Winners and Losers From WWE Fastlane- Ending With A Bang

What wasn't shaping itself up to be much of a pay-per-view was actually pretty good. WWE's presentation of Fastlane was the final pay-per-view headed into WrestleMania 34 and it was the last real opportunity SmackDown Live's roster was going to get to set the stage for matches at the biggest show of the year. A relatively weak show on paper delivered far more than it should have.

A couple title changes, a challenge for the women's main event, uncertainty for John Cena and confirmation a dream match is still going to take place, Fastlane answered a lot of questions in the eyes of the WWE Universe. It wasn't perfect and there were some duds to speak of, but for the most part, the show was a winner.

Here are your winners and losers from WWE Fastlane 2018.

Winner: Charlotte/Asuka

Charlotte Flair had a strong match with Ruby Riott which proved both that Flair deserves to be the leader of the SmackDown Live brand for the women and that Riott is a rising star but more importantly, Flair now has a date at WrestleMania 34.

Following her defeat of Riott, Flair was in the ring when Asuka came out and challenged her for the title at WrestleMania 34. This leaves Alexa Bliss open to do battle with Nia Jax and a dream match of sorts for Charlotte who deserved to have a strong direction coming out of this event.

Loser: Carmella

Not only was the women's tag match awful, Carmella got the win and didn't capitalize on anything else during the show by using her Money in the Bank briefcase (a rumor that never materialized). Perhaps, never in the history of someone owning the briefcase has a wrestler felt so irrelevant. Carmella picked up the pinfall in that match and even she acted surprised.

It was a sloppy showing for all four women and it left Carmella without a plan heading into WrestleMania 34. The only plus side here is that Carmella showed signs of being an annoying heel character who could have a larger role and it would be entertaining.

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Winner: Randy Orton

As much as this writer isn't a fan of pushing Orton over a struggling Bobby Roode, we have to call Randy Orton a winner here based solely on the fact that he is now a Grand Slam Champion, even if he's technically not held all the titles. Knowing that he's never been Universal Champion, be WWE's definition, he is a Grand Slam winner and he'll head into WrestleMania with the title around his waist.

The Triple Threat that is likely to come as a byproduct of this match is not the most exciting idea WWE has had but maybe it will be a way to revert Roode back to the character he should be and not this babyface persona that doesn't fit.

Loser: Usos and New Day

The beating these five men took on behalf of the Bludgeon Brothers was epic. While the WWE Universe might have wanted the match to end before going the direction WWE did, fans have seen these two teams square off on multiple occasions so it wasn't something anyone really missed.

What we do know is that based on how the Usos and New Day were left laying and the report that members like Xavier Woods are suffering from multiple injuries, they won't be coming around on Tuesday night to exact any revenge. The likelihood is another Triple Threat match which is about the only way these two teams stand a chance.

Winner: The Bludgeon Brothers

This was an emphatic statement by the Bludgeon Brothers on not only the tag team division in WWE but, by laying out SmackDown Live's two best teams, Bludgeon Brothers made themselves the clear favorites to go into WrestleMania 34 and handily walk out with the titles.

The series of moves that came as the Harper and Rowan laid out five men was about the best and most devastating series of moves of any segment on WWE television in months. This is a team no one can stop.

Winner: Six-Pack Challenge

It was an interesting choice to hold a match on the SmackDown Live episode previous to this pay-per-view where the main event showcased five of the six members of this match. WWE risked this bout being stale but that wasn't the case at all. Some great chemistry between all six members of the contest and a series of near falls that looked like it could have gone wrong multiple times made this contest exciting to watch.

The right person came out on top, John Cena still has no obvious direction and Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are likely headed for a match against each other (or at least will meet in the battle royal) which is the way it should be.