WWE Fastlane: Five key questions for the final pre-WrestleMania pay-per-view
By Jefferson Lake, WWE Editor
Last Updated: 11/03/18 11:45pm
On the face of it, Fastlane features several matches where the winner appears obvious - but things are rarely so straightforward in modern WWE.
For proof of that, look no further than the event of the same name last year, at which Goldberg knocked off Kevin Owens in 22 short seconds to become the Universal champion.
With this year's Smackdown-hosted iteration being the last Box Office event before WrestleMania, the matches also take on a greater significance.
With those factors in mind, we assessed the five key talking points ahead of Sunday night.
Will AJ Styles retain his title?
Everything is leading towards the dream match between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura, mouthwateringly set when the latter won the Royal Rumble, remaining intact at WrestleMania.
But Styles did take a notable loss to John Cena on a recent SmackDown and was involved in a non-finish with Dolph Ziggler just this Tuesday.
That said, it would be a seriously bold move to have a Kevin Owens or a Sami Zayn win the title on Sunday night and go into WrestleMania as champion, if only because that will leave Styles - at this point one of the biggest stars in the company - out in the cold.
Can Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn work together?
The alliance of the so-called "Yep movement" seemed pretty solid up until this week and the pair were on course to join forces to (attempt to) take out the opposition.
Until, that was, Sami Zayn got the better of Kevin Owens on Tuesday's hastily-booked five-way to cast doubt on their friendship, their strategy and the entire course of the Fastlane main event.
The most likely outcome is that Zayn and Owens will go back from friends to enemies, but with the WrestleMania card already starting to look pretty packed, is that one feud which may have to wait until after the big one to be given the airtime it deserves?
Can Ruby Riott pull off the seemingly impossible?
The Goldberg title win at last year's Fastlane proves that anything is possible, although the comparison doesn't really stack up in this instance.
It seems hugely unlikely that there will be a title change in the SmackDown women's division; Charlotte Flair is a marquee player on the blue brand while Riott is still very much cutting her main roster teeth.
Always expect the unexpected - and, don't forget, Carmella and her Money In The Bank briefcase remain in the shadows…
Do The New Day and The Usos still have the old magic?
Considering the depth of quality in the SmackDown tag division, it is perhaps something of a surprise that old favourites New Day have emerged as The Usos' latest challengers.
The two groups put on a series of excellent matches in 2017 in a program which underlined the capabilities of Xavier Woods, Big E and Kofi Kingston, and installed the Uso brothers as the best tag team in the company.
Their match hasn't had a huge build but it does have the potential to steal the show on Sunday night.
What's the plan for John Cena?
The school of thought that says AJ Styles will not lose his title at the Box Office event directly before WrestleMania is instantly dismissed by the fact that Charlotte Flair lost her pay-per-view winning streak in exactly that scenario.
Such seismic events are not always reserved for the big ones but it remains very difficult to see Cena overtaking Ric Flair's 16-time world title record anywhere other than WrestleMania.
Whether that's this WrestleMania or not is another question altogether.
And then there's the lingering, shadowy presence of The Undertaker, the dropping of whose name by Cena on a recent Raw was surely not without meaning.
