Goldberg Waltzes Through KO to Capture Universal Crown

Goldberg destroyed Kevin Owens in 22 seconds to get his hands on the WWE Universal Championship and set up his defence of the title in a colossal WrestleMania clash with Brock Lesnar.

It was from the helping hand, though, of Chris Jericho. The man who was savagely betrayed by his former ally in Las Vegas provided a distraction from the stage, allowing the challenger to hit a Spear and Jackhammer to wrap things up in no time at all.

In the final pay-per-view before the Grandest Stage of Them All, shocks were on hand as Charlotte suffered her first PPV singles defeat, while Roman Reigns became the first competitor to pin Braun Strowman in singles' competition.

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Before all that though, cruiserweights were handed the duty of warming up the crowd in Milwaukee with an explosive tag-team match seeing the pair of Akira Tozawa & Rich Swann trump The Brian Kendrick & Noam Dar. The underlying story for the bout was the rivalry brewing between former champion Kendrick and the recently-debuted Tozawa, and the striking of the latter caused many problems, blended with the athleticism of his teammate it was a force to be reckoned with - dispatching their opponents after a throwaway match.

Rich Swann and Tozawa Akira get the win #WWEFastlane Kickoff! pic.twitter.com/z2hYxqkqCF

— FOX Sports Radio1340 (@1340AMFOXSports) March 6, 2017

Samoa Joe crushes valiant Sami Zayn

In his first WWE pay-per-view match, Samoa Joe brutalised Sami Zayn en route to a statement-making submission victory. The two had engaged in a rivalry over the past few weeks stemming from the Samoan's interview, and things had boiled over on Monday nights with brawls. But when they met in the ring, despite all the heart of The Underdog From The Underground, Joe would blitz through.

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Using his world-class striking skills and physicality, the former TNA champion went after his nemesis early and grabbed the impetus of the contest. The odds continued to be stacked against Zayn, although he would defy them by withstanding a ridiculous amount of punishment to come back with comebacks, only for those small fires to be viciously stomped out.

A Blue Thunder Bomb almost stunned the favourite when the Canadian nailed it out of nowhere for a near fall, and got a two-count from a later roll-up. It didn't take much though for things to be wrapped up when Joe wanted it to, putting his NXT rival to sleep.

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The Club hang on to the titles amid controversy

Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson continued their reign as RAW Tag Team Champions, although not without a great struggle as they were pushed to the limit by Enzo Amore and Big Cass.

The unusual pairing created some trouble for the champions with the array of offence pinning them back, although experience would soon prevail as was the case when Enzo looked to make a hot tag to his gigantic partner, instead running into a massive knee.

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When the challengers got back into a flow, they thought the titles were a lock at the moment when Big Cass implanted his extreme-sized boot into the face of Anderson, before a "Badaboomshakalaka" splash had one half of the tag team champions out of it. But during the pinfall, Gallows dragged Amore out of the ring and the challengers were denied.

A few moments later, Enzo was crushed with a kick and pinned near the ropes, but he managed to get his foot on the rope which should have broken the count. However, Gallows pushed the foot off and the three-count was reached before The Club fled the scene of the crime, with their championship reign still in tact.

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Jax cashed out as Banks pulls off upset

Nia Jax was stunned in a massive upset as huge underdog and former Women's Champion Sasha Banks got a roll-up pin to hand the Hawaiian her first PPV loss.

In a contextual "David vs. Goliath" plot to the match, The Boss tried to bring the fire to put up a fight against her rival, but it wasn't too long before a backbreaker submission and clobbering strikes allowed Jax to dominate.

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Similar to the plot of the night's earlier match, Samoa Joe's victory against Sami Zayn, the significantly stronger athlete was able to crush Banks on any occasion where she tried to rally. The punishment would not break the former champion though, as she continued to show heart and reversed a DDT to lock in a submission - that only provoked and angered Jax, who ragdolled her opponent.

Nia was ready to extinguish her foe with a Samoan Drop, but Sasha was able to wriggle out and get a sudden roll-up pin before escaping the squared circle - while Nia watched on, seething, after a shock result.

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Rusev and Mahal go their seperate ways... But run into stiff opposition

Being a tag team in the WWE isn't easy, there's a lot to put up with, and it appeared that Jinder Mahal and Rusev had enough of each other during the event. They requested to manager Mick Foley to pursue singles careers, and that started with two very big challenges from the RAW commissioner. 

The Swiss Superman Cesaro was Jinder Mahal's opponent to resume his singles career, and the European picked up a strong victory after the tensions flared between the former partners. Rusev distracted Mahal as he watched on from the international commentary desks, and Cesaro finished it off. Rusev then stepped into the ring and issued a beatdown on Mahal.

Rusev would have a very tall order in the form of Big Show, and the World's Largest Athlete wasn't messing around. 3 chokeslams and a thunderous knockout punch after some brawling was all she wrote, as WWE's resident giant continues his path to WrestleMania, now in incredible shape.

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Neville's Red Arrow takes out Gallagher

The honour as "King of the Cruiserweights" remained Neville's after an incredible all-British title fight against Jack Gallagher.

While the gentleman couldn't exhibit the aggression to rival his Newcastle-born foe over the past weeks, he certainly put up a fight on the evening as he took Neville out with a twisting suicide dive and then a suplex for near falls.

Living up to the billing as cruiserweights, there was high-flying action all around the ring but whatever Neville threw at him, Gallagher refused to give in. A number of late headbutts was the last rallying call, but when Neville was forced to pull out the Red Arrow, that would be it. And still Cruiserweight champion, but not without a struggle.

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The Face of destruction gets destroyed by Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns handed the giant Braun Strowman his first ever pinfall singles loss to set his sights on WrestleMania 33 with an emphatic statement.

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With the tensions flaring between the two on the road to the WWE showpiece event, they carried an exciting build-up into the bout, with brute physicality on display. The former Wyatt family member had his ways with The Big Dog at many stages in the match, crashing him through the announcer's desk and kicking out of a Spear when it all looked over.

The cameras were flashing when Braun did the unthinkable and climbed to the top turnbuckle, but that decision would be the start of his demise. He missed the drop, and was groggy allowing Roman Reigns to crush him with a spear and pull off the win.

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Bayley ends Charlotte's streak

Another streak would come to an end in the evening's co-main event as Charlotte lost for the first time in a pay-per-view singles match as Bayley retained her RAW Women's Championship. 

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Some classic back-and-forth as had been exhibited in previous clashes mad for a fantastic match, and for the most part it went uninterrupted, with the two women trading and having the fans on edge.

There were times were both thought they had done enough, but in the dying embers of the match, Charlotte's attempt for a moonsault was cut short by a Sasha Banks run-in, provoking Flair who chased her but instead ran into a Bayley-to-Belly suplex on the outside - another one in the middle of the ring put her out for the three count and Bayley's title reign kept in tact going into the Grandest Stage of Them All.

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Goldberg wipes out KO in 22 seconds

Goldberg was crowned the WWE Universal Champion in a short-lived main event as the distraction from the returning Chris Jericho made it easy pickings for the man who conquered Lesnar at Survivor Series.

Kevin Owens was feeling the pressure in Milwaukee, and on several occasions before the bell rang escaped to the outside to watch on, and perhaps try to frustrate the challenger. But he amped himself up and got ready to fight, when the music of Chris Jericho - the former tag team partner of Owens who he betrayed in a savage attack - hit and left Owens beside himself.

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He turned around to a nightmare sight: Goldberg charging at him at full speed, nailing him with a spear and then finishing it off with a Jackhammer. 1, 2, 3, the new WWE Universal Champion.

Goldberg now will square off with Brock Lesnar in a gigantic WrestleMania main event for the world title.

And the NEWWWWW #UniversalChampion... @goldberg95! #WWEFastlane @wwenetwork #WWE

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