Instant Reaction - WWE Fastlane PPV
By Ben Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 6.0

The most passionate wrestling fans have the reputation for being filled with an inordinate amount of venom towards the product they love. When they spew it towards the producers of the product in a constructive way, it can be a good thing. When they attack their own, it is anything but fine.

The Memphis crowd at Fastlane was quieter than typical of a pay-per-view. Instead of offering friendly jabs at the crowd and moving on, many attempted to get #CancelWWEMemphisCrowd trending on Twitter, spending the majority of the three-hour program complaining about the perceived dead crowd and how it detracted from the show. This is coming a week-and-a-half removed from NXT Rival, where a notable section of fans complained about the Full Sail audience cheering for the heel Kevin Owens once he won the NXT Championship.

If you think a fan isn't reacting "enough," blame the writers. Nearly any crowd today would be perceived as "dead" when compared to Attitude Era crowds 15 years ago. This isn't the fault of the cities WWE travels to; it's their consistently shoddy booking. Going to a tough town isn't a bad thing. It should be seen as a challenge for both writers and wrestlers to engage a crowd covering a wide range of demographics. Tonight failed to do that.

NXT's audience is labeled as being "cult-like." So? If you want the crowd to boo Kevin Owens, spend the time and money that everyone else in that arena does to make the trip out there. It's sad to see individuals lash out at others who spend their hard-earned money to see something they love because "they didn't do it right." This is all misguided hatred. Hate WWE's terrible booking. Hate sloppily designed matches. But don't hate the fans. If you want fans to act a certain way, then go to TNA where the crowd was once told that they were "actors" who are obligated to cheer the faces and boo the heels.

If we pay to go to these events, we react how we feel. If WWE cannot make us feel the "proper" way, then it's on them, not us. And unfortunately, tonight was definitely on them, with a middling show that felt like another three-hour Raw special than a true pay-per-view.

The strongest match of the show was the main event between Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns. While Reigns held his own, Bryan made him look like a true main-eventer in the same way that Bret Hart aided Diesel back in the mid-'90s. The finish appalled the crowd to a large extent, finishing a storyline that did nothing to help Roman Reigns but succeeded in sucking the life out of Daniel Bryan's fan base. Mission accomplished?

Arguably the strongest aspect of the show as a whole came in the form of the Sting-Triple H segment. Triple H looked vicious, but Sting remained cunning, successfully maintaining his mystique the entire time and looking good in the limited spots he performed.

Not as good were the various match finishes on the show. The crowd was caught by surprise in the Intercontinental Title, Divas, and Rhodes Brothers matches when they seemingly abruptly ended for minimal reasoning. Equally flabbergasting was Kane pinning Dolph Ziggler, though the RKO-filled return by Randy Orton was definitely a solid consolation prize.

The general feeling on the show, though, was WWE holding back. Rusev-Cena was very slowly paced, as was the Rhodes match. Creating multiple re-matches for WrestleMania from this event will only devalue the big event as well, making the card feel like we've "been there, done that."

In the end, this was an okay event that did not need to happen. Every match and segment on this show could have easily played out on an episode of Raw, and it felt like it. Maybe that's why the crowd was dead. Or maybe they felt ostracized from their own kind; who knows?

Questions? Comments? Reactions? Find me and in-person pics from the PPV on Twitter @BTuckerTorch, where I talk about wrestling and... stuff!

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