not in a forgiving mood in the wake of her stunning defeat. As Deville pleaded for understanding from her friend, Mandy instead stormed off, leaving "Fire and Desire" with more questions than answers as they try to find their way forward.

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The Bar def. Kofi Kingston (2-on-1 Handicap Match)

Mr. McMahon threw Kofi Kingston to the side of the road when he removed him from the WWE Title Match at Fastlane. At the event itself, The Chairman did one better and fed The Dreadlocked Dynamo to the wolves. After calling Kingston into his office and seemingly re-inserting him back into the title bout when he said that it was now a Triple Threat Match, Mr. McMahon quickly reversed course and instead sicced The Bar on Kingston in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match. And thanks to a ruling that Big E & Xavier Woods were banned from ringside, the ensuing match was over almost as soon as it started.

The Bar, who have been somewhat humiliated in recent weeks by a string of losses, were not about to let this one slip away. Cesaro & Sheamus played with their food and then feasted, and save for a brief rally by Kingston, the only moment of drama was when Big E & Woods defied Mr. McMahon's edict and ran down to ringside, only to be soundly dispatched by Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev. The Bar called it shortly thereafter, dropping Kingston with the double White Noise and pinning him with a single foot on his chest.

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Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival def. Aleister Black & Ricochet and Bobby Roode & Chad Gable (Triple Threat Match)

After the thrill of The Revival's Raw Tag Team Title victory quickly soured with the agony of consecutive defeats, it seemed the "Top Guys'" title run might wither on the vine. But rumors of their demise were greatly exaggerated, as Dash & Dawson's Triple Threat title retention at WWE Fastlane was vindication in every sense of the word for the embattled champions, who looked much more like the cunning team that clawed their way to the top than the overmatched bullies of the past two weeks.

It was also a showcase for the tag team wrestling excellence that The Revival have long advocated for; their four challengers were as hungry and skilled as the titleholders themselves, most visibly the high-flying duo of NXT imports Aleister Black & Ricochet. One of the two newcomers was legal for almost the entire match, and if The Revival and the other third of the match -- Bobby Roode & Chad Gable -- thought they'd be easy pickings due to their inexperience, those hopes were dashed almost immediately. The Dutch Destroyer and The One and Only delivered flips, fists and everything in between, leaving their opponents hard-pressed to come up with an answer.

Roode & Gable, hungry for "glorious redemption," however, kept trying to their ultimate detriment. The bad vibes from their faceoff this past Monday carried over into the match, and it played into the deciding moments of the bout, wherein Roode tossed Black into the barricade and Gable tagged Ricochet as the high-flier soared over the top turnbuckle to level The Glorious One outside the ring. The Revival seemed to be waiting for just such a moment, and they quickly picked off Gable with a Shatter Machine much in the same way they did to win the Raw Tag Team Titles several weeks ago.

Dash & Dawson's moment was short-lived, unfortunately for them, as Black & Ricochet quickly cleaned house with a 630 and Black Mass to end the evening standing tall. It seemed to be an indication that circumstance alone is what kept them from winning the titles at Fastlane. But they might be getting ahead of themselves even then. Two on two, after all, is where The Revival thrive, and they clearly do their best work when everyone else has counted them out.

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United States Champion Samoa Joe def. R-Truth, Rey Mysterio and Andrade (Fatal 4-Way Match)

Samoa Joe won the United States Title thanks to R-Truth's attempt to emulate John Cena's Open Challenge policy, and The Samoan Submission Machine seems to have instituted a policy similar to The Greatest of All Time's: Anyone who wants an opportunity to make their name gets one. But where Cena's Open Challenge was built around the idea of highlighting under-exposed talent, Joe's seems to be based around a sinister variation: He wants challengers so he can make his name at their expense.

That, more than anything, is how a planned bout between Rey Mysterio and Andrade was reconfigured into a rematch of SmackDown LIVE's Fatal 4-Way after Joe signed a petition during Fastlane Kickoff. Three of the four participants were in something of their own world -- Rey and Andrade largely focused on each other with the latter mimicking Eddie Guerrero, while Truth continued his Cena-worship by working his way through the Five Moves of Doom -- but The Samoan Submission Machine remained a steely-eyed, merciless constant. When someone attempted a pinfall, he was there to break it up with his own body. When Zelina Vega and Carmella distracted Andrade and Truth with a ringside brawl, he was there to plant Rey with a Uranage.

And when someone went flying, he was there to catch them. Rey felt the brunt of that particular aspect of Joe's strategy more than anyone else in the match, decisively so: After The Ultimate Underdog drilled Joe with the 619, he ascended the rope to drop the dime and found nothing but canvas, as the champion rolled out of the way, locked in the Coquina Clutch the second Rey touched down and cranked it until he went to sleep. It was an impressive defense for Joe and, perhaps, a blueprint of how he intends to defend his throne: No tricks. No cheating. Nothing dirty except his attitude. He wanted some, and he got some.

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WWE Women's Tag Team Champions The Boss 'N' Hug Connection def. Nia Jax & Tamina; Jax & Tamina brawled with Beth Phoenix & Natalya

At the very least, we can put to bed the strange curse that has dogged Sasha Banks throughout her post-NXT title reigns: The Boss and Bayley successfully defended the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships, marking Banks' first-ever title retention since coming to Raw in 2015 and the first successful defense of the titles themselves.

We can also put to bed the idea that Nia Jax & Tamina would have won the titles last month had they not effectively beaten themselves inside the Elimination Chamber last month. The self-dubbed "Samoan Slaughterhouse" churned out haymakers and bodyslams to their comparatively fleet-footed opponents, but there was never a moment where The Boss 'N' Hug Connection seemed so outmatched they weren't in the fight. Bayley scored the decisive maneuver of the night, rolling up Nia for a somewhat shocking three-count that provoked a brutal post-match attack from Nia & Tamina ... and an assist from a surprising duo that hasn't seen ring time together for a while.

Beth Phoenix, the WWE Hall of Famer and Divas division pioneer who had been watching from commentary, wasted no time going face-to-face with Tamina during the losers' after-the-bell beatdown. The Glamazon's resistance prompted further hostility from Nia & Tamina in the ring and an assist from Natalya, who sprinted from the backstage area to her friend's aid. Nia & Tamina made quick work of The Queen of Harts as well, but for all the preconceived notions this match put to sleep, it may have woken something else up, as well.

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WWE Champion Daniel Bryan def. Kevin Owens and Mustafa Ali (Triple Threat Match)

It's looking more and more like the differences between "The New" Daniel Bryan and "The Old" Daniel Bryan begin and end with the fact that his WWE Championship is made of burlap rather than leather. If you give him a limb, he will bend and twist it until you submit. If you leave your face uncovered, he will find a way to get his knee to hit it. Whoever is in the ring with him, he finds a way to win. And if you throw a third guy in the match, he'll beat him too.

Yes, the WWE Title Match at WWE Fastlane was a Triple Threat as Mr. McMahon had promised; the third man just wasn't Kofi Kingston. Instead, the X-factor for the evening was Mustafa Ali, who threw himself heart, body and soul into a match that Bryan seemed to think he didn't deserve, and Kevin Owens -- the original challenger -- was determined to make him regret entering at all. The former "Heart of 205 Live" flaunted Newton's Law at will, not so much wrestling his opponents as picking them apart from above, and if the strategy was a tough one to counter for a brawler like Owens and a grappler like Bryan, it had the distinct disadvantage of taking as much out of Ali as it did out of them.

Not to be outdone, Owens made like his T-shirt and fought everyone, even dishing out one of his newfound Stunners and one of his old-school Pop-up Powerbombs on the ring apron, both to Ali. Bryan, wisely, largely kept himself out of Owens' grasp, letting his two challengers fight it out until it was down to one. Thanks to an assist from Rowan, who dispatched Owens down the stretch, the last man standing was Ali. The champion once again disparaged his opponent's credentials, slapping him across the face and screaming that he didn't deserve to be in the match. The insults awakened Ali's competitive fire, and the former Cruiserweight geared up for one final push -- only to be met in midair by a Running Knee from Bryan that dropped him like a rock and handed The Planet's Champion yet another one of his signature victories, new, old or otherwise.

Of course, there was one Superstar conspicuous by his absence in the match: Kofi Kingston. The WWE Universe, still disgruntled over the various corporate shenanigans that kept Kingston from the match, periodically lapsed into vocal, impassioned cheers for The Dreadlocked Dynamo. It wasn't that they weren't happy to have Owens back, or that Ali didn't take their breath away. But at the end of the day, there's one man that Daniel Bryan was supposed to face, and he didn't. For the WWE Universe, there may well be something attached to this win that really is new for Daniel Bryan: an asterisk.

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Becky Lynch def. Charlotte Flair via Disqualification

Becky Lynch is going to WrestleMania. Again. For real this time. With a victory over Charlotte Flair, the pavement lining The Man's stop-and-start road to The Showcase of the Immortals has finally hardened, and her path to a historic title clash with Charlotte and Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey is clear. Whether she can walk that path is another story.

Yes, Lynch's leg was string cheese before she walked into the match, thanks to nearly two straight months of attacks from Flair. Her arm wasn't great either, having been mangled by Ronda just this past Monday on Raw. But with an opportunity to rejoin the Raw Women's Title Match at WrestleMania at stake, The Man wasn't about to succumb to her injuries. Unfortunately, she couldn't muster much of a fight against Charlotte for roughly 80 percent of the match, as The Queen systematically savaged The Man en route to a Figure-Eight Leglock ... whereupon Rousey sprinted down the ramp and plunged her fist into Lynch's sternum, handing her rival a disqualification win.

Confusion lingered for a moment in the wake of Rousey's appearance, but within moments, the champion's intentions became clear. Becky chose Ronda as her opponent after winning the Women's Royal Rumble. The Baddest Woman on the Planet seems to have returned the favor. And The Man is going to New York -- for better or worse.

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AJ Styles attacked Randy Orton after a running Elias concert

A running concert from Elias at WWE Fastlane led to the most explosive of encores when AJ Styles and Randy Orton finally came to blows. The Living Truth had been rearing his head to insult various fan favorites -- first The Miz, then Kofi Kingston and finally Becky Lynch -- to say nothing of the city of Cleveland before he finally decided to make his exit, only to be interrupted by one of Lacey Evans' now-customary laps down the ramp.

As The Living Truth stood fixated on The Lady of WWE, Randy Orton swooped out of nowhere with an RKO to the guitarist, then found himself quickly dropped with a Phenomenal Forearm from AJ Styles, who similarly appeared out of thin air to deliver some long-awaited reciprocation.

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The Shield def. Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley & Baron Corbin

Now that they're gone, it's fair to ask: What is The Shield's legacy? Is it of three brothers in black who made their name dishing out their own variation of justice? Is it of three individuals who became each other's own worst enemies the second they tasted success outside of the team? Or is it of three Superstars who rose from humble beginnings to historical levels of dominance by way of brute force, limitless talent and boundless ambition and left WWE a better place than it was before they got there?

In the wake of the trio's final ride at WWE Fastlane, six years and three months after they first stormed the ringside area, it's looking like the answer might be all three. With Dean Ambrose on his way out of WWE, Seth Rollins headed to WrestleMania to challenge Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, and Roman Reigns looking to find his way after the fight of his life, the Fastlane match wasn't so much a nostalgia trip as it was a reminder of everything that made The Shield special together before they moved on to bigger things and greener pastures as individuals.

Which isn't to say it was the greatest hits and a 1-2-3. The Shield's opponents -- Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley & Baron Corbin -- possess the same level of raw talent as Ambrose, Rollins & Reigns at any stage of their tenue, and their impressive recent stint as a trio gave them as good odds as any to upset the once-dominant faction of The Shield. Corbin was particularly tough in this match, going toe-to-toe with Reigns in The Big Dog's in-ring return and nearly handing the former Universal Champion a pinfall with an End of Days that was narrowly broken up by Rollins and Ambrose.

But despite the stiffness of the challenge, any hope the lingering tensions between The Hounds of Justice would doom them on the way out proved unfounded, and the match quickly turned into a highlight reel of The Shield of old. The passionate charge to start the match. Seth Rollins jumping off the concourse to down McIntyre & Lashley when the fight spilled out into the audience. And, of course, a pitch-perfect Triple Powerbomb that sent McIntyre crashing through one of the three commentary tables at ringside. In the end, however, it was Corbin, with his partners out of the picture, who found himself subjected to that oldest and greatest hallmark of The Shield: the numbers game. Surrounded by Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns, The Lone Wolf was subjected to a superkick, Superman Punch, Dirty Deeds and the last Triple Powerbomb The Shield will ever perform before Reigns covered him for the three-count.

And so ended the tenure of The Shield, by just about any measure the most dominant faction in WWE history, easily among the most successful and already one of the most influential. In an industry that builds itself on the strength of moments, perhaps the best, most lingering testament to Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns is that they gave us one every time they strapped on the black, or picked up a camera, or surrounded a ring. And when called upon to do it one last time, they did it again. We should all be so lucky to be remembered this way.

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