As a full show, WWE Fastlane 2016 is not the best show in the world. During this time period, the pay-per-view between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania was one that basically blew off any unnecessary TV feuds that weren’t going to get near the WrestleMania card, while also being fairly inconsequential in the main storylines as everything had largely been set in stone for WrestleMania. It was the ultimate filler event, and it’s only ever felt like it has some weight to it whenever the Elimination Chamber is involved. With all that said, Styles/Jericho part three was easily one of the most anticipated matches on the entire show, and yet, it just came out feeling fine.
If you watch the two previous matches from “WWE Raw” and “WWE SmackDown,” you can see some natural progression in how both men scout each other’s offense. For example, Jericho can see The Phenomenal Forearm coming halfway through the bout and times a counter to perfection as he delivers a Drop Kick to Styles’ legs while Styles is balanced on the top rope. Styles is also on high alert for the Walls of Jericho as “Y2J” tries to lock it in early, but Styles is able to snatch a quick Hurricanrana from his back to keep his distance. Little moments like this rewards the loyal audience for keeping track of the story leading up to the show.
However, in a vacuum, this match is perfectly fine. Compared to the rest of the matches that happened beforehand, it was easily the best match on the show, and it started off very well, but as time went on you can see the pace slow down dramatically, and both guys are sucking wind heavily by the 10 minute mark, especially Jericho which is surprising as 2016 is looked back on as one of his strongest years. Even Styles looks a bit all over the place at times here, and yes he does try his best to get the crowd going, but moves that would get a much bigger response on different nights don’t even register a response at times.
There are a couple of slip-ups here and there, with Jericho not being in position for when Styles springboards off the middle rope to hit his Phenomenal Reverse DDT, something he would actually stop doing against guys he hadn’t shared the ring with as the years went on. Thankfully, the crowd does wake up when both men bust out the big guns like the Walls of Jericho, the Styles Clash, and the Codebreaker. They weren’t falling over themselves with excitement by the end of the bout, but the visual of seeing Jericho tap out to the Calf Crusher not only put the move over well, but gave Styles a huge victory this early into his WWE run.
A fine match all things considered, and if you want to seek it out then by all means, but if you don’t, you’re not missing much either.
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