WrestleMania 42 has arrived, and over this weekend in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium, careers will be made, legendary moments will be etched in pro wrestling lore, and new champions will be crowned.
Since moving to a two-night event at WrestleMania 36, the stakes have only gotten higher for WWE’s biggest spectacle of the year.
Here are my full predictions for what’s going to happen on Sunday.
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Out of any match this weekend, including main events, this is the bout with the most stakes on the line.
The WWE can rework bad title finishes and storylines. What WWE can’t do is change first impressions, and right now, Oba Femi is as hot as any rookie wrestler they’ve had since maybe Brock Lesnar almost a quarter of a century ago.
A loss won’t kill Femi’s rise to superstardom, but it might limit how far he can transcend. He’s a raging fire at the moment, and under no circumstances should the WWE put any sort of water on his momentum.
Millions of people will be watching on ESPN. Show them the next face of the company, beating household name Lesnar, and truly strap the rocket to the Nigerian generational talent.
Prediction: Oba Femi
Penta (c) vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Dragon Lee vs. JD McDonagh vs. Rusev vs. Rey Mysterio in a six-man ladder match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Following what should be the coronation of Femi as the next dominating force of the company, they should crown Je’Von Evans as the next great high flyer of the company.
Evans could be a new-age Jeff Hardy with the fans, and in what should be a car-crash of a matchup, the first hour on ESPN should end with rivals Femi and Evans seen not just as the future but as the present.
Prediction: Je’Von Evans
Jade Cargill (c) vs. Rhea Ripley for the WWE Women’s Championship
This feud has been a dud, and these two need an above-average match to salvage anything that’s happened over the past month.
Ripley has repeatedly shown up time and time again at WrestleMania to have one of the best matches of the weekend, but we’ll need to see if Cargill can live up to the challenge.
If Bianca Belair was rumored to be coming back anytime soon, I’d say Cargill. But seeing as it doesn’t appear like she’ll be back in the next month or two, it’s time for Ripley to gain some traction again with a belt that’s lost a lot of luster over the past year with Tiffany Stratton and then Cargill.
Prediction: Rhea Ripley
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Sami Zayn (c) vs. Trick Williams (with Lil Yachty) for the WWE United States Championship
Zayn is a villain who thinks he’s a hero, and Williams is the anti-hero that all the fans have come to love since moving up from NXT earlier this year.
WWE could fully turn Zayn into a supervillain by having him cheat to cut off Williams’ push at the legs, but the company is more invested in getting over Williams as one of their next big stars than building on Zayn’s character.
Prediction: Trick Williams
‘The Demon’ Finn Bálor vs. Dominik Mysterio
In maybe the most predictable match of the weekend, we have Finn Bálor bringing back his demon persona to take on weaselly Dominik Mysterio.
I don’t need to overthink this one. It’ll be a cool entrance, Mysterio will run around the ring trying to evade “The Demon,” and then Bálor will get his revenge on his former Judgment Day brother to win a one-sided match.
Prediction: “The Demon” Finn Bálor
CM Punk (c) vs. Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Since Triple H took charge of booking back before WrestleMania 39, Sunday’s show has never ended cleanly.
At 39, Solo Sikoa helped Roman Reigns beat Cody Rhodes. At 40, the Avengers assembled to stop the Bloodline and help Rhodes beat Reigns. And then last year at 41, Travis Scott of all people sauntered down to the ring to help John Cena beat Cody Rhodes for his historic 17th world championship.
I don’t see this pattern changing, especially with the seeds being planted that TKO, WWE’s umbrella company, is building a faction behind spokesperson Pat McAfee to lead the company into a new direction.
While Reigns seems to be the obvious choice to be the corporate champion, I expect there to be a swerve, as Triple H loves to do in his big matches, and for TKO to anoint CM Punk as their figurehead champion.
His UFC ties will lead back to Dana White and TKO, along with the fact that he’ll be a present character on WWE television, where Reigns will most likely be gone again until the summer, not too long after Sunday.
At the end of WrestleMania Sunday, I foresee a group of Pat McAfee, Randy Orton, CM Punk, and maybe even Dana White and any other celebrity TKO wants to celebrate to be in the ring together with all of the gold.
Prediction: CM Punk
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