This past Sunday, WWE Raw presented us with the last PPV before Wrestlemania. It was the brand-exclusive Fastlane PPV which received mixed reactions, overall. There were multiple names that were rumored for a surprise appearance on the night. But, not even one of them happened to the much dislike for the fans.
Finn Balor, The Undertaker, and even Kurt Angle were part of those speculations to make a major impact on the show. WWE creative decided to postpone each one of them to a certain extent. The fans were also not pleased to see Goldberg becoming champion, at all. They are not willing to see the repeated matchup between him and Lesnar, especially considering it will be the main event of Wrestlemania.
Undertaker’s surprise return might have saved Fastlane to a certain extent. He was wildly rumored to make his presence felt on the match between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. This was planned to start his feud with Roman Reigns for Wrestlemania. Previously, Reigns eliminated Taker from Royal Rumble to plant the seeds of this rivalry.
Recently, Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter stated the real reason behind Taker’s appearance being postponed to the very next night’s Raw. The creative felt that Undertaker’s appearance in between the Reigns-Strowman match would have mark too many interferences in one single night.
Sasha Banks interfered to alter the outcome of the Raw women’s championship match. After that, Chris Jericho intervened in the Universal Championship match to let Goldberg win the bout. If Taker would have appeared then three marquee matches on the card ended on the same note. So, WWE did not want to book the matches on the same way.
Undertaker however made up his absence by appearing on Raw and choke slamming Reigns into hell. With this action, the match between these two is almost guaranteed at Wrestlemania. We are yet to see how the Big Dog bounces back, next week. There’s no confirmation whether Taker will also be present on the show.