WWE Fastlane 2023: Matches & Predictions

It's a hell of a time to be a WWE fan right now! The Rock & John Cena are both back in the company for an undisclosed amount of time, Cody Rhodes & LA Knight have risen to megastar status on their respective brands, former AEW superstar Jade Cargill has officially joined the company, and the product as a whole is firing on all cylinders creatively & via its in-ring product. With so much excitement in the air, WWE is ready to present its next PLE on October 7th. John Cena, Seth "Freakin" Rollins, Shinsuke Nakamura, Iyo Sky, Charlotte Flair, Asuka, and a host of other main roster Superstars will find themselves locked into the heat of battle at this October special event. So let's take a look at the entire match card for this show as I bring forth my WWE Fastlane 2023 predictions!

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Preview & Predictions: I've really been enamored with Bobby Lashley donning a suit once again and stepping into a leadership role to inspire the Street Profits to go way harder than ever before. This three-man trio is the closest thing we'll ever get to a new Hurt Business and I'm totally fine with that! They've caught the ire of the new Latino World Order, which has now led both groups to squash (or magnify!) their issues in this six-man tag team match. So a lot of the the intrigue surrounding this multi-man clash mainly revolves around who Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar's mystery partner is.

Everyone with some sense already has a clue as to who that person Rey was alluding to making a phone call to - IT'S CARLITO! Now a part of me initially thought "What if WWE took a sharp right turn and brought in Bad Bunny to back up Rey's crew?" But then I came to my senses and realized a guest superstar of that caliber would only be called upon for something bigger, such as a Royal Rumble, a WrestleMania, or a SummerSlam. So yeah, Carlito's coming back to assist the Latino World Order and I actually expect them to come out on top here!

Preview & Predictions: Yo I thought Cody Rhodes was going to get traded to SmackDown since Adam Pearce noted Jey Uso's move to Raw warranted it! That roster switch-up would make a whole hell of a lot of sense in order to push Cody right back into challenging Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Anyway, it's pretty wild to see Cody link up with one of the former Bloodline members he was at war with months earlier this spring.

Jey has abandoned that stable and has turned over a new leaf, which is why Cody has seemingly acknowledged his new babyface state and is comfortable teaming up with him. And now they're set to lock horns with The Judgment Day's Finn Bálor and Damian Priest. I'm going to keep it a buck with you all - there's no way Finn and Priest are going to lose the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships just one month after winning them. Jey's definitely eating the losing pinfall here. I'm super confident about this entry on my list of WWE Fastlane 2023 predictions.

Preview & Predictions: If there's one thing you can count on in WWE, it's Charlotte Flair finding a way to get herself included in a major women's title match. That occurrence either happens as she's simply making a grand return after a lengthy hiatus or just using her women's main-eventer status to get added to a one-on-one match to turn it into a Triple Threat Match. I was prepared to see Iyo Sky and Asuka run it back on this show via a special match stipulation of some kind, but I can't say I'm all that mad about Charlotte popping up here to add a bit of intrigue to who'll prevail here. The match is going to be great with all three of them, that's for sure!

I know most folks think Charlotte's presence in this match means she's obviously going to win the title. But I can actually envision a situation where Charlotte has Asuka locked in the Figure Eight Leglock and has her on the verge of tapping out, only for Iyo to land her beautiful Moonsault on Asuka and break up Charlotte's submission in order to get the winning pin. Iyo's retaining here and most likely going on to face Charlotte in a singles match for her title at Crown Jewel on November 4.

Preview & Predictions: As I mentioned beforehand, John Cena is back in the mix! And what's even cooler about his return is the fact that he's gotten himself involved in all the ongoing drama surrounding The Bloodline. Roman Reigns is on hiatus at the moment, so Cena's mainly been dealing with the "Tribal Chief's" allies Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa. I was all tapped in to see Cena and AJ Styles join forces to combat them, but the "Phenomenal One" has been taken out sadly. But in his place, LA Knight has made the wise decision to link up with Cena to even the odds against The Bloodline. I can totally see this match being put together as a way to take advantage of LA's massive popularity and add even more steam to his current push, so it's clear as day to me that he and Cena are obviously getting the W here.

Preview & Predictions: I'll give Shinsuke Nakamura his props here - since feuding with Seth "Freakin" Rollins, the Japanese dynamo's sinister heel turn has made him infinitely more interesting and fun to watch. Even with him getting some time to shine at the main event level once again, I already knew he wasn't going to claim the World Heavyweight Championship from Rollins back at Payback. Rollins beat him clean as a sheet at that show and I figured Rollins would move on to a new challenger.

But Nakamura's post-match attack on the champ has kept him in the mix. This time, both men will most likely bring their rivalry to a definitive end via a Last Man Standing Match. To be quite honest, I just don't see a change in results coming from this match when compared to what happened at Payback. Rollins will be left as the last man standing and most likely head to Crown Jewel to face either Drew McIntyre, Damian Priest, or someone unexpected altogether.