WWE News: New ‘Fastlane 2018’ PPV Matches Include Shinsuke Nakamura & Women’s Tag Team Match
On Tuesday night, the WWE Fastlane 2018 pay-per-view card was updated as several new matches were formed during backstage challenges. While the upcoming event already features most of the major players that will probably be representing the brand at WrestleMania 34, a few seemed to be absent. That all changed on Tuesday evening, though, as the men’s Royal Rumble winner and Ms. Money in the Bank gained spots on the Fastlane card. Here are the latest details of the new matches added to the pay-per-view and how they came about.
The latest SmackDown Live show results via ProWrestling included a backstage segment where the Royal Rumble 2018 winner Shinsuke Nakamura was interviewed. During that talk, he was asked about who he wants to face at WrestleMania 34 and reiterated he wants AJ Styles in the title match. Rusev and his sidekick Aiden English showed up to interrupt the interview with English holding his throat after getting kicked by Nakamura last week. Due to that, Rusev was none too happy with “The King of Strong Style” and challenged him to a match on Sunday. Nakamura not only accepted but also gave a bit of a song, proclaiming that Sunday will be “Nakamura Day.”
IT'S OFFICIAL: @RusevBUL will collide with @ShinsukeN THIS SUNDAY at #WWEFastlane LIVE on @WWENetwork! #SDLive @WWEDramaKing #RusevDay pic.twitter.com/yubE4jsfjV
— WWE (@WWE) March 7, 2018
In yet another backstage segment, Naomi was shown watching the finish of the Becky Lynch vs. Carmella match. The “Irish Lass Kicker” had just picked up the win due to submission, but Naomi only had a bit of time to soak in the win for her friend as Natalya showed up. Nattie informed Naomi that Carmella had been under the weather this past week. The two former women’s champions bantered back and forth a bit with Naomi suggesting Natalya’s only friends were her cats.
After Nattie said Carmella’s a pal of hers and that any friend of Becky’s gets burned, she set up a match. On Sunday it will be Natalya and Carmella vs. Becky and Naomi in a women’s tag match. Natalya also said she’s going to challenge whoever wins the women’s title match Sunday. That’s an interesting development with WrestleMania only a few weeks away after Sunday’s PPV.
Will @BeckyLynchWWE in fact BEAT @CarmellaWWE, as suggested by her hashtag last week? #SDLive pic.twitter.com/LhZM06EFfa
— WWE (@WWE) March 7, 2018
Still, these two matches seem pretty standard, as it would be surprising for Nakamura to take a loss to Rusev on Sunday because it would diminish his build towards a big match at Mania. As far as the women’s tag team match is concerned, it could go either way. However, one has to wonder if this one will have Carmella and Natalya take the loss early in the card, and then Ms. Money in the Bank will show up later on in the night to cash in her briefcase.
Stay tuned, as WWE’s Fastlane arrives Sunday, March 11, with coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on the WWE Network.
