Fastlane (2021)

Fastlane is a pay-per-view event first produced by WWE in 2015. The name of the event is a reference to its position on the "Road to WrestleMania," being held between the Royal Rumble and WWE's flagship event;[1] the first two Fastlane events were held in February before moving to March. The event was held annually until 2020 when it was replaced by Super ShowDown, but Fastlane was reinstated in 2021. The sixth event in the Fastlane chronology, it will feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands.[2]

On January 25, 2021, WWE announced that the WWE Network would become exclusively distributed by Peacock in the United States as part of a new agreement with NBCUniversal, which airs Monday Night Raw and NXT on the USA Network. The WWE Network will become its own premium channel under Peacock, while Peacock Premium subscribers will get access at no additional cost; other countries will maintain the current separate WWE Network service distributed by the promotion itself. This merger will go into effect beginning March 18, making Fastlane the first pay-per-view under this new agreement.[3][4]

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE had to present the majority of its programming for Raw and SmackDown from a behind closed doors set at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida beginning mid-March 2020,[5] although in late May, the promotion began using Performance Center trainees to serve as the live audience,[6] which was further expanded to friends and family members of the wrestlers in mid-June.[7] On August 17, WWE announced that all future shows and pay-per-views would be held at Orlando's Amway Center for the "foreseeable future," beginning with the August 21 episode of SmackDown. Furthermore, the shows now feature a new fan viewing experience called the "ThunderDome," which utilizes drones, lasers, pyro, smoke, and projections. Approximately 1,000 LED boards were installed to allow fans to virtually attend the events for free and be seen on the rows and rows of LED boards. Arena audio is also mixed with that of the virtual fans so that chants from the fans can be heard.[8][9] After their contract with the Amway Center expired, WWE relocated the ThunderDome to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, which began with the December 11 episode of SmackDown.[10][11]

The show will comprise matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands,[12][13] while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.[14]