What could have been. That’s what a lot of WWE fans are saying amidst rumors of what the original SummerSlam card was allegedly supposed to look like before Rhea Ripley got injured. The WWE Women’s Champion is officially missing what’s considered either the second or third biggest show of the year, and her absence apparently created a ripple effect that may have altered as many as three matches, one of which has people particularly worked up.

Let’s back up real quick and make sure we’re all on the same page. Rhea Ripley suffered a partially torn meniscus during her Clash In Italy match against Jade Cargill at the end of May. Because it wasn’t a full tear, WWE reportedly took a wait and see approach to figure out if the biggest star in the women’s division would be back for SummerSlam. If she healed up, the initial plan was allegedly for her to face either Alexa Bliss or rising star Jacy Jayne. Recently, however, they decided not to risk it and announced she would miss SummerSlam.

With Ripley unable to defend her title, WWE announced qualifying matches for a five-way ladder match to crown an Interim WWE Women’s Champion. We’re partially through those qualifiers right now, but we do know Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill are both in the match with three more slots left to be decided this week in the lead-up to the show. The thing is, if the rumors from Wrestlevotes and Fightful Select are to be believed, both Stratton and Cargill were scheduled for different matches at SummerSlam.

The first one is obvious. Cargill has been feuding pretty consistently with Charlotte Flair for quite a while. WWE has been teasing the two finally settling their differences, and it would have made all the sense in the world for them to have an official match at SummerSlam. It’s a shame we’re not going to see that, but fans aren’t super worked up about it because we’ll almost certainly get it at a big event in the future. Flair will likely be in the ladder match as well before it’s all said and done, and whatever happens there will only add more flavor to their clash whenever it happens.

Stratton’s match, however, feels like a much bigger loss. The plan was apparently for her to face incoming star Blake Monroe, who has only been seen in backstage segments and microphone work so far. Because Stratton is from the Minneapolis area and because there’s so much fan excitement to see Monroe actually get in the ring, the match would have been an opportunity to elevate the United States Women’s Championship, which Stratton currently holds and has been woefully underbooked. The belt wasn’t defended at WrestleMania, and there are a lot of fans who want to see it treated as a more important prize.

Many have taken to social media to complain about what’s going on with the United States Championship, and many have also expressed confusion as to why Stratton needed to be included in the ladder match at all. Obviously, given her popularity and roots in Minnesota, she was always going to appear on the card, but a lot of people, myself included, are confused about why WWE didn’t just keep her separated from the ladder match and move forward with the Blake Monroe stuff. Maybe they’re planning to let her win? Or maybe they just thought the hometown fans would be a little more invested in that match if she were in it?

Either way, it’s not a guarantee we’ll get back to the Stratton and Monroe stuff, and it’s very likely even if we do eventually get the tilt, fans won’t be as invested because it almost certainly won’t happen at a show as big as SummerSlam. That’s a missed opportunity, and it’ll go down as a big what-if, especially if Monroe ends up being as big of a star as we all hope.

WWE is giving us six matches this weekend at Night Of Champions, and upon first glance, the card seems pretty good. Roman Reigns isn’t working the event, nor is CM Punk or Rhea Ripley, but plenty of other big names are involved including Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, Gunther, Oba Femi, Liv Morgan, Iyo Sky, Jade Cargill and Yeet Man Jey Uso. There’s enough here for a really fun second tier premium live event. That being said, something feels off.

If six matches sounds like a lot, it’s probably because it is, at least for Triple H. Vince McMahon loved getting a high volume of wrestlers on the card. He’d think nothing of booking seven or eight matches at a random Backlash. Thanks to an increase in commercials and changes in booking philosophy, however, we almost always get five matches now. In fact, you have to go all the way back to Evolution in July of 2025 to find a non-Mania, non-SummerSlam card with more than five matches, and the Evolution thing was clearly because Triple H wanted to get as many women on the card as possible since it was a special event.

So, what does that mean from a practical standpoint? There are a few options. It could mean one of these matches is going to be a squash or some kind of double DQ or goofy ending that’s over quickly. It could mean a couple of these matches are just going to have a few minutes shaved off to accommodate adding another one. Or it could mean we’re going to get a longer premium live event that we’re normally used to seeing. I’m not really sure, but it’s something to look out for.

Regardless, there’s a lot to talk about here. I expect we’ll see at least one title change, maybe two, and I have some big thoughts about what WWE should do with rising mega-star Oba Femi, who is in the King Of The Ring finals. Before we get to that though, here’s a quick look at how my predictions have been going. I’ve made guesses for every PLE since WrestleMania 38, and let’s just say my winning percentage is a little higher than Bayley and Lyra Valkyria as a tag team…

Jey Uso vs Oba Femi In The Finals Of The King Of The Ring Tournament

Oba Femi is not going to lose a straight up match to Jey Uso. As hard as WWE might want to push the Yeet Man, he’s not beating Oba straight up. They let him kick out of about six Brock Lesnar finishing moves and a sneak attack before his last defeat. He’s not losing clean to Jey Uso, but it’s unclear whether we’re actually going to get a clean match here.

WWE is being really obvious that we’re going to get Brock Lesnar vs Oba Femi III at some point, probably as Lesnar’s retirement match, and rumors have been claiming for months that it’s going to happen at SummerSlam. The winner of the King Of The Ring tournament is going to face one of the WWE World Champions at SummerSlam. So, if Oba wins, that means the Lesnar match either isn’t happening at SummerSlam or he’s wrestling twice.

I don’t know. If it were me, I’d push Oba to the moon. He has the potential to be the biggest new WWE star in a long time, but I just have this feeling that Lesnar is going to show up and cost Oba, paving the way for Uso and Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam. This could really go either way, but because I’m so confident that the right storyline move here is to push Oba as hard as possible, I’m going to choose him. And not only am I going to choose him, I’m going to make a bold prediction. I think he wins King Of The Ring, retires Brock Lesnar and beats Roman Reigns to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

Predicted Winner: Oba Femi

Iyo Sky vs Liv Morgan In The Finals Of The Queen Of The Ring Tournament

What is WWE doing here? They’ve left themselves with two bad options. If Liv Morgan wins, it’ll set up a match to unify the Women’s World Championships at SummerSlam, presumably with Rhea Ripley if she’s not hurt. That sounds appealing, but I don’t really get why WWE would want to unify the championships when there’s a ton of main event level women right now who need big prizes to wrestle for. Besides, as much as I love Liv Morgan, she’s not exactly the sort of Roman Reigns or Hulk Hogan-type generational talent who would ordinarily do something so massive. Maybe Rhea Ripley is, but if she was going to be the one to unify the belts, it should probably be her quest, not something Liv does all the work to set up.

Then again, if Iyo Sky wins, we’re probably just going to turn around and run Liv and Iyo back at SummerSlam. That’s a great match, but it’s odd to make one of your marquee matchups at SummerSlam a rematch we just saw. Iyo could, of course, always win Queen Of The Ring and then challenge Rhea Ripley, but it feels like the breakdown of their friendship would warrant a much longer storybuild than that.

I don’t know. It’s been kind of fun watching Morgan brag about how she’s going to unify the belts, but I still don’t understand how this entire pitch got approved to start with.

Predicted Winner: Iyo Sky

Trick Williams (Champ) Vs Ricky Saints For The United States Championship

Unlike those first two matches, this one is really simple. Ricky Saints has a ton of potential and his crowd reactions are improving. He’s not, however, particularly over with the crowd. He’s certainly not over enough to be winning championships, and he’s nowhere even close to over enough to be beating Trick Williams, who is one of the most popular superstars in the company.

The goal here for Saints is to work a good match and continue to endear himself to the fans. The more he shines in the ring and perfects his character work, the more likely it is that he’ll become over enough to be a real threat to Trick Williams or whoever else down the road. Until then, he can, to paraphrase Trick, step aside while grown folks are talking.

Predicted Winner: Trick Williams

Seth Rollins vs Bron Breakker In A Steel Cage

I was kind of leaning toward Seth Rollins winning this match until Monday Night Raw this week. During the episode, Rollins interfered in Breakker and Austin Theory’s tag team title match against the Street Profits and cost the team their belts. Since I think this collective feud is going to continue long-term, that makes it more likely Breakker is going to win this match so the score stays relatively close.

I also think there’s a chance we’re finally going to see the return of Bronson Reed, who has been out for months with an injury. He could tip the scales back in the Vision’s favor after Logan Paul’s unfortunate injury and maybe set up a six man tag between Rollins and the Street Profits and Breakker, Theory and Reed.

Predicted Winner: Bron Breakker

Cody Rhodes (Champion) vs Gunther vs Sami Zayn for the WWE Championship

After Gunther retired AJ Styles and John Cena, I thought there was a legitimate chance he might not lose a single match in 2026. I thought he would just mow down every single person put in front of him. Instead, he just keeps losing. He lost to Cody Rhodes. Then he lost to Cody Rhodes again. Most people think he’s about to lose to Rhodes and Zayn for the third time at Night Of Champions.

Personally, I just can’t believe that. I can’t believe WWE would take the dude who has been the most unstoppable monster for the last several years and give him three straight Ls to Cody Rhodes (even if each one has been heavily protected). The long-term damage to Gunther’s aura would take way too long to recover.

Unfortunately, WWE isn’t making the most logical choices right now. I’m confident Sami Zayn is not going to win so he can continue his heel turn, but Cody Rhodes is certainly in play here. He’s already beaten Gunther twice, and WWE has repeatedly shown that it prefers to keep its main belts on its biggest stars. They may just keep the belt on Cody again and make us all wonder what the entire point of this feud with Gunther was.

Whenever I'm stuck between two outcomes, I always go with the one I think helps the characters most in the long run. For me, that's Gunther winning here.

Predicted Winner: Gunther

Tiffany Stratton (Champ) vs Jade Cargill For The Women’s United States Championship

I’m a big believer that more often than not, if you want to keep someone’s momentum going, you need to support that progress with wins. I’d argue Jade Cargill is doing the best work of her WWE career right now. Her faction with B-Fab and Michin allows a bit of the mic pressure to be taken off her, and the visual of the three together just fits. It lets Jade focus on being a monster.

With questions lingering about Rhea Ripley’s injury status, I think Triple H and company need to pull the trigger here and just let Jade run with the United States Championship for awhile. I’d like to see her stack up victories for awhile and remind everyone that she’s Jade Cargill. Sometimes it’s better to see someone dominate the midcard than continually take losses in the main event. Just ask LA Knight.

I wouldn’t write off Stratton off though. She’s been stuck in the mud for awhile, but she’s still pretty over with the crowd. She won’t beat Cargill clean, but there’s definitely a chance that Charlotte Flair could get involved, as she’s been feuding with Cargill’s faction. That might set up a match between the two at SummerSlam, but if it were me, I’d just have that match be for the United States Championship.

Predicted Winner: Jade Cargill

Earlier this month, I did my predictions for Backlash and got every single match correct. Ordinarily, that’s the sort of thing I’d jump on here and brag about Ethan Page style, but to be honest, it didn’t exactly take a Paul Heyman spoiler alert to make that happen. The Backlash card featured five matches with pretty obvious outcomes. There was no world in which red hot characters like Trick Williams and Danhausen were losing. The same cannot be said for Clash In Italy.

There is not a single match on the Clash In Italy card that I’m one hundred percent certain on, and four of the five feel like they could legitimately go either way. There’s real intrigue here, and that’s particularly exciting because it’s not exactly like we’re getting a bunch of midcard clashes. We’ve got three World Championships on the line, and the other two matches are Brock Lesnar vs Oba Femi and Becky Lynch vs Sol Ruca. We’re all gonna need to use the bathroom during those prolonged ESPN commercials because it’ll be a risk missing any of the in-ring action.

I also think there’s a chance we see at least one of those World Championships change hands, which is not something we often see outside of the major PLEs. From where I’m sitting, you could make a strong case that both Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns are in big danger, and I’m actually going to predict one of them is going to lose the title. I also think we’re going to see a big return. It should be an epic night.

Before I get into specifics though, you can take a look at my predictions record. My big 5-0 at Backlash helped push my win total even higher, but I’m a little nervous about how this is going to go. I’ve done predictions for every PLE since WrestleMania 38, and I can’t remember many with this many outcomes in doubt.

Rhea Ripley (Champion) Vs Jade Cargill For The WWE Women’s Championship

This is definitely the match I’m the most confident about. I think Rhea Ripley is going to retain here, but I want to shoutout Jade Cargill for a minute. She gave us her best match in WWE at WrestleMania, and the six woman tag she was a part of at Saturday Night’s Main Event was also terrific. She’s really coming into her own, and I really like the pairing with Michin and B Fab. For the first time in a long time, her character is really making sense to me. I’m back in and buying as much Jade Cargill stock as I can.

The problem for her right now is WWE is clearly working toward Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair. They’ve been giving us a lot of story around their shaky friendship, and it feels like the two are going to finally settle things at SummerSlam. That inevitable match makes a lot more sense if Rhea has the title and Charlotte is chasing after it. So, I think it’s very likely Rhea is going to retain.

If and when that happens, however, WWE needs to figure out something compelling for Jade to do. Maybe it’s worth moving her to Raw and having her go after Liv Morgan and her title. Jade and her backup dancers (positive comment) would be a perfect foil for Judgment Day

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley

Becky Lynch (Champion) vs Sol Ruca For The Intercontinental Championship

I don’t really think Sol Ruca is ready to win The Intercontinental Championship. Her in-ring potential is enormous. She’s put together some dynamic matches and appearances on the main roster, but she’s also still only middling on the mic and has had a few shaky moves in big moments. It seems odd to put a midcard belt on her already. I would definitely wait if I was booking the show.

But then again, I’m also not really sure I’d have her lose her first big program on the main roster.

I’m not saying Triple H and company have every new call-up immediately go undefeated en route to championships, but they normally slow build them using wins over lower card performers. Instead, Ruca was very quickly thrust into this program with Lynch where she’s looked, at times, like a future World Champion and, at times, like someone who has only been on the main roster for a month.

I think Lynch is probably going to retain in a way that continues their feud, but it’s also possible WWE gives Ruca a shock win and then tries to make her an immediate star.

Predicted Winner: Becky Lynch

Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar

I’m definitely on team Brock Lesnar should have stayed retired. I thought his send-off at WrestleMania was absolutely perfect, both as a goodbye and as an announcement that Oba Femi has arrived and is the future of the entire business. Unfortunately, that alleged retirement didn’t last a month and here we are.

From where I’m sitting in the crowd, I don’t really get how bringing Lesnar back to lose again helps anyone. He already put Femi over. Putting him over a second time doesn’t multiply the impact of what happened at ‘Mania. So, to me, none of this makes sense unless Lesnar wins. I think he’s going to give Femi his first major loss on the main roster and then he’s going to officially retire Lesnar at SummerSlam. That’s the path that makes the most logical sense to me.

To be clear, I was hoping Femi was going to be an unstoppable juggernaut for years, sorta like Lesnar was decades ago when he first made the main roster. That's how I would have booked this, but now that Lesnar is back in the picture, I think it makes the most sense to give this match to the Beast and give Femi his first bit of adversity.

Predicted Winner: Brock Lesnar

Cody Rhodes (Champion) vs Gunther for The WWE Championship

Randy Orton hasn’t been seen since WrestleMania, which is weird because it certainly felt like this feud with Cody Rhodes was going to continue. So, what’s going on? There are really only three possibilities. Maybe WWE got spooked after all the backlash to the Pat McAfee stuff and decided to just pretend like this storyline never happened. Maybe the back injury Orton is dealing with really is significant enough that WWE decided to just move on without him. Or maybe they’re just biding their time so the inevitable rematch can come at SummerSlam.

The thing is, if that rematch is going to happen anytime soon, specifically at SummerSlam, it needs to be for the WWE Championship. Orton’s entire motivation for trying to beat Rhodes was to win another Championship. He was very specifically chasing number fifteen; so, if Cody no longer has the belt, it would make sense he’d return and go after that person, which would be a less intriguing story.

Whether Orton comes back at Clash In Italy or not, I think WWE is going to keep the belt on Rhodes because sooner rather than later, they’re going to get back to Orton and Rhodes. I’d love to see Gunther win The WWE Championship for the first time, but I think the higher upside possibility is to keep the belt on Cody, at least for now. I say WWE does that, and I predict we get a surprise appearance from Orton who is instrumental to the finish.

Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes

Roman Reigns (Champion) vs Jacob Fatu For The World Heavyweight Championship

It’s not exactly a hot take to say fan excitement is down right now in WWE. There are some fun storylines and hot characters here or there, but the product feels a little safe and gasp, maybe even a bit boring. It could use an injection of surprise momentum… like say Jacob Fatu beating Roman Reigns’ ass and taking the Bloodline away from him.

We’ve already watched an all powerful Reigns build up his family, win every championship, get too cocky and get turned on by his own allies. We’ve also watched him feud with Solo’s rival Bloodline and put them down. I’d love to see Triple H and company take the story in another direction by having Reigns lose to Fatu and then disappear from television for a bit.

Fatu can play out weekly stories with Jimmy and Jey Uso, as well as Solo, Tama Tonga and company, and take everyone in a more unhinged and dangerous direction. Reigns could then return later in the summer to try and win everyone back.

I have no idea if WWE is going to let Reigns lose. He hasn’t taken many Ls in the last half decade, and WWE tends to prefer its major champions to have long title reigns. A loss here would go against pretty much everything we’ve seen Triple H do, but I really feel like it’s the right move for fans. We’ll see.

Predicted Winner: Jacob Fatu

The first night of WrestleMania 42 did not go as planned. The show was widely criticized on social media for how short the matches were, how long the commercials were and how prominently the celebrities were featured. Fortunately for WWE, the response to night two has been significantly more positive. That tracked with my own personal viewing experience too. I was disappointed with Saturday, and I absolutely loved Sunday.

Here’s the thing though. All those main criticisms of night one, in theory, could have applied to night two also. Most of the matches weren’t exactly forty-five minute masterclasses. There were, once again, too many commercials, and a celebrity played a very prominent role in one of the finishes. On paper, it has the same problems, but thanks to some key tweaks and strong individual performances, the second night felt so much better. Let’s talk about why.

The Matches Got The Right Length Of Time, Which Made A Big Difference

Night one featured seven matches, and four of them ended in less than nine minutes. Not every match needs twenty minutes, but each one needs to be long enough to tell a coherent story and build up anticipation and momentum. The problem with those four matches on night one is that they all felt like they could have been more with a little additional breathing room. Liv Morgan and Stephanie Vaquer especially seemed like they were just getting warmed up when it ended.

Night two featured six matches, and two of them went less than ten minutes. The first, Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi, was a car crash, big man style match that went just under five minutes and was exactly the length it should have been to make Oba look like the next big thing. The second short match, Trick Williams and Sami Zayn, maybe could have been better with a little more time, but it told a character-building story that elevated Williams and will allow Zayn to fully turn heel. It was right for what it was.

That’s the difference. There’s not some one size fits all formula to spreading out the WrestleMania time. It’s about treating each match as an individual entity and figuring out how long it needs to tell the story you’re trying to tell. Morgan and Vaquer got seven minutes, and it felt like something we would have seen on Raw. Rhea Ripley and Jade Cargill got ten minutes, and it felt like they delivered in a really meaningful way. The first match didn't get enough time. The second match got just the right amount of time.

The Celebrity Involvement Was An Enhancement, Not A Distraction

I want to be clear about something. Every celebrity that appeared at WrestleMania took their job seriously and performed as well as can be expected. IShowSpeed, Jelly Roll, Pat McAfee and Lil Yachty all hit their spots and delivered. Because of factors outside of their control, however, their involvements hit very differently with fans.

The first night featured IShowSpeed, Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll. Speed pulled off a wild ringpost frog splash onto the announcer’s table and had some clean in-ring moves, but his actual match, which was part of a six man tag, only went seven minutes. It also featured some sloppy in-ring work from the actual wrestlers and had a screwy finish that felt disjointed and overly goofy. I was impressed with him, but that match itself was poorly executed and awkward.

McAfee and Jelly Roll did their jobs too, but they faced an unhill battle because everyone was already frustrated with the Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes storyline they were a part of heading into ‘Mania. The two wrestlers have decades of history together, and fans wanted to see that explored in the lead-up. Instead, the build was mostly about McAfee’s return to wrestling, which would have been great as a midcard angle but felt desperate and off-tone for a WrestleMania main event. WWE smartly used Jelly Roll and McAfee to (mostly) cancel each other out at the beginning of the match, but there was just too much negative momentum.

On the other hand, Lil Yachty appeared on the second night, and he was a definite value add. He’s been coming out as Trick Williams’ hype man, and his presence feels very natural for a wrestler that’s positioning himself as a pop culture star. Yachty added something to the entrance, and he had a few confrontations outside the ring with Zayn that will help the latter continue his journey to being a full-blown heel.

The Midcard Got A Few Great Moments

Night one technically featured the Women’s Intercontinental Championship, but let’s be honest, Becky Lynch and AJ Lee are not mid-carders. The Women’s Tag Team Championship was also fought for, but once again, most of the women in the match (Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Brie Bella, Paige, Bayley, Nia Jax) don’t feel like mid-carders. They’re current or former main eventers who are currently in the tag team division.

Night two, however, gave moments to people who aren’t exactly in the main event scene, and they delivered the tone changes the show needed. First, we got an insane ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship that featured some of the craziest and most dangerous spots we’ll see on the main roster this year. Penta, JD McDonagh, Rusev, Dragon Lee, Je’Von Evans and even Rey Mysterio all bumped their asses off and got crazy in one of the best high spot matches I’ve ever seen. They all knew the assignment and delivered.

Second, we got a ridiculous segment between The Miz, Kit Wilson, Danhausen and John Cena that included little people, nut pouches and a cloud of smoke that didn’t work as intended. It was a mess in a really fun way and a good reminder that professional wrestling is supposed to hit different emotional beats. When WWE is at its best, it’s not just delivering great matches. It’s delivering comedy and weirdness too.

To Sum Up

The two nights of WrestleMania 42 sound a lot alike on paper. One will be remembered pretty negatively and one will be remembered very positively. It’s not because the talent on one night was better or because the basic structure was meaningfully different. It’s because the second night was put together much more thoughtfully. Matches were given the amount of time they needed to tell the story, which for many was just an extra two or three minutes. The celebrity that was used was integrated thoughtfully in a way that didn’t overshadow what happened. There was real balance with a midcard presence that included both goofy comedy and high-flying acrobatics.

In retrospect, this could have been a two night banger. If Liv and Stephanie had gotten a few more minutes... If the Usos and LA Knight vs The Vision and IShowSpeed was put together like a real match and not an excuse to generate a big moment… If some of the great midcard characters left off the card had been. included… If Jelly Roll and Pat McAfee had been incorporated more thoughtfully into a midcard program and Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes were allowed to tell the story we wanted to see… If only everything would have been treated a little more thoughtfully like it was on night 2, we could just be celebrating a fantastic ‘Mania instead of talking about the stark contrast.

Let’s just be honest. The Road To WrestleMania 42 hasn’t been as well-paved as planned this year. Injuries have piled up. There’s been a few questionable booking decisions, and fans are really in their feelings about the Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton and Pat McAfee situation. With the exception of Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar, you could make a case that not a single storyline has had a home run build, and yet, despite all that, there’s a chance WrestleMania 42 could still be a banger.

The dirty little secret about WrestleManias is that pre-show hype doesn’t necessarily translate to a well-reviewed show. Yes, you need hot characters paying off hot builds to get to that all-time great WrestleMania 17 level. I don’t think there’s anything WrestleMania 42 could be to get on that level at this point, but to please fans and be fondly remembered, you just need most of your matches to be fun to watch. Three or four bangers, a half dozen or so really good matches and most of the rest being pretty fun puts you in the top half pretty easily.

The good news for WWE is that there’s enough talent on this card to do that. In fact, if everyone performs even close to the level they’re capable of, this ‘Mania should be good. Problems with the build aside, a lot of wrestlers have been put in matches that, in theory, showcase their strengths, and I have a hard time believing Gunther and Seth Rollins or Stephanie Vaquer and Liv Morgan won’t over-deliver, whether I personally would have built them differently. Plus, throw in John Cena as host, and there's a lot to work with.

Before we get into the specifics though, let’s take a quick look at my track record on predictions from the most recent Big 4 PPVs, as well as my overall record dating back to WrestleMania 38...

Logan Paul, Austin Theory and IShowSpeed vs The Usos and LA Knight

Six man tag team matches with basically no stakes are notoriously hard to predict. I felt strongly that Paul and Theory needed to win the tag team titles to keep The Vision relevant, but now that they’ve done that, all possible outcomes are in play here. On the one hand, it’s appealing to pick IShowSpeed because, despite recent history, celebrities have a strong track record of winning at WrestleMania. On the other hand, it’s appealing to pick The Usos and LA Knight because the whole story here is how IShowSpeed doesn’t really seem to want to be aligned with Paul and Theory, who have kinda sorta forced him into this.

I think the most likely scenario is probably IShowSpeed turning on Theory and Paul and helping the babyfaces to a win, but you could tell me pretty much anything about this match and I’d believe it. You could tell me iShowSpeed is gonna stick around WWE and feud with Logan Paul, and I’d believe it. You could tell me Bron Breakker is going to return and help his stablemates win, and I’d believe it. You could tell me Danhausen is going to get involved and double down on his IShowSpeed curse to help the babyfaces win. No scenario is too outlandish here.

Predicted Winner: The Usos and LA Knight

Jacob Fatu vs Drew McIntyre

What a weird run it has been for Drew McIntyre. He’s the only person not named Cody Rhodes, John Cena or Roman Reigns in the last four years to hold the WWE Championship. His work with CM Punk is probably the best non-Bloodline feud WWE has given us in at least a half decade. He’s been a constant presence in key storylines, and yet, you could make the case that he really deserved more. In my opinion, he was the hottest character on the roster for almost a year, and many fans still have a sour taste in their mouth that he’s not walking into this ‘Mania as champion.

That being said, I think he’s probably going to lose here. Rumors are swirling that he’s going to take a break from programming for a bit to film the new Highlander movie, but even if he wasn’t, I’d have a hard time predicting him because of how mean he’s been to Jacob Fatu during this story. He’s repeatedly talked about Fatu’s past run-ins with the law in a way that’s felt demeaning and mean-spirited. That may not have mattered under Vince McMahon, but I think Triple H and company want to tell uplifting stories with broad messages like you can overcome your past.

Plus, WWE needs to heat Jacob Fatu back up again. I’m not saying he’s cold, but he’s been hotter and has more potential. I think fans would get behind him if WWE truly pushed him to the top of the card. This could be the time when that starts.

Predicted Winner: Jacob Fatu

Stephanie Vaquer (Champion) vs Liv Morgan For The Women’s World Championship

I really wish WWE would have devoted more time to this build because what we have gotten has been really good. Vaquer and Morgan have exchanged some fiery promos and gone at each other backstage in a way that’s felt personal and a little dangerous. Fans like both of the characters, and it sucks that one of them is going to lose and take a step back momentum wise.

To me, this all comes down to what Triple H and the writers want to do with Judgment Day. I love Vaquer and think she has an incredibly bright future in WWE, but to me, the most exciting long-term storyline WWE can tell involves Morgan and her Judgment Day stablemate Raquel Rodriguez. Putting the belt on Morgan and giving us an extended storyline of teases and an eventual turn on each other would be a fantastic program leading into SummerSlam.

The other possibility, of course, is that Rodriguez or her stablemate Roxanne Perez accidentally cost Morgan her chance at the title here and that leads into a storyline about Judgment Day fully imploding. That’s definitely on the table and would keep the belt on Vaquer, but that’s not the route I would take.

Predicted Winner: Liv Morgan

AJ Lee (Champion) vs Becky Lynch For The Women’s Intercontinental Championship

WWE has shown an openness to part-time champions in the past. Much has been made about Roman Reigns and his inconsistent schedule over the last few years, but even before him, the company has also gone down that same road with Brock Lesnar. AJ Lee, as beloved as she may be, however, doesn’t have that same level of cultural relevance or ability to move tickets.

I also think the Intercontinental Championship is fundamentally different than the World Titles. The whole point of the championship is it’s supposed to be defended on a regular basis, both on television and on premium live events. I don’t think having a part-time champion serves the division, and given what we’ve seen since her big return, there’s no reason to think AJ Lee is going to be around on a weekly basis post-Mania.

Because of that, I think this has to be Becky Lynch. She’s one of the biggest stars in the women’s division and has really helped elevate the Intercontinental Championship to a different level after it was introduced. I think there are a lot of fun stories she can tell if she gets the belt back, and I think giving her a second loss to AJ after she dropped the title to her initially does long-term damage to her character.

Predicted Winner: Becky Lynch

The Irresistible Forces (Nia Jax And Lash Legend) vs Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs Bayley and Lyra Valkyria vs The Bella Twins

I think there’s a title run at some point in the Bella Twins’ future, but I’m going to rule them out here because of how little they’ve been on TV in recent weeks. Nikki is rehabbing an injury that left her ‘Mania status in question for awhile, and it just feels like they haven’t been built enough to get their big moment. If I were WWE, I’d definitely save that for later.

I’m also less high on Bayley and Lyra Valkyria than most of the more vocal fans on social media. Yes, Bayley got a nice reaction in San Jose recently where she’s from, but Alexa and Charlotte are significantly more over with the average fan. I think their storyline needs to take priority. If WWE is going to keep them in the tag team division, they should put the belts on them. If they’re going to break them up and implode their relationship, they should put the belts on them first and give them another run of success so they can tease a will they or won’t they for awhile.

That being said, it’s also possible WWE could just be planning to move Charlotte and Alexa back to the singles division without breaking them up, saving that plotline for later. If that’s the case, then I would just keep the titles on Nia and Lash. They work well together as a pair of monster heels, and I think you could tell a fun story by turning them into an unbeatable duo with an extended title run.

Predicted Winner: Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss

Seth Rollins vs Gunther

This has match of the night written all over it. Rollins and Gunther are probably the two best in-ring performers WWE has, at least amongst those at the very top of the card, and the lack of a storyline here shouldn’t stop them from cooking in the ring. I expect a twenty minute war that plays into their size difference and allows both men to show off why they’re among the best in the world.

The original plan was reportedly for Gunther to retire Rey Mysterio and Rollins to feud with Bron Breakker, but injury concerns forced the last minute switch to working with each other. I don’t think WWE is going to want either of these guys to take a clean loss; so, my guess is we’re going to get a Gunther victory that’s related to some kind of interference from Bron Breakker. That would allow Rollins to move into an extended feud with the new leader of The Vision, and it would allow Gunther to continue looking like an unstoppable monster.

Predicted Winner: Gunther

Cody Rhodes (Champion) vs Randy Orton For The WWE Championship

No WrestleMania match has been talked about more than this one. Unfortunately, it’s mostly been for pretty negative reasons. The early build to the story was very underwhelming and suffered from a serious lack of depth and creativity. Seemingly in a panic, Pat McAfee (possibly on the orders of WWE’s parent company TKO) was introduced into the story, and his inclusion has not gone over well with wrestling fans, particularly those on social media. He’s felt to many like a distraction, given Rhodes and Orton have decades of shared storylines and personal history, and McAfee has none of that.

I don’t really know how WWE can get out of this cleanly. McAfee announced he would never participate in WWE programming again if Orton loses. I’m not sure that’s a promise WWE wants to make, given he’s got a long history of working commentary and TKO really wants to push WWE’s partnership with ESPN, a network McAfee has a morning show on. Then again, I’m also not sure WWE wants to double down on a storyline that’s clearly not working with a huge segment of fans. If Orton wins, it’s going to be weird if McAfee just disappears from television immediately, though I suppose that’s exactly what happened last year with Travis Scott.

This whole thing is a mess. There was a way to do this, with better planning and a more coherent storyline, that could have worked. That didn’t happen; so, now, WWE needs to choose the less bad of the options in front of them. I think that’s keeping the belt on Cody, but I think WWE is just gonna keep digging the whole deeper.

Predicted Winner: Randy Orton

Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar

This has been the best build by a gigantic margin, and the story is as straight ahead as can be. Brock is the biggest, baddest dude on the playground and has been for decades. He called out everyone in the locker room, and Oba Femi stepped up and answered the call. In the time since, we’ve gotten a few brief physical exchanges, but in general, it’s just been two dudes using their natural charisma and connection with the fans to create hype.

Lesnar is widely expected to retire later this year, probably at SummerSlam in August. I hear the argument that you should keep him strong before his final match, which will probably be against Gunther, but personally, I think he needs to put Oba Femi over. WWE desperately needs to make some new stars. All four of the WrestleMania main eventers this year are 40 or older. Femi is 27 and looks to have near unlimited potential. In just a few short months, he’s gotten over with both hardcore and casual fans, and it’s not unreasonable to think he may be the favorite to win The Royal Rumble next year. Sometimes you need to do things for the future of the business.

Predicted Winner: Oba Femi

Penta (Champion) vs Je’Von Evans, Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee, JD McDonagh and Rusev for The Intercontinental Championship in a Ladder Match

Just like Gunther and Seth Rollins from night one, this match is the odds on favorite to be the standout of night two. There’s so much in-ring talent here, and when you throw in the ladder match stipulation, there’s the potential for some truly insane high spots and choreographed sequences. Evans, Lee and McDonagh are also likely going to go all-out, as this’ll be the first time each has made the ‘Mania card.

Matches with this many people are always panic attack city for predictions, but I actually feel pretty good about Penta. There’s some buzz around Je’Von Evans online, but he’s still really nice to the roster and could use some more seasoning on his promos. Penta has maintained his white hot popularity for more than a year, and to me, there’s just no reason why you’d want to take the title off him. Plus, TKO is invested in growing AAA, and Penta is a legend over there, as well.

Predicted Winner: Penta

Jade Cargill (Champion) vs Rhea Ripley for The WWE Women’s Championship

This match is clearly the product of the original creative not working out. Cargill was almost certainly being positioned to work with Bianca Belair, but unfortunately, she’s had setbacks in her recovery from a severely broken finger. Ripley was likely going to work with Iyo Sky, either as a tag team or against each other, but at some point, the decision was made to put Cargill and Ripley together to essentially make the biggest available title match possible amongst the women who didn’t have a locked in match.

I think who wins, once again, likely comes down to Bianca Belair. If WWE is confident Belair is going to be back shortly, I think they’re going to keep the title on Cargill so we can finally get that long-anticipated program with as high of stakes as possible. If her future is uncertain, at least in the short-term, I think WWE is going to pivot and put the belt on Rhea Ripley. She’s the biggest star in the entire business, and while Cargill has been coming along in both her promos and in-ring work, I think the company is not going to want to keep its biggest female star title-less for much longer.

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley

Sami Zayn (Champion) vs Trick Williams for The United States Championship

This might be the easiest match to predict on the entire card. Trick Williams is a rising star. He’s getting main event level reactions from the crowd, and it feels like apart from The Miz, he’s doing more media appearances than anyone on the roster. Sami Zayn, on the other hand, seems to be in the middle of a slow heel turn. He’s getting booed out of the building and borderline cheating to win matches.

A win here would push Trick to the next level, and it would allow Zayn to disappear and return as the full-fledged heel many fans have been wanting for the better part of a year. It just makes so much business sense, and also, it would suck all of the energy out of WrestleMania if Zayn held onto the title. This would be such an easy way to give the crowd a win they’re clamoring for, which is desperately needed right now given how sour fans have been on creative lately.

Predicted Winner: Trick Williams

The Demon Finn Bálor vs Dominik Mysterio

A lot of predictors have gone broke over the last few years betting on Finn Bálor to win matches. Every time it feels like the fans are ready and the storyline is there for him to have a big moment, he somehow finds a way to lose again. It’s obvious the creatives just don’t see as much potential in him as the rest of us do. That being said, Finn has to win this match, right?

I feel like a broken record continuing to ride for him, but if he gets kicked out of Judgment Day, brings back his Demon persona and loses as the babyface to a Dominik Mysterio who has been crushed on screen by Danhausen, we probably need to have some hard conversations about his future at that point.

So, yeah, I’m going to ride with Finn Bálor one more time. It makes me really nervous given everything we’ve seen recently, but that right play is obviously for him to win this match. That gives WWE maximum options. He can continue to work against Judgment Day and try to dismantle the group from the outside. He can go out on his own and chase a midcard title. The path is there for something fun. Besides, a loss is not going to hurt Mysterio long-term.

Predicted Winner: Finn Bálor

CM Punk (Champion) Vs Roman Reigns For The World Heavyweight Championship

WWE is in a bit of a slump right now. Even the fans who aren’t vocally complaining about the product are definitely not at a passionate high point in their fandom. Something needs to change, and my guess is those involved are going to rewind the clock to try and do that. The high point during the TKO era has definitely been WrestleMania 40, which is the last moment Reigns was champion. I’m not saying it was all downhill from there, but clearly, the run up to that ‘Mania is what fans look back at the most fondly.

Reigns is the biggest star in the business, and while he’s definitely a part-timer these days, he certainly ramped up his appearances in the lead-up to this ‘Mania. My guess is WWE puts the title back on him, and he agrees to increase the number of times a month he’s on the show. I’m not saying he’s going to be around every week, but he might do 2/3rds of the time in exchange for another title run, which is enough for WWE to create stories around.

Plus, as much as I love CM Punk, he’s better when he’s fired up and chasing something. He’s been a fine champion, but it might give him a little extra jolt of something to lose the belt and be able to reposition himself in the coming months.

Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns

We’re less than two months away from WrestleMania 42, and it’s a big yikes right now. I’m not normally one of those social media trolls crying about the state of WWE during every rope break, but even I’m ready to admit we need to listen to the referee’s count. There’s a serious lack of hot characters and compelling storylines.

Ordinarily, Elimination Chamber is WWE’s last big chance to inject some momentum, but it’s hard to even see how they do that this year. There’s no John Cena heel turn coming. Jade Cargill is not returning to attack Naomi. We’re almost certainly not going to get a big, splashy moment, but with fourteen or fifteen matches to book in the next six weeks, I’m hopeful we can at least make some meaningful forward progress in smaller ways.

Let’s use CM Punk and Finn Bálor as an example. We all know Punk is going to win. WWE is already advertising his match with Roman Reigns at ‘Mania, but I suspect Triple H and company will use the match to give Bálor a new path, possibly in opposition to Dominik Mysterio. I think we’ll see something similar inside the Elimination Chamber with Alexa Bliss. I don’t think she’s going to win the match, but I do think we’ll get a key plot point in her story with Charlotte Flair.

I expect a lot of little things like that. I also think there’s a chance we could see WWE pull an all-time surprise with LA Knight (YEAH!).

Before I get to that though, here’s a quick look back at my predictions record. I’ve been doing these for every WWE PLE since WrestleMania 38. I’m not exactly a prime Hulk Hogan (that doesn’t work for me, brother), but I’ve been right a lot more than I’ve been wrong. You can check out some of the bigger recent events, plus my overall record...

Becky Lynch (Champion) vs AJ Lee For The Women’s Intercontinental Championship

Why is this not happening at WrestleMania? I get AJ Lee lives in Chicago. It makes sense to feature her on the card, but there’s no way WWE decided to use her here and not WrestleMania, right? I have to imagine she’s going to work both dates, and since Becky Lynch would still be the person she would probably work with at ‘Mania, I have to imagine AJ is going to win here, right?

My guess is AJ Lee wins this match, maybe by some kind of flukey means, and that sets up a WrestleMania rematch with a bigger stipulation. Maybe it’s Hell in a Cell. Maybe it’s a street fight. I’m not really sure of the specifics, but AJ Lee would have to walk in as champion or why else would she get another title shot barely a month after losing her match?

Besides, this is AJ Lee’s first singles match since returning to WWE. If they’re planning on keeping her character at a high level, she probably shouldn’t be losing her first match back in the fold.

Predicted Winner: AJ Lee

CM Punk (Champion) vs Finn Bálor For The World Heavyweight Championship

This might be the easiest match I have ever predicted in the history of doing these predictions. Right now, the biggest selling point for WrestleMania is CM Punk and Roman Reigns squaring off for The World Heavyweight Championship. They’ve already made the marketing materials. I love the chaos of an unexpected swerve, but a shock upset would make no sense here. Finn Bálor is going to lose.

That being said, I’m very hopeful he is going to lose in a way that will lead to him having something compelling to do at WrestleMania. The most likely scenario is Dominik Mysterio trying to help him and accidentally costing him the match, but it also might be as simple as he loses, gets roasted by Judgment Day and that causes him to quit the group. Maybe that leads to an IC Title match at ‘Mania or maybe that leads to a new storyline for him and JD McDonagh. Either way, instead of rooting for a straight up win, Bálor fans need to be rooting for something interesting for him to do.

Predicted Winner: CM Punk

Tiffany Stratton vs Rhea Ripley vs Kiana James vs Asuka vs Alexa Bliss vs Raquel Rodriguez In The Women’s Elimination Chamber For A Championship Match At WrestleMania

Now that the final Elimination Chamber qualifier is over, I'm jumping back in here to rewrite my paragraph. Raquel Rodriguez officially booked her ticket to Chicago, which was a bit of a question mark since Iyo Sky was also in the match. Her presence opens up some interesting possibilities I want to go over.

First, there's a chance Raquel could straight up win here. Liv Morgan seemed to pick Stephanie Vaquer as her WrestleMania opponent, but did she really? She just attacked her and walked out of the ring. What if Raquel wins here and says she also wants to face Raquel? That would create a really compelling triple threat storyline at a time where WWE really needs some of these stories to start popping off.

It's also quite interesting that Iyo Sky is not in the Elimination Chamber. I thought we might get some kind of crazy moment between her and BFF Rhea Ripley that could lead to a WrestleMania match between the two of them. The fact that she's not here probably means WWE doesn't want to see them cross each other and create conflict.

So, does that make Rhea a possible winner? Rhea Ripley is a possible winner every time she walks into the ring. She's one of the biggest stars in the company. None of the creative we've gotten for the last year has pointed to her facing Jade Cargill at 'Mania. Her entire storyline has revolved around Iyo Sky. It would be bizarre for the two of them not to interact, but since Bianca seems to be injured and was likely the OG Jade plan, it's possible the writers could decide to change course and just have Rhea win.

I also think there's a small possibility we could see Alexa Bliss win. We need some forward progress in her storyline with Charlotte Flair. The Queen has pretended to be happy for her tag team partner and BFF since she secured her spot in the Chamber, but would she continue to be happy if she got a title shot at 'Mania while Charlotte was left out in the cold? That could be a compelling storyline.

I'd personally prefer the Raquel angle, but I'm going to go with Tiffany Stratton. Jade injured her and took the title to end her run as champion, and the easiest pivot away from Bianca without creating a domino effect that messes up other storylines would be to have Tiffany Stratton win. I'm not sure fans would be overly excited for that match, but they're both main eventers with a ready made backstory that need something to do at 'Mania.

Predicted Winner: Tiffany Stratton

Randy Orton vs LA Knight vs Cody Rhodes vs Je’Von Evans vs Trick Williams vs Jey Uso In The Men’s Elimination Chamber For A Championship Match At WrestleMania

Who knows what’s going on with The WWE Championship? The current holder is Drew McIntyre, and he’s been calling Rhodes and Jacob Fatu both out in promos for weeks. He also attacked Randy Orton during the last episode of SmackDown. Many fans think WWE is trying to set up some kind of triple threat or fatal four way at WrestleMania. Maybe.

I think there are three possibilities here, one of which I want more than the others. The first is that the simplest solution is the one we’re going to get. Cody Rhodes has been the face of WWE for awhile, and it would be weird not to put him in a championship match at ‘Mania. He’s had an ongoing feud with Drew, and there’s a strong chance he’s just going to win and we’ll get the rematch we’ve all expected since Drew won the title.

The second possibility is that this multi-man match happens. Most likely, Cody still wins the Elimination Chamber, but thanks to some shenanigans, we end up with at least Jacob Fatu and maybe also Randy Orton all working together. That kind of sounds like a mess to me, but since WWE knows fans are down on Drew vs Cody, this may be the simplest pivot that allows Cody to still fight for a championship.

To me, the best answer is to go with someone random and unexpected, and while I love Trick Williams and see a ton of potential in Je'Von Evans, the answer is LA Knight. Fans have been dying to see him get his moment for three years now. He just keeps hanging around the main event scene, and despite losing every single big match, he’s remained incredibly over with the crowd. If WWE would give him some real momentum, fans would get behind him in a really big way.

I get Drew McIntyre and LA Knight isn’t a match for casuals who rarely watch the product, but right now, WWE needs storylines actual hardcore fans are invested in. They need to get anything hot, and we would all be hot for LA Knight finally getting his moment. This is the best way to inject some surprise and unexpected excitement into Mania season. Triple H and company can figure out something else to do with Cody Rhodes.

Is my preferred option actually going to happen? Probably not. I should pick Cody, but I feel so strongly that LA Knight is the right answer here that I'm picking LA Knight. YEAH!

Predicted Winner: LA Knight

The Royal Rumble is obviously a fantastic gimmick match, but I think the reason why it’s so popular is because it feels like the start of something. Yes, factually it begins the Road To WrestleMania, but informally, it also serves as a new beginning for every single WWE superstar. It doesn’t matter if they were buried at the bottom of the card or competing for championships in 2025. It’s a new day, and for everyone on the entire roster, it’s our first clue as to what we, as fans, can expect.

Yes, the biggest story is always about who wins and gets to fight for a championship at WrestleMania, but deeper than that, there are dozens and dozens of takeaways. For someone lower on the card and fighting for airtime, merely getting a spot in the Rumble can be a sign of hope that WWE plans on using that character moving forward. For someone in the midcard, an unexpectedly deep run can be a sign that they’re about to get a push. For uppercard guys, a notable conflict or heated elimination can be a sign of who they’re going to work with over the next few months or even into WrestleMania.

This article isn’t about subplots inside the Rumble though. It’s about predicting who is actually going to win the thing. As a fan, I’m stoked because it’s as wide open as last year when Jey Uso shocked everyone. This isn’t 2023 where everyone knew Cody Rhodes was going to come back and win. This isn’t 2024 where the fans were overwhelmingly pushing for Bayley. The women’s Rumble is extremely wide open with a a half dozen or so credible winners, and while Roman Reigns is the betting favorite for a variety of reasons, I’m going to pour some cold water on that later in the article.

Before I talk out what I think is going to happen, however, let’s take a quick look back at how my predictions have been going. I’ve made my guesses for every single PLE since WrestleMania 38, and while I’ve had my share of misses, I’ve also proven I’m right a lot more often than I’m wrong. Here's a look at the biggest events last year, plus my overall record...

Drew McIntyre (Champion) Vs Sami Zayn For The WWE Championship

I didn’t want any part of this match. I wrote an entire article pleading with WWE not to go down this road, but unfortunately, here we are in a lose-lose situation. We’ve all watched the plucky underdog Sami Zayn vow over and over again that he’ll win a World Championship at some point, and we’ve all watched him lose repeatedly in heartbreaking fashion, despite having some all-time crowd support. Now, we get to watch the same thing again.

Zayn is arguably the most popular WWE superstar in all of Saudi Arabia, and he is going to be cheered like a conquering hero with the Middle Eastern fans firmly behind him. As always, he’ll put on a spectacular match, but I just don’t see how WWE can take the title off Drew McIntyre this quickly. He just won it from Cody Rhodes, and while the Fed isn’t opposed to using brief transitional champions to move the belt from one babyface to another, I think Drew McIntyre should be a lot more than a transitional champion. Fans have wanted to see the belt back on him for years.

Maybe we’ll see Zayn lose this match and come back for The Royal Rumble, making him an even more sympathetic babyface. Maybe yet another loss in a key spot will facilitate a heel turn. There are a lot of options here, but I think the worst one among them all is taking the belt off Drew.

Predicted Winner: Drew McIntyre

Gunther Vs AJ Styles (Styles Must Retire From WWE If He Loses)

Back when Gunther and Styles first started feuding, I assumed the former was going to retire the latter at WrestleMania. Gunther has already taken out Goldberg and John Cena in their retirement matches, and it would be a great next step for his bruising and vicious Ring General to add Styles’ name to his list of victims. This feels way sooner than expected though.

WWE has been saying for months that 2026 would be AJ Styles’ last year, but it’s not even February yet! He can’t possibly go out this quickly, right? He can’t possibly be out of WWE before Mania, right?

Well, the truth is we don’t know. Rumors are swirling that Styles’ contract might be up in February. It’s also a bit weird to think about Styles having multiple retirement matches in the same year. Maybe he could beat Gunther and go out on his own terms later, but it feels like a setback for Gunther’s character to brag about retiring legends and then lose to a legend in his retirement match, even if he gets the win back later.

If this is really it for AJ Styles, I hope he goes out with his head held high after another all-time legendary match. The Phenomenal One will be remembered as one of the all-time great in-ring technicians. Like Kurt Angle, Bret Hart and others, he was able to work across a variety of styles and at many different paces, always making his opponent look great and always getting over with the fans. He’ll be missed.

Predicted Winner: Gunther

Women’s Royal Rumble

There’s no clear favorite in the women’s Royal Rumble, though I’d say the most chatter has been around Liv Morgan. The fan favorite leader of Judgment Day recently returned from injury and putting her in a huge WrestleMania program feels like the next step in her career. She absolutely has the mic skills to handle being in the spotlight, and it would create a lot of fun drama within Judgment Day since her longtime friend and stablemate Raquel has been feuding for the world title and could conceivably win it.

There’s also a lot of noise around Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky. The Tag Team Champions are main event levels of over, and given how incredible their prior matches have been, many fans would like to see them work together in a program at WrestleMania. It wouldn’t need one of the big belts to draw interest, but putting the belt on one of them would turn it into a contender to main event one of the nights. The best way to do that would be to have one of them win the Rumble and have the other win the title at Elimination Chamber of an upcoming event.

There are also plenty of people who you could put into the outside chance category. Becky Lynch is doing the best work of her entire career, and despite being Intercontinental Champion, we could all buy her character entering and winning the Rumble and then vowing to become double champion at Mania. Tiffany Stratton was also world champion prior to her injury and is all kinds of over with the crowd. She could return and challenge current champ Jade Cargill who took her out, and it would all make sense as part of a long-term story. I’ll also throw out Asuka, Nia Jax, AJ Lee and even Chelsea Green, who is always a threat to move up the card given her popularity.

I’m going to go with Bianca Belair though. She’s been out with an injury for nine months, and WWE desperately needs her back. The program with Jade Cargill that’s been built and teased for years needs to be paid off and is the highest upside non-Rhea and Iyo program WWE has available in its women’s division. Yes, she’s won a Rumble before, but that was at a very different spot in her career. We don’t know for sure if she’ll be cleared to come back, but if she does, this is who I’m putting my money on.

Predicted Winner: Bianca Belair

Men’s Royal Rumble

Roman Reigns is the odds on favorite to win the Royal Rumble, and it’s easy to see why. With John Cena officially retired, he’s the biggest star with the biggest fanbase and the most aura on WWE’s entire roster. If The Rock isn’t going to be around, Roman being the face of WrestleMania 42 is the best way to attract casual fans and bring lapsed ones back into the fold, which is always a goal at The Showcase Of The Immortals. He’s also super over in Saudi Arabia, and it would feel redeeming to give him another Rumble win, given his 2015 victory was booed and is widely considered one of the biggest creative missteps in company history.

But until Roman proves he’s actually going to be around week in and week out, he should not be winning the Royal Rumble. Period. I love Roman, but what’s always going to matter more to WWE’s bottom line is creating good storylines and television that people are invested in. That requires characters who are going to be on the show every week to help build a real story, which can’t be done if he’s on six scattered episodes of television between now and Mania.

Roman is the biggest star of his generation. There is always going to be a spot at WrestleMania if he wants to work it, but if he wants to go back to being the guy, he needs to work a full schedule. Being the main character comes with responsibilities. If he wants to work a Brock Lesnar schedule to protect his body and/ or to try to give Hollywood a go, that's a perfectly reasonable choice. He just shouldn't be doing that and winning the Rumble.

To me, the highest upside proposition for WWE is to create a new star, and the best way to create a new star is to have Oba Femi walk into WWE and win the Royal Rumble in his first year. Triple H, Bruce Prichard and company clearly know what they have. He vacated the NXT Championship instead of losing it before coming to the main roster. They’ve been running regular vignettes to get the fans prepared for him, and his showcase match with Cody Rhodes at Saturday Night’s Main Event ended without a clear finish. Everyone is expecting him to get a big spotlight at the Rumble, but I’d like to see WWE do something truly daring and have him win.

I think Reigns and Femi are the two most likely contenders, but there are some other choices to consider too. Bron Breakker should be considered a real contender, as he seems on a collision course with CM Punk for The World Heavyweight Championship. Sami Zayn could easily lose his match to Drew McIntyre and then enter the Rumble for another chance, which the crowd would get very behind. Finn Bálor is about to turn babyface and the fans seem really eager to push him. LA Knight is still waiting for his big moment and was featured prominently in a recent Unreal episode. Cody Rhodes is Cody Rhodes and is always a threat to win any Rumble he’s in.

I'm going to go with my heart instead of my head here though. I'm going to take the outcome I think is best for WWE.

Predicted Winner: Oba Femi

There have certainly been WarGames matches with better builds than what we’re getting this year, but I’m not sure we have ever had more star power in a single match than what we’re getting on the men’s side this year. With all due respect to The Road Warriors, The Four Horsemen, Dusty Rhodes, Hulk Hogan and other legends who fought in the cage many times, the shared starpower here is extraordinary.

Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk and Brock Lesnar are all at least in the conversation to be on a list of the 10 biggest stars in the history of the wrestling business. Jimmy and Jey Uso are one of the greatest tag teams in the history of the business, and Drew McIntyre is a slam dunk future first ballot WWE Hall of Famer.

Logan Paul has clearly fallen in love with the business and if he stays on his current trajectory, he’s also going to be and should be a Hall of Famer someday. Bron Breakker is widely considered the most promising wrestling prospect in the entire business and Bronson Reed likely has at least one reign in his future with a World Championship. There’s an outside chance every single person in this match could be in the WWE Hall of Fame some day.

Now, whether the story comes together in a meaningful way is unclear. There's a reason Survivor Series has slipped compared to the other Big 4 PLEs. We’ll have to see whether the match is written like a glorified greatest hits house show or proves to be a big character building step toward whatever we get at WrestleMania. Fingers crossed it’s the latter.

Regardless, the other matches should pay off some storylines with a bit more simmer. Stephanie Vaquer and Nikki Bella are going to pay off their friendship turned rivals storyline. John Cena and Dominik Mysterio are going to have their long-awaited rematch, which should feature a really hot crowd in Dom’s hometown of San Diego, and there’s a lot of swirling tension and long-building storylines intersecting in the women’s WarGames match.

Before I get into what’s probably going to happen though, here’s a look back at my track record in WWE predictions, which I’ve done for every PLE since WrestleMania 38. I've highlighted the bigger events this year, plus my overall tally...

Men's WarGames Match: Brock Lesnar, Drew McIntyre, Logan Paul, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed vs Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Jey Uso And Big Jim Uso

It’s hard picking a winner in a match like this when it’s unclear what story WWE is trying to tell. Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed vs all the babyfaces on the Raw roster has a been a recurring theme over the last several months. Their manager Paul Heyman has lingering bad blood with Roman Reigns and CM Punk. Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre have already had multiple world championship matches over the past few months and are still actively feuding. There are definitely story beats here and threads the writers can use, but they’re all pulling in a lot of different directions.

I’ve been saying for months that WWE needs to make The Vision stronger. They need to make Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker legitimate main event threats in the absence of former stable leader Seth Rollins. They’ve flirted with doing that a bit, as Reed picked up a huge win over Roman Reigns and Breakker seems likely to win The World Heavyweight Championship at some point, but they need to do more to get them there. They still feel a step behind the true main eventers in this match.

I’d like to think this will be their big breakout moment, but sometimes Triple H, Bruce Prichard and company have a hard time pulling the trigger. Drew McIntyre has felt ready to break out and be a World Champion again since his epic feud with CM Punk, but he just keeps losing in every big moment. LA Knight has been main event levels of over for literally years, and he’s still never won a World Championship. So, I don’t know. I want to say this is the moment the villains assert control and push WWE in an exciting new direction, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

Predicted Winner: The Good Guys

The Women’s WarGames Match: Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky and AJ Lee Vs Becky Lynch, Kairi Sane, Asuka, Nia Jax and Lash Legend

Becky Lynch has been on one of the best runs of her entire career. I’m personally enjoying her more in this very moment than I ever have, and that’s saying a lot, given I think she’s one of the best female wrestlers ever. Asuka and Kairi Sane also have a nice little abusive plotline going that’ll probably end with the two of them having a WrestleMania match. I also like seeing Lash Legend on the main roster and think she’s a great fit working alongside Nia Jax, who has been mostly terrific since her re-hiring. I like this villains team.

But come’on. Whatever happens in this match will have to do with advancing the plot for the superstars on the faces. We’ve seen a lot of tension between Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair. Everyone is kinda expecting that, at some point, we’ll see a breakdown in the relationships of Charlotte and Alexa Bliss and Rhea and Iyo Sky. It’s entirely possible those will literally be WrestleMania matches too. I think it’s a little too early to see them turn on each other though; so, I’m going to be really basic here and say babyfaces stand tall.

Predicted Winner: The Faces

Stephanie Vaquer (Champion) Vs Nikki Bella For The Women’s World Championship

Nikki Bella is only three years older than Charlotte Flair and is two years younger than Asuka, but she rose to prominence during a time when women’s wrestling was transitioning from an era that was mostly about personality and showmanship to an era that demands high level in-ring work. Bella is capable between the ropes and is partly responsible for the much higher expectations fans now have for women’s matches, but there are times in which she still feels more like a legend returning than a current WWE superstar.

That’s not a bad thing. I’ve loved all the recent runs we’ve gotten from Trish Stratus, as an example, but I never expected Trish to beat Tiffany Stratton when they fought for the title. Similarly, I don’t expect Nikki Bella to beat Stephanie Vaquer for the title. That doesn’t mean I can’t visualize a scenario in the future in which she’s World Champion again, but she needs to get the audience to buy in a little more and get just a hair faster and more aggressive in the ring to be on that main event level.

Once again to be clear, I absolutely love Nikki. I’m glad she’s back in WWE. I want to see her on my screen every week, but I think she’s going to need to get a storyline a little more over with the audience to pick up the momentum she needs to be seen on that top tier.

Predicted Winner: Stephanie Vaquer

John Cena (Champion) Vs Dominik Mysterio For The Intercontinental Championship

I think it’s easier to think about this match by working backwards. This will be, most likely, Cena’s second to last match in WWE. So, do we think he’ll defend the Intercontinental Championship during his last match? Do we think he’ll lose his last match? If so, do we think WWE would have him lose two consecutive matches to end his career?

I think that last question is the most important one. I know Sting won his retirement match and there are a lot of wrestling fans clamoring to see Cena go out on top, but I think he’s an old school guy and is going to want to go out on his back. I think he’ll probably lose to Gunther in one final send-off, which means, I think, he really needs to win here.

A loss is not going to hurt Dominik Mysterio, and in some ways, it might actually help elevate him. He’s emerged as one of the biggest stars in the entire wrestling business, and there’s no reason to think his cheat-to-win, heelish tactics will be forever limited to the midcard. He could absolutely be a world champion. At this point, he could even win the Royal Rumble. So, yeah, I think Cena is going to retain here in a wild match the crowd will be super hot for.

Predicted Winner: John Cena

Do you remember the last time there was a WWE PLE without a title on the line? Sure, Triple H and company will tell you that technically both the men and women’s Crown Jewel Championships are on the line this weekend in Perth, Australia, but to be honest, the wrestling fanbase hasn’t really decided whether to care about those titles. Maybe 20 from now, saying someone won eight Crown Jewel Championships will mean something, but since the concept is so new, the two yearly matches kind of just feel like glorified exhibitions.

For those of you who may be out of the loop, WWE rolled out a concept last year called the Crown Jewel Championship. Each year, the men’s WWE Champion and the World Heavyweight Champion face each other for the Crown Jewel Championship, and the women in those positions do the same thing. The individual titles they hold don’t change hands. It’s sort of a bragging rights thing, but even so, it does give us a sense of what the pecking order is.

As with any other prominent PLE matches, the winner always receives a nice little shot of positive momentum, as they can deliver a fiery promo talking about how they beat one of the most prominent wrestlers on the roster. The loser, of course, gets the same amount of negative momentum and has to explain away their loss. That stuff does matter. It gives us a sense of how WWE feels about its own champions internally, and in the case of Seth Rollins in particular, it’s probably going to tell us a lot about the future of his stable, The Vision.

Before I get into that, though, here’s a quick snapshot of how my predictions have been going with some notable events, plus my overall record. I’ve done every PLE since WrestleMania 38, and while my record is not good enough to fight for the Crown Jewel Championship, it might at least get me a spot as a talking head on the pre-show.

Roman Reigns Vs Bronson Reed In An Australian Street Fight

I’m not really sure what to say here. These two fought back at Clash In Paris, and I hoped and predicted Bronson Reed would win. It was a bold take, given Reigns almost never loses, but I felt like my reasoning was sound. Reigns was about to leave to go film Street Fighter, and Reed was starting to pick up momentum after he stole The Tribal Chief’s shoes and started wearing them around his neck. I felt like he could beat Reigns up badly, which would explain his absence from WWE programming, and a signature win would cause wrestling fans to look at Reed as a possible main event player and not just Seth Rollins’ henchman.

Well, some of that happened. Reed beat up Reigns so badly that he had to be stretchered out and missed more than a month of WWE programming to go film his movie, but the beatdown only happened after Roman won the match. It was a finish designed to protect both men, but it was also a missed opportunity to elevate Reed, who no longer carries around shoes and has lost a bit of his momentum.

Given this match is an Australian Street Fight, there is certainly a chance Bron Breakker interferes to help Bronson Reed finally beat Roman Reigns. That would be my preference, as I really want to see Reed elevated, but if they were going to let him get a win over Reigns, it confuses me why they didn’t just do that last time when he was going to be out for more than a month anyway. It seems like last time was preferable for a tsunami of reasons, but I’m not in the behind the scenes meetings, so maybe I’m missing something.

I think the long-term plan here is for Roman to finish his feud with Reed, then feud with Breakker, and then feud with Rollins, culminating in a WrestleMania match next year. So, I’m going to predict Roman is going to come out on top here and then start working with the other Bron moving forward. We’ll see though.

Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns

John Cena Vs AJ Styles

In my Wrestlepalooza predictions, I said there’s a real chance Cena doesn’t lose again for his entire retirement tour. Turns out I was wrong. Not only did he lose to Brock Lesnar at the last PLE, he got eviscerated in embarrassing fashion like it was SummerSlam 2014. I was shocked. Many WWE fans on social media were outraged at the booking decision. Now, Cena is back for a match against AJ Styles, and fans are wondering if we could see him lose again.

I don’t think so. Yes, anything is on the table, as we’ve seen several shocking times during Cena’s retirement tour, but I don’t think they’re going to have him lose two matches in a row when he has so few dates left. Plus, as much as I love Styles, he hasn’t exactly had a ton of signature wins over the last few years. Brock always gets pushed to the top every time he comes back, but nothing about Styles’ booking lately indicates they’re getting ready to put a rocket on him.

I think Cena is going to get back on track here with a win and then I think we’ll start getting whatever story leads into his final match.

Predicted Winner: John Cena

Rhea Ripley And Iyo Sky Vs Asuka And Kairi Sane

Rhea Ripley isn’t the only Australian on the card this weekend in Perth. Bronson Reed is also from Down Under, but whether he wins or loses, I have a hard time imagining Rhea putting anyone else over here. She’s the biggest female star in the history of the business, and if she’s not going to be in the championship picture, she needs to be asserting her dominance in matches like this.

I think there’s a good chance we could get a breakdown of Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley’s friendship at some point, possibly culminating in a WrestleMania match between the two, but we’re a long ways out from that. What’s more likely is Iyo continues her feud with her former friends the Kabuki Warriors after this, and she has a match with Asuka at a major upcoming PLE, possibly SummerSlam.

Regardless though, Iyo and Rhea are almost certainly going over. This is not going to main event, and if Rhea loses, the crowd is not going to be happy for the rest of the show. Plus, there’s just no point in the Kabuki Warriors winning. Asuka has already misted both Rhea and Iyo and has a perceived upper hand in the feud. It makes all the sense in the world for them to even the score here.

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky

Stephanie Vaquer Vs Tiffany Stratton For The Women’s Crown Jewel Championship

This should be a terrific match between two of the most talented and athletic women on the entire roster. Vaquer, having just won her world championship, is going to be hungry and eager to prove herself. She hasn’t made many appearances on WWE PLEs, and this is a great chance for her to really announce her arrival.

It’s also a good opportunity for Tiffy Time. She’s been WWE Women’s Champion since January, but apart from a feud with Charlotte Flair that was notable for the wrong reasons, she’s spent a lot of that time working with women significantly bigger than her like Nia Jax and Jade Cargill. That’s allowed her to play a certain kind of role, but with Stephanie, who is much smaller and more mobile, it should allow her to do some moves and exchanges she hasn’t been able to bust out in big moments.

As for who is going to win, I have no idea. There’s not really a feud or a lot of backstory between these two. Maybe they’ll want to announce the arrival of Vaquer and show her as championship material with a win here, but that would be coming at the expense of Tiffy, who they clearly see a lot in, given her extended reign. Maybe they’ll want to remind us how good Tiffy can be with the right partner in the ring and justify the rocket they’ve strapped to her with a win here. We’ll see.

Predicted Winner: Tiffy Time

Cody Rhodes Vs Seth Freakin’ Rollins For The Men’s Crown Jewel Championship

Look: The Vision hasn’t been going as well as I’m sure everyone involved wants. Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed and Becky Lynch have all done some good work individually and had some nice moments and matches, but they don’t have a ton of momentum right now. A lot of their weekly segments, which are arguably the A-Plots of WWE programming, have been halfway decent but not really a reason unto themselves to tune into Raw.

There needs to be a better story, and WWE is trying to create that right now with this match. Rollins is suffering from some kind of crisis of confidence since he’s lost to Cody Rhodes three times since The American Nightmare returned (including in that iconic Hell In A Cell match), and Heyman told him very directly this week on Raw that he’ll lose the respect of his underlings if he doesn’t win the match. That has the potential for an exciting story, win or lose.

I think, in this case, it’s probably going to lead to a win. The Vision is a relatively new stable, and if the story is that Breakker and Reed are going to lose confidence in Rollins if he loses, I don’t know that there’s enough reason for them to actually stay with him. He hasn’t shown them enough success to stick out through trying times, but it also feels weird to break up the stable so quickly. That would be a sign it didn’t work, and Triple H, Bruce Prichard and company were just cutting their losses and moving on. I think it’s way too early to do that. So, by that logic, I think Rollins needs to win.

Predicted Winner: Seth Rollins

The baddest woman in the WWE went up against the freshest face in slasher films over the weekend, so of course it ended in violence. A viral video is making rounds on the internet of WWE star Rhea Ripley and Art the Clown (of the Terrifier franchise) battling it out onstage, and I think we need to see her on the big screen next.

Both Ripley and David Howard Thornton (who plays Art) were at Silver Scream Con in Worcester, Massachusetts, and while I assumed the WWE champion might've been more apt to be like that creepy kid in Terrifier 2, she and Art didn't hit it off. Here's what went down, and how a Labubu was the catalyst for this wonderful collaboration.

How Rhea Ripley Was "Killed" By Art The Clown

Ice Nine Kills took the stage to perform during Silver Scream Con, and both Rhea Ripley and David Howard Thornton were on stage to perform a funny skit. Art wanted to take Rhea's Labubu but, when she refused, he did what he does best -- he "killed" Ripley. Fortunately, it wasn't nearly as gory as some of his horrific kills in the Terrifier movies. Take a look below:

For those who don't watch Monday Night Raw with a Netflix subscription, Rhea Ripley is one of the best professional wrestlers out there. It's no surprise to me that she sold the "hits" from this encounter with Art like an absolute pro, even though I'd like to think she'd put up a better fight against the serial killer in real life. I mean, sure, Art is strong, but he's never gone up against anyone quite as strong as her. Wrestling may be scripted, but those muscles are legit!

Will Rhea Ripley Be In Terrifier 4?

This meeting between a WWE icon and the star of one of the best horror movies in modern history is just the latest, and the connection is only growing stronger. Hot Topic is selling t-shirts with the two together, which further solidifies that this as an official collaboration. Given that, I can't help but wonder if Rhea Ripley is going to be in Terrifier 4.

It's an interesting question, especially with director Damien Leone's big vision for the fourth movie in his franchise. Leone signaled that he's finally hoping to explore Art The Clown's origin story in the upcoming sequel, which he's acknowledged as taking a risk. So, if Rhea Ripley does appear in the movie, her role might link to Art's life before he became a supernatural entity dressed as a clown.

Ripley wouldn't be the first professional wrestler to join the Terrifier universe. Chris Jericho played an orderly in Terrifier 2 and 3 and was taken out in a rather gruesome way. I'd be curious to know how the WWE might feel about seeing their top star get brutally decapitated or worse by Art. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if there were plenty of people behind the scenes approving and negotiating how something like that would play out if it happens. Again, we don't know for sure that it will, but I have my fingers crossed!

Terrifier 4 is reportedly being planned for a 2026 release, but we'll likely have a better idea of what's to come and when it's releasing in the coming months. For those wanting to see more of Rhea Ripley, check her out on Monday Night Raw on Netflix on Monday nights starting at 8:00 p.m. ET.

There was a bit of grumbling from some fans when WWE announced SummerSlam was moving to two nights this year. To be honest, I was a little skeptical, as well, but looking at the card, I’m ready to lace my boots up and get in the ring. Twelve matches have already been announced, and given Triple H’s normal booking style, it’s a safe bet that at least five of them would not have made the card if it was taking place entirely on one night. That’s a win, especially because of how deep the roster is right now.

It has never been harder to make a WWE PLE than it is at this very moment. Between the modern preference for only including five to seven matches per night and arguably the most superstars over with the crowd since the Attitude Era, you really need to earn your way onto one of these big shows. That’s why for WrestleMania and now SummerSlam, it’s nice to have that second night to reward more deserving talent.

Between the two nights, more than forty superstars are going to be in action, and it’s likely we’ll get surprise appearances and/ or segments from a few more. The main event is, of course, the long-awaited WrestleMania 41 rematch between John Cena and Cody Rhodes for The WWE Championship, but beyond that, there’s also going to be an additional eight titles up for grabs, plus a tag match featuring Roman Reigns and a wild celebrity tag featuring Jelly Roll, Logan Paul, Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre.

Before I get into what I think is going to happen, here’s a look at my track record on predictions. I’ve been prognosticating ahead of every PLE since WrestleMania 38, and while my record is not exactly Hulk Hogan-like (RIP), it’s still enough to keep my contract getting picked up.

Tiffany Stratton (Champion) Vs Jade Cargill For The WWE Women’s Championship

There is perhaps no female superstar on the entire roster that fans are more divided on than Jade Cargill. She looks like a star. She executes specific moves in the ring like she’s a star. She has the aura and the charisma you want in a champion. She has the potential to be the face of the division, but it’s been more than a year and a half since her debut at the 2024 Royal Rumble and this is the first time she’s felt like a legitimate threat to win a singles championship.

That’s probably because there are times in the ring in which she seems to get a little lost, especially on the transitions between moves. There are times in which she seems a little reckless with her opponents. There are times in which it seems like WWE is protecting her with the way they put together her matches. There are times in which she hasn't been featured nearly as often as you'd think.

With all due respect to Tiffany Stratton, who has a long and bright future ahead of her, the outcome here is about Jade Cargill. She won Queen Of The Ring. She’s been beating everyone she’s been put in the ring with for months, usually in pretty dominating fashion. If WWE is going to pull the trigger on her, now feels like the moment. It feels like it’s time to rip off the band-aid and see if she can grow into the superstar we all know is there.

Predicted Winner: Jade Cargill

Randy Orton And Jelly Roll Vs Drew McIntyre And Logan Paul

More serious wrestling fans have had some complaints about this getting a spot on the SummerSlam card, but I’m supportive of mixing in celebrities, as long as they take it seriously. WrestleMania 1 was main evented by Mr. T, and we’ve seen some banger matches with non-wrestlers in recent years including Bad Bunny and Johnny Knoxville. By all accounts, Jelly Roll is putting in the work, and I loved seeing the recent segment the four stars did on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

I think we’re going to get a really fun match here. Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul should have a great time playing it up with the crowd during moments they have the momentum, and I think Jelly Roll is going to surprise fans with a really unexpected move he’s probably been training on in the performance center. Throw in a hot crowd, and this could overachieve big time.

That being said, we all know Jelly Roll and Randy Orton are going to win here. WWE typically rewards celebrities with a victory in these sorts of matches, and there’s no reason to think this one will be any different, especially because Logan Paul can eat a pin without really affecting the trajectory or popularity of his character.

Predicted Winner: Randy Orton & Jelly Roll

Gunther (Champion) VS CM Punk For The World Heavyweight Championship

I’m finding this to be one of the harder matches to pick on the entire card. On the one hand, it’s time for CM Punk to win a singles championship. He’s too over with the crowd and has done too much good work since his return not to be carrying around gold in the near future. He needs to be rewarded with a signature victory, especially after a terrific promo on Monday where he talked about how much he needs this.

On the other hand, however, that signature victory feels like it should be for The WWE Championship. With all due respect to Gunther and The World Heavyweight Championship, that’s clearly the secondary prize, and given Punk’s long history at the company, it would feel a lot more poetic if his big moment was with a championship he has so much good and bad history with.

It would also be nice to see Gunther get a big win on a big stage like this. He lost in big spots at the last two WrestleManias, and even though he got his victory back against Jey Uso, he’s still dealing with fans chanting “you tapped out.” My favorite Gunther is the one that dominates, and it would do a lot for his character if we got to watch him go over CM Punk clean here.

Predicted Winner: Gunther

Raquel Rodriguez And Roxanne Perez (Champions) Vs Alexa Bliss And Charlotte Flair For The WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships

Before I get into fawning over Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair, let me say a few words about Raquel and Roxanne. They’ve done a fantastic job of keeping this title relevant since Liv Morgan got injured. They’ve been contributing good weekly backstage segments and putting on banger matches (shoutout Sheamus) whenever their number has been called. Raquel is really starting to maximize her potential in the ring and has quietly been a part of several of the best women’s tag team matches in company history. Roxanne has found her place on the main roster and thrived within Judgment Day, and under normal circumstances, I’d advocate for them to hold onto the titles.

But there is something here with Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss that has main event potential, and the long-term upside is too high not to prioritize it. Like many fans, I wasn’t really sure where Flair could go after her poorly received program with Tiffany Stratton. She was getting the worst crowd responses of her entire career, and with so many talented women at the top of the card, I started wondering for the first time whether she’d ever be able to make it back on top.

Alexa Bliss has brought something new out of her though. The two have fantastic chemistry, and it has humanized Flair in a way we’ve never really seen from her. It’s made her really likeable, and fans gave her, arguably, the best reception of her entire career at Evolution. It’s been great for Bliss too, as she’s always had fantastic crowd support but hasn’t really been treated like a potential main eventer in a long time.

You could fantasy book a Charlotte and Alexa run a million different ways. Maybe they stay together for a year. Maybe they stay together for a few months. Maybe they remain friends over the long-term. Maybe they turn into bitter enemies. We all have our own opinions on how that should play out, but it’s pretty obvious the next step in their story needs to be winning these tag team championships and having a big moment together in the ring. That will make whatever comes later way more impactful.

Predicted Winner: Charlotte Flair And Alexa Bliss

Roman Reigns And Jey Uso Vs Bron Breakker And Bronson Reed

The safer move here is to put Roman Reigns and Jey Uso over. They’re the two biggest merch sellers in the entire company, and they get significantly bigger crowd reactions than Breakker and Reed. They’re the bigger stars, and both of them could benefit from a big win on a stage like this. I’d have to imagine that’s probably what WWE is going to do, especially after Breakker and Reed dominated them on this week’s Monday Night Raw, which is often a bad sign for winning at a PLE.

Let me just make the case for Breakker and Reed here real quick though. WWE clearly sees a huge future for both. They were put into a faction with Seth Rollins after ‘Mania, and even after he got hurt, they have been pushed just as hard alongside manager Paul Heyman. We’re meant to see them as the future of the company, and there would be no better way to signal that future is here than by letting them beat Roman Reigns on a big stage at SummerSlam.

Given Reigns has slowed down considerably over the past few years on appearances and he’s going to be filming the new Street Fighter movie, it’s unlikely WWE is going to push him back into the title picture in the near future. Jey Uso’s future is also a bit in doubt, as he had that remarkable singles run but doesn’t seem likely to be elevated back to that level in the near future. So, why can’t they lose again?

I’m going to predict Roman Reigns and Jey Uso are going to go over here because they’re Roman Reigns and Jey Uso, but I think the smarter long-term decision here would be to give Breakker and Reed a moment.

Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns And Jey Uso

Sami Zayn Vs Karrion Kross

No match more obviously benefited from SummerSlam being two nights than this one, but I am here for it. Kross has been getting over with fans in a big way, and it’s nice to see him rewarded with a singles match on a prestige card like this. But you still have to ask yourself, why is this here? Is it because we're about to get a huge moment of character development for Zayn?

Sami has arguably been the biggest straight-up babyface (other than Cody Rhodes) in the company for the past few years. He was the sympathetic hero to root for during the Bloodline storyline, and he got rewarded with career-defining moments at consecutive WrestleManias with his wins over The Usos and Gunther. Exactly where he goes from here is a big question, however.

The crowd still likes Zayn, but he’s not as hot as he once was. He’s been vowing for a long time that he’ll become World Champion some day. I’m sure fans would get behind that quest if WWE would push him hard enough, but with so many household names at the top of the card, it’s unclear if WWE has any plans on actually doing that. Kross has been telling Zayn for months that to get to the next level, he needs to essentially become a bad guy. There’s a chance we finally get that here. It would be a big risk for Zayn, but it could be a really unique way to reinvent his character by watching him cheat to win here, something he’d ordinarily never do.

Predicted Winner: Sami Zayn

Naomi (Champion) Vs Rhea Ripley Vs Iyo Sky For The Women’s World Championship

There’s really no bad outcome here. Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky are both mega-over babyfaces that the crowd would love to see win the belt back, and Naomi is doing the best work of her entire career as the heel champion. You could tell a compelling story with any of these three winning the belt.

The case for Rhea is pretty simple. She’s the most popular woman in the history of the business, and while she’s had long runs as champion, she’s also done a lot of losing more recently. She’s been able to stomach those losses as they’ve involved outside interference or someone else eating the pin, but at some point, if you want fans to see you as dominant, you need to be dominant. Putting the belt on the most over performer is never a bad idea.

The case for Iyo is pretty clear too. The crowd loves her, and every single match she puts on is fantastic, no matter who her opponent is. She wasn’t really given enough storylines or weekly time the last time she had the belt, and it would be nice to put the strap back on her and lean in harder this time around.

Either of those possibilities works for me, but I’m still going to go with Naomi. I don’t think she’s going to be champion for six more months, but I do think she’s been too good to take the belt off her this quickly. She deserves at least a few more months with the title, and that starts with winning here. I don’t think it’ll be clean. It’ll probably involved some shady and underhanded tactics, but I think she’s probably going to walk out as champion.

Predicted Winner: Naomi

Becky Lynch (Champion) Vs Lyra Valkyria For The Women’s Intercontinental Championship

I think the big question is whether we see Bayley here. She gave a very somber interview on Raw where she talked about missing WrestleMania and now missing SummerSlam. I think we’re about to get a heel turn, and given how involved she has been in this entire program, it would make a lot of sense for it to happen here.

Now, how exactly a heel turn would work is complicated. She’s had matches with Becky and Lyra, though she clearly has more animosity toward Becky. Unfortunately, attacking Becky, given she’s a heel herself, wouldn’t exactly draw any heat from the crowd; so, my guess is she would just attack both of them, which would lead to a sequence of events that would see Lyra losing and Becky retaining.

Even if she doesn’t show up, I still think Becky is probably going to win here. The Intercontinental Championship picture has almost solely focused on these three women for months, and it’s time to get some fresh blood in there. If Lyra wins, we’re just going to get stuck in the same loop. So, look for her to lose and then possibly move to SmackDown with some new challengers being moved to Raw as future Becky opponents if there’s a draft.

Predicted Winner: Becky Lynch

Solo Sikoa (Champion) Vs Jacob Fatu For The United States Championship

Jacob Fatu is a star. WWE has started making speciality merchandise for Fatu that’s custom to different cities, and there have been a lot of reports that Triple H, Bruce Prichard and the other writers plan on really pushing him. That almost certainly starts with winning this match. I was shocked to see him lose the belt to Solo the first time, but I would be even more shocked to see him lose to the wannabe Tribal Chief twice. That doesn’t make any sense for his character.

Now, how WWE chooses to handle the match is an open question. Even though the match is in a steel cage, it’s likely Solo Sikoa is going to play the numbers game. Fatu obviously has my guy Big Jim Uso in his corner, but it feels like he’s going to need more firepower than that. Maybe that’ll come in the form of a returning Tama Tonga who could side with Fatu or maybe that’ll come via a new debuting character or maybe Fatu will just straight up win despite a numbers disadvantage, which would make him look as powerful as possible. We’ll see.

Even though he’s going to lose, I will give a quick shoutout to Solo though. He’s really found himself in this more comedic character, I’m excited to see what he does moving forward.

Predicted Winner: Jacob Fatu

Dominik Mysterio (Champion) Vs AJ Styles For The Intercontinental Championship

Rumors swirled recently that AJ Styles quietly signed a one year extension on his contract. I think WWE is going to want to give him some big moments before he retires, if this is, in fact, his last run, but I’m skeptical they’re going to have him beat Dominik Mysterio here. The current IC Champion got a prime Stone Cold pop during his recent appearance at AAA in Mexico, and his Honky Tonk Man style bit as the cowardly champion is currently working really well. It feels too early to bail on it.

I expect these two to put on a hell of a match. Styles is one of the best in-ring workers in the history of the business, and Mysterio has worked hard to improve to the point where he’s pretty good. With a hot crowd and the potential for some outside interference, I think this could be one of the most popular matches of the weekend.

It’s also the sort of thing where we could see a sketchy finish. Triple H doesn’t really like DQ finishes that negate a title change, but there’s a lot more meat on the bone of this feud that they may want to carry forward. I think Dominik is going to remain champion, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw these two again at an upcoming PLE.

Predicted Winner: Dominik Mysterio

The Wyatt Sicks (Champions) Vs DIY Vs The Street Profits Vs Fraxiom Vs The Motor City Machine Guns Vs Andrade And Rey Fénix For The WWE Tag Team Championship

Fans were furious when the SmackDown tag team division was left off the WrestleMania 41 card, and those complaints only got louder after DIY, The Street Profits and Motor City Machine Guns dropped an all-time classic TLC match in the days after the event. I still can’t believe they got passed over, but this SummerSlam placement is at least some consolation.

I have no idea if this will be able to live up to the last TLC match, but expect all six of these tag teams to put on a hell of an effort to try. For many, it will be the biggest match in the biggest spot of their entire careers, or at least close to it. They will go all out to prove they belong and go all out to prove how good the SmackDown tag division is. Expect some WTF high spots and a bunch of coordinated, high athleticism moves.

I have no idea who is going to win the match. You could make a legit case for every team participating. Part of me thinks the right answer is to default to the current champions, The Wyatt Sicks, but I’m having a hard time betting against Andrade and Rey Fénix. They clearly have the most momentum, and the crowd has really gotten into every one of their matches. It wouldn’t be surprised to see them rewarded in a big spot here.

Predicted Winner: Andrade And Rey Fénix

John Cena (Champion) Vs Cody Rhodes For The WWE Championship

John Cena, despite his promises, is not going to retire with The WWE Championship. He’s not gonna take the belt and go home because it doesn’t make any sense to end a championship lineage going back to the early 1960s. That means he’s going to lose at some point, but exactly when that’s going to be is an open question.

Cena will be around in some fashion for the rest of the year, which means WWE needs to decide whether to take the belt off him now and give him time for a final run as a babyface or to let him keep rolling as the heel champion. I would have definitely said they’d keep the belt on him a little longer before announcing the Cody rematch, but now I’m not so sure. In fact, I think there’s a chance WWE might be about to execute something far grander.

A double turn in wrestling is when one character goes into a match as the face or hero and another character goes into the match as a heel or villain, but afterwards, they emerge playing the opposite roles. The most famous example is Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13, which was recently inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

I think there’s a chance we get the same thing here. For months, we’ve been getting the occasional hints that Cena is being worn down by his role as the villain, that maybe he doesn’t want to be cheating to win in every match. At the same time, there have been hints that Cody Rhodes is more willing to get his hands dirty, that he’s maybe not as clean cut of a good guy as we thought. What if Cody cheated to win, Cena realized the error of his ways, and they each emerged from the match in a very different place?

I don’t know if the double turn is going to happen, but I do think Cody is going to win the championship. Yes, it feels early, but since I think Rhodes is going to be the one to dethrone Cena and I don’t see them wrestling again in a bigger spot, I have to think this is going to be the moment. I also think these two are going to have a great match, as they're going to be particularly motivated after the reception to their WrestleMania 41 match was less than ideal.

Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes

After years of fan rumors and talent talking about it in interviews, WWE is finally bringing back Evolution. The women’s only PLE first showed up as a one-off back in 2018 meant to celebrate how far female wrestling had come. In the years since, the talent has taken another noticeable jump forward. The main roster now boasts more than a dozen women who are over with the crowd, and now seems like the perfect time to celebrate all that forward progress.

Not surprisingly, the card this time around is stacked and features more than a half dozen surefire future Hall of Famers, as well as multiple women that have already gotten inducted. In an ideal world, they would have gotten a little more time to build out the storylines here, but even with an abridged schedule, there’s still more than enough to get excited about.

Before I get into my theories of what’s going to happen, though, you can check out my record in predictions since I started doing this for every PLE starting at WrestleMania 38. The resume might not be good enough to get me into the Hall of Fame, but it’s certainly good enough to keep me near that main event scene. You can check out my scores for some of the bigger recent events, as well as an overall accounting.

Jacy Jayne (Champion) vs Jordynne Grace For The NXT Women’s Championship

Fair warning. I’m not an NXT expert. I watch every minute of WWE main roster programming every week, but I’m not nearly as committed to watching the stars of tomorrow develop. That being said, it’s quite obvious Triple H, Shawn Michaels and company consider Jordynne Grace a future star on the main roster. She’s gotten extended runs in the last two Royal Rumbles, and this feels like a great moment to remind fans who don’t watch NXT of what’s coming.

With all due respect to Jacy Jayne, who has plenty of potential on her own, this feels like a chance to anoint Jordynne Grace as the next coming. I expect her to win the title, look good doing it and tease fans for what’s coming between six months and a year from now when she’s inevitably called up to Raw or SmackDown.

Predicted Winner: Jordynne Grace

Iyo Sky (Champion) vs Rhea Ripley For The Women’s World Championship

I don’t know what the writers are doing with this storyline, and I’m not the only one. I think if you asked habitually online hardcore WWE fans what plot they’re most disappointed in right now, one of the top answers would be whatever is going on with Iyo Sky. She’s, of course, an absolute star and beat Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair at WrestleMania… and then has been given almost nothing to do in the two and a half months since.

More specifically, she’s only wrestled three times, once in a draw against Stephanie Vaquer, once in a victory against Roxanne Perez and once in a victory in a tag match with Rhea Ripley against Roxanne and Giulia. That would be fine if she was in the middle of some elaborate storyline or giving promos every week, but for most of that time, she’s been a background character.

So, does that mean she’s going to lose? I don’t know. Iyo remains incredibly over with the fans. When she appears on television or wrestles, she gets huge responses, like as good as almost any woman on the roster that’s not named Rhea Ripley. There’s no obvious reason to take the title off of her, except for the facts that she’s not being used as a cornerstone of programming like a champ should and Rhea Ripley is the biggest female star in the history of the business which means there are obvious upsides to her holding the strap. I guess I’m going to pick Rhea, but I’m completely lost here.

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley

The Judgement Day (Champions) vs The Kabuki Warriors vs Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair vs Sol Ruca and Zaria For The Women’s Tag Team Championships

Let’s eliminate Sol Ruca and Zaria first. They should be proud they were put into this spot on a main roster PLE, but there are three potentially interesting stories to tell on the main roster with these belts. I don’t know why you’d send them down to NXT. I’m not totally ruling them out, but I think they’re definitely the least likely of the four teams.

As for the others, let’s start with the current champions Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez of Judgment Day. Until recently, the belts were held by Rodriguez and Liv Morgan, but the latter was injured, which necessitated some scrambling. Since then, we’ve been getting a lot of Raquel not really being sure if she can trust Roxanne or not. There’s one scenario here in which they lose this match and more aggressively turn on each other. There’s another scenario in which they increasingly get closer, only for Liv to return down the road and get mad about how Roxanne stole both her best friend and her title.

The highest upside for the titles, at least from a storyline standpoint, is probably putting them on Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. The two have been flirting with joining forces for a month or so now, and their mistrust is finally starting to turn into a casual appreciation. They won their qualifying match on SmackDown and embraced afterwards. Obviously this is going to turn into a feud between the two at some point down the line, but whenever that happens, it’ll be better if we get to see the two work together and achieve something first. It’ll be better if we get a sustained run of them being friends, which’ll make a sustained run as enemies way more intriguing.

And you can’t discount The Kabuki Warriors. Asuka returned from an extended hiatus and lost in the finals of Queen Of The Ring. You’d have to imagine WWE will want to push her pretty hard now that she’s back. They’ve also been featuring Kairi Sane pretty regularly in singles matches on TV, as well; so, they’re clearly high on her enough to move up the card. They also feel more like a legit tag team than the other three; so, if Triple H and company actually want to relaunch this division, they’d be ideal champions to do that.

Unfortunately, the writers have never really proven they’re interested in developing the women’s tag team division. If they cared, Katana Chance and Kayden Carter never would have been cut, and The Secret Hervice wouldn’t be used to job every week to non-tag teams. So, I’m gonna go with Alexa and Charlotte because that’s the best way to make the tag belts matter.

Predicted Winner: Alexa and Charlotte

The Battle Royal

We don’t even know all the participants here, but we can rule many of them out based on the fact that the winner gets a title shot at Clash In Paris in August. Provided there aren’t any huge last minute surprises (like AJ Lee), the favorites are probably Nia Jax, Nikki Bella and Stephanie Vaquer, all of whom bring something very different to the table. Bella likely wouldn’t be a huge threat to actually win a world championship, unless she starts getting significantly bigger reactions from the crowd, but it would still be fun to see her involved in a main event program again.

Jax is the most believable as of this moment. She held a World Championship for parts of the last year and could be a believable threat to beat anyone, especially as a transitional champion. She won the battle royal at the first Evolution and is probably the safest choice. The most exciting would probably be Stephanie Vaquer. She’s still very new to the main roster but is getting incredible crowd pops every time she does anything. She’s more ready for the main event scene now than Tifffany Stratton was when she was elevated to it.

Predicted Winner: Stephanie Vaquer

Tiffany Stratton (Champion) Vs Trish Stratus For The WWE Women’s Championship

I love Trish. She’s one of the most important women in the history of WWE, and the fact that we have a women’s only PLE is a testament to the work of her, alongside Lita and other trailblazers. She’s not winning here though. She’s almost fifty and has given no indication she’s going to work a full-time WWE schedule.

That being said, that doesn’t mean Tiffy is just going to quietly win and move on here. This is a prime cash-in spot, and there’s definitely a chance Naomi uses it, especially because of how much sense it would make in the storyline. She’s currently feuding with Jade and has a match with her at Evolution that we’ll get to in a minute. Jade also has a guaranteed title shot at SummerSlam based on winning Queen Of The Ring. A victory here would give Naomi the championship and set up a rematch between the two at SummerSlam with much bigger stakes.

Predicted Winner: Tiffy Time

Naomi Vs Jade Cargill in a No Holds Barred Match

I’m expecting some shenanigans here because a clean result just doesn’t really make sense. Jade beat Naomi at WrestleMania 41 in clean fashion after an extended storyline. She then won Queen Of The Ring and has a title shot set up against Tiffany Stratton or whoever is holding the WWE Women’s Championship at SummerSlam. It doesn’t make any sense for her to lose here because it woudl stop some of her momentum heading into the biggest match of her career.

That being said, it doesn’t really make sense for Naomi to lose either. She won Money In the Bank and already took one clean loss to Jade. At some point, she’s going to cash in that briefcase, and if she’s gonna get a run as World Champion, it’s a lot more appealing to have her look at least semi-strong.

I think we’re going to see a return from Bianca Belair here. If she comes back and helps Jade beat Naomi, it won’t make either of the women look bad, and it’ll give us some new intrigue and new storylines to work into.

Predicted Winner: Jade Cargill

Becky Lynch (Champion) Vs Bayley Vs Lyra Valkyria

This is, by far, the match with the best build-in storyline. All three of these women have done a tremendous job of selling this match over the last several months, as their plots have intersected with each other to the point where there’s a really complicated and nuanced story here that many fans legit have hard feelings over. That’s compelling to watch as a viewer, but it makes it extremely hard as a predictor to figure out what’s going on. Any of these three women winning would make some level of sense.

To me, it feels like we need to make either Lyra or Bayley a heel. Some fans online are making a case that Lyra has subtly been turning to the darkside but I think it’s going to be Bayley. I think she’s going to cheat to win here, potentially in brutal fashion, and that’ll pave the way for this storyline to continue through SummerSlam, maybe in a straight up three way rematch.

Predicted Winner: Bayley

I can’t remember a premium live event of the Triple H era with this much uncertainty and chaos. Even if you put aside all the turmoil in Saudi Arabia-adjacent countries in the Middle East, which led to some WWE employees allegedly getting temporarily stranded in Qatar, we only had two finalized matches for Night Of Champions heading into Monday Night Raw, one of which promptly got cancelled. That’s right. Dirty Dominik Mysterio vs AJ Styles is off because of an injury issue, leaving John Cena and CM Punk as the sole match finalized more than a week before the event.

Fortunately, that’s a rematch a lot of us have been waiting more than a decade to see, and it’s not exactly like the rest of the card is an afterthought either. It may have taken way too long to get there, but I’m excited for the finalized Night Of Champions card. A lot of the matches, even if they weren’t made official weeks ago, have been quietly building for awhile like Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu, Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez and Sami Zayn and Karrion Kross.

I have a lot of theories as to what is going to happen, but before I get into those, here’s a quick look at how I’ve been doing with my predictions. As a reminder, I’ve given my thoughts ahead of every PLE since WrestleMania 38, and while I’m not exactly The Undertaker at WrestleMania, I’m still pretty pleased with this performance…

Randy Orton Vs Cody Rhodes In The King Of The Ring Final

Randy Orton has been pushed as the sentimental favorite by the commentary team, who have referenced him losing in the finals to Gunther under questionable circumstances last year. Given how over he is with the crowd and his status as a future Hall of Famer, he should always be considered a threat to win anything. It would tell a nice circular story to see him get a bit of redemption in the tournament, but I just don’t see it happening here.

The King Of The Ring winner is going to get a shot at either John Cena or Gunther in a World Championship match at SummerSlam. We just saw Orton lose to Cena a few months ago in a match no one thought he was going to win, and we watched him lose to Gunther multiple times last year. I definitely believe he has at least one more World Championship run in him before he retires, but none of the circumstances make sense for it to be right now.

Meanwhile, Cody Rhodes trying to win The WWE Championship back that he lost at WrestleMania seems like a SummerSlam main event to me. Whether Cena holds onto the title or CM Punk beats him, it doesn’t really matter. Rhodes versus either of those guys is a match fans want to see and one that would sell a lot of tickets.

Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes

Jade Cargill Vs Asuka In The Queen Of The Ring Final

I’m a lot more conflicted on the ending here. I could make a good case for why either of these two should win. Asuka just returned from an injury that kept her out for over a year, and while she’s been a World Champion before, many WWE fans feel the company has never pushed her hard enough and for long enough. A win here would likely set up a match at SummerSlam with Iyo Sky. Given their shared history both inside and outside WWE, there’s all the ingredients to create a really intriguing storyline.

You could say the same thing for Jade Cargill. Well, sort of. There’s not really a compelling story there with WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton, but there certainly is with Naomi who holds the Money In The Bank briefcase. We’ve already seen multiple teases of Naomi almost cashing in on Tiffy Time, and if she does, Cargill would be the perfect opponent for her at SummerSlam. Plus, it would leave the door open for Bianca Belair to somehow get involved, or at least be an interested observer likely to feud with whoever wins.

I would love to see Asuka and Iyo Sky at SummerSlam, but I think WWE is going to see more upside in the Cargill, Naomi and Bianca Belair storyline. Plus, I kind of feel like we’re going to get Iyo and Rhea Ripey at SummerSlam; so, I’ve got to ride with Jade.

Predicted Winner: Jade Cargill

Jacob Fatu (Champion) Vs Solo Sikoa For The United States Championship

Credit to Solo Sikoa and the writers backstage for realizing his character wasn’t working. He had some aura after he was first called up to serve as Roman Reigns’ chief enforcer, but too many losses in key spots and the emergence of Jacob Fatu made it impossible to see him as a credible main eventer. Everyone involved could have tried to keep forcing it, but instead, they moved his character into a much more comedic direction.

That pivot has allowed him to show off his personality, which has a loveable and goofy energy like his brother Big Jim Uso. If Jey sticks with singles for a few more years, I could definitely see WWE finding a way to bring together Solo and Big Jim for a wacky tag team run that could get over big time with fans. I’d love to see that.

But all of that is also why he’s obviously going to lose here. Jacob Fatu is still on the serious path, and he has future WrestleMania main eventer potential. He’s been a dominant United States Champion, and losing to someone who is often depicted as hapless would be a big blow to his momentum. I guess we could see a storyline where JC Mateo interferes or another new Bloodline member debuts, but I just don’t get why you’d want Fatu to take a loss here.

Predicted Winner: Jacob Fatu

Rhea Ripley Vs Raquel Rodriguez In A Street Fight

Raquel is another performer who I think has really started to find her footing. There was some grumbling online when she was first paired with Liv Morgan and Judgment Day. To be honest, she seemed a little stiff and out of place during her first few appearances, but that’s definitely not the case anymore. She’s really started to get comfortable with her character, and she’s also low key delivered some of the best matches in the history of the women’s tag team division alongside Morgan. When they’re given time and good opponents, they can bring it.

It’s a credit to her that she feels like a believable opponent for Rhea Ripley, but let’s be honest, she’s not beating Rhea Bloody Ripley. Mamí is the biggest star in the history of women’s wrestling, and if she’s going to be in non-title programs, she needs to win an overwhelming majority of the feuds she’s involved in. That means beating Rodriguez here.

I think the better question isn’t who is going to win this match. It’s how much time is this match going to get. For Raquel’s sake, I’d love for this to get fifteen minutes or so and have some back-and-forth action. If Raquel has the upper hand for even 40% of this match, that’s a big win for her character and will make taking a loss here very worth it.

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley

Karrion Kross Vs Sami Zayn

Hardcore wrestling fans have gotten behind Karrion Kross in a big way over the last several months. He’s done some great work in limited minutes interacting with characters behind the scenes on Raw, and his social media game has been top notch, as he’s delivered several talking head promos and press conference appearances that have circulated widely on social media. His merchandise has started moving at head-turning rates, and the loudest fans online, or the IWC as they’re called, would love to see this be the start of a big Kross push.

Win or lose here, it feels like that’s happening. This match is his first at a premium live event since WrestleMania 40, and it’s his first singles match at a PLE since 2022. That’s a big vote of confidence, and it will hopefully lead to him and Scarlett getting re-signed and given more and more opportunities in big moments.

Whether or not he wins this match, however, likely has a lot more to do with Sami Zayn and what WWE wants to do with his character. Zayn’s run over the last several years has been the stuff dreams are made of. He became a prominent part of The Bloodline, main evented WrestleMania 39 and ended Gunther’s historic Intercontinental run at WrestleMania 40. Since then, however, he’s been stuck in the mud a little bit. The fans still love him, but he’s been unable to really get to a World Championship level, which he’s been loudly announcing he wants to do for more than a year.

There’s a scenario here where he wins and starts building back up in a conventional, babyface way to try and get another World Championship shot. Then again, there’s another scenario where he loses to Kross, who has been telling him he needs to get his hands dirty for months, and uses that as inspiration to turn heel. We’ll see.

Predicted Winner: Karrion Kross

John Cena (Champion) Vs CM Punk For The WWE Championship

I always thought CM Punk was going to be the guy to take the title off John Cena after he turned heel. They have so much shared history, and Punk is due for another run at the top. He’s earned a chance to be the face of WWE for a little while, but the vibes feel off here. I just don’t know that Triple H, Bruce Prichard and company would take the strap off Cena at an afternoon PPV in Saudi Arabia, especially with a two night SummerSlam outside New York City happening in a little more than a month.

It also feels a little early in Cena’s retirement tour for him to lose. They may want him to reestablish himself as a babyface before he goes, but he doesn’t need half a year to do that. I also don’t really get what he’d do at SummerSlam if he loses here. The only goal he ever talks about is leaving with the title. If he loses, it stands to reason he’d want to go after the title, not try and even the score with Solo Sikoa or something random like that.

I don’t know that this match is going to end whatever is going on between CM Punk and John Cena. It feels like there’s a lot more meat left on the bone, especially after Cena’s fantastic Pipe Bomb promo during Monday Night Raw. Punk needs a chance to answer back on the microphone. Because of that, I expect a finish that leaves the door open for more to happen.

Predicted Winner: John Cena

Night Of Champions will stream on Saturday afternoon on Peacock in The United States and in Netflix in most other countries. On both services, it's free with a paid subscription.

There are only four matches on the 2025 Money In The Bank card. To put that into perspective, there were eleven in 2019, plus one on the pre-show. Some of that has to do with head booker Triple H’s preference for longer bouts versus Vince McMahon’s preference to get more people on the card, but even so, I’m wondering where all the time is going.

The other Money In The Bank cards The Game has booked have had seven and five matches respectively, the latter of which included a nearly 25 minute six man tag team match with extended entrances and another contest with a failed cash-in. So, how is this going to work with only four matches? Every Money In The Bank ladder match of the Triple H era featuring both the men and women has been between 16 and 21 minutes long. So, once again, where is the time going?

Are we going to get something added to the card at the last minute, perhaps one set up on this week’s SmackDown? Are we going to get an unexpected return? Will we get an unannounced segment? I’m curious and desperate to find out, as long as the answer isn’t more commercials and time wasting.

Regardless, there is a lot of good stuff already locked in. We have all the pieces for what could be the greatest women’s Money In The Bank match in history. The Lyra Valkyria and Becky Lynch match should be a banger, and my mind is jumping back and forth between multiple intriguing possibilities for which dude is going to grab the briefcase. Throw in the tag with John Cena and Logan Paul vs Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso that should have major ramifications for both world championships and there’s a lot here to be excited about, even if nothing is added.

Before I go over each contest in detail and give my thoughts, here’s a look at how I’ve been doing since I started these predictions for every PLE with WrestleMania 38. I went 4 and 1 at Backlash and am hoping to continue my winning ways.

Lyra Valkyria (Champion) Vs Becky Lynch For The Women’s Intercontinental Championship

Before I get into what I think is going to happen in this match, I need to talk about Lyra Valkyria for a minute. I was a little skeptical when Triple H, Bruce Prichard and company made her the inaugural IC Champion. At the time, she was only over with a medium-sized percentage of the crowd, and while her in-ring work was good, it didn’t necessarily strike me as more than marginally better than the average woman in the division. Wrong. I was so wrong.

Lyra is one of the more talented women in the locker room, and she’s way better than expected on the microphone. She’s also legitimately over with a lot of the crowd, and you can hear it in the woo noises during her entrance. She has the potential to be a future world champion and I’m not happy about the thought of her title run ending here. It feels like there’s a lot more meat on the bone.

Unfortunately, I think it’s going to end here because that’s what makes sense for the storyline. Becky Lynch returned after an extended absence and took out Bayley ahead of WrestleMania so she could appear on the card. They’re going to need to pay that off with a feud sooner rather than later, especially with all the fan backlash, and it’s a lot more intriguing with the Intercontinental Championship. Plus, as much as I love Lyra, Becky holding the Intercontinental Championship, with all her accolades, would do a lot to legitimize the title.

I think it’s going to be via some kind of underhanded or devious means, but I like Becky Lynch to get the win here, for all the reasons stated above, plus the stupilation in the match that she can’t challenge for the IC Title again as long as Lyra is holding it.

Predicted Winner: Becky Lynch

John Cena And Logan Paul Vs Cody Rhodes And Jey Uso

Most matches are either about winning titles or generating momentum for a character. You can predict (with reasonable accuracy) who is going to win because you can predict which character is going to move higher on the card and which character is going to be pushed down lower on the card. Unfortunately, with random tag team matches like this, it’s not about who wins or loses. It’s about the storyline WWE is trying to set up.

I thought for sure we were going to get CM Punk and John Cena for The WWE Championship as the top bill at SummerSlam, but this match makes me feel like we’re working toward running Cena and Cody Rhodes back. If that’s the case, then I think it’s likely John Cena and Logan Paul are going to win this match. How does that math work out? Get ready for this conspiracy theory.

SummerSlam is not the next PLE on WWE’s calendar. That honor belongs to Night Of Champions. I think it’s very likely John Cena is going to wrestle there for the championship, given the poster is literally him holding the belt and the PPV is called Night Of Champions. With all due respect to Saudi Arabia, I don’t think WWE is going to burn John Cena vs Cody Rhodes’ rematch at an event in Asia that starts in the afternoon US time. If Cody wins here, particularly if he pins John Cena, he’d have a reasonable case to ask for an immediate rematch, but since I don’t think that rematch is coming for two months, I think it’s likely he’s going to lose here.

Plus, that would play into Jey Uso’s storyline with Gunther, as the latter has repeatedly criticized the former for getting involved in other people’s business and has said it’ll cost him his own title. The two are set to wrestle during Monday Night Raw this week, and it would make sense for the storyline if he was injured and beat up after losing here.

Predicted Winner: John Cena and Logan Paul.

The Men’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match Featuring Seth Rollins, LA Knight, Solo Sikoa, El Grande Americano, Penta and Andrade

There are two theories on how to book a MITB match. The first is to jam in as many people as possible with a legitimate chance to win. The second is to book strong workers with a variety of styles to make the most entertaining match possible, even if many don’t actually make sense to win. This is definitely a case of the second one. So, let’s start eliminating people who can’t win.

Andrade is a great worker and had a fantastic series with Carmelo Hayes last year, but he has almost no momentum right now. He’s also the least over with the crowd in this match by a mile. Penta is super over and does have a lot of momentum, but he really hasn’t interacted with people in the main event scene much at all. Typically we see MITB winners with prior experience having won a mid-card title before. That’s also a problem for El Grande Americano, whoever he is. His friend Chad Gable has won tag team gold before, but competing for a world championship seems too far a step up. Solo Sikoa has at least fought for The WWE Championship, but he’s more over as a comedy character and because of what he’s doing as a frenemy to Jacob Fatu.

That leaves two people with more than a random, WTF-was-that chance to win this year: Seth Rollins and LA Knight. Let’s start with Rollins. He’s the biggest name in the field by a mile, and he just launched a really buzzy faction with Paul Heyman, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. Most people expect him to win the World Heavyweight Championship back sooner rather than later, and winning here would be a great way to show he’s going to be an even bigger deal for the foreseeable future. You’d certainly think you wouldn’t want him to take such a high profile loss this early in the faction’s run, right?

Well, I’m not so sure. Rollins is currently feuding with CM Punk, and there’s still the Roman Reigns of it all hanging over everyone’s heads. He’s also Seth Rollins and doesn’t need the briefcase to elevate himself or to get a title shot. Plus, Triple H has shown that he sometimes likes building up a character by having them take some losses. Just ask Drew McIntyre, who we all thought was going to be champion by now.

LA Knight is an appealing option because he’s a more traditional Money In The Bank winner. He’s won mid-card championships and is super over with the crowd. We’ve all been waiting for him to ascend to that next level, and he probably needs the briefcase in order to do that. He’s not the type of guy who could just walk into Nick Aldis’ office and demand a World Heavyweight Championship match. Plus, he’s lost in close fashion the last two years, and if he’s ever going to get to that next level, now feels like the time to get there.

Predicted Winner: LA Knight

The Women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match Featuring Rhea Ripley, Stephanie Vaquer, Roxanne Perez, Naomi, Alexa Bliss and Giulia.

This is, without question, the match I’m most excited about, and it’s not even close. The women’s division in WWE has never been this stacked, and this lineup is the perfect example of that. We’ve got the biggest female star in the history of the industry (Ripley), a no doubt first ballot Hall of Famer (Bliss), a likely Hall of Famer in the middle of the most exciting storyline of her career (Naomi) and three really promising recent NXT call-ups who all have world championship potential. Matches like this are why I watch wrestling.

With all due respect to Giulia, I’m going to eliminate her right away. She’s not winning because WWE has already tipped that she’s going after Zelina Vega and The Women’s United States Championship. I’m also going to, as much as it destroys my heart, eliminate Alexa Bliss. She is getting some of the biggest pops on the entire roster. I want Triple H to push her desperately, but nothing about her booking foretells a huge win like this. She wasn’t even on the ‘Mania card. I don’t get it, but Triple H just doesn’t use her as much as I would.

Roxanne Perez finished second in the Royal Rumble this past year and has an intriguing storyline going with Liv Morgan. If she won the briefcase here, it would make for some really interesting television, as we know Liv is desperate to get her hands on one of the big titles again. Stephanie Vaquer is also a compelling option because she’s been treated like a superstar since she was called up to the main roster. She’s getting bigger pops from the crowd than any recent NXT call-up, and while I don’t think it’s going to happen, it would be really cool to see them immediately elevate someone to the main event right after getting called up.

Both of those women (and Alexa Bliss who I will never stop rooting for) have live cards and are potential winners, but I think the most likely choices are Naomi and Rhea Ripley. Let’s do the Rhea part first. I don’t love her winning for the same reason I don’t love Seth Rollins winning. The briefcase has traditionally been used to elevate a talent to the next level, and winning here would do nothing for Rhea, apart from adding another accomplishment to her resume. She doesn’t need the briefcase to beat anyone clean though, and she doesn’t need the briefcase to get a title shot from her buddy Iyo Sky.

But Rhea needs to be involved in a major storyline, and this would be an easy way to give her something to do for awhile. She would also, no doubt, get her own custom briefcase style, and that would allow WWE to sell those, as well as new action figures of her holding the briefcase. A lot of fans want to see her do something else other than being champion, and this would let her chase a little bit while still being one of the main characters on Monday Night Raw.

At first glance, Naomi seems like a bit of an odd choice, given she’s feuding with Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair. Clearly, wherever her story is going involves them, but their storyline would be magnified if it involved a world championship. So, what if Naomi wins the briefcase, cashes in on Tiffany Stratton and then suddenly the strap makes the relationship between the three former friends that much more complicated? I want to watch that.

Predicted Winner: Naomi

Will Anyone Cash In Later In The Night?

Last year, Drew McIntyre cashed in the Money In The Bank briefcase he'd just won but was thwarted in his attempt by CM Punk. Fans were mixed on how they felt about burning the briefcase so quickly, but it definitely helped move the Drew and Punk story forward, which paid off in a big way down the road.

Prior to Drew, there is a history of people cashing in their briefcase the same night after winning, most recently Liv Morgan who got an all-time massive pop when she cashed in on Ronda Rousey back in 2022. The huge moment helped elevate Morgan's career in a transformative way and simultaneously pushed Rousey down the card in a way she never really recovered from.

I think it's very unlikely we see a cash-in this year on the women's side. Neither Iyo Sky nor Tiffany Stratton is wrestling at the event (at least as of now), and I don't think it really makes sense for either Ripley, Naomi or Roxanne to burn the briefcase so quickly if they do win.

The men's side, on the other hand, is more of a possibility. Both John Cena and Jey Uso are in action and each could be vulnerable to a cash-in from either Seth Rollins or LA Knight. My guess is, if it's going to happen quickly, it'll probably happen on Monday Night Raw during the previously scheduled match between Gunther and Jey Uso. That being said, it's certainly a possibility.

Prediction: We will NOT get a same day cash-in.

Most of the post-WrestleMania 41 conversation has been about the main event between Cody Rhodes and John Cena. I get it, but I also don’t want to talk about it anymore. Yeah, I wish things had gone down differently too, but there was enough that worked about WrestleMania that I’d prefer to take some time to celebrate the good.

Over the course of two nights, some WWE superstars worked together to deliver fantastic matches. The second night in particular had one of the hottest starts to a ‘Mania card I’ve ever seen. So, let’s celebrate that. Let’s get away from some of the negativity and talk about the superstars that really showed out.

Before we get there though, let me hype up a few honorable mentions. Jade Cargill vs Naomi was the toughest cut for sure. They were a strong sixth place in my opinion, but with just a little over nine minutes, they didn’t get quite enough time to get going. Liv and Raquel vs Bayley and Lyra was also a really solid match, though they were hampered by the same time issues and didn't even get nine minutes.

I’m also not going to include Randy Orton vs Joe Hendry, which was a ton of fun but in a more comedic and gimmicky sort of way. El Grande Americano and Rey Fénix also did their job, but with a last minute switch out and less than eight minutes of time, there was no way they could get up to the level needed to make this list.

5. Jacob Fatu Vs LA Knight

A lot of people felt like this match would feature some shenanigans that would lead into a feud between Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa, but sometimes you just need to let your rising stars grab a title and run with it. Fatu is a future WrestleMania main eventer. With all due respect to Bron Breakker, he’s the most exciting new star to make his main roster debut since Gunther. It was terrific to see him get his moment here.

But LA Knight deserves a lot of praise too. He held his own with the Samoan Werewolf and showed he’s perhaps one of the few mid-card guys on the roster who could keep the crowd on his side against Fatu. That’s no easy feat, nor were some of the more difficult moves pulled off during this match, particularly the moonsault into a BFT. Saturday, as a whole, had some struggles, but this was a clear bright spot.

4. Damian Priest Vs Drew McIntyre In A Sin City Street Fight

There were so many complaints about this match a month or so out from WrestleMania. Many fans felt Drew McIntyre deserved to be higher on the card and to be put in a more prominent position. I get that. I think he should be given another World Championship run ASAP, but put some respect on Damian Priest’s name. He’s one of the strongest and most reliable workers on the entire roster. He and Drew found a way to sell the program with consistent storytelling leading into ‘Mania, and they really delivered with a very good match here.

Both men willingly took some big bumps and consistent punishment throughout, but that was balanced well with some good combinations and more intricate sequences where they proved how capable they are as technical wrestlers. Plus, we got a fun viral moment from Drew McIntyre with another mid-match tweet and some excellent post-match selling from Damian Priest after the Claymore onto the chair. Job well done by everyone involved. Hopefully this’ll catapult Drew into another World Championship run and lead to Damian having another extended program with a top guy in the company.

3. Bron Breakker Vs Penta Vs Dominik Mysterio Vs Finn Bálor For The Intercontinental Championship

I think Dominik Mysterio celebrating his victory will be remembered as the single best and most memorable thing from this entire WrestleMania. He’s been doing fantastic heel work for years, and it’s been obvious for a long time that the boos he was getting were a sign of respect. He wasn’t getting go home heat. He was getting appreciated for his good work. So, job well done. I can’t say enough nice things about him or the moment he earned.

I can definitely say more nice things about the rest of this match too. It may have only been ten and a half minutes, but it was really fast-paced and well-constructed. Everyone got some really fun spots, and Carlito really delivered in his role too, as he interfered several times and took a very memorable spear spot from Bron Breakker. Also a big shout out is due for Penta who is an absolute star and to Finn Bálor who once again played the hard luck loser.

2. Seth Rollins Vs Roman Reigns Vs CM Punk

I wasn’t the world’s biggest fan of the night one crowd, but they really made this feel like a big fight atmosphere and stayed plugged in throughout the entire match, which was more than thirty minutes. Most of the credit for that, however, should go to the three performers, who wrestled like they knew this match was going to be watched and rewatched for decades to come. Every spot felt important, and every near fall felt like edge of your seat drama.

Unlike the night two main event finish which was also designed to be cinematic, this one really worked. The interaction between Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns after he betrayed CM Punk and later Paul Heyman and Seth Rollins after he betrayed Roman Reigns was fantastic. Everyone involved here has been in huge moments on the biggest stages in the past, and they really showed that experience here. At most ‘Manias this would have been the fight of the weekend.

1. Iyo Sky Vs Bianca Belair Vs Rhea Ripley For The Women’s World Championship

I just looked at the official time and am shocked this didn’t even go fifteen minutes. Each of the women got some really good extended interactions with each other, and each one did some really good character work and told a believable story. I particularly loved Bianca leaning into the boos and telling the fans they needed to be louder. It gave her character ownership over what was happening and made her look empowered.

The in-ring work was just fantastic too. There were so many combinations where one move flowed into another move, and it was beautiful to watch these three superstars all show off their various movesets which are unique and visually different from each other. Wrestling is best when there’s obvious variance, and this match featured so much of it.

Bianca, Rhea and Iyo are three of the greatest female superstars in the history of this business. All three of them sold out to make each other look as good as possible, and all three wrestled to improve the quality of the match, not to make themselves look good. I’ll remember this as one of my favorite ‘Mania matches ever, and I think there are a lot of people right there with me.

It’s finally WrestleMania week, and I could not be more fired up. The Royal Rumble might be my favorite PLE of the year, but WrestleMania is, without question, the most important. Whenever someone who’s not into professional wrestling asks me to explain what it’s all about, I always use ‘Mania as a starting point. It’s the one event every single person is at least vaguely aware of, and in very practical television terms, it works like the season finale.

A year’s worth of characters, storylines and builds are, in theory, supposed to pay off at WrestleMania. It’s the show that brings resolution to what we’ve already watched and lets us know who the main characters are going to be moving forward. In a more special way only wrestling fans understand, it’s also just really meaningful. It’s a big deal to even make the card, and everything you do at a ‘Mania counts. It’ll be re-watched and remembered for decades to come.

This year will be no exception. After decades in the business, playing the most popular good guy almost the entire time, John Cena has finally been given the chance to play a heel, and he’s taken full advantage of it in his feud with WWE’s top baby face Cody Rhodes. They’ll close night two of the show, but beyond that, there are a ton of other huge names on the card including Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Drew McIntyre, Iyo Sky, Charlotte Flair, Gunther and more.

Before I get into what I think is going to happen, though, you can take a look at my track record predicting WrestleManias, as well as my overall record, as I’ve predicted every single WWE Premium Live Event for the last three years.

The War Raiders (Champions) Vs The New Day For The World Tag Team Championships

I don’t know what Triple H is doing here. I think fans on Twitter, with a few exceptions, have been a little too negative about this year’s WrestleMania build, but this is one program that I think everyone should be criticizing. The New Day were white hot when they first turned heel. The segment where they kicked Big E out was one of the best promos we’ve gotten in a long time, but then the writers waited way too long to actually do anything with them. They just had them give the same generic heel promo every week and even bizarrely had them lose some matches. Now they’re trying to heat them back up, but the spark just isn’t the same.

That being said, The War Raiders are among the best in-ring tag team workers on the entire WWE roster, and The New Day are future first ballot Hall of Famers. This match can and should still cook. I predict the crowd will be very hot for it by the end, with two possible results. Either The New Day will cheat to become tag team champs again, or they’ll lose the match as a result of interference from Big E. I’m going to go with the former, but keep your eyes open for the latter.

Predicted Winners: The New Day

Rey Fenix (Replacing Rey Mysterio) Vs El Grande Americano

UPDATE: Rey Mysterio suffered an injury on SmackDown and was replaced by Rey Fenix. It's hard for me to imagine WWE will give Rey Fenix his first singles loss this quickly after his debut, but I'm not 100% confident because we don't know if WWE is going to try and get back to the Rey Mysterio/ El Grande Americano storyline whenever he gets healthy. If Gable is unmasked here, that makes this more complicated.

Original Write-Up: In a really stupid but also amazing way, this match is a perfect encapsulation of what professional wrestling is all about. Rey Mysterio is a WWE Hall of Famer and arguably the most famous luchador of all-time, at least in The United States. In an effort to beat him, WWE mid-carder Chad Gable disappeared for several weeks, then returned as a masked luchador named El Grande Americano. He swears he’s not Chad Gable but is instead a totally different wrestler who has won every championship there is to win in Mexico.

In recent weeks, many WWE legends have tweeted about how unfair it is that El Grande Americano has a match and Chad Gable doesn’t. A recent crowd even gave us an all-time chant where half the people screamed that’s Chad Gable and the other half screamed no he’s not. The whole thing is beyond normal levels of stupid but also absolutely perfect in a really specific professional wrestling way.

Anyway, Rey Mysterio is going to win this. Afterwards, I suspect he’ll unmask El Grande Americano at the end, and we’ll just have to wait and see who is under there. It’s obviously gonna be Chad Gable, except, of course, if it’s not.

Predicted Winner: Rey Fenix

Jade Cargill Vs Naomi

It’s been a long time since we’ve gotten a non-title women’s singles match on the ‘Mania card, but this one has more than earned its spot thanks to a good story that’s built slowly over the last year and some particularly strong character work, especially from Naomi. At ‘Mania 40, Cargill, Naomi and Bianca Belair all teamed together for a dominant victory over Damage CTRL. In the time since, they’ve told a story of friendship and betrayal, in which both women separately teamed with friend Bianca Belair to win the tag team titles and a jealousy naturally grew from that, leading to Naomi eventually attacking Jade.

I suspect Jade will win this match. She’s been presented as a dominant, main event talent since she arrived in WWE. In fact, you could say she’s been one of the most protected superstars on the roster. A loss here would really hurt her standing, whereas it would only give Naomi more fuel to grow her bitter, resentful heel that’s really helped break her out over the past few months. In fact, I suspect WWE will strongly consider her when Money In The Bank rolls around for a possible victory there.

Predicted Winner: Jade Cargill

LA Knight (Champ) Vs Jacob Fatu For The United States Championship

What happens in this match entirely depends on what WWE wants to do with Jacob Fatu. Whether fans like it or not, Triple H and company seem to view LA Knight as an upper mid-carder, the type of superstar who cleans up against most of the roster but loses World Title level matches to the actual main eventers. So, win, lose or draw, he’ll continue dropping mid-carders on their heads and giving ‘em three the hard way.

Jacob Fatu, however, is almost certainly going to be in the main event picture sooner rather than later. Despite being a heel, the crowd clearly buzzes every time he comes to the ring. He’s just got an aura about him, and many fans and observers consider him a future WrestleMania main eventer. So, what does WWE want to do with that? They can have him beat LA Knight here and go on an extended run with The United States Championship where he, assumedly, looks really dominant against most of the roster, or they could have him lose in some underhanded way that helps him launch into his next feud. Most likely that would be through a botched interference attempt by his Bloodline mate Solo Sikoa.

Ultimately, I think they’re probably going to want him to win his first WrestleMania match and get his first taste of singles gold. So, I’m going to go with that. A loss is definitely possible though, but if it happens, expect it to be a loss that still keeps him looking really strong.

Predicted Winner: Jacob Fatu

Tiffany Stratton (Champion) Vs Charlotte Flair For The WWE Women’s Championship

Let’s just rip the band-aid off here. The build to this match has been a disaster. It’s impossible to know as a fan with no backstage connections exactly what’s been going on, but from my vantage point, it seems like Charlotte Flair intentionally tried to make Tiffany Stratton look bad on multiple occasions by going off script and stepping on her big lines until Stratton got sick of it and hit her back on live television with a few really personal insults.

All that mess has added a little buzz and excitement to the match, but it’s also made both of the women look bad. Flair has come off, at least to me, as unprofessional and unwilling to help one of the youngest women on the roster, and Tiffy has come off, at least to me, like someone inexperienced who was made World Champion before she was ready. There’s been no winner.

I have no idea what to expect on Saturday. Stratton and Flair and two of the best workers on the entire roster. So, there’s a chance they’ll finally work together and deliver an all-time fantastic match, or there’s a chance they’ll just keep trying to show each other up and it’ll be a disaster. It could go either way, as could the outcome. I originally thought WWE would have Flair put over Stratton to give her a huge win on a big stage and signal to the audience that they’re building around her, but she hasn’t looked ready for the moment in the past several weeks, stumbling over her words and seeming out of sorts. Would WWE really reward Charlotte for what’s happened here though? That doesn’t feel like the right message to send to the veterans in the locker room.

Predicted Winner: Tiffy Time

Gunther (Champion) Vs Jey Uso For The World Heavyweight Championship

Gunther is probably my favorite wrestler on the entire roster. He’s absolutely fantastic, and his promo this week on Raw really showed why he’s a future Hall of Famer. I would love to see him win here and really cement his legacy as an all-time villain, capable of stepping on any babyface, no matter how over they are with the crowd. But what happens to Jey Uso if he loses in another big moment?

WWE has invested a ton in Jey Uso and in this story. He won perhaps the most stacked Royal Rumble in history. After fans weren't fully getting on board with his program, they let Gunther beat down his brother Jimmy, to the point where he’s not being used at WrestleMania in order to try and build sympathy. They’ve given him personalized entrances and significant time on almost every episode of Raw for months.

That’s paid off in huge merchandise sales and a lot of YEET chants, but if he loses here, it’s almost certainly going to stop a lot of his momentum. He’s going to be thrown back down to the mid-card and probably end up back in a tag team with his brother. That’s far from the worst thing in the world, but there’s always time to do that later. If he’s going to make a singles run, it needs to be now, which is why he’s almost certainly going to win.

Predicted Winner: Jey Uso

Roman Reigns Vs CM Punk Vs Seth Rollins

Fans are divided as to how effective the build for this custody of Paul Heyman match has been, but you certainly can’t deny the star power. These three would all quite easily fit into a top ten of wrestlers who have most defined the post-Attitude Era, and they all share plenty of professional connections and personal life overlap.

You could make a case for why all three of these guys should emerge victorious here, but I think the best case belongs to Seth Rollins. He’s a lot less involved in the Paul Heyman stuff than the other two, and he could really use a win on a big stage like this. He spent all of last year’s WrestleMania putting other people over, despite being injured, and if CM Punk and Roman Reigns are going to continue feuding together, it would make the most sense for him to be the one to escape with a win.

Predicted Winner: Seth Rollins

Liv Morgan And Raquel Rodriguez (Champions) Vs Bayley And Lyra Valkyria For The WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship

It feels like the long-term story here is Bayley and Lyra Valkyria feuding over the Women’s Intercontinental Championship, not these teams feuding over the Women’s Tag Team Championship. We saw Bayley waffle on whether or not to shake Lyra’s hand when she lost a few weeks ago, and while they teamed in the ring pretty well together during the gauntlet match, it’s hard to think that’s not going to come into play in the future.

Plus, I don’t really see any reason why Judgment Day should lose here. There’s a good chance either Dom or Finn is going to win the Men’s Intercontinental Championship, and if one of them does, that plus these belts could really solidify Judgment Day moving back into prominence without Rhea Ripley or Damian Priest.

Predicted Winner: Liv & Raquel

AJ Styles Vs Logan Paul

I’m still not really sure what story these two are trying to tell. The announcers and Karrion Kross seem to be telling us the story is about the soul of wrestling, but AJ Styles and Logan Paul haven’t really gotten into that a ton of the microphone. Instead, it’s mostly seemed like a showcase match, but given the talent level of these two, that’s absolutely fine. Styles is arguably the best in-ring worker of his generation, and Paul has proven over and over again that he can really perform on a big stage.

Because there’s really not a ton of story here, it makes this match uniquely difficult to predict. Paul is obviously on the upswing of his career, while Styles doesn’t have a ton of WrestleManias left. That could work in either man’s favor though, as you can see Styles putting Paul over to help grow his career, or you can see Paul laying on his back for a hero who deserves another big WrestleMania moment. I’m going to go with AJ Styles because it feels like it’s been forever since he got a big win like this, but I’m not confident.

Predicted Winner: AJ Styles

Bron Breakker (Champion) Vs Penta Vs Dominik Mysterio Vs Finn Bálor For The Intercontinental Championship

You can’t rule any of these four out. Normally in a multi-man match like this, there are a few people who are quite obviously not winning, but that’s not the case here. Bron has looked unstoppable since winning back his Intercontinental Championship and is widely regarded as the young star with the brightest future in WWE. Penta is one of WWE’s hottest characters right now and getting star treatment, and it seems like WWE really wants to reenergize Judgment Day, which means a win for either Mysterio or Bálor is on the table. It could even lead to the two of them feuding with each other, which would provide a lot of stories for WWE to explore in the coming months.

I’m going to go with Dominik Mysterio. It’s probably because I would like to see him rewarded for all the great heel work he’s done over the past few years, but beyond that, I also think a title could really take his character to another level. He’s never going to be a dominant champion like Gunther or even Bron Breakker, but it’s easy to imagine a scenario in which he cheated to win and picked up a ton of victories over the next several months. That would only increase the generational heat already on him, and that could help turn WWE’s most reliable mid-card character into a star.

Predicted Winner: Dominik Mysterio

Damian Priest Vs Drew McIntyre

I’m a huge Damian Priest guy. I felt like he was a future World Champion the day he moved to the main roster, and I’ve been stoked to see how his career has gone so far. His cash in on Drew McIntyre last year was my single favorite moment of WrestleMania 40. He’s my guy, and this match isn’t going to change that.

But Drew McIntyre needs to win here. He is capable of being the biggest star in the entire company, and his work over the last year or two has been the best of his career. I think he can be WWE Champion again and really give us a memorable title reign. That starts with beating Priest here. Don’t get me wrong. I hope the match is really competitive and both men come out looking fantastic, but the result is obvious. McIntyre needs to win a feud and start building momentum.

Predicted Winner: Drew McIntyre

Iyo Sky (Champion) Vs Rhea Ripley Vs Bianca Belair For The Women’s World Championship

This is the most unpredictable match on the entire card in my opinion. You could easily look at this and say they’re going to tell the oldest triple threat story in the book. Rhea and Bianca are going to focus on each other, and that’ll allow Iyo to sneak in and claim victory while they’re distracted. That’s certainly possible.

You could also say Bianca is going to win this, given she has a great WrestleMania undefeated streak going, which the company could really turn into something down the road, and there’s an enticing opportunity to turn her heel, given she’s been booed throughout this program despite being a baby face. She could also slide right from this into a feud with Jade Cargill, which would be a big money opportunity for WWE to put on some title matches.

Or you could easily say Rhea is going to win this on account of her being the biggest female star in the history of the wrestling business. She’s been behaving like a heel during the entire feud, and the fans still cheer her at every turn because she’s a breakout star. You can’t blame WWE for wanting to put the belt on the biggest name in the division. Hulk Hogan, John Cena and others spent larger parts of their career as champ for that exact reason.

I’m going to go with Bianca because I really like keeping the streak in tact, but my confidence level is not very high here.

Predicted Winner: Bianca Belair

Cody Rhodes (Champion) Vs John Cena For The WWE Championship

There are a fair number of fans who think Cody Rhodes is going to take this, but I just don’t see that. John Cena just gave us one of the biggest and most shocking heel turns in the history of the wrestling business. In order to keep his momentum going, he needs to win here. If he does all that and loses, he’s going to look like a fool, and I’m not sure he has enough appearances left this year to really get that momentum back.

I’m sure it’s going to be through cheating. I’m sure it’s going to be through underhanded tactics, but I would be shocked if John Cena didn’t walk out of WrestleMania as a champion. That would also allow him to break Ric Flair’s record for World Championships and give WWE a ton of really fun stories to tell for the rest of the year. Cena winning here is the obvious play, and I can’t wait to see it happen.

Predicted Winner: John Cena

Let’s just admit what we’re all hearing. Bianca Belair is getting booed. It feels harsh to say that so directly about a superstar that’ll go down as one of the greatest women in the history of wrestling, but we need to say it out loud so we can get on the same page and talk out what to do about it. She’s getting booed. It’s now happened with multiple crowds, and unless something changes, it’s just going to continue through WrestleMania 41. Despite being a babyface, WWE fans have decided she’s the villain of the triple threat, and I’d be outraged if it wasn’t so obvious it was going to happen the entire time.

Look: popularity in wrestling is always relative. You can be a super over performer, but if you’re less over than the person you’re working with, you might find yourself in a position to get booed. The crowd can only root for one person, and this Bianca Belair thing is a perfect example of that. Put her in the ring with just about anyone on the roster, and when she fires up, it sounds like the Ultimate Warrior when he would shake the ropes. Unfortunately, she’s been paired with the two specific women on the roster currently more over than her. We’ve got Rhea Ripley, arguably the most popular woman in the history of the wrestling business, and Iyo Sky, probably the best in-ring worker and most loveable underdog in the entire division.

So, in essence, WWE has taken its third most popular woman (sorry, Liv, Jade, Tiffy and Charlotte) and put her in a program with the first and second most popular women. Even worse, on paper, all three of them are babyfaces; so, it’s not like Gunther or John Cena where you can support their brilliance by directly booing them. In theory, all three of Bianca, Rhea and Iyo want cheers. So, WWE has essentially left it up to the crowd to decide.

That choice was never going to go well for Bianca, but the actual beats of the story somehow make it even worse . We could spend 30 minutes going over every detail, but the basic idea here is that Rhea and Bianca see each other as the threats, while Iyo, the actual champion, is seen by the two of them as an inconsequential annoyance. That means we’re getting a lot of segments that involve Rhea and Bianca arguing and Iyo getting pushed out of the way, making her seem like an even more sympathetic underdog, thus making it even more likely fans will cheer for her.

Now, you might be saying to yourself, who cares? Every major star in the history of the wrestling business has been booed at some point. Hulk Hogan quite literally got pelted with trash by fans during his infamous nWo heel turn, but that was the reaction he wanted. In the storyline, he was supposed to get booed. You could say the same thing about John Cena right now or Bret Hart after his Hall of Fame match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13.

No, the booing itself isn’t the problem. It’s that she’s being presented as a babyface while getting booed. That makes her appear weak and like she’s less than Rhea and Iyo. That’s the part that’s a big problem, and that’s the part that makes me question what the plan was here to begin with. You always want your top performers to be in control of the crowd and of the reaction they’re getting, and right now, Bianca seems very out of control.

To me, the obvious option here is for Bianca to lean into the boos, and in fairness to Triple H, Bruce Prichard and the rest of the creative staff, maybe that’s been the plan all along. Maybe Bianca will proactively turn on the crowd and dress them down for not supporting her. Or maybe she’ll win at WrestleMania via underhanded/ cheaty tactics and then lean into the boos, which will be even louder after that. If this is where everything is going, then please carry on and stick with the plan. An unscrupulous Bianca willing to do anything to win, who is furious at the fans for supporting Rhea and Iyo instead of her, is a character I desperately want to see. That could be an all-timer.

But I’m just not confident WWE is planning to go there. Bianca Belair has been a straight up babyface and presented as wholesomely as possible for years. It’s like she’s taken the jorts from John Cena, as the person little kids are meant to root for. We all thought she might turn heel during the Jade Cargill injury storyline, and yet, it was Naomi who turned out to be the perpetrator. Instead, she’s back to playing the same character she always has, and while that character works, it’s just not as over as Rhea or Iyo, nor was it as over as Asuka at WrestleMania 39 when she got some boos too.

There are some subtle signs WWE may want Rhea Ripley to be the one to turn heel. She taunted Bianca at ringside and was the first one to act like Iyo doesn’t deserve to be in the match. Her mannerisms and behaviors have definitely been a bit colder the last few weeks, but if WWE wants fans to boo her and cheer Bianca, they need to actually turn her heel. She needs to attack Iyo or beat up someone sympathetic backstage like Maxxine Dupri. She needs to do everything but literally ask the audience to boo her, otherwise they are just going to keep cheering for her, given her overall popularity.

I love Bianca Belair. She’s one of my favorite performers on the entire roster, and I was absolutely stoked to see how fantastic she was in her segments with Naomi and Jade after Elimination Chamber. It was the best character work of her entire career, and I thought the next step in her evolution. Unfortunately, she was pulled away from that program and pushed into this feud with Rhea and Iyo, and just a few weeks later, she’s losing momentum as the fans are making it clear they don’t like her as much as the other two. If those boos are going to be used as cannon fodder to build something new and exciting for her character, I’m all for it. Boo away. But if she’s just going to pretend like they’re not happening and keep coasting along as a babyface, then I can’t help but feel like the writers really let her down. I can’t help but feel like this is all WWE’s fault since it was so obvious from the beginning.

We’re less than two months away from WrestleMania, and there are only two confirmed matches. We’ll probably get somewhere in the neighborhood of fourteen at the actual show; so, Triple H and the writers have a lot of work to do in order to get there. Thankfully, I think they’re going to use the Elimination Chamber PLE to set up more than a few of them.

I say more than a few of them because we know the Chamber is going to set up two for sure. The winner of the men’s Chamber will face Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship, and the winner of the women’s Chamber will face Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship. Those are obviously the main event attractions, but some of the losers are likely going to be putting in character work and hitting story beats that help them get to their future WrestleMania matches too.

Because of that, I’m not only going to go through who I think is going to win these matches, I’m also going to go through some theories about what other stories might develop. Obviously, I’m not inside the writers room and don’t know exactly what the powers that be are planning with everyone, but I think there have been enough story beats to do some evidence-based speculation.

Before I get to that though, please gaze in awe and wonder at my upper midcard level record on predictions since I started doing them for every PLE since WrestleMania 38. Pretty impressive, huh? I’m like the Damian Priest of predictions. Maybe that’s too generous. I’m like the Bam Bam Bigelow of predictions. Actually, that might be even more generous. The British Bulldog of predictions? Why don’t you visualize your favorite upper midcarder.

Tiffany Stratton and Trish Stratus Vs Nia Jax and Candice LeRae

Tiffany Stratton is part of one of those two confirmed matches for WrestleMania. She’s going to be facing Charlotte Flair in what is easily the biggest showcase of her career. She’s also trying to prove she belongs in the main event scene permanently, and with all due respect to the other women in this match, that has to be the most important thing here, especially after she gave a pretty lackadaisical promo last week on SmackDown. WWE needs to remind everyone that she’s a rising star with a higher long-term potential than every woman on the roster not named Rhea or Bianca or maybe Iyo. Maybe.

So, in my mind, that’s the goal of this match. Let’s make Tiffy look like a future Hall of Famer, and as an added bonus, let’s give Canadian legend Trish Stratus another fantastic WWE memory by celebrating her 25th WWE anniversary with a win in Toronto’s famed Skydome. I suppose you could make a case that Charlotte could interfere here to cost the babyfaces the match and advance the storyline that way, but I just don’t buy it. To me, the play is Tiffy and Trishy winning clean.

That being said, one key thing to look out for in this match is whether it’ll hint at anything ‘Mania related for Nia, Trish or Candice. Nia has been a workhorse for the last year, having an extended run as champion and appearing in key plots basically the entire time. I personally think she’s too big of a star to leave off the card entirely, but Triple H has proven in the past that he’s not just gonna put someone on there for the sake of putting them on there, especially if they have a key match at a nearby PPV, as Nia herself found out when she main evented Elimination Chamber last year with Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest found out when he gave us a banger with Bad Bunny at Backlash in ‘23.

Predicted Winner: Tiffy And Trishy

Sami Zayn Vs Kevin Owens In An Unsanctioned Grudge Match

This is probably the most nuanced and interesting story WWE is telling right now, which is particularly impressive given Owens and Zayn have worked together in all capacities across multiple promotions for many years. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised though, given these two are arguably the best actors and character workers WWE employs right now. They can convey emotions and make audiences feel things in a way most wrestlers on the roster just aren’t capable of.

Most fans are pretty convinced that this match is going to lead to a Kevin Owens and Randy Orton match at WrestleMania, given Owens injured Orton and hasn’t been seen on WWE programming since. I tend to agree, but there are two different ways to get there. The first would be Orton showing up, interfering in this match and helping Zayn win. The second would be Owens beating Zayn in some sort of horrifying and vicious way, which prompts Orton to show up and confront KO. I tend to think we’re going to get the latter for the simple reason that I want this match to have a real ending, and also, Owens needs a win desperately. He just took his lumps from Cody Rhodes for an extended feud. He needs to remind everyone he’s capable of winning huge matches in big spots.

Predicted Winner: Kevin Owens

The Women’s Elimination Chamber Featuring Bianca Belair, Naomi, Liv Morgan, Alexa Bliss, Roxanne Perez and Bayley.

Let’s eliminate some people who are absolutely not going to win this before we start the hard analysis. With all due respect to Bayley who is a future Hall of Famer and won a World Championship at WrestleMania 40, she is not going to win this. Her character has cooled off a ton since last year, and nothing about her recent booking indicates she’s a real threat here. I think we can also go ahead and eliminate Naomi. I feel the glow. I’m happy to see her on TV every week involved in a real storyline, but she’s not a believable threat to beat Rhea at WrestleMania. Plus, we still need to figure out what’s going on with Jade, which involves her.

Some NXT fans and people who like big surprises are pushing Roxanne Perez as a possible winner. She had a fantastic run at The Royal Rumble and broke the record for minutes spent in the match, but to be honest, she wasn’t exactly booked like a 1994 Diesel during that lengthy run. She had one total elimination the entire time, and she hasn’t exactly been presented like a main roster main eventer in the last month since then. She’s almost certainly not going to win. Instead, she’ll probably end up getting into a confrontation with Bayley, and that’ll chart their course for ‘Mania.

Now, the match we all want to see is Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley. That’s a gift from the fantasy booking gods, and whenever it happens, it should main event at minimum the first night and maybe even the second night of ‘Mania. In my mind, those two are the most talented and best female superstars in the history of WWE, and we need that showcase match at some point for both of their legacies. But I want a full proper build for that match whenever it happens, and this Jade storyline is just dangling around Bianca’s neck. Too much time has been put into it not to get some kind of resolution. If she wins the Chamber, everyone is gonna spend the next month still wondering about Jade and what’s going on there. So, I think she’s out, but I do expect we'll see Jade make an appearance and officially set up their match. I predict she somehow storms her way into the cage and we have a moment wondering if she's gonna take out Naomi and Bianca or Liv.

That leaves Liv Morgan and Alexa Bliss. Liv seemed like the obvious choice to face Rhea nine months ago, but they ran this feud into the ground already. We saw them wrestle at SummerSlam. We saw them wrestle at Bad Blood. We saw them wrestle earlier this year at the Raw premiere on Netflix. We saw mixed tag matches involving the two of them plus Dominik Mysterio and Damian Priest. We saw tag matches involving Liv’s henchman Raquel Rodriguez. We’ve seen them together soooooooooo much that it’s hard to get excited about more, even though they’re two of the hottest characters on the entire roster.

But does Alexa Bliss really make sense? I’m a huge Alexa fan. I’ve been screaming about how WWE should use her in more prominent spots for years, and she arguably got the biggest pop at the entire Royal Rumble when she returned. I would love it if she won, but there’s nothing that really indicates to me that Triple H and company see her as someone who could believably beat Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania. There have been strong hints she’s going to be the last member of the Wyatt Sicks, and I’m not really sure how her winning here would play into that, unless she got really spooky and they tried to make her a believable threat to win via supernatural means.

As much as I’d love to pick Alexa Bliss, I just can’t do it. Liv is getting significant screentime each week, and with this Rhea and Iyo Sky title match coming up on Monday, there’s a chance we get some shenanigans there that turn the ‘Mania match into a triple threat, which would be more tolerable. In fact, that's exactly what I think is going to happen. Liv is going to win here and interfere in that match, which will cause Adam Pearce to make it a triple threat.

Predicted Winner: Liv Morgan

The Men’s Elimination Chamber Match Featuring John Cena, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, Damian Priest and Logan Paul

Alright, let’s do the same thing we did for the Women’s Elimination Chamber and start eliminating people who are not going to win. Logan Paul is not facing Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania 41. Neither is Damian Priest. I think Seth Rollins would put on a fantastic match with Cody, given all their shared backstory and the fantastic segment we got on Raw this week, but Rollins is quite clearly going to do something with Roman Reigns. In fact, I think there’s a strong chance Roman could break into the Chamber and beat him half to death at the event. I think he’s out.

We got all kinds of rumors about how WWE saw Drew McIntyre as a top guy in the industry heading into this year, but he’s lost on roll-ups to Jey and Jimmy Uso this year. I get that they’re trying to tell a story about him beating himself, but come’on. You don’t typically have your WrestleMania main eventers lose matches to brothers with dueling catchphrases. Fans are so worked up about the whole thing that there are rumors WWE might amend his 'Mania plans, maybe to LA Knight, but there's been almost no talk about them amending the plans to include a World Championship match. I wouldn’t 100 percent rule him out, just as I wouldn't 100 percent rule out Seth, but their chances are very low. I think it's more likely he gets into it with Damian Priest, and that's the 'Mania plan.

That leaves John Cena and CM Punk. Rumors have swirled for months that WWE wants Cena and Cody in the main event at WrestleMania. On paper, that’s certainly the biggest match from a name recognition standpoint, but Cena has been on television like twice the entire year. He’s also been telling a story about how he hasn’t won a singles match in like a decade on WWE programming. He finished second at the Rumble and lost. I think his best story would be for him to finish second again here. Perhaps he can face someone like Logan Paul at WrestleMania and start building up momentum that way.

By process of elimination, that brings us to CM Punk. Truth be told, I wasn’t super into this as an option until The Rock showed up and gave his confusing promo on SmackDown about wanting Cody Rhodes’ soul. I have no idea if CM Punk would be willing to take The Rock up on his offer when Cody says no, but even if he doesn’t, WWE can use the favor Paul Heyman owes him as a storybeat to get Roman to do something related to The Rock. There are a bunch of options here, and given the run he’s been on, it also feels time to reward CM Punk with a loud victory against A-list opponents in a match like this.

Predicted Winner: CM Punk

How do you feel? Who do you think is going to win. Sound off in the comment section below and give us your predictions.

This is the most excited I’ve been for a Royal Rumble in a long time. Unlike most recent years in which there were, at best, a small handful of wrestlers with even remote chances of winning, the 2025 version is wide open. Thanks to a surge in fan excitement and better creative than we’ve gotten in a long time, there are a ton of performers really over with the crowd right now. Many of them could pay off that excitement and win. It’s a fantastic time to be a wrestling fan ahead of what many hardcore wrestling fans consider to be the best event of the year.

But that, of course, makes my job as a predictor far more complicated. It was easy to grab the glory back in 2023 when every single wrestling fan with half a brain knew WWE was going to tap Cody Rhodes to return and win the Rumble, but this year is not going to be so easy. There's not an Attitude Era Stone Cold you can easily point to. Instead, there are more than a half dozen performers on both the men’s and women’s sides who I think have better than 10% chances to win. That never happens, and it has my brain trying to do Steiner Math to make sense of it all.

Before I write way too many words trying to talk it out, however, you can check out a quick rundown of my track record. I've picked winners for every single PLE since WrestleMania 38, and while I haven't been perfect, my record is more than good enough to put me in the upper mid-card. Here's a quick look at how I did in last year's Big 4, plus the first Saturday Night's Main Event earlier this year and my overall record.

Cody Rhodes (Champion) Vs Kevin Owens For The WWE Championship

Look: Kevin Owens has been fantastic during this entire feud. As a diehard wrestling fan who watches every single second of main roster WWE programming every year, I would be beyond hyped if he went into WrestleMania holding the WWE Championship. It would be a great next step for this feud, and it would be a great thank you for almost a decade of main event quality work he’s done. I would be all for it. Just imagine the promo battles between him and Cody if he had a real reason to gloat, and Cody had a real reason to be be furious. If only!

Unfortunately, the harsh truth about being a wrestling fan is that WWE isn’t setting WrestleMania up to please you. Instead, Triple H, Bruce Prichard and the powers that be are setting up WrestleMania to appeal to as many lapsed fans, casual fans and members of the mainstream press as possible. Rightly or wrongly, the goal is to create a pop culture extravaganza, and as much as I love Kevin Owens, he’s not selling as many t-shirts as Cody Rhodes, nor is he selling as many tickets as The Rock, CM Punk, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Rhea Ripley or Bianca Belair.

If this was SummerSlam or another post-WrestleMania PPV, I’d spend more time considering Kevin Owens. He’s just been so freakin’ good here, from carrying around the Winged Eagle Championship to accusing everyone else of betraying him and siding with Cody. It’s some of the best work of his career, but the timing is just all wrong. I think WWE is going to want Cody Rhodes walking into ‘Mania with the title, and that means poor Kevin Owens needs to take another L in a big moment.

Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes

DIY Johnny Gargano And Tommaso Ciampa (Champions) Vs The Motor City Machine Guns For The WWE Tag Team Championships

I don’t typically like criticizing Triple H because his creative direction has revitalized WWE in a way I didn’t even realize was possible. The product, as a whole, is significantly better than it was a few years ago under Vince McMahon, but if you had to point to one area that’s struggled under his leadership, it would be the tag team division. There have been a few extended stretches where both belts were used to legitimize factions and further long-term storylines (Bloodline 2.0 and Judgment Day).

Those teams occasionally gave us banger matches, but they also sometimes went multiple episodes of Raw or SmackDown without even interacting with another tag team. That left the division feeling like an afterthought, which is probably how we’ve gotten to the point where this match is the first time either of the men’s tag team championships are being defended on a PLE since the ladder match at WrestleMania 40.

Fortunately, things seem to be turning around. On SmackDown, we’re getting consistent storybuilding every week that includes Pretty Deadly, Los Garza, DIY and Motor City Machine Guns, with the Street Profits lingering in the background, hopefully ready to emerge ahead of WrestleMania season. This match is evidence of that forward progress, and there’s a good chance it’ll be a banger, given we’re getting a rare 2 out of 3 falls match. Shoutout Demolition and Hart Foundation at SummerSlam '90!

I wouldn’t be shocked if Motor City Machine Guns won here, but I’m gonna pick DIY because it seems like they still have more stories to tell with the other tag teams on SmackDown. We’ve gotten a bunch of interactions with Pretty Deadly in particular that haven’t paid off yet, and that pay off seems like it’ll be a bigger deal if they’re still the tag team champions. Plus, there’s a good chance we could get babyface winners everywhere else on the card, and this would be a logical place to give the heels a victory.

Predicted Winner: DIY

The Women’s Royal Rumble

Just like on the men’s side, the women’s division is overflowing with people who could win this year. Let’s just run down some of the names: Bianca Belair, Nia Jax, Iyo Sky, Jade Cargill, Jordynne Grace, Charlotte Flair, Liv Morgan, Asuka, Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch all have really solid cases for why they could conceivably have a world championship match at ‘Mania. So, let’s start thinking about it in reverse and start explaining why certain people probably aren’t going to win.

I’ll eliminate Liv Morgan because she just got out of an extended feud with Rhea Ripley, and while it would be fun to see her interact with Tiffany Stratton, I think WWE is going to want a new face up there. Plus, if she finishes second again, it would be a fun story.

I’ll also eliminate Nia Jax, as she just wrestled Rhea at Saturday Night’s Main Event and has been interacting with Tiffy Time for months. I’ll also eliminate Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill because I still think the plan is for them to do something together. The who attacked Jade angle is lingering over all our heads, and unless Jade is legitimately going to be out until after ‘Mania, I think Bianca needs to clear that up before she focuses on a singles title.

So, that leaves four people potentially returning from extended hiatuses (Charlotte, Becky, Asuka and Alexa), one person just joining the company (Jordynne) and one person who is quietly super over in the background (Iyo). I’m a huge Alexa Bliss fan, but I’ll go ahead and eliminate her because I don’t know that WWE would push her this hard, this quickly. She's been hinting she's coming back for months, but when she does, she might get put back with the Wyatts anyway. That's the same idea with Asuka too, as she wasn't at the top of the main event scene when she left and has some easy to tell storylines with Damage CTRL.

Next I'll eliminate Jordynne Grace. I love the idea of her winning the Rumble as basically a newcomer and then calling out Rhea Ripley in a promo after the match. That would be a fantastic shock victory and a great way to turn her into an immediate, overnight main event player with WWE fans. It's (probably) just too big of a risk though, given Triple H and company don’t know for sure how she’s gonna get over with mainstream WWE fans.

You could make a great case for any of the final three. Iyo Sky in particular has been a big favorite amongst fans. Many experts feel like she's gotten over with the crowd, despite taking some dumb losses in semi-big recent spots like the Intercontinental Tournament and the Speed Tournament. They think WWE was just biding their time before pulling the trigger in an unexpected moment, like say the Rumble. I'd love that, but most of the time when people lose, it's not because WWE is planning to bring them back stronger. I mean we've all been saying this about Finn Bálor for years, and where has that gotten us?

I also love Becky and think the crowd is gonna be super hot for her when she returns, but she wrestled Rhea at 'Mania last year and is capable of telling compelling stories outside the title picture. So, that leaves me with Charlotte Flair. WWE is gonna want to immediately insert her back into the main event scene, and she’s perfect for a generation vs generation program with Tiffany Stratton. I don’t know that the crowd will like it, but I think her winning puts the pieces in the best possible position for WrestleMania.

Predicted Winner: Charlotte Flair

The Men’s Royal Rumble

Just like with the women’s Rumble, I think the best way to do this is to go down the list of possible winners. I think the major players are Roman Reigns, CM Punk, John Cena, The Rock, Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins. I also love Jacob Fatu as an unlikely darkhorse pick, given everyone would immediately buy him in the main event scene if he were suddenly catapulted into it. You could also throw Kevin Owens in there as a fun longshot, as well as Sami Zayn if Owens were to somehow beat Cody Rhodes earlier in the night. They’re not going to win, but we should at least say their names out loud, as well as Jey Uso (YEET) and Randy Orton, who you could kinda sorta make a stretch argument for.

Now, I’m going to eliminate Roman Reigns first because, while he’s the biggest star in the company outside The Rock, he’s also wrestled Cody in the main event the last two ‘Manias. We don’t want to see that match for a third time, even though the dynamics would be very different. I’m also going to eliminate The Rock because all evidence seems to point to him not being a part of this WrestleMania season. Maybe. I don't know. I don’t totally buy it. There’s a part of me that still thinks he’s going to unexpectedly come out during the Rumble and win, but I think the odds are too low to pick him.

I’m also going to eliminate Drew McIntyre, which suuuuuuuuuuuuccckkks. Until about a month ago, I was pretty convinced he was going to win the Rumble. WWE was starting to present him like a huge star, and he really seemed to be picking up momentum. Then he lost to Jey Uso on a rollup at the premiere of Raw on Netflix, and I lost hope he was going to get the push he deserves, at least prior to 'Mania.

I’d argue the two odds on favorites are CM Punk and John Cena, but personally, I just don’t see it (as I outlined more extensively here). I think both men tell much more compelling stories if they’re in the Elimination Chamber, desperate to get an opportunity for WrestleMania. Cena’s overall story arc has been about falling just short, and doing so again in the Rumble would really help that. WWE keeps shoving it down our throats that CM Punk is going to get a favor from Paul Heyman, but why would he need that favor if he wins the Rumble?

No, I’m going to with Seth Freakin’ Rollins. I think he wins the Rumble and challenges Gunther, which allows us to get a full month of who is Cody’s opponent going to be, with Cena, Punk and Roman all desperate to grab the spot. He's not the biggest name on this list, but I think he's the right play for Gunther and the right play for everyone else, as losing will only make their stories get more desperate over the next few months.

Predicted Winner: Seth Freakin’ Rollins.

You can check out the Royal Rumble when it streams live on Peacock in the United States on February 1st or on Netflix in most of the rest of the world. Viewing is free with a subscription.

There are still plenty of upcoming WWE events on the way, but it's hard not to think about WrestleMania 41 as we inch closer to its arrival in May. Next year's PLE's and the Monday Night Raw and SmackDown shows on the 2025 TV schedule will give us an idea of who will get a chance to shine on the big two-night event, though I already have some predictions on who we will see.

I also have some humble requests for matches I would rather not see, in case the powers-that-be happen to be looking around the web for these opinions. There are some feuds I think deserve the opportunity to shine in Vegas, but there are more than a few that I have no interest in seeing occupy a spot on the card. Let's dive in.

Prediction: New Day vs. Big E

New Day shocked the world with a heel turn recently and blamed Big E for their fall from grace as the most dominant tag team in WWE history. With all the cheap shots they took at him for not returning after his devastating injury, it felt like a sign his in-ring return might not be that far off. Seeing as Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods rejected his offer to return to the faction as a manager, what would happen now if he was suddenly cleared to return to action?

I guess that Big E would return as a singles competitor, only to have his big return ruined by his former allies. This goes back and forth until finally, Adam Pearce has enough and sets up a 2 vs. 1 handicap match at WrestleMania. That, or Big E finds a new tag-team partner to team up with, but I think he's tough enough to take on both Woods and Kingston simultaneously.

Don't Want: Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley For The Women's World Championship

The Women's World Championship title scene has been exclusively linked to Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan through much of 2024, and while that feud has elevated the latter to the main event scene and made for some compelling storytelling, it's run its course. At some point, this title needs to stop being held hostage by this feud, and we need to work some more people into the mix as serious contenders.

While we don't have to worry about Dominik Mysterio's wife getting upset about the storyline, I think there's a real risk of fans getting burnout on these two if they aren't already. Plus, the women's main roster is too stacked to only gravitate around a few people. Let the belt move elsewhere if nothing else, but let these two finally end this feud.

Prediction: John Cena vs. Gunther For The Heavyweight Championship

Betting sites are saying John Cena is the favorite to win the Royal Rumble, and if that ends up being true, he gets his choice of a title shot at WrestleMania 41. Seeing as "The Champ" has confirmed this will be his final Mania match, it'd be surprising if he didn't attempt to pursue his record-breaking title win for what's now known as the Heavyweight Championship.

Gunther currently holds the Heavyweight Championship, and while that could change before WrestleMania 41, he'd be the perfect opponent for Cena. Can a legend past his prime defeat one of the most dominant and prideful champions on the main roster? I think it'll be a tall order for him and hopefully a more entertaining match than the poor performance he put on against Austin Theory in his past WrestleMania match. That said, I want to see it, and I think with his commitment to one final year in the WWE, Cena will be in shape and up to the challenge.

Don't Want: Gunther Vs. Goldberg For The Heavyweight Championship

Bill Goldberg has frequently talked about a retirement match throughout his 2024 interviews, and WWE's Bad Blood made it seem like the company is considering giving him one. The legend confronted Gunther when the champion called him out, but we haven't seen him since then. Is this because he will make an appearance at the Royal Rumble?

I have to echo the thoughts of CinemaBlend's Philip Sledge here: I don't want to see a Goldberg retirement match at WrestleMania 41. The WWE has given us a few of his matches in recent years, and none of them were all that great. Much like The Undertaker, I think he probably should've retired a few matches ago, and giving him a WrestleMania moment feels like a waste of a match spot.

Prediction: Jade Cargill vs. Bianca Belair

Since Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair first locked eyes in her Royal Rumble debut, wrestling fans have waited for this match to happen. The WWE didn't go that route immediately, making the two a bestie tag team that won the titles and had a weird run-in with the Boogeyman that still has me in stitches.

Then Jade was attacked, and I think we all suspect Bianca is the culprit here. She's one of the most dominant women in the ring, and while Cargill is strong, she hasn't exactly been the most polished performer since her debut. I could see Bianca trying to cut the dead weight and get back to her glory days as a singles competitor, ultimately leading to a feud with Jade once she learns it was her friend who took her out of commission.

Don't Want: Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Championship

Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns are the top superstars in a stacked roster, and that's been the case for a couple of years now. These two have closed out the past two WrestleManias, which was phenomenal both times. The WWE will have these two take each other on once again, but is now the right time for that to happen?

I don't think so, and based on the way Roman Reigns has returned as a face wrestler, I think the company also agrees. He has to take down Solo Sikoa and the new iteration of the Bloodline first, and then he can worry about retaking his spot as "Head of the Table." Whether that's against Cody Rhodes, The Rock or maybe even someone else, we'll just have to wait and see.

WrestleMania 41 isn't happening in Las Vegas until Saturday, April 19th and Sunday, April 20th. Hopefully, as we get closer to the event, we'll get a better idea of what the match card will look like, and our picks for what should be on there will be included.

Saturday Night’s Main Event is back, and I’m so stoked I want to throw on polka dots and dance like an aging Dusty Rhodes or maybe have a snack of turnbuckle stuffing in honor of George The Animal Steele. I love The Golden Age Of Wrestling. There's something about it that makes me want to sprint to the ring Ultimate Warrior style and give a Hacksaw Jim Duggan thumbs up. Fortunately, now is the chance for all of us to relive those glory days alongside Jesse The Body Ventura.

That’s right. The beloved 80s commentator is back in the broadcasting booth (RIP Gorilla Monsoon), and he’s not the only thing about the show reportedly going retro. We’ve already seen throwback graphics, but rumors are swirling that we’ll also get retro entrances, appearances from 80s legends and maybe even a throwback ring. I can’t wait. So, hide your prized bulldog from Bobby Heenan, pull out your loudest Jimmy Hart megaphone and drop the elbow from the top ropes like Macho Man Randy Savage. We're in for some rockin' wrestling!

And what a night of wrestling it should be. WWE is giving fans a card worthy of a major PPV. Four championships are going to be on the line, and the fifth match features former WrestleMania main eventers. I have theories I want to Perfect Plex into your brains, but before I read from my scroll in the middle of the ring like a prime Genius, here’s a quick look at how my predictions have been going…

Not exactly a 15 year undefeated streak like Andre The Giant, but I'll still take it. Hopefully I can use Main Event to put a few more wins onto the board this weekend and emerge as ripped as Ravishing Rick Rude or as glowed up as Miss Elizabeth.

Sami Zayn Vs Drew McIntyre

It’s a good thing I decided to party Ric Flair style this past weekend and put off my predictions til Tuesday because this match was a last second addition to the card. I’m here for it though. McIntyre is ready for his first in-ring action since his match with CM Punk at Hell In A Cell ended that feud, which was so good Rowdy Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan would have been proud. Now he’s ready to take out that anger on poor Sami Zayn, who is stepping up here to defend the honor of his fallen comrade Jey Uso, who McIntyre attacked.

Zayn is obviously super over with the crowd and continues to be involved in huge storylines. It’s a testament to his popularity that he continually gets booked for major shows like this, but he’s almost certainly going to lose here. McIntyre needs to reassert himself as a main event player after his loss to Punk, and by declaring war on The Bloodline, he’s promising a series of interactions and potentially matches against different players. If he loses here, the feud is over. He’s not going to advance to Jey Uso if he already lost to Sami Zayn. So, yeah, I expect Drew to win here in pretty dominating fashion, though it remains to be seen whether he’ll ask for a King Kong Bundy style 5 count.

Predicted Winner: Drew McIntyre

Liv Morgan (Champion) Vs Iyo Sky For The Women’s World Championship

I hope WWE is paying attention to these crowd reactions Iyo Sky is getting because she’s one of the most over women on the entire roster. Crowds are erupting like she's a lost member of The Bushwhackers, and it’s easy to see why. She’s fantastic in the ring. Her personality is really vibrant and fun, and she’s got her own pace and style that feel different from what we get from everyone else. I would love to see her win The Women’s World Championship again.

But is this the moment where she gets pushed back to the top? That all depends on what WWE wants to do with Rhea Ripley. Like a mid-to-late-80s Hulk Hogan during the height of Hulkamania, Ripley is by a large margin the most popular woman on WWE’s roster. She is going to win the title back at some point because the biggest star should hold the belt most of the time, but she also has a lot of unfinished business with Morgan, who stole her mustached man candy Dirty Dom Mysterio and now holds her gold.

WWE probably wants Ripley to win her feud with Morgan and get her Women’s World Championship back at the same time, but there’s also a possibility that Triple H and company will want to split her objectives. If Morgan loses the title here, Ripley can finish her business with Morgan over the next month or two and then set her eyes on winning a World Championship back at WrestleMania. My guess is WWE keeps the title on Liv Morgan for now and has her beat Iyo Sky here, but I’m not 100% sure.

Predicted Winner: Liv Morgan

Gunther (Champion) Vs Damian Priest Vs Finn Bálor For The World Heavyweight Championship

The most famous Saturday Night’s Main Event episode is definitely Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant II, but the sneaky truth is, a lot of the time, the Hulkster wasn’t exactly defending his title against people with a compelling shot of winning. A lot of times he was wrestling superstars like Big Boss Man or Harley Race. Now, both of those guys are Hall of Famers, but they were not beating Hogan on network TV. Likewise, Finn Bálor was not beating Gunther in a 1v1 scenario. He hasn’t won a singles match on PPV since he beat Edge at Extreme Rules in October of 2022.

But it’s not just Finn Bálor vs Gunther anymore. Damian Priest was added to the match after some shenanigans on Monday, and now, all possibilities are in play. Gunther could lose his World Heavyweight Championship without even getting pinned, and while both Priest and Bálor would be underdogs in a match with Gunther, each has been a World Champion before and would be a credible World Champion again.

I think the decision here comes down to what WWE wants to do the World Heavyweight Championship. There’s a scenario in which they simply keep it on Gunther all the way to WrestleMania. Perhaps John Cena tries to win another Championship, and the unstoppable Gunther is in his way. That sounds like a possible ‘Mania Main Event to me. Or there’s a chance they want the belt off Gunther and will perhaps give it to CM Punk or Seth Rollins to make their upcoming feud even more exciting. If that’s the case, maybe Finn or Damian will be a transitional champion. Or there’s a chance they just want to go back to Priest as World Champion. He’s getting the best crowd reactions of his career and gave us an all-time WrestleMania moment last year when he cashed in to win the same belt.

There are so many options in play, but there are none I like better than Gunther continuing to look dominant and beating the hell out of both guys like he's Haku in a bar fight. So, I say he gets the win here, and in classic 80s style, he'll do it via Brutus The Barber Beefcake’s finishing move: The Sleeper.

Predicted Winner: Gunther

Chelsea Green Vs Michin For The Women's United States Championship

It's Saturday morning, and I'm jumping back into these predictions to give my final take on The Women's United States Championship match. We now know the finalists are Chelsea Green and Michin, and while I was confident Green was going to win before, I'm even more confident now that I know her opponent.

With all due respect to Michin, who is good in the ring and could build into something down the line, she's not very over with the crowd right now. Green, on the other hand, is super over with the crowd in an off-beat midcard kind of way. She's aspirationaly compared herself to The Miz in the past, and while I think that's a great goal for her, since we're talking about 80s wrestling, I'll compare her to The Honky Tonk Man. She's an attraction unto herself, and her goofy presence helps the show hit different emotional notes.

Green has surpassed every expectation fans had for her when she returned at The 2013 Royal Rumble. Her good work has been rewarded with consistent screentime. Now it's time to reward it with a championship.

Predicted Winner: Chelsea Green

Cody Rhodes (Champion) Vs Kevin Owens For The WWE Championship

Look: Kevin Owens has been fantastic in this program with Cody Rhodes. I went from thinking he was a throwaway opponent to fill some time for Cody to thinking this needs to go on a lot longer because this feud rules. We sometimes take KO for granted and forget how good he is. He’s got a Ted Dibiase-like quality where whatever he’s doing feels relevant, and he’s able to step up to a main event program when needed and feel like he belongs there.

The Internet has been arguing pretty relentlessly that it would be a good move for WWE to let Owens win here. It would add an element of surprise to the card, and it would give Owens a chance to hold The WWE Championship, which he’s never done before. I agree. I’d absolutely love to see Triple H get bold and put the title on Owens, but that doesn’t mean I think it’s going to happen because I don’t.

WWE has given us the occasional shock over the last few years (see Shinsuke Nakamura beating LA Knight at Survivor Series), but in general, the bookers have valued stability and common sense over chaos. That’s mostly been a good thing. That allowed Roman Reigns to have an all-time fantastic title run, and it has allowed Gunther to look like a nearly unbeatable menace for years. In general, it’s a good thing to keep the top guys on top, and Cody has been the top pure babyface for awhile. So, as much as I hear all the arguments for Owens and would love to see it myself, I have to predict what I think is most likely to happen and that’s Cody winning.

Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes

Saturday Night’s Main Event will air on NBC on Saturday evening. You can watch it there or on Peacock or via other streaming options. Wind back the clock and check it out. You won’t be disappointed!

It took a little while for the Survivor Series card to come together, but now that it’s shifted into focus, there’s a lot here to get excited about. Three championships will be on the line, as well as two full War Games matches, both of which look like they’ll have major storyline implications as we head into WrestleMania season. That’s not bad for a PPV that’s, at times, struggled to find an identity over the last three plus decades.

Obviously, the major story is the reunion of the OG Bloodline. Fans were pretty convinced that Seth Rollins was going to be the fifth man on their team, but this past week, Paul Heyman reemerged after months off television and brought with him CM Punk to even the score against Solo Sikoa’s new Bloodline, which recently added Bronson Reed. Whatever happens in the match could tell us a lot about what Roman Reigns and more will doing in their WrestleMania program.

The same could be said for the women’s War Games match. What once seemed like a throwaway exhibition that included nearly all the top talent on the women’s roster has turned into a whodunit after Jade Cargill was attacked. Bayley is going to step in and replace her, but the who attacked Jade part will likely have major storyline implications for the next few months. Maybe we’ll get answers at Survivor Series.

And, of course, there are the three championship matches. I’ve got some theory as to what’s likely to happen in each of them, but first, let’s talk a look at how I’ve been doing on predictions lately…

LA Knight (Champ) Vs Shinsuke Nakamura For The United States Championship

I’m glad to see LA Knight defend his United States Championship on a PLE, but there hasn’t been nearly enough build for this match to burn it off already. Nakamura showed up a few weeks ago and has been attacking and haunting Knight since, but there hasn’t been enough back and forth to get me (or assumedly, other fans) excited. I’m still not even used to the idea of Nakamura being back, let alone ready to see him wrestle for The United States Championship.

All of that tells me Knight is almost certainly going to retain here. I don’t think it’s a guarantee he’s going to hold his title all the way until ‘Mania, but given how over he still is, you’d think if he’s going to lose the belt, it would be to someone with a lot of momentum and a proper build into the match. That hasn’t happened here.

I love Shinsuke. I was extremely excited when WWE gave him a new series of vignettes and allowed him to start speaking in Japanese. I was hoping they’d really build him into something when he first returned for some matches against Seth Rollins last year, but ultimately, he was just fed to Rollins. Now it seems like he’s just going to be fed to Knight and will likely disappear again.

Predicted Winner: LA Knight

Bron Breakker (Champion) Vs Sheamus Vs Ludwig Kaiser For The Intercontinental Championship

Two high potential mid-carders on the rise and a former main eventer looking to get another shot at glory. Doesn’t that description just scream triple threat for The Intercontinental Championship? This match was just added to the Survivor Series card during Monday Night Raw, but this feud, despite some stops and starts, has been building for months. We’ve seen these men interference in each other’s matches, drop some strong promos against each other and collectively fixate on The IC Championship for awhile.

You could make an easy case for all three of these guys to win. Ludwig Kaiser was told in no uncertain terms by Gunther go make his own legacy and find his own success. A win here would be a major step toward doing that, and it would put him on the same trajectory as his longtime buddy, who is now World Heavyweight Champion. In addition, it feels like we can’t go a week without another quote dropping from a wrestling legend talking about how much promise they see in Kaiser. The Undertaker had really positive things to say about him earlier this year. CM Punk just singled him out as a guy he’d like to work with. His future is really bright.

And, of course, Sheamus has a really obvious case here. The Intercontinental Championship is the one major prize in WWE he’s never won. He’s held all the other belts and had success at practically all the gimmick PPVs. At some point, he’s going to win this Championship, and it’s going to generate a huge pop from fans who want to celebrate all the success he’s had. But is now the moment to pull that trigger?

And then there’s Bron Breakker, who many call a future WrestleMania Main Eventer. He’s been really enjoyable as IC Champion, as some kind of tweener between heel and face. When he first won the title, I thought he’d hold it for a Gunther-like run, but he already dropped it and won it back during a feud with Jey Uso. What’s to say he couldn’t do that again?

Any of these three men could conceivably win, but I don’t think Kaiser is quite ready yet, and I think, when Sheamus wins this title, it’s going to be during a bigger moment. So, for now, I think Bron is going to hold onto the belt.

Predicted Winner: Bron Breakker.

Gunther (Champion) Vs Damian Priest For The World Heavyweight Championship

Most of the time when I’m doing these predictions, I’m thinking less about how we got here (although that matters) and more about what story I think WWE is going to want to tell moving forward. If this person wins, what type of storylines does that set up? Would they be more enticing than possible storylines the other person winning would set up? Well, when it comes to Gunther and Damian Priest, I can see two very distinct storylines. Let’s talk this out.

Scenario 1: Let’s say Damian Priest wins. That’s possible since he’s extremely over right now and getting the best crowd reactions of his career (at least outside of his 'Mania moment). A win would legitimize Damian Priest as a main event player in WWE, and it would likely lead into a feud with another main eventer for the WHC. Maybe Drew McIntyre or a hell Seth Rollins. In addition, it would also put Gunther into a crisis of confidence program. Priest has already been accusing Gunther of losing his aura, and taking an L here would mean he’s lost his last two PPV matches and three of his last six. Maybe he rebuilds himself and vows to win the Royal Rumble to prove he’s still got it?

Scenario 2: Let’s say Gunther wins. There won't be a lack of confidence afterwards. He’ll likely emerge from this match looking as strong as ever, and he’ll likely lean into that in upcoming promos. If he wins, I’d expect him to hold the title until WrestleMania and likely face someone like John Cena in a David vs Goliath type story, as the monster heel who no one thinks they can beat. Priest would fall a little bit down from the main event scene, but there are any number of suitable people he could feud with next.

Gunther has just done too much winning since he debuted on the main roster to bet against him. I just can’t pick against him here, but it’s a credit to how over Damian Priest has gotten that there is some doubt here.

Predicted Winner: Gunther

Nia Jax, Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Tiffany Stratton And Candice LeRae vs Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Naomi And Bayley

This originally felt like an old school Survivor Series match of random babyfaces and random heels. It’s the Hulkamaniacs vs The Heenan Family or whatever, battling for nothing more than the love of the game. After Jade Cargill was unexpectedly attacked, however, it’s turned into something more interesting. Most fans think the attacker is one of her former partners on the babyface team; so, will they attack someone else during the match or intentionally screw over their teammates? That’s what we’ll all be looking out for.

There’s also the possibility, of course, that someone outside this match attacked Jade Cargill, and if that’s the case, it’s possible we may see them show up in this match. I think the most likely option is Charlotte Flair, but we could also see Becky Lynch make a surprise appearance. That would likely put either woman into an immediate feud with Bianca Belair, who would likely want to defend her partner, or with Jade herself if she’s not out with injury as long as expected.

Regardless, all these scenarios point to the heels winning. Add that to the fact that both current women’s champions are on the heel side and the fact that we’ve seen everyone on the heels side get along super well in the lead up, and I'm confident we’re probably going to see a heel victory here (provided there's not any shadiness with Tiffany's Money In The Bank contract).

Predicted Winner: The Heels.

Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Sami Zayn And CM Punk Vs Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, Jacob Fatu and Bronson Reed

If this is a straightforward match, the babyfaces are going to win. Roman was just pinned by Solo during the six man tag team match at Crown Jewel, and while it’s important to build the heels up, you can’t tear down Roman and company too much. They need to stay looking strong. Plus, WWE isn’t going to want to make CM Punk, hot off landing a big TV role, look weak, and he’s involved on the side of the good guys now too.

But there’s also the possibility this isn’t going to be a straightforward match. We know Seth Rollins and Bronson Reed are still involved in this banger of a feud, and Seth has longstanding problems with Roman and Punk too. We know The Rock may return at some point, and it seems likely he’ll side with the bad guys when he does. There are a lot of theories going around that Paul Heyman might betray Roman, since the OTC apparently didn’t check on him a single time after his injury. There’s also lingering tension between Roman and Punk. A lot could go wrong.

This is definitely the match I’m most up in the air about, but I’m going to say the babyfaces stand tall and get the win here. That would put them on more equal footing and give WWE plenty of options of where to take the story moving forward.

Predicted Winner: The OG Bloodline + CM Punk

Triple H has mostly opted for smaller match cards on PLEs since he took over creative control from Vince McMahon, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at the card for this year’s Crown Jewel. The annual Saudi Arabia-based PPV has seven matches scheduled including a triple threat, a fatal four way tag team match and a six man tag team match. Not including managers, escorts and people who might show up to interfere, there’s currently twenty-five performers scheduled to actually compete in matches.

To be clear though, I’m not complaining. This card is several orders of magnitude better than what we normally get with the Saudi PPVs, and that starts with the central gimmick the show is being built around. Both the men and women’s divisions have two World Champions, one that typically competes on SmackDown and one that typically competes on Raw.

Those champions are going to wrestle without their individual titles on the line for the inaugural Crown Jewel Championship, which is a combination of bragging rights and the most blinged out championship belt I’ve ever seen. That means we’re getting Gunther vs Cody Rhodes and Nia Jax vs Liv Morgan.

We’re also going to get the next big chapter in The Bloodline Saga, which will feature a newly reunited Roman Reigns, Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso vs three members of The Bloodline, which could include Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa. Expect whatever happens there to lead into a Survivor Series WarGames match next month.

Before I get into what might happen, though, here’s a look back at how I’ve been doing on predictions. I’ve done them for every single PPV since WrestleMania 38, and with great embarrassment, I have to admit Bad Blood was the first time I’ve ever had a losing record. But that’s the way it goes in wrestling. Sometimes you need to take some Ls so you have further to build up on your redemption arc.

Randy Orton Vs Kevin Owens

There are already many wrestling fans trying to predict what Cody Rhodes is going to be doing at WrestleMania and how it could involve Randy Orton and Kevin Owens. Let’s put that aside for a minute and just review the most basic facts. Owens is not happy with Rhodes because he decided to team up with Roman Reigns, which is understandable given their shared history. Following a disagreement about it, Owens punched Rhodes in the face. Orton initially tried to play peacemaker but eventually sided with Cody, leading to this match that’s happening at Crown Jewel.

In theory, the real confrontation is between Owens and Rhodes, which means that’s probably the next match this is building toward. Only, if Orton wins, there’s not really a next match. Owens can’t progress to Rhodes if he loses to his buddy that’s standing in the way. So, I think KO needs to win here in order to keep this going… or Orton needs to also turn on Rhodes and turn this into a bigger thing.

Predicted Winner: KO

Seth Freakin' Rollins Vs Bronson Reed

Bronson Reed has been pushed harder over the last few months by Triple H and company than he has at any point in his WWE career. If he’s ever going to make the jump to the main event scene, now is the time to do it. He can’t repeatedly injure people on Raw and look like an absolute menace and then lose his first ever 1v1 match on a WWE main roster PPV. A win here, especially if it’s convincingly, would make him a legitimate contender for a world championship.

Whether or not that’s going to happen, however, is a big question mark. WWE definitely views Seth Rollins as one of its biggest stars, and he hasn’t won a match on PPV since Survivor Series 2023. That’s almost an entire year. It’s also very likely he’s going to end up in a WrestleMania match against CM Punk (possibly for the World Heavyweight Championship), and in a perfect world, you’d want those guys to both come in looking very strong.

Personally, I think there’s enough time to put Bronson Reed over here and still build Seth Rollins ahead of WrestleMania, but Triple H has proven over his last few years in charge that, while he’ll give fans the occasional upset, he mostly likes keeping the strongest guys in the company looking strong.

Predicted Winner: Seth Freakin’ Rollins

LA Knight (Champ) Vs Carmelo Hayes Vs Andrade For The United States Championship

Andrade and Carmelo Hayes have turned their in-ring chemistry into one of the best mid-card feuds going today. They’ve thrilled fans with six excellent matches (and one that was ended early via outside interference). Now LA Knight is involved and getting an opportunity to defend his championship on PPV with two guys who should be able to give him an excellent in-ring match.

Knight has definitely cooled off a bit since his peak when he was one of the most over guys in all of wrestling, but even having taken a step back, 95% of the people on WWE’s roster would be elated to be as over as him, including Andrade and Carmelo Hayes who have built their profiles and reputations but not fully found their connection with the crowd. I’m not sure how much longer LA Knight is going to hold The United States Championship for, but I have to think if he’s going to lose it, it’ll be in a bigger moment than this.

Predicted Winner: LA Knight

Bianca Belair And Jade Cargill (Champions) Vs Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane Vs Chelsea Green And Piper Niven Vs Lash Legend And Jakara Jackson For The Women’s Tag Team Championships

Forget all the Bloodline talk. Forget Cody Rhodes and who he might face at WrestleMania. With the possible exception of CM Punk and Seth Rollins dancing at ‘Mania, there is no prediction the wrestling community is more aligned with than Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill eventually turning on each other and feuding. Almost all of us are convinced that’s going to happen between now and WrestleMania.

The bigger question is definitely when the double-crossing or back-stabbing or tomfoolery or whatever you wanna call it is going to happen. I’ve watched a lot of wrestling in my day, and six months is an Earthquake-sized time to feud. That’s too much time. They can’t turn on each other yet. I suppose it’s possible we could start getting some seeds planted and sorta water those seeds for a few months before a full-on Rockers-style break-up happens, but this still feels too far out to me. So, I say WWE wants to keep these two on harmonious terms and that means keeping the belts.

Oh and by the way, I know some people have some thoughts about Bianca and Jade maybe not being a real tag team and holding these titles hostage to help their eventual feud. I get it. I like Kayden and Katana and a bunch of the other teams too, but it’s because of Jade and Bianca these titles are making PPVs on a semi-consistent basis. They are stars. All of the women in this match get to appear on PPV because they’re in the tag division.

Predicted Winner: Bianca Belair And Jade Cargill

Roman Reigns And The Usos Vs 3/4ths Of Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga And Tonga Loa

Earlier this month when I was writing my Bad Blood predictions, I said I expected Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu to beat Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes because WWE needed to build up the New Bloodline. For New Bloodline vs Old Bloodline to be a legitimate rivalry, the average fan needs to see the New Bloodline as a real threat. Well, that didn’t happen. Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes got the victory, and now, both Uso Brothers are officially back into the fold and ready to fight for the OG Bloodline, making Roman even stronger.

So, when exactly are we going to build up the New Bloodline? I get that The Rock is probably going to be reintroduced here at some point to swing the balance of power, but it’s unclear when exactly that might happen. Jacob Fatu, Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga won a six man tag at Money In The Bank, but that wasn’t against anyone actually in the OG Bloodline. They really need a win here for legitimacy. I don’t think it makes sense for them to take another L, but it’s also hard to bet against Roman Reigns when he’s 29-4 over his last 33 PPV appearances. I’m going to predict New Bloodline, but I don’t feel good about it.

Predicted Winner: New Bloodline

Nia Jax Vs Liv Morgan For The Crown Jewel Championship

It’s Tiffy Time, or at least I think it’s going to be. The Money In The Bank winner has teased cashing in her briefcase on several occasions, but Crown Jewel is where it makes the most sense for her character and provides the most potential drama for the audience. That’s because, if she comes down to the ring, we won’t know whether it’s to betray her frenemy Nia Jax or to follow instructions and cash in on Liv Morgan.

Most fans seem to think she’s going to betray Nia, especially because the champ has been showing a recent preference for new BFF Candice LeRae. I’m not entirely sure about that, but it seems the most likely given Rhea and Liv Morgan don’t seem to be done with their feud, which is made a lot more interesting by Liv holding the championship. This would also set up a potential Survivor Series re-match between Stratton and Jax, which I think fans would be a lot more into than Stratton and Morgan.

Predicted Winner: Tiffany Stratton

Cody Rhodes Vs Gunther For The Crown Jewel Championship

The hot rumor for the last week or two has been that Goldberg will interfere here and cost Gunther the match, setting up a feud between the two down the road. There’s some evidence for this given Gunther previously made reference to Goldberg during a promo and had a confrontation with him at Bad Blood. I’m not really sure there’s a huge appetite for that among hardcore fans, but Goldberg is still a big name and a match with The Ring General would generate a ton of conversation and interest from casuals.

There’s also a possibility here that Kevin Owens or Randy Orton could interfere in this match to cost Cody, furthering the story of whatever is going on there. To me, that’s probably the more appealing play from a storyline perspective, as I’m more intrigued by whatever is going on there, but it’s honestly hard for me to bet against Cody Rhodes here because he’s the face of WWE. Roman Reigns might be the biggest star but Cody is the torch-bearer. He’s the one signing the autographs and showing up in the small towns. He’s the person WWE is building around, and it makes a lot of sense to give him the inaugural Crown Jewel Championship if you want to elevate it as much as possible.

Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes

Reminder: Crown Jewel will take place at an earlier time on Saturday than usual because it's happening in Saudi Arabia. You can catch the match for free with a streaming subscription on Peacock or via other methods around the world.

Before I get into the specifics of this card, I just want to take a second to nerd out about the very first Badd Blood, which took place all the way back in 1997. In retrospect, it’s probably one of the most important secondary PPVs in WWE history and not just because it was spelled with Badd Blood for maximum 1990s-ness. It featured the first ever Hell In A Cell match between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, which ended after interference from a debuting Kane, who was immediately treated as a monster and beat Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWE Championship within a year. 

If that wasn’t enough of a legacy, it’s also widely considered to be the last PPV of The New Generation Era, as it was the last PPV Vince McMahon was the lead commentator on and the PPV immediately before Survivor Series 1997, which was the infamous Montreal Screwjob where the Mr. McMahon character was born. It also featured a few other legends including Bret Hart, The Rock, British Bulldog, Vader, Owen Hart, Legion Of Doom, Faarooq, among others. So, yeah, there’s a lot to live up to here, and while it would be really unfair to expect this card to be as historically important as the original Badd Blood, there’s every reason to be optimistic that it’ll be an absolute banger, given the matches. 

We’ve got CM Punk and Drew McIntyre in a Hell In A Cell match. We’ve got Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes against The Bloodline in a match that’ll (probably) have lingering storyline repercussions for months to come. We’ve got a Women’s World Championship match between Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan with Dominik Mysterio suspended above the ring in a shark cage. We’ve got Finn Bálor and Damian Priest in a grudge match, and Bayley and Nia Jax for The WWE Women’s Championship with a possible Tiffany Stratton cash-in lingering. There’s something to be excited about in every one of these matches.

Before I get into what I think is going to happen, though, let’s take a look at how I’ve been doing with my predictions lately. 

Nia Jax (Champion) Vs Bayley For The WWE Women’s Championship

During this past week’s episode of SmackDown, WWE production accidentally put up Bayley’s Damage CTRL graphic during her entrance. I’m not trying to run down the people in production as mistakes happen and they’re typically great, but I can’t think of a better way to symbolize how stuck in the mud Bayley is right now than that. 

She was so hot during her split from Damage CTRL storyline, her Royal Rumble win and the WrestleMania payoff, but she just has not been able to find her footing the past several months. Nothing she’s doing is working, which is why she lost the title to Jax. She’ll get another shot here, but she shouldn’t win anything until she figures out her character. She sometimes laughs in an over the top way like she’s still a heel. She sometimes tries to connect emotionally like she’s a babyface, but since she’s not over like an LA Knight style anti-hero, it just sorta seems off-tone. And I say that as a huge Bayley fan who thinks she’s a guaranteed future Hall of Famer.

Because of all that, I don’t really see Bayley as a threat to win here. So, really, it’s all about whether Tiffany Stratton is going to cash-in. We’ve gotten a lot of teases on that so far and our most overt example of drama between the two on SmackDown. The crowd will lose their minds if/ when it finally becomes Tiffy Time, and I think that’ll happen sooner rather than later. I’m going to be cautious and not directly predict it here, but it’s definitely within the realm of possibilities.

Predicted Winner: Nia Jax

Damian Priest Vs Finn Bálor

I’m really of two minds here. On the one hand, Finn Bálor needs a win desperately. He’s had 2 victories in his last 12 PPV appearances, and they both came in tag team matches with Damian Priest. So, if WWE wants this new version of Judgment Day to actually be a faction people take seriously, he needs to start winning some big matches. The occasional victory on Raw, buoyed by outside interference, is not enough. In addition, if WWE wants this feud between New Judgment Day and old Judgment Day to continue, then Finn really needs to win here. Dominik and Liv already lost to Damian and Rhea at the last PPV. If they both lose again here, it’s over. What’s the point of continuing the feud?

On the other hand, Damian Priest is getting the best crowd reactions of his career, and Triple H clearly loves him. Yes, he dropped his belt to Gunther at SummerSlam, but that was only after big PPV wins over the likes of Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins and Jey Uso. Gunther was always going to be the future of that belt, and it’s a testament to Damian Priest that WWE delayed it for as long as it did. He could easily survive a loss here to Finn Bálor, particularly if it’s protected, but if WWE is going to have Rhea beat Liv, they may just want to end this Old Judgement Day vs New Judgement Day feud, which means Damian would need to win. It could go either way, but I think there’s more story left to tell.

Predicted Winner: Finn Bálor

Rhea Ripley Vs Liv Morgan (Champion) For The Women’s World Championship

Liv Morgan has been doing the best work of her entire career over the past few months. She’s leaned into all the heat Dominik Mysterio has had and really found a way to push it even further. I can’t imagine anyone on the roster playing this role better than her, but how long can we keep denying Rhea Ripley for? She’s the most popular female wrestler in the history of the business, and personally, I’m a dude that thinks the most popular person should hold the title in most instances.

But this isn’t Cody Rhodes against some random opponent on a second level PPV. There’s a lot of story being told here, and we can’t count Liv Morgan out. As I said in the Damian Priest/ Finn Bálor paragraph, I’m not sure WWE is done with this Old Judgment Day vs New Judgment Day storyline. I think we’re going to see Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley in a singles match at some point, and I also think there’s been too much crowd response to Rhea and Liv to burn this off with just one singles match. I’m going to go with Rhea, but I don’t feel great about it. There's a strong chance this could be remembered as the PPV where the New Judgment Day stands tall thanks to heelish tactics.

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley

Cody Rhodes And Roman Reigns Vs Jacob Fatu And Solo Sikoa

Roman Reigns can’t lose his return match after he was gone for months, right? I don’t know. The hardest matches to predict in wrestling are always the ones where the storyline is very obviously going to continue, and there are so many different directions this storyline could take. Let me throw out a few of them. The Rock could come back and, as heavily rumored, officially side with Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu, setting up a new Bloodline vs Old Bloodline Civil War. Roman’s potential allies, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso and Paul Heyman could show up to officially signal their support for the Original Tribal Chief. All the drama between Kevin Owens, Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes could finally come to a head, costing Cody’s team the match.

Where does WWE want to go with the storyline? Personally, I think we’re working toward The Rock and Cody Rhodes in one WrestleMania 41 main event (although there's some reason for doubt) and Jacob Fatu and Roman Reigns in the other WrestleMania 41 main event. So, what’s the most important thing WWE needs to do in order to make that happen in the best possible way? To me, that means figuring out how to bring The Rock back and it means establishing the new Bloodline, particularly Jacob Fatu as the biggest threat possible. That means they need some high profile wins. That could and probably should start here.

Predicted Winner: Solo Sikoa And Jacob Fatu

CM Punk Vs Drew McIntyre

This’ll go down as one of the greatest and most memorable non-title feuds in WWE history. It’s been an absolute masterclass from both men, but it needs to end so they can both move on to different things. CM Punk likely needs to start a program with Seth Rollins (after Rollins is done with Bronson Reed), and Drew McIntyre likely needs to focus on trying to win The Royal Rumble and possibly getting a shot at Gunther’s World Heavyweight Championship (which could be a great Mania program for him). So, this needs to have a decisive ending, but ideally, an ending that doesn’t bury either one of them.

Personally, I think Drew McIntyre should win this feud. He’s six years younger and is probably on the best run of his entire career. I think CM Punk’s character can better weather a loss, and I’d like to see him put Drew over. I think that’s best for business long-term, but CM Punk is arguably the more popular performer and he’s the babyface in the feud. So, this match could really go either way.

Predicted Winner: Drew McIntyre

Depending on how you feel about CM Punk and Drew McIntyre, Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan is either involved in the hottest storyline in WWE or the second hottest storyline in WWE. Fans can’t stop booing her and Dirty Dominik Mysterio without mercy after their affair broke up Judgment Day, and she now seems destined for a splashy PPV singles match for the title with Rhea Ripley in the near future. Whenever it happens, it’ll be a well deserved high point for Morgan, who is doing career best character work right now. But even with all the earned recognition, there’s still one thing many fans would like to see her change, especially after this weekend.

If you watched the mixed tag match at Bash In Berlin (I went 5/5 on predictions, no big deal) featuring Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan versus Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley, you probably noticed an absolutely badass move she delivered to Mamí that got a near fall. She wrapped her legs around Rhea’s arm and then flipped over her back and landed in a pinning position. The move generated loud and near unanimous approval both in the arena and on social media and is still being talked about a day later. You can check it out below…

The above tweet has more than twenty thousand likes, and similar versions were posted on other large social accounts and generated many thousands of additional likes as well. If you look in the comments on any of the posts, there’s plenty of excited reactions but beyond that, there’s also a really high number calling for Morgan to immediately change her finisher from The Oblivion to this new sorcery. That’s not a surprise since many fans, while respectful of Morgan in the ring, have always been lukewarm on her finisher, and this is objectively way better. You can check out a tiny, tiny fraction of the comments below…

• Retire Oblivion immediately.
• I hope she makes this her new finisher because it puts Oblivion to shame.
• The Oblivion can kick rocks.
• Needs to be her new finisher.

That’s just a small sample of some of the responses with more than 50 likes. There are literally hundreds more from random accounts all echoing the same sentiments. Even those who are defensive of Oblivion are agreeing this is probably the coolest move Morgan has ever done, and having something like this in her arsenal would really help make her feel more like a main event player. Hyper-athleticism like this is a good way to counteract her lack of natural size.

The move itself hasn’t been used a ton, but its best known version is probably the one done by Saki Akai, who called it the Quetzalcoatl. She employed it in various Japanese federations over the years, but I don’t think that should stop Morgan, given every wrestling move ever has been done by other people before or will be as soon as other people see it. Instead of originality in every move, the goal should always be to find a move set that collectively feels original and is true to the character you’re trying to present.

Morgan hasn’t commented on whether we’ll see this move again or even what she’s calling it, but given the huge reaction from fans, it wouldn’t be surprising to see her bust it out again in the near future. Here’s to hoping it winds up being her new finisher and helps push her to even bigger heights as she continues to climb up the card and cement her place as one of the top draws in WWE.

You can catch Morgan, as well as Dom Mysterio, Judgment Day, Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest as their feud continues to play out on Monday Night Raw each week. The hit show will remain on USA for the next few months before it moves to Netflix for a splashy debut at the beginning of 2025.

The story of Bash In Berlin starts and ends with Gunther. The World Heavyweight Champion has viciously and repeatedly slapped his fellow wrestlers and WWE fans across the chest with his throwback chops since he was called up in 2022, and in just a few short years, he’s already established himself as one of the biggest stars on the roster. Now, he heads into Berlin as a conquering hometown hero, an Austrian performing inside Germany where he’s maintained residency for decades.

WWE hasn’t announced if Gunther and Randy Orton will main event the show, but regardless of where it sits on the card, the crowd is likely to be white hot, even if this feud hasn’t been given that much time to build. I also expect a particularly raucous crowd for at least two other matches, as Drew Mcintyre vs CM Punk and Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley vs Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan are locked in a standoff for hottest storyline in all of professional wrestling right now. Throw in dueling fan favorites Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens squaring up in a rare face vs face WWE Championship Match and Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill trying to win their Tag Team Championships back from The Unholy Union, and it’s a pretty stacked card for a mid-tier PPV.

Before I get into what’s gonna happen, however, let’s run down how I’ve been doing at the prediction game.

CM Punk Vs Drew McIntyre In A Strap Match

CM Punk and Drew McIntyre is one of the hottest feuds in wrestling. Fans will be extremely into this match, maybe more into it than anything else on the card not involving Judgment Day, but a month ago, people were talking about this feud like it was one of the greatest non-title storylines in wrestling history. Go back and watch the introductions and opening bell to their match at SummerSlam. You only get that type of crowd buzz when fans are emotionally invested to a far greater degree than usual. 

But over the last month or so, it just hasn’t had that same spark. There haven’t been moments wrestling fans were jumping on social, desperate to talk about. It’s been good but hasn’t approached great. So, the goal of this match has to be to get the momentum going in the right direction again. This feud needs something more than the stolen bracelet. 

If Triple H, Bruce Prichard and the writers want to keep this going and find that magic again, they need to give CM Punk a clear one-up over Drew McIntyre that represents more than winning a match. We need something that will trigger Drew McIntyre and give him a reason to turn into the vindictive Scottish Warrior again. Maybe that involves doing something to his wife. Maybe that involves embarrassing him in a way he can’t laugh off. I don’t know what it is, but it needs to be great. If not, it’s likely this feud will continue losing momentum and ultimately be remembered very positively as highlights for these two men but not as an all-time masterpiece we’ll be talking about for decades.

Predicted Winner: CM Punk

Alba Fyre And Isla Dawn (Champions) Vs Bianca Belair And Jade Cargill For The Women’s Tag Team Championships

I don’t want to pat myself on the back too hard and have to get surgery like Randy Orton, but I’m typically pretty good at knowing where WWE is going. I have a solid record in predicting matches, and the ones I miss tend to be matches I go back and forth on and am very clearly not sure about ahead of time. But I have to admit I have no idea WTF WWE is doing with Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill. 

Earlier this year, they won the Tag Team Championships, and I assumed they would have about a nine month run where they would dominate everyone before they lost the belts in some kind of scandal and started feuding with each other. I still think the goal is eventually to get them to that feud, but they unceremoniously lost the titles barely a month after winning them and haven’t been successful in winning them back. Even more strangely, we haven’t seen any internal friction either. So, what’s the plan here? Are they going to keep trying and failing at winning the titles before they turn on each other? Are they going to win the championships back and then lose them again, which will create the dissension?

Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn are a perfectly nice tag team. I’m happy they’re getting a run at the top, and I’m sure they’ll put on a good match here. But the outcome of this match depends entirely on what WWE wants to do with Bianca and Jade, and I just don’t know what they want to do. I can’t see the vision yet in my mind; so, in the absence of that, I’m going to assume, since they’re far and away the bigger money team here, that they’re gonna recapture the titles.

Predicted Winners: Bianca And Jade

Terror Twins Damian Priest And Rhea Ripley Vs The Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio And Liv Morgan

I am very confident this feud will ultimately end with Rhea Ripley winning back her Women’s World Championship from Liv Morgan and Damian Priest getting the upperhand on Finn Bálor in a singles match. Ripley is on pace to be the biggest star in the history of women’s wrestling, and Damian Priest has been steadily winning over the crowd and turning himself into a main eventer since his cash-in at WrestleMania 40. They’re going to ultimately come out on top of the larger storyline, but I’m going back and forth as to whether that success will start here or not.

In a more conventional feud, you’d have to favor Ripley and Priest here. After all, Dominik turned on Rhea at SummerSlam and cost her the match against Liv, and Damian lost his World Heavyweight Championship to Gunther at the same event thanks to Judgment Day interference. The rules of wrestling would say they need to get even, particularly since they’re the white hot babyfaces, but it’s very likely this feud is going to continue for a long time, with the real prizes being singles matches down the road. This mixed tag team match is more of a beat in the story, rather than the destination. That means anything can happen, as the outcome is merely intended to set the table for whatever comes next.

I’m going to cautiously pick Priest and Rhea, as they need a bit of good news, but all options are on the table here.

Predicted Winner: Terror Twins

Cody Rhodes (Champion) Vs Kevin Owens For The WWE Championship

Cody Rhodes is going to win this match because WWE loves long title reigns and because Cody seems destined to wrestle The Rock at some point in the future for his championship. WWE teased that very heavily prior to The Rock returning to Hollywood, but let the record show I’d love to see Kevin Owens win here. 

That’s no shot at Cody Rhodes. I like Cody and have liked him way more than I ever expected I would when he first returned to WWE, but he needs a little bit of an edge added to his character. He’s felt a little dry since WrestleMania, and having him drop the title to Owens, particularly if it’s via some cheating, underhanded tactics that turns Owens heel, would be a great way to give us an energized and fired up Rhodes. In a perfect world, I’d love to see these two wrestle three times with Owens winning the first and Cody getting the best of him on the next two. 

That would keep Cody hot for whatever is coming next, but it would also add in an element of surprise and build a new layer to his character, who has barely lost at all since returning at WrestleMania 38. Alas, that’s almost certainly not going to happen though.

Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes

Gunther (Champion) Vs Randy Orton For The World Heavyweight Championship

My co-worker Mick Joest is fired up about the possibility of seeing Randy Orton face a returning John Cena for a World Championship. It would give Cena a chance to set a new record and would give fans a match they’re clamoring for. I get it. I can see the vision, but it feels a little too early to pull the trigger on that. Perhaps more importantly, it also feels way too early to pull the title off Gunther.

Gunther is perhaps the wrestler with the highest approval rating of anyone in the entire business. He feels modern enough and is skilled enough that younger fans love him, and he’s got enough of a throwback vibe and larger than life character look that fans of older wrestling love him too. He’s a throwback that also feels cutting edge, and I just can’t see him taking only his second singles, non-DQ loss, less than a month after winning the title and in front of German fans who will no doubt give him a huge ovation.

I believe Randy Orton will rise to the top again. Maybe it’ll be to do something with John Cena, which would be super cool, but I don’t think this is the way WWE gets there. Not at the expense of Gunther.

Predicted Winner: Gunther

You can watch Bash At Berlin free with a Peacock subscription this Saturday at a special afternoon start time.

Dominik Mysterio has been at the center of one of the WWE's wildest love triangles for the past year. What started with Rhea Ripley's injury spiraled into a full-blown implosion for Judgment Day's core Superstar with his secret relationship with Liv Morgan fully revealed. As all this plays out week to week, viewers may well remember that "Dirty Dom" is a married man outside of WWE kayfabe, and may wonder how his wife Marie Juliette feels about all these romantic angles. Fortunately, we no longer have to wonder as Mysterio shared her reaction to it all.

Logan Paul welcomed Dominik Mysterio to his Impaulsive podcast, where they got into everything from him being booed by the masses to being married while regularly kissing Liv Morgan or being licked by Rhea Ripley on a weekly basis. Professional wrestlers have struggled to maintain their real-life relationships in the past when scripted romances come up, but Mysterio assured that's not an issue when it comes to his wife. In his words:

The wrestler said his wife wasn't worried at all about Ripley licking his face, and that's presumably due to the security they have in their relationship. Mysterio, who couldn't even escape boos at his wedding to Marie Juliette, has been together with her since they were 14. He's now 27 and looking ahead to a bright future where his presence at upcoming WWE events is only growing.

The romance angles don't bother his wife, and it's boosting Dominik Mysterio's profile as a wrestler outside of the shadow of his father Rey's massive legacy. The WWE tried to make Dom the next Rey for a time, but it didn't work out. Now, far removed from that feud with his father, we're finally seeing him develop into a wrestler who is at the center of the most entertaining faction feud in pro wrestling.

It feels like the first breakout feud for Dominik Mysterio, and one would assume that with him still only being in his late 20s, it'll only push him to bigger things in the future. Who knows? Maybe this time next year, he'll be one of the major title holders in the WWE. I'd love to see it, though he better work a bit harder on his wrestling because he hasn't won a lot of matches as of late.

We can only wait and see what's in the cards, and continue to watch Dominik Mysterio's story unfold on Monday Night Raw on USA Network on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. I'm ready to see this match against Dom and Liv and Damien Priest and Rhea Ripley, though I have no idea if Mysterio has what it takes to take on his former allies.

Nearly thirty years after Cleveland hosted a very weird SummerSlam in 1996, WWE’s second biggest premium live event of the year is finally set to return. This time, instead of Shawn Michaels and Vader, we’ll likely get Cody Rhodes and Solo Sikoa for The WWE Championship in the hammer slot, which makes a whole lot more sense if Roman Reigns returns than if he doesn’t. In addition, we’re currently scheduled to get another half dozen matches, five of which are for major championships and the other of which is CM Punk and Drew McIntyre, arguably the hottest feud going in all of wrestling.

Despite all the championship matches, however, fans are a bit divided on whether they think the card is worthy of a SummerSlam. A couple of the matches have been set up by lackluster feuds, and the likely main event, Cody Rhodes and Solo Sikoa, feels more like something that would close a Backlash than a SummerSlam. So, yeah, there’s reason for concern, but there’s also plenty of reason for optimism given CM Punk and Drew McIntyre is one of the hottest non-title feuds ever, Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley is all kinds of awesome, and Gunther and Damian Priest has really over-delivered so far. 

Before we get into my specific predictions for the event, however, here’s a look at my how my predictions have been going lately, with some notes on key recent events, as well as an overall score for how I’ve done since I started these educated guesses. I’ve now done every single PLE since WrestleMania 38 and have no plans on stopping.

Damian Priest (Champion) Vs Gunther For The World Heavyweight Championship

I don’t think there’s anyone on WWE’s roster that’s improving at a faster rate than Damian Priest. He was obviously great as the muscle in Judgment Day and had an epic cash-in at WrestleMania 40, but you can really tell how much confidence he’s gained over the past few months, both on the microphone and in how he carries himself. He’s starting to really feel like a world champion. 

Unfortunately for him, Gunther is the best new wrestler WWE has had in years. He’s a throwback that also feels modern, a towering and vicious badass that gets ring psychology perfectly and can also adapt to work with performers of varying styles. With all due respect to The Miz, Mr Perfect and others, he’s the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all-time, and he deserves a run on top as World Heavyweight Champion sooner rather than later. 

So, yeah, Gunther is going to win this belt. The only real question is whether he wins it at SummerSlam or whether he loses this match in some kind of flukey manner and then wins a rematch at Bash In Berlin at the end of August. My guess is WWE is going to go with the latter. That would give Priest almost another month as World Champion. It would give us an obvious main event for the new PPV, and it would allow Gunther, who is from Austria, to win it a short distance from where he grew up.

Predicted Winner: Damian Priest

Logan Paul (Champion) Vs LA Knight For The United States Championship

Wrestling fans have been waiting for LA Knight to get his big moment for more than a year, and it would be a pretty big surprise if he didn’t finally get it here. He’s still very over with the crowd, but people need to see some forward progress. As charismatic as he is, a performer needs to win some big matches and the occasional title to maintain their buzz, or else people move on to something newer and shinier. Now is the time to take him to the next level and see if he can cook as a midcard champion.

Plus, it’s time to take the belt off Logan Paul. I love Logan. It took me all of 30 seconds to completely change my opinion of him during his WrestleMania 38 tag team match alongside The Miz. He’s great, and his run has generated a ton of mainstream press and positive publicity. But SmackDown is really lagging behind Raw right now creatively. It needs a champion that’s present every week and working a consistent storyline. That’s just not going to be Logan Paul right now. So, while I’m still high on the social megastar and would be very open to another title run in the future, I’m also ready to try someone else.

Predicted Winner: LA Knight

Bayley (Champion) Vs Nia Jax For The WWE Women’s Championship

With all due respect to Bayley, who is an obvious Hall Of Famer, I’m frustrated with her current title run, and I don’t really understand what she’s doing with her character. Leading up to The Royal Rumble and later WrestleMania 40, she did a great job of showing vulnerability. It was easy to root for her against Damage CTRL, as they schemed around her and kicked her out of her own group. The resulting match with Iyo Sky at ‘Mania was one of the weekend’s best, and it seemed to set Bayley up for something special, given how over she was with fans. 

But we haven’t really seen that vulnerability since. Instead, she’s mostly just delivered generic promos and occasionally comes off like she’s still playing a heel character. To be honest, the most memorable part of her run so far has probably been Nia Jax accusing her of having a Brazilian Butt Lift, which set off quite a lively discussion on social media. That’s not to say she can’t quickly turn things around with the right feud, but she might not get that chance.

Bayley is definitely vulnerable. She could lose the belt at SummerSlam, partially because the buzz she had is mostly gone and partially because Triple H may want to reward Nia Jax for how good she’s been since returning. She’s night and day better than she was when she left WWE for the first time, and even her biggest haters are coming around to how valuable she’s been as a monster heel. 

Because of all that, I think it’s likely Nia will pick up the win, but don’t expect it to be clean. The writers have really telegraphed that Tiffany Stratton and her Money In The Bank briefcase will be involved in the finish. She’s mostly been portrayed as Nia’s BFF, but there have been hints she could betray her and cash in herself. So, expect someone to get hit with the briefcase.

Predicted Winner: Nia Jax

Sami Zayn (Champion) Vs Bron Breakker For The Intercontinental Championship

I predicted Bron Breakker would beat Sami Zayn at Money In The Bank. He ultimately lost, and the story we’ve gotten since is that he didn’t take the match seriously enough. Now he’s refocused and ready to win his first main roster title. I remain convinced he’ll get the job done. It just makes too much sense.

First, it’s unlikely Bron would get a third shot at Zayn’s title if he lost again. That wouldn’t make any sense from a fairness standpoint. Second, WWE seems intent on making Bron Breakker look at dominant as possible, and two consecutive losses to Sami Zayn, as over as he might be with the crowd, is going to put a big dent in his reputation. Third, there’s probably going to be a more important story to tell that Zayn is about to be a part of.

Whether Roman Reigns returns at SummerSlam or not, almost everyone agrees a Bloodline Civil War is coming. Zayn obviously has an extensive history with The Bloodline, once getting cheered like a prime Stone Cold, and it would be a shock if he didn’t factor into the story whenever it’s told. In recent weeks, we’ve seen him paired with his longtime frenemy Jey Uso, and it’s likely that’s where his personal plot is going, which would be a lot simpler if he didn’t have the Intercontinental Championship. 

Predicted Winner: Bron Breakker

Liv Morgan (Champion) Vs Rhea Ripley For The Women’s World Championship

You could make a strong case that no woman in the history of professional wrestling has ever been as over as Rhea Ripley. She is going to win this title and get the better of Liv Morgan long-term, but there’s so much heat on this feud, I have a hard time believing WWE isn’t going to play it out a little longer, especially with so much uncertainty around Rhea’s arm candy Dominik Mysterio and whose side he’s really on. He flirted pretty consistently with Morgan while Rhea was away with injury, but throughout, he maintained that he was loyal and would never leave his Mamí. 

Many fans think the real traitor is Finn Bálor, and he’ll be the one to betray Rhea for Liv, leading to a big Judgment Day break-up in which he and JD McDonagh go one way and stay heels, while Rhea Ripley and her Terror Twin Damian Priest turn face and head another way (leaving Dom in limbo). I think something like that is probably going to happen down the road, but I think what’s more likely is we see Dominik interfere, leading to a Liv victory and making everyone wonder whether he did it on purpose. That would provide another month of Raw storylines and leave the question about Finn unanswered at this point.

Predicted Winner: Liv Morgan

CM Punk Vs Drew McIntyre (With Seth Rollins As Ref) 

Can this epic feud once and for all put to rest the stupid notion that matches need to have a championship to matter? This fight is for nothing but bragging rights, and if there was any justice in the world, it would be the main event of SummerSlam. It’s been that good - so good, in fact, that neither man deserves to lose. 

Fortunately for whoever does lose, Seth Rollins will almost certainly play a major part in it, and whatever happens will set up a spinoff feud or a triple threat match between everyone involved, given the alleged real life hostility and how invested fans are. There’s just no way anyone is going down clean with his back on the mat, and there’s just no way WWE will go away from this feud after one match. 

I’ve been going back and forth on who might win, but I keep going back to one thing: CM Punk hasn’t won a televised match since his WWE return. He was injured at Royal Rumble and has mostly just been used for mic work and surprise ref appearances in the time since. He really needs to remind everyone he’s capable of huge wins, and given McIntyre’s entire story lately has been getting screwed out of victories, it probably makes sense for him to take the L here. 

Predicted Winner: CM Punk

Cody Rhodes (Champion) Vs Solo Sikoa For The WWE Championship

Solo Sikoa is not winning the WWE Championship. He’s been playing his role well and starting to come into his own since Roman and The Rock took extended breaks after WrestleMania, but he’s just not at the level of a WWE Champion yet. So, while it’s possible he could win this match by like countout or something that doesn’t result in the title changing hands, it’s almost certain he’s going to lose. 

That being said, how he loses and what happens in this match is a lot more intriguing than the outcome. The new Tribal Chief (at least according to himself) hsa been publicly disrespecting Roman for weeks. He systematically threw his closest family members out of The Bloodline and put his longtime advisor Paul Heyman out of action with a vicious attack. Has he gone rogue and is making decisions himself? Is he operating under orders from The Rock? Is there something larger that we don’t know about going on here?

I don’t know. But my guess is we’ll see Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa (with his new eye patch) attack Rhodes on behalf of Solo Sikoa. Before he wins the match, however, we’ll see Roman Reigns return, probably alongside Heyman, and that’ll result in Solo taking an L. Costing his own family member the title won’t sit well with The Rock, and that’ll likely cause long-term problems between those two that may lead directly to a WrestleMania 41 match. Maybe. I’m not entirely sure about all this, but I am sure Cody is going to walk out still with The WWE Championship.

Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes

After months recovering from an injury, Rhea Ripley finally returned to WWE programming this week, and it was to a thunderous pop that a prime Stone Cold Steve Austin would have been pleased with. She chased off Liv Morgan, gave Dirty Dominik Mysterio the evil eye and stomped back to the locker room. Most WWE fans on social media seem very confident about where her story is going to go. More specifically, they believe The Judgment Day is about to break-up, with Finn Bálor being revealed as the mastermind behind all the Liv Morgan drama, but even if that’s ultimately the case, it still leaves one huge question. What’s going on with Dominik Mysterio? 

The basic premise here is simple. Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest, or The Terror Twins, have long had a close relationship. That was obvious before Judgment Day, and it’s been repeatedly shown in storylines over the past few years, as evidenced this past week by Priest being the only Judgment Day member Rhea told she was coming back. She’s also long been a babyface in everything but name, as the crowd loves her. He’s also taken real steps toward becoming a babyface, as we’ve seen with him repeatedly telling other Judgment Day members he wants to win or lose without outside help since his epic cash-in. So, yeah, they’re both turning face at some point.

And Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh seem to be going the opposite way. The internet was all over Finn pocketing Liv Morgan’s room key on a recent episode of Raw, and despite her being Rhea’s enemy, he’s quite clearly embraced her much more openly than any of the other members. He also accused Priest of changing and has given him more than his share of looks that seem to promise an upcoming heel turn. As his tag team partner and also, trainee, McDonagh will assumedly follow Bálor if/ when he turns on the other members. So, yeah, they’re turning heel.

Now, I don’t know exactly how this split is going to happen. Maybe Finn will cost Damian his match and title against Gunther at SummerSlam. Maybe he’ll help Liv Morgan beat Rhea in their inevitable match at SummerSlam. Maybe we’ll get a few months of rising tensions before things boil over. There are a lot of ways WWE can do it, but I am in agreement with the fanbase that this is where things will eventually go.

But what does that mean for Dominik Mysterio? He’s denied being a part of Liv Morgan’s schemes, and to be honest, I believe him. I’m not saying he’s handled everything in the best possible way, but his behavior strikes me as believable for a dude who just wants to eat chicken nuggies and make sure Mami’s not mad at him. I think Finn and Liv are behind it all and trying to cause issues between him and Rhea. Based on my conversations, I think most fans probably feel that way. But turning Dominik face is all kinds of complicated.

I’m not saying Dominik Mysterio is the best heel on the entire WWE roster, but a strong case could be made that over the past few years, he has generated more heat than any other heel on WWE’s roster. I was at a live show where a grandma next to me literally screamed at him and said she'd beat his ass. Everything about his persona, from his absurd haircut to his mustache to his cowardly behavior is designed to make him as hateable as possible. Most of the time people don’t even let him talk without booing over his voice; so, is there really a world in which fans would want to cheer him?

If The Judgment Day fractures in two, we know Rhea and Damian are going to turn face. We know Finn and JD are going to stay heels. Recent acquaintance Carlito could go either way, depending on what the storyline calls for, but Dom? He’s in a tricky place, and whatever WWE does, they’re gonna need to figure out how to navigate that. He’s been one of the best parts of Raw over the past few years, and it would be a huge mistake to ruin his momentum. 

So, WWE has a choice. They can bring him along with Damian and Rhea, who are the bigger stars and he has a ton of natural chemistry with, but also risk losing all of his momentum if people don’t accept him as a face. Or they can keep him with Finn and JD, who aren’t as popular with the crowd and he has less natural chemistry with but would allow him to continue playing a villain. It’s low key a huge decision for WWE to make, and it’s one i think a lot of fans are overlooking. 

With so many championships in WWE, keeping up with the longest-reigning superstars of all time and all the new champions is no easy task, especially If you’re just now getting into wrestling. Hell, if you’ve been watching it for years, it’s easy to get lost when trying to keep track of all the belts flying around. That being said, here’s a breakdown of every championship in WWE, the current champions, how and where they won the gold, and who might be the wrestler lucky enough to defeat them in the future. With so many upcoming WWE events on the way, like the larger-than-life WrestleMania 41, make sure to keep checking back for all the title changes and surprise victories!

The Short Answer

In need of a quick reference guide for all the champions on the WWE roster? If so, check out the handy table we put together that's easy-to-read and has all the key information on how the likes of Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, Gunther, and Tiffany Stratton won their respective titles.

The Long Answer

The table found above has all the key information about how the various champions in WWE started their current reigns, but it lacks the context of how those championships started. Let’s spend some time getting to know each of the champions, how they won the gold, and who we think could defeat them in the near future.

Undisputed WWE Championship

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes finally finished his story and captured the championship that had long eluded him when he ended Roman Reigns’ historic title run at WrestleMania XL in April 2024. Arguably the most ridiculous main event of all time, this star-studded affair had it all, but did leave some unfinished business between Rhodes and The Rock.

With the return of The Rock’s Final Boss character, a stacked Elimination Chamber field, and other challengers waiting in the wings, there are so many possibilities to bring about the end of this American Nightmare. That said, it wouldn’t be surprising if The Rock or CM Punk (if our Elimination Chamber predictions prove true) brought an end to what will be a one-year reign.

World Heavyweight Championship

In 2024, Gunther went from the “Ring General” to the King of the Ring to the World Heavyweight Champion. The leader of Imperium challenged Damian Priest, a.k.a., El Campeón, and defeated the former Judgment Day leader when Finn Balor turned on his old friend at SummerSlam. But this isn’t to say the screwy finish made Gunther look bad, as the on-the-rise star looked spectacular in the high-profile match.

Gunther has had a nice title reign since last summer, but it could all come to an end when he faces 2025 Royal Rumble winner “Main Event” Jey Uso at WrestleMania 41. Ideally, the Imperium leader would hold the belt for the rest of time, but Jey has a lot of momentum behind him heading into the big event.

Women's World Championship

After returning from injury, being betrayed by Dirty Dom Mysterio, and leaving Judgment Day, Rhea Ripley has been on a tear as the Women’s World Champion. Over the past six-plus months, Ripley has looked just as dominant as she did before the injury after WrestleMania 40, and it’s hard to believe she’s slowing down any time soon.

But, all reigns have to come to an end, and there are a few credible threats looking to dethrone Ripley at WrestleMania 41, if not before. We’ll have to wait and see who wins the Women’s Elimination Chamber match to challenge for the Women’s World Championship, but it’ll probably end up being Liv Morgan again. This time, however, there’s a possibility that Iyo Sky will take the strap, as she’s slated to take on Ripley for the belt in early March. Maybe this is a triple threat waiting to happen.

WWE Women's Championship

After months of teasing cash-ins on former friend Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton finally used her Money in the Bank briefcase to defeat the dominant WWE Women’s Champion in January 2025. The former NXT Women’s Champion has been successful in her title defenses since then, but her biggest threat is the one coming for her right now.

At WrestleMania 41, Stratton will take on 2025 Women’s Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair, who is looking to make an impact after being out of action for over a year due to a nasty knee injury. This has to be one of the most anticipated Mania matches this year and one that could, honestly, go either way. But hopefully, it’s “Tiffy Time” for months and years to come.

Intercontinental Championship

Several of the top stars in WWE’s upper-mid card held the Intercontinental Championship throughout 2024 with the belt going from Gunther to Sami Zayn to Bron Breakker to Jey Uso and then back to Breakker. That is where the belt has stayed for the past few months, as the second-generation wrestler continues to be a massive force in WWE.

This gets said a lot, but it’s hard to imagine anyone beating Breakker in his current form, but maybe we could get Sheamus in a big match with the barking superstar. The Celtic Warrior has never held the IC Title, and putting the belt on him at WrestleMania 41 could be a great moment for the rugged veteran.

United States Championship

LA Knight had a good thing going for him, but then he was on the wrong side of a surprise upset at Survivor Series: War Games in November 2024, with Shinsuke Nakamura taking the United States Championship. Nakamura, who has long suffered from WWE not really knowing how to effectively book him, has been a successful champion ever since.

With the mid-card in a weird spot, it wouldn’t be all that surprising for LA Knight to take the title back from the Japanese superstar in the very near future. Yeah, back-and-forth title runs aren’t the best, but Knight looks so good with the US belt around his waist.

Women’s Intercontinental Championship

Lyra Valkyria cemented herself as one of the brightest up-and-coming stars in WWE’s women’s roster in the past year or so, and she was rewarded for her efforts by becoming the inaugural Women’s Intercontinental Champion in January 2025. During the tournament final, Valkyria took on Dakota Kai after taking on Ivy Nile and Zelina Vega in the first round and Iyo Sky in the semifinals.

If Sky fails to take the Women’s World Championship off Rhea Ripley, it wouldn’t be surprising for her to challenge Valykria for one of the newest titles in WWE.

Women’s United States Championship

Chelsea Green finally got a title in WWE when she won the inaugural Women’s United States Championship in December 2024. Taking on Michin in the tournament finals (she also fought Blair Davenport, Bianca Belair, and Bayley to get there), Green put on a tremendous match to become the champ.

It’s hard to say who’ll take the belt off Green, but when it does happen (hopefully, way down the road), it would be cool to see her partner-in-crime, Piper Niven, have a face turn and take her on for all the glory.

World Tag Team Championship

The War Raiders (Erik and Ivar) have been one of the most physical and surprising tag teams in the world of wrestling for years, even before they came to WWE. Well, it should be no surprise that the team formerly known as War Machine and The Viking Warriors would take the World Tag Team Championship at some point. That happened in December 2024 when they defeated Finn Balor and JD McDonagh of The Judgment Day in a killer TV match on Monday Night Raw.

With Judgment Day in a tough spot, American Made not being able to get the job done, and other teams trying and failing to beat these beasts of men, who knows how this one will shake out. However, it would be great to see The New Day cement their new recent heel turn by taking these two out for some great heat.

WWE Tag Team Championship

The leaner, meaner, and more unhinged version of The Bloodline has treated SmackDown as its personal playground throughout much of 2024, and that includes a WWE Tag Team Championship for Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa (who took over for Jacob Fatu when he became Solo Sikoa’s enforcer). The stable took the belts off #DIY the night before SummerSlam 2024, and have been a wrecking crew ever since.

There’s no reason to take the belts off the team at this time, but when they do finally drop the straps, it wouldn’t be that surprising if a team consisting of Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes had the honor.

WWE Women's Tag Team Championship

Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez shocked the world when they defeated Bianca Belair and Naomi on a February 2025 episode of Monday Night Raw. The Judgment Day stablemates brought some gold back to the group, which could potentially brighten the sour mood of the heels after the past few months.

It doesn’t seem likely that Belair and Naomi (filling in for the injured Jade Cargill) will come back and take the gold so soon, but the rematch could be a lot of fun to watch.

WWE Speed Championship

Dragon Lee became the third WWE Speed Champion in November 2024 after defeating Andrade in a match shown exclusively on X. With a new tournament in the works, only time will tell who defeats the LWO member to join the ranks of Ricochet and Andrade in the championship’s lineage.

WWE Women's Speed Championship

Candice LeRae has been the WWE Women’s Speed Champion since October 2024. The world-traveled wrestler won the belt after defeating Iyo Sky in the tournament final. As with the men’s Speed Championship, a tournament is in the works, so we could see a new champ in the very near future.

Remember, titles can change at any moment. Make sure to check back for all the latest title changes in the weeks and months to come.

For weeks leading into The 2024 King And Queen Of The Ring, fans were wondering what was going on with Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan. From brief background shots of the two alleged enemies walking together to his bandana seemingly popping out of her pocket, WWE has been dropping steady hints that the alleged enemies might not be what they seem. In fact, many have been speculating that Mysterio and Morgan are having an on-screen affair, which will come to light after Mysterio’s longtime storyline girlfriend Rhea Ripley returns from injury. We still don’t have answers, but following an appearance by the heel at this weekend’s King And Queen Of The Ring, the storyline has quickly gone from simmering to boiling over.

Let’s back up real quick and talk about how we got here. Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley have been dating on-screen for years, much to the annoyance of fans. Ripley, the leader of Judgment Day in all but name, mostly orders Dom around, and even though she’s dating him, she seems to view Damian Priest as more of an equal than her boyfriend, who she mostly gives menial tasks to. Following her WrestleMania victory over Becky Lynch, she seemed poised to enter a feud with former tag team partner and longtime nemesis Liv Morgan. Unfortunately, she was hurt for real during a backstage segment with Morgan and had to forfeit her title.

That’s when these little hints about something going on between Liv and Dom started to drop. On an almost weekly basis, we’d see the two walking out of the same room in the distant background of shots, or we’d see some kind of subtle reference to them spending time together. Fans, of course, picked up on all these hints and started obsessing about them on Twitter. It was widely assumed we’d get a few more months of this before Rhea came back and this alleged affair played into her inevitable feud with Morgan, but it now looks like it’s kicking off way sooner than expected. Morgan was wrestling against Becky Lynch for The Women’s World Championship, the same belt Rhea Ripley vacated, at Saturday’s King And Queen Of The Ring when Mysterio showed up mid-match. He slid a chair into the ring, seemingly to help Becky to defeat Liv, but Liv used it and won the match, leaving fans wondering whether he screwed up or did it on purpose. I think there are three possibilities. Let’s talk them out…

Possibility 1: Liv And Dom Are Having An Affair, And He Helped Her On Purpose

This is by far the most popular option on Twitter, and it’s the most straight ahead explanation for the clues we’ve been given. It’s not a stretch to think Dominik is sick of Rhea ordering him around, nor is it a stretch to think, with his Mami gone, he’s looking for another woman to take orders from. There have been too many shots of them seemingly spending time together for there to be an innocent explanation, and he had to know Becky wasn’t going to use the chair when he slid it into the ring. She’s playing too much of a white meat babyface right now to accept help from Dominik Mysterio.

You could also easily make the case that this is the highest upside story WWE could tell when Rhea gets back. We know she’s going to have a sustained feud with Liv when she returns. The women share too much history. Once you throw in the real life injury, there is way too much storyline there to ignore, but it’s also fair to say fans aren’t going to buy Liv having any chance in winning that feud. Ripley is a generational talent who could go down as the most popular performers in the history of women’s wrestling. She’s not just going to lose a straight match to Liv Morgan, unless there’s some kind of additional storyline element, which is where Dom would come in. She could certainly lose to Morgan if he betrayed her, and it’s easy to imagine a storyline divorce between Dom and Rhea that divides The Judgment Day being given 20 to 30 minute segments a week. That would be gold.

Chances This Is Happening: 65%

Possibility 2: Dominik And Liv Are Not Having An Affair. He’s Just Incompetent 

The Judgment Day has been the subject of break-up rumors since almost immediately after the stable formed. Rumors swirled that Edge wasn’t happy within the group or that maybe WWE didn’t think he was the best fit. We still don't entirely know. Eventually, he was kicked out and replaced by Finn Bálor. Later, they brought on JD McDonagh, who took months to be fully accepted by the group. Later, we got teased problems between Damian Priest and Bálor after the former won The Money In The Bank Briefcase and accidentally cost the latter a few matches against Seth Rollins.

They stuck it out through it all, however, and there’s a distinct chance that we are going to see the same thing here. Everyone obsesses over The Bloodline and rightfully so, but you could make a case that Judgment Day is one of the most successful stables in the history of WWE. Dom has more heat than any heel in the entire company, apart from at least The Rock. Whether she’s hurt or not, Rhea is the top woman in the entire division, and Damian Priest is World Heavyweight Champion. Throw in regular and relevant TV time and storylines for Finn and JD every week, and they really do run Monday Night Raw.

So, yeah, there’s a reasonable chance here that the plan is to keep Judgment Day together in the long run, and that likely means Dominik Mysterio, who is regularly depicted as incompetent, was trying to screw Liv Morgan over and messed up. Likewise, it’s possible every time he’s been shown in the background with Liv, it’s been to follow her around and torment her. Maybe he’s just really doing Judgment Day business, which in his mind is harassing her.

Chances This Is Happening: 25%

Possibility 3: Dominik Is Pretending To Befriend Liv On The Orders Of Rhea

Rhea Ripley has consistently been shown as the planner in Judgment Day. Prior to her injury, she was often speaking with Adam Pearce to arrange matches or talking to other wrestlers to forge alliances, like when Drew McIntyre joined Judgment Day for WarGames. Just because she’s out with an injury doesn’t mean she doesn’t have her pulse on what’s going on. My favorite theory is that she’s been telling Dominik Mysterio to get close to Liv. Maybe Rhea even wants Liv to have the title so when she returns, she can go after Liv and win her title back as part of the same program.

To believe Dom is cheating on Rhea, you have to believe Dom would willingly cross Rhea, and while we’ve occasionally seen little bits of tension, their relationship, while weird, has always seemed pretty stable. It’s hard to imagine he’d turn on her simply because she was away for awhile, and it’s hard to imagine she’d fall asleep at the wheel and let that happen.

This is the most unlikely of the three options, but it’s my favorite. It would keep Judgment Day together, while allowing the are-they-or-aren’t-they plotline to develop for awhile. 

Chances This Is Happening: 10%

To Sum Up

Yeah, we’re all excited about the New Bloodline vs Old Bloodline storyline that’s inevitably coming. That’s going to be great, but WWE is so hot right now because it has a bunch of other stories that are cooking too. The most obvious is, of course, the one Drew McIntyre and CM Punk have going, which Damian Priest is very tied into. Right behind that, however, you’d have to go with whatever is happening here. Dominik Mysterio gets booed like few performers in the history of the sport, and there’s always intrigue related to him and Rhea. Throw in a possible cheating scandal, and fans are going to be white hot for this whenever she comes back.

I think it’s most likely he is having an affair with Liv, but people on social media act like that’s a documented fact. He’s innocent until proven guilty, and with Triple H now in charge, you should never assume you know where a storyline is going until it fully plays out.

Now that the dust has settled from the craziest main event of all time and WWE’s year has essentially started over, a lot of winners and losers from WrestleMania 40 find themselves looking toward the future and the next Showcase of the Immortals. Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, Roman Reigns, and others who appeared on the shockingly great wrestling show all find themselves in different stages in their respective stories and careers, and now it’s time to figure out what comes next…

So, with Wrestlemania 41 (which doesn’t have a location at the time of this writing) less than a year away, now seems like the perfect time to take a look at a dozen or so high-profile WWE stars and see what the future holds for them in the Triple H era. 

Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes finally finished the story at WrestleMania 40 when he defeated Roman Reigns to claim the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in a match none of us will soon forget. But what’s next for the American Nightmare? 

Though it seems like his business with The Rock is finished (for now), we’re not sure about the rest of the Bloodline, especially the Tribal Chief. Surely there will be some kind of rematch at the upcoming WWE Backlash before Rhodes starts the next stage of his title run.

Rhea Ripley

With Roman Reigns and Gunther (more on both later) losing their respective titles at WrestleMania 40, Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley is the longest-reigning current champ in WWE. With the Judgment Day looking better than ever, the company should build around Ripley for the foreseeable future and continue her title run for at least the next 12 months.

I don’t see anyone coming close to taking the belt off of Ripley until Jade Cargill is ready for an opportunity. That should be the WrestleMania 41 main event.

Roman Reigns

If Roman Reigns wanted to take the next six months off, no one would hold it against him. But the former Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, who had the company’s longest title reign in nearly 40 years, doesn’t look like he’s going to be slowing down anytime soon.

Two days after losing his belt to Cody Rhodes, Reigns took to Twitter to share a short clip of himself back in the gym along with a caption reading: “Yesterday I mourned. Today is Day 1.”

Bayley

WWE’s women’s division has improved exponentially over the last decade and one of the main reasons for that is Bayley. Well, now can call her WWE Women’s Champion Bayley, as the beloved star finally got revenge against Iyo Sky at WrestleMania 40.

It’s all but guaranteed that these two will have some kind of rematch at Backlash in early May, but after that, I could see Bayley going on one hell of a run as a babyface champion once again.

Jade Cargill

Ever since making her incredible WWE debut at the 2024 Royal Rumble, Jade Cargill has been one of the biggest stars in WWE, and she’s barely even wrestled. Well, the former AEW star got to show off her skills on the grandest stage of them all in a dominant showing at WrestleMania 40, and this is just the beginning.

Cargill should main event WrestleMania 41 with Rhea Ripley in what could be an iconic Women’s World Championship match. However, that’s a year from now. I expect Cargill will go on a massive run throughout the summer, gaining victories over everyone who crosses her path.

Bianca Belair

Bianca Belair has had some of the best matches in recent WrestleMania history, and there’s no doubt the “EST of WWE” will once again find herself in the main event of the Showcase of the Immortals at some point soon. Her six-woman match at WrestleMania 40 could set a path for the former WWE Women’s Champion moving forward.

I would love for Belair to continue working with Jade Cargill and Naomi, as the trio of electric stars looked amazing at Mania and during its build. Ideally, this would continue for a few months and then lead to a match with Cargill later this summer or fall.

The Rock

After enjoying his run as the Final Boss throughout much of 2024, The Rock put on a killer match during the first night of WrestleMania 40, and made another appearance in the Avengers: Endgame finale the next night. But as Dwayne Johnson told Cody Rhodes on Raw after ‘Mania, he’s going away for a bit.

When The Rock does eventually return, it’s all but guaranteed that he will have some kind of match with the American Nightmare to settle their beef once and for all.

Seth 'Freakin' Rollins

Seth “Freakin” Rollins spent much of the last year as the fighting World Heavyweight Champion. Now that his reign is over and he saved Cody Rhodes from the Bloodline, Sollins appears to be taking some time off, per Fightful.

Rollins is more than deserving of a break, even if he didn’t have a legitimate knee injury, and so it’ll probably be a few months before we see him again. I could see him coming for Rhodes and the Undisputed title but I could also see him feuding with Roman Reigns to continue that story.

Damian Priest

Damian Priest became Senor World Heavyweight Champion after cashing in his contract at WrestleMania 40. And while I don’t know if WWE needs another long reign for its newest world title, we’ll probably get a great run from the Judgment Day member.

It looks like Priest will defend his WHC belt against Jey Uso as his first title defense, but it wouldn’t be surprising if this leads to Drew McIntyre entering the picture for some revenge.

Gunther

Gunther’s historic Intercontinental Championship reign came to a shocking end when Sami Zayn pulled off the impossible at WrestleMania. Now, for the first time in nearly two years, the Ring General is without the IC strap around his waist.

As much as I would love to see Gunther take back the IC title, he is clearly going to move on to bigger and better things like the World Heavyweight Championship. With Bash at Berlin coming in August, the Austrian phenom could become the champ soon.

Sami Zayn

Sami Zayn captured the Intercontinental Championship for the fourth time at WrestleMania 40, and this could very well be his most memorable run yet.

Zayn’s first order of business will more than likely be a program with Chad Gable, who I have a sneaking suspicion will turn on his friend after not being chosen to take on Gunther at ‘Mania. These two wrestlers, with their dynamic styles, could make for a great program this summer.

Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre held the World Heavyweight Championship for all of five minutes before Damian Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. Though he’s not the number one contender for the title, I don’t think that’s going to stop the Scottish warrior from coming at the champ.

However, expect to see McIntyre pick up his feud with CM Punk, who cost him his title at ‘Mania and with whom he has had beef since the Royal Rumble. This has SummerSlam co-main event written all over it.

CM Punk

CM Punk, who, despite being injured since the Royal Rumble, has remained a fixture of WWE TV in recent months. I’m still not sure how long he’ll be out of action, but his post-match beatdown on Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 40 has me thinking sooner rather than later.

Perhaps he will have another Summer of Punk once the brace comes off for good. 

It’s an exciting time for these wrestlers and everyone else involved with WWE, and fans have never had it better. Now it’s time to watch it all unfold at the various upcoming WWE events streaming for anyone with a Peacock subscription.

The Rock is gone. He’s back to Hollywood for an undisclosed period of time that’ll probably be at least several months. No one is quite sure what’s going on with Roman Reigns, but it seems likely he’ll disappear for awhile to heal up and make us miss him. CM Punk is still injured, and while it’s been great to see him recently, he’s likely only gonna pop up now and again for awhile. Collectively, this leaves a giant hole in WWE programming. We all know a lot of it will be filled by Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre, both of whom are doing career best work, but in addition, WWE should use this as an opportunity to meaningfully build around Rhea Ripley too.

I’m not talking about just keeping the championship on her and letting her win all her feuds either. I’m talking about giving her and The Judgment Day the level of character development and depth we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from The Bloodline. Damian Priest is quite literally at a career high point after his cash-in at WrestleMania 40. Dominik Mysterio is subjected to relentless booing because he’s arguably the most over side character on the entire WWE roster. Finn Bálor is a former world champion who could believably main event a lesser PPV, and JD McDonagh is a fantastic little snot-nosed henchman that takes bumps better than anyone on the roster and fills his role perfectly. 

The Judgment Day typically has some kind of small story arc that carries over several episodes of Raw. For awhile it was Dominik Mysterio’s feud against his father Rey Mysterio. For awhile, it was R-Truth mistakenly thinking he was a member of The Judgment Day. For awhile it was JD McDonagh and whether he’d become an official member. For awhile, it was simmering tension between Finn and Damian over the Money In The Bank Briefcase. There’s almost always something, but now is the time to lean in harder.

How does Rhea feel about the fact that Dom loses almost all his matches? Does she ever get frustrated about it? What’s their relationship dynamic like? Why does she actually want to be with him? We got a great segment last year where they went out to dinner and Rhea had to end up paying because Dom’s only credit card was his dad’s. I want to see more of that type of stuff.

I also want to see more of The Terror Twins together. What do Rhea and Priest talk about when the other members of Judgment Day aren’t around? Do they act above them? Does she ever talk down to Priest and if so, how does he handle that? Can they work together to push each other to new levels of greatness? Could we get segments where they challenge each other to look more dominant in their matches and/ or see who can finish off their opponents more quickly?

And what about Finn Bálor? He’s a future Hall of Famer but hasn’t ever gotten an extended run with one of the big belts. What’s driving him? Maybe he starts tagging with JD and vows to help him win The Raw Tag Team Championship? Maybe he starts getting jealous of all the victories Damian and Rhea are stacking up and that leads to some more tension within the group? Maybe he starts feuding with whoever wins between Sami Zayn and Chad Gable and sets his sights on winning The Intercontinental Championship to add more gold to The Judgment Day?

I think I speak for everyone when I say we’d all like more Dominik Mysterio. That little scumbag being briefly incarcerated and relentlessly bragging about it is one of my favorite stories WWE has ever done. That provided months of comedy gold and is still a big reason why he’s so over with fans. He needs something else like that. Maybe he gets into an argument in the lunchroom backstage with a big name, sucker punches them and then shows the footage to prove how tough he is on Raw? Maybe Rhea catches him flirting with someone else backstage but he claims nothing is going on and we see some mistrust grow there? Maybe he starts challenging the weakest people on the roster each week to try and build up a winning streak to impress everyone else?

If The Bloodline has shown us anything over the last few years, it’s that giving characters a lot of complexities really pays off in the long run. Despite a build that really didn’t pick up until a few weeks before WrestleMania 40, most of us got behind Sami Zayn in a big way because we know him so well from his Bloodline story arc. We got a chance to see his doubt and insecurity and desire to be liked; so, when WWE leaned into that ahead of ‘Mania, it was easy for us to invest.

Now is the time to do that with The Judgment Day and particularly with Rhea Ripley. She is the most dominant force in the history of women’s wrestling. She’s already a star, and she’s only scratching the surface of her potential. Giving her good opponents to feud with and have good matches with is only half of the battle. She needs screentime to keep developing layers to her personality, and she’s surrounded by a fantastic crew to help her do that. Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio, Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh are the exact building blocks she needs to tell an intriguing and complicated story between now and WrestleMania 41.

Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre are both great, and WWE should continue to give them ample television time and great material to work with, but Triple H, Bruce Prichard and company should be building around Rhea Ripley too. The Judgment Day should collectively be getting twenty to thirty minutes of television time every episode of Raw for the next several months. 

It would be a big investment, but the best thing WWE can do to continue its rapid growth ahead of the Netflix launch is to build its biggest stars as much as possible. She’s a new star for a new generation of fans, and she has the right support system in place right now to grow into becoming the next face of WWE. She just needs screentime to develop her character and her support system in complicated and meaningful ways. 

WrestleMania 40 will go down as, without question, one of the wildest and best in the event’s entire storied history. The second day in particular was fantastic from start to finish, and few moments stood taller than Damian Priest’s epic cash-in. The Judgment Day workhorse finally used his title contract after sitting on it for almost a year and won The World Heavyweight Championship in what was, unquestionably the biggest pop of his career. As a fan who appreciates all the work he’s put in and all the selfless matches he’s done to elevate others, I was buzzing for him, and apparently, much of the rest of the roster was too.

In the hours since his shocking victory, social media has been flooded with fantastic pictures and really touching videos of The Archer Of Infamy, especially from his stablemates The Judgment Day. Rhea Ripley has been on a posting and retweeting frenzy, repping her Terror Twin more than a dozen times since his big victory last night. Perhaps my favorite is this split photo she retweeted of her and Damian Priest holding lesser championships three years ago when they were on the rise on one side and holding their world championships at the top of the WWE mountain on the other side. Check it out…

We got an incredible shot on the show itself of Damian Priest celebrating with the rest of Judgment Day at the top of the ramp after his cash-in. It’s obvious in those shots how much the group genuinely cares for each other on a personal level that transcends wrestling, but it somehow comes across in an even more touching way in a behind the scenes video of the team watching the events unfold from a monitor in the back.

In the clip, Dominik Mysterio is seen counting with the referee, and as soon as Priest wins, the whole team lets out a euphoric celebration. Rhea is beside herself she’s so happy. JD McDonagh looks like he just won the lottery, and Finn is rooting as hard as possible. It’s fantastic. You can watch the magic below…

After the dust settled on Priest’s win, he gave Triple H a hug and thanked him in a great moment that’s also running around social media, and then he went to do a promo interview with backstage personality Cathy Kelley. You can tell he’s hyped up and trying to get into character to project the aura he wants when suddenly, he’s unexpectedly blindsided by Judgment Day who dump water on his head like he just won a championship in professional sports. It’s really endearing to watch, and you can check out the clip below, which also includes an amazing exchange where Dom is mean to Cathy and then an oblivious Rhea says goodbye to her in the nicest voice possible.

There are honestly so many cute pictures and behind the scenes videos that there’s not enough room in this article to cover them all. Damian took a series of pictures with his family and The Judgment Day. There are all kinds of behind the scenes crowd angles when the team was off camera that show them hugging and nerding out together, but perhaps my favorite of all was dropped on JD McDonagh’s Instagram Stories and shows Priest turning up to a post WrestleMania party with his World Heavyweight Championship. McDonagh films him and lets him have the moment for awhile, before he pans back to himself and smiles like a proud brother. Check it out…

Triple H, along with Bruce Prichard and the other key execs and writers in WWE, have pushed into a new era that has, up until this point, prioritized long title reigns. Roman Reigns, Gunther, Rhea Ripley and Seth Rollins have had a stranglehold on the more important belts, which has really helped grow the business and elevate their characters. Unfortunately, it has left people like Damian Priest on the outside, as they’ve quietly appeared in Raw main events and took some losses to help keep those other characters strong. 

I have no idea how long Priest’s reign will last. It seems likely the goal is going to be to get to CM Punk and Drew McIntyre at some point, which will likely involve The World Heavyweight Championship. Maybe Drew will win it back at Clash At The Castle in June, which will be in front of his home crowd, but even if he’s ultimately just a transitional champion, Damian Priest will always have this epic moment and this run where he’s a world champion, and I couldn’t be happier for him or happier that his buddies in The Judgment Day are so happy for him. 

For quite some time now, I knew that Cody Rhodes finally defeating Roman Reigns and bringing an end to the Tribal Chief’s historic Undisputed WWE Universal Championship run was going to be nothing short of magical. And the WrestleMania 40 main event didn’t disappoint with its perfect combination of great in-ring showmanship and an absurd number of run-ins, which wasn’t that shocking considering the match’s ridiculous build the past couple of months. But what shocked me was how the rest of the two-night card delivered way more than it had to.

The Rock said to “expect the unexpected” with Bloodline Rules WWE Championship match, but Dwayne Johnson’s sentiments could also be used to describe the feeling of the other 12 matches that preceded WWE’s answers to the epic Avengers: Endgame battle. And I know I said this last year, but we very well could have just experienced the best WrestleMania this weekend.

What Shocked Me About The WrestleMania Saturday Card

Though WrestleMania Saturday was essentially booked around the long-awaited return of The Rock when he teamed up with Roman Reigns to take on Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins to decide the stipulation for Sunday’s main event, there were some stellar and downright shocking moments up and down the card.

Though the Uso vs. Uso match and Jade Cargill’s Mania debut were about what I expected them to be, the rest of the card had me shocked and on the edge of my seat. From Rhea Ripley being the only member of The Judgment Day to leave Mania with their title still around their waist to the Undisputed Tag Team Championship being split up to recently retired Jason Kelce showing up in a luchador mask, there were a lot of big surprises in the preliminary fights. 

But the “Granddaddy of Them All” when it comes to shockers on Night One was Sami Zayn beating Gunther and ending his record 666-day Intercontinental Championship reign after delivering one hell of a brainbuster from the turnbuckle. Wrestling fans lost their ever-loving minds, and for good reason – it was up there with Lesnar ending Undertaker’s streak in terms of being shocking! 

However, nothing could compare me to what would follow not even 24 hours later…

What Shocked Me About The WrestleMania Sunday Card

Weary from the night before (they weren’t kidding with the “Biggest WrestleMania of all Time” gimmick), I was expecting an okay-to-good card before the main event. But instead of getting a series of matches to pass the time, I witnessed what could very well be the best three-and-a-half hours of wrestling WWE has produced in ages.

The night got off to a killer start with the World Heavyweight Championship match that saw Drew McIntyre defeat Seth Rollins in brutal fashion. But before I had time to catch my breath, CM Punk was attacking the newly crowned champ, which was followed by Senor Money in the Bank Damian Priest successfully cashing in his contract. And at that moment, a great evening turned into a legendary night.

What followed was a series of outrageously fun and satisfying matches ranging from hellacious street fights to intense one-on-one contests to perhaps one of the best triple-threat matches in years. The WWE Women’s Championship match between former Damage CTRL running mates Iyo Sky and Bayley exceeded my expectations too. 

And while I’m not going to go into the details about the over-the-top and bonkers (in a good way) Night Two main event contest that saw Cody Rhodes being carried around the ring like Bret Hart at WrestleMania 10 after he finally beat Roman Reigns, I was shocked by how well it was pulled off without entering late-stage WCW territory.

All in all, this is a weekend I won’t soon forget. Not just for the conclusion of the Cody Rhodes story or how it got me thinking about the future of The Rock, Roman Reigns, and the Bloodline, but because of all the surprises and incredible wrestling I got to watch over two nights. I’m not sure how next year’s WrestleMania will stack up against what just happened, but there are plenty of great upcoming WWE events on the horizon to get something set up for the next “Showcase of the Immortals.”

Can I admit something crazy? I attended WrestleMania 39 in person, and yet, I’m somehow even more excited to watch WrestleMania 40 on my television. It’s honestly not close. With new and better production techniques, several fantastic main event-level builds and The Rock maybe doing the best work of his entire freakin’ career, this year’s Showcase Of The Immortals has higher upside than any ‘Mania we’ve gotten in a long time.

Let’s run down everything to be excited about. I’ll obviously start with The Rock, who has rediscovered his love for wrestling and is in the middle of writing a key chapter in his already historic legacy. Instead of nostalgia, he gave us something entirely different, and it feels so fresh and modern. Then there’s Drew McIntyre, who is also doing the best work of his entire career. He’s found worthy opponents in CM Punk, who is as sharp on the mic as ever, and Seth Rollins, who has been WWE’s workhorse for the last year. 

If that’s not enough, I’ll just briefly go over some other things to be excited about: Roman Reigns trying to pass Hulk Hogan’s record and prove to The Rock he’s The Tribal Chief, Cody Rhodes trying to finally finish the story and pay off the fandom of the Cody Crybabies, Rhea Ripley continuing the most popular and dominant women’s run ever, Bayley finally getting her moment after years of selfless work, more Dominik vs Rey, R-Truth getting maybe the biggest pop of his entire career alongside The Miz, Gunther continuing his reign of terror, Sami Zayn and Chad Gable working some kind of intriguing mentor storyline, Bianca, Naomi and Jade joining forces, Uso Vs Uso, Becky trying to deliver another ‘Mania banger and so much more. 

So, yeah, there’s a lot to be excited about, but for me, there’s also a lot to be nervous about. There are some matches on the card that seem to have extremely likely outcomes, especially the main events, but there are also a lot of matches where WWE has multiple enticing paths forward. Hopefully I can settle on the right outcomes and improve my pretty solid overall record…

One final note before I begin as people ask me this sometimes, these are not what I think should happen. These are what I think Triple H, Bruce Prichard and company will choose to do based on nothing but deductive reasoning and my personal experiences of watching wrestling since I was a little kid.

Gunther (Champion) Vs Sami Zayn For The Intercontinental Championship

With all due respect to the all-time great Intercontinental Champions, Gunther is, I think by a pretty wide margin, the greatest IC Champ in history. WWE could use that to give Sami Zayn another really memorable ‘Mania moment after his win in the night one main event last year, but I don’t think they’re ready to take the title off Gunther yet. He’ll need to be in a big spot at Bash In Berlin in August, which means he either needs to still be holding this belt or to have freshly lost it. 

Look for Gunther to win but also look to see how Chad Gable may or may not get involved. Many thought this should have been the Alpha Academy leader’s spot at ‘Mania, and WWE has answered by putting him into some kind of coach role alongside Zayn. Maybe they’ll work together. Maybe the relationship will break down, or maybe whatever happens will propel Gable back into a program with Gunther post ‘Mania.

Predicted Winner: Gunther

The Pride (Bobby Lashley And The Street Profits) Vs The Final Testament (Karrion Kross And AOP)

Neither one of these factions has really popped as much as you would have expected. Lashley and The Street Profits were originally rolled out as heels, but the audience didn't want any part of booing them, nor were they ever given a convincing reason to boo them beyond beating a few babyfaces down. AOP was brought in to try and add a little juice to Karrion Kross, who has a great look and a ton of potential, but they haven't really been given anything to do beyond messing with The Pride.

That being said, WrestleMania 40 is an opportunity to turn all of that around. These teams are going to have a Philadelphia Street Fight, which means we'll likely see some big spots and the potential for some memorable moments. A really strong performance here could get both of these groups back on track. I suspect we'll see The Pride come out on top, but to reiterate, what's most important for both teams is a strong, memorable match fans are into.

Predicted Winner: The Pride

Rey Mysterio And Andrade Vs Dominik Mysterio And Santos Escobar

I thought I was done with my WrestleMania 40 predictions, but SmackDown unexpectedly changed things up a bit. Dragon Lee was attacked and replaced with Andrade, who turned face and joined LWO. My original prediction here had Santos and Dominik winning after Carlito turned on the LWO, pissed that Rey picked Dragon Lee as his partner instead of him.

Well, Mysterio has now chosen someone other than Carlito for a second time, which makes me even more confident about what's going to happen. I predict we'll find out later tonight that Carlito beat up Dragon Lee, and we'll see him turn on the LWO and take his rightful spot as a heel who spits in the face of people who aren't cool.

Predicted Winner: Santos Escobar And Dominik Mysterio

Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill And Naomi Vs Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai, Asuka And Kairi Sane)

Most people agree the original plan for Bianca Belair was to put her in a program with Charlotte Flair, but after The Queen got hurt, WWE pivoted and moved her to this tag match alongside Naomi and Cargill, who WWE is presenting as an absolute star. Images of the three women standing together and looking like rock stars flew around social media and were praised by fans as representation done right.

I suspect we’ll see those three cruise at WrestleMania, both because WWE is gonna want to protect Bianca Belair’s undefeated WrestleMania streak, which they did for years with The Undertaker, and because they’re not going to want either her or Jade Cargill to lose such a high profile match. That being said, there’s a small chance Damage CTRL could win here in some kind cheap fashion, probably to stir tension between Bianca and Jade and put them in a program together. I think it’s way too soon for that, but WWE has certainly jumped the gun plenty of times in the past.

Predicted Winner: Bianca, Jade and Naomi

LA Knight Vs AJ Styles

Opinions varied a bit on social media, but I loved the home invasion angle these two gave us. It finally gave this feud some much needed juice, and it has me looking forward to the rest of the build, as well as the match. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but the match itself has the potential to be one of the best of LA Knight’s career. Even at his age, AJ Styles is one of WWE’s best in-ring workers, and with time to plan it out and enough time to cook, this should be a chance for Knight to show off his move set on the biggest platform of his career.

I think Knight is going to get a clean victory here and a well-deserved moment. Hopefully that’ll add the momentum he needs to move past the lower main event scene. That being said, put me on team AJ Styles needs one more World Title run. I’m not saying it should be tomorrow, but fans love him enough that if WWE did a one more time storyline, the people would loudly get behind him. He’s had a legendary career and deserves one more trip to the top.

Predicted Winner: LA Knight

Jimmy Uso Vs Jey Uso

When The Usos first split up and it became obvious WWE was going to make this a WrestleMania thing, I thought the writers would spend time building up both of the characters to make this seem like an even match. That hasn’t happened. Jey Uso has been fed wins and character-building losses (Yeet), while Jimmy Uso has been turned into comic relief and a stooge for Roman Reigns (No Yeet). 

That might sound like an insult, but I love Jimmy Uso. He makes me smile every time he’s on screen, and I think he’s doing good work. I think he’s going to have the chance to do great work when The Bloodline storyline turns into The Rock vs Roman Reigns. But from a kayfabe standpoint, Jey should dominate this match, which means we’ll probably get some interference. 

Full transparency: when I first published these predictions, I had Jey Uso winning. It felt like he's been on too good of a run for WWE to break that up, but I had to make some changes after WWE swapped out Dragon Lee for Andrade, and I decided to backpeddle and change to Jimmy Uso here. I just think WWE wants The Bloodline to look as strong as possible on night one, and there's no better way to do that than by Jimmy also winning his match.

Predicted Winner: Jimmy Uso

Logan Paul (Champion) Vs Randy Orton Vs Kevin Owens For The United States Championship

Why are Kevin Owens and Randy Orton getting along so well? WWE has teased the possibility of friction a few times, but it’s always been quickly resolved and back to being BFFs. That can’t continue, right? At some point, these two are going to need to turn on each other, and given it hasn’t happened yet, it probably means that’s going to be the story of the match. 

And if that is the story of the match, it’s a story as old as the wrestling business. With emotions hot, these two will focus on beating up each other, lose sight of Logan Paul and eventually lose because of it. I suspect that’s the outcome WWE wants anyway because Logan is in the middle of a nice little publicity-heavy run with The United States Championship, and if they stick with it, they can create a really big moment when he eventually does lose it at some point in the future.

Predicted Winner: Logan Paul

Judgment Day (Champions) Vs Awesome Truth Vs DIY Vs New Catch Republic Vs New Day Vs Austin Theory And Grayson Waller For The Tag Team Championships

Whether or not to split the WWE Tag Team Championships after they were unified by The Usos has been a heated argument amongst fans for more than a year. If WWE wants to do it, now is the time. The belts are being defended in a ladder match, which means, in theory, one team could grab one set of belts and another team could grab the other. I think there’s a distinct chance that’s going to happen, but there’s also a chance that could undermine R-Truth’s big moment.

The biggest story of this match is R-Truth’s resurgence. The longtime WWE comic relief side character returned from injury to do a few fun segments with Judgment Day, and it quickly turned into a favorite side plot among fans. Sensing an opportunity, WWE partnered him with The Miz to reunite Awesome Truth, and a lot of fans really want to see R-Truth to be the one to finally take the belts away from Judgment Day. I think that’s going to happen, and if it does, it’ll be one of the biggest pops of the entire weekend.

Predicted Winner: Awesome Truth

Rhea Ripley (Champion) Vs Becky Lynch For The Women’s World Championship

It feels weird to reflexively pick against Becky Lynch in such a high profile match, but taking the belt off Rhea Ripley right now makes no sense, unless it was the first part of some epic multi-year story the writers have already outlined out and she loves. I don’t see that happening, and once you throw in the fact that Becky’s contract is reportedly nearing its conclusion, it just seems overwhelmingly likely Rhea is going to win.

That being said, I do think Becky will re-sign with WWE either immediately or after taking some well-deserved time off. I do think she’ll be back on top of the division some day, and I do think these two are going to put on one of WrestleMania 40’s best matches. I think both wish their program was given more consideration to main event, and I think both want to remind everyone of how talented and capable they are.

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley

Iyo Sky (Champion Vs Bayley For The WWE Women’s Championship

I’ve definitely heard plenty of people making the argument that WWE is better off keeping the title on Iyo and extending the program with Bayley post-’Mania, but to be honest, I just don’t really see the benefit of that. I’d take a rematch and more back-and-forth for sure, but there’s no reason that can’t happen with the belt around Bayley’s waist. She’s been the unsung hero of the women’s division for years, putting other people over and making them look as strong as possible. If WWE has needed a heel, she’s been that. If WWE has needed a face, she’s been that. If they need her to host talk shows to hype other people up, she’s done that. She’s kind of like The Miz, which I say as a massive Miz fan paying a big compliment.

That being said, there’s some nonsense that could happen with Damage CTRL. They’ve taken a lot of high profile losses since the faction started, and the other three members are almost certainly going to lose to Bianca, Naomi and Jade. Having Iyo lose too wouldn’t be the best look, but I still think the highest ceiling outcome here is for Bayley to win to massive fanfare from the crowd. 

Predicted Winner: Bayley

Seth Freakin’ Rollins (Champion) Vs Drew McIntyre For The World Heavyweight Championship

Before I get into Drew McIntyre, I want to give Seth Freakin’ Rollins some praise first. He was the right champion when WWE relaunched The World Heavyweight Championship, and he’s put on a ton of good matches and had several good programs in an almost year long run with the belt. There’s a reason fans are still screaming his song at the top of their lungs, but it’s time to let Drew McIntyre run for awhile.

The Scottish Warrior has found the perfect character in his vindictive social media troll and anything to win badass, and putting the belt on him allows WWE to plan for two exciting programs down the road. First, McIntyre is obviously going to feud with CM Punk who he’s been clowning on a weekly basis for months, and then after that, it gives WWE a chance to potentially set up a WrestleMania program with Punk and Rollins for after that, at least if taking the title from McIntyre ever seems like a good idea.

There’s an outside chance we could see a Damian Priest cash-in during this match, but if that does happen, I think it would be after McIntyre gets at least the initial victory and a brief celebration.

Predicted Winner: Drew McIntyre

Roman Reigns And The Rock Vs Cody Rhodes And Seth Rollins

I don’t have the slightest idea what’s actually going to happen in this match. I don’t know how much time The Rock is going to spend in the ring, and I don’t know if other people are going to interfere. There are a thousand ways Triple H and company could go with the booking here, but the finish seems really obvious, right? If Cody and Seth win, The Bloodline are barred from ringside the next night. If Roman and The Rock win, anything goes. We all want the match to be anything goes, right?

What’s more interesting to me here is how The Rock looks in the ring. He’s been out of his mind fantastic on promos, but he wasn’t exactly Mr. Perfect in the ring during his initial run. The more he can show here, the more he can build himself as a believable threat to beat Cody Rhodes and/ or Roman Reigns down the road.

Predicted Winner: The Rock And Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns (Champion) Vs Cody Rhodes For The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

People are predicting this will be the most over-booked match in WrestleMania history, and all I can say is I hope so. Reigns and Rhodes are both top notch characters and pretty solid in the ring, but to be honest, this card is littered with other people who can and will do more interesting things in the ring. For this match to be main event worthy, it needs to be a spectacle that’s fun to watch, and I think that’s exactly what we’re going to get here.

Ultimately, the decision for WWE is whether or not they want to advance the plot in a meaningful way. You can either let Cody Rhodes finish his story and take the belt off Roman Reigns, which he’s held for more than three years, or you can keep riding with Roman Reigns and do permanent harm to Cody’s character. That’s not to be overdramatic, but in what world would we want the same WrestleMania main event three years in a row? This is Cody’s chance, and he either takes it at the expense of Roman, or he doesn't and Roman takes his moment to keep building his legacy.

I think WWE is ready to go all in on Cody Rhodes and start showing a different side to Roman Reigns’ career, but there’s certainly some doubt in play here and a real possibility that The Tribal Chief stays on top.

Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes

The WWE isn't too far away from WrestleMania 40, where fans will see Becky Lynch attempt to do what no other superstar has done since WrestleMania 39: take the title from Rhea Ripley. "The Man" has a shot to shock the world, and recently voiced a specific criticism about the Women's World champion that I surprisingly agreed with.

WWE's women's division is the best its been in a decade, and Rhea Ripley sits at the top of the roster. She's the young megastar within the company, and with the exception of being cut from SummerSlam, Ripley has featured heavily in the spotlight over the past year, in part because she's so beloved by fans. So when In The Kliq referred to Ripley as the "heel" in Becky Lynch's upcoming title match against her, the Lass Kicker was quick to share her thoughts:

Lynch went on to talk about the challenge of crafting a story in the match that goes beyond heel vs. babyface, since the reality is such that they're essentially both babyfaces in terms of crowd reactions.

Rhea Ripley has been guilty of plenty of heel-leaning movies on Monday Night Raw, but I can't even remember the last time she's actually been booed by an audience. Therefore, their match at the upcoming WWE event may need to play out a bit differently, considering Ripley likely still won't earn any traditional jeers if she tries cheating or anything similarly unsavory.

It's a great point that, surprisingly, I hadn't considered very much until now. I've admittedly struggled to figure out why I'm not as all-in on seeing Rhea Ripley vs. Becky Lynch as much as other big matches set for the card. But it does stand apart as one of the few matches that doesn't have a fully defined Heel vs. Face feud. It does mirror AJ Styles and L.A. Knight's match, but that one isn't for a championship title.

Rhea Ripley is a beloved superstar and someone who isn't afraid to speak out against fans to support others like Maxxine Dupri, but is that doing her any favors in booking? People love the "Mami" gimmick and Rhea's dominance, but in terms of being an actual heel, she doesn't do enough to earn real anger from fans. With that said, if what was going on wasn't working, I doubt she would've held onto her title as long as she has.

So, maybe she doesn't need to piss viewers off to pop. But then, in terms of storytelling, we're just left to wonder what other badass athlete will eventually defeat her for the title. I felt WWE officially signed Jade Cargill specifically to be the person who finally conquers Ripley, but since she's only making her in-ring debut in the coming days, a title shot is probably still far in the future. Does the WWE just stay the course with dominant and beloved heel-but-not-really-a-heel Rhea Ripley in the meantime, or do they try to get the fans to turn on her more?

It's a great question to ponder as we count down the days to streaming WrestleMania 40 with our Peacock Premium subscription. Make sure that account is active for Saturday, April 6th, and Sunday, April 7th, because all signs indicate this will be an iconic two days in wrestling for many reasons.

I loved this week’s Monday Night Raw. I watched it alone on my couch without looking at social media once and was glued to the television during the entire runtime. I was so stoked when it was over that I jumped on social media to brag about it and discovered everyone else felt the exact same way I did. Pretty much every wrestling fan and content creator I follow on social called it the best Raw episode of the year, and I saw quite a few who called it one of the best episodes in decades.

Much of the discussion around last night’s episode is related to The Rock and Cody Rhodes’ bloody parking lot fight in the rain. The hyper-real segment closed the show and felt like a throwback from The Attitude Era. It deserves all the praise it’s getting, but it alone is not the reason why Monday Night Raw was so fantastic. A bunch of great performances and other variables all marinated together perfectly to remind all of us how good professional wrestling can be. So, let’s break down the individual elements that worked so well…

The Promo Segment Between Drew McIntyre, CM Punk And Seth Rollins Was An A+

The WrestleMania 40 A plot featuring Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, The Rock and Roman Reigns has been getting the lion’s share of the attention for the last two months and understandably so. It features the most star power and the biggest stakes for the future of WWE as it could attract the most new fans and bring back the most lapsed ones, but Drew McIntyre has been putting in the best work of his career in trying to build the other men’s world title match. He’s turned himself into a great social media troll heel, and last night, we finally got the pushback from the other players we were looking for.

CM Punk reminded everyone why he’s an all-time mic guy in his promo, dropping a bunch of great lines, and McIntyre oozed confidence as he fired back and proved he belongs at that highest level. Whether it’s true or not, these two dudes really feel like they hate each other in real life, and that was all the more obvious when Seth Rollins came out and made it clear he can’t stand the two of them either. 

Some wrestling fans think the best promos are unscripted. I disagree. I think the best promos are loosely scripted. If everyone involved knows where things are headed, it’s much easier to craft a compelling back and forth that makes logical points, but historically, many WWE promos have felt too scripted, which has caused them to lose some realism. This promo found the perfect balance, which allowed for some lines that felt off the cuff and even a reference to Vince McMahon that WWE may not have loved but still told a coherent story and made everyone look strong.

The Crowd Was Really Hot

The success of a show is always going to be measured by what the actual performers do. A hot crowd trying to get themselves over while reacting to mediocrity isn’t good television, but when there’s worthwhile stuff going on in the ring (or in the parking lot), a very vocal and invested audience can really elevate the material. Hulk Hogan vs The Rock at WrestleMania 18 is the classic example of that, but the history of wrestling is filled with thousands of moments that felt bigger and more meaningful because the crowd really cared what was happening, as well as thousands of moments that felt smaller and less impactful because the crowd didn’t. 

We all could have guessed the Chicago crowd would have gotten the most out of Chicago native CM Punk’s segment, but they delivered and helped elevate everything else too. They were white hot for all the Cody and Rock stuff but also were extremely invested in Rhea Ripley, Becky Lynch and Dominik Mysterio’s war of words, as well as midcard acts like R-Truth, Ricochet, Andrade and everything else on the show, which brings me to my next point.

There Are A Ton Of People Over Right Now

When people reminisce about The Attitude Era, they often talk about how many great characters there were. The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin were, of course, a huge part of that and will be remembered among the biggest stars the business has ever produced, but in my opinion, what really set that era apart were how many other guys were over with the crowd too. The Undertaker, Kane, Triple H, Mankind, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Big Show, The New Age Outlawz, The Dudleys, The APA, Edge And Christian, The Hardys, Chyna, Eddie Guerrero, Vader, Goldust, The Godfather, Val Venis and so many more.

I’m not saying the current roster is the same as The Attitude Era, but we are trending in that direction. There are a ton of characters fans care about, and last night was great evidence of that. Cody Rhodes, The Rock, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Seth Freakin’ Rollins, Rhea Ripley, Becky Lynch and Gunther are all presented and feel like main event stars. Midcard acts like R-Truth, Dominik Mysterio, Sami Zayn, Jey Uso, The Miz, Liv Morgan, Damian Priest and Finn Bálor all have devoted fans and their own storylines going on. Once you throw in the SmackDown roster, as well as other high potential guys, it's easy to invasion a scenario in which everyone is invested in everything on TV.

It Was A Real Variety Show That Went For Different Tones

I like my wrestling to be a variety of different things. Sometimes I want goofiness. Sometimes I want bitchiness. Sometimes I want ruthless aggression. Wrestling is a lot of things to a lot of different people, and I want to see all of it, just all of it done at least pretty well. And that’s what we got last night. Over the course of three hours, it felt like we got to see so many different appeal elements of wrestling.

We had the aforementioned mic battle between CM Punk, Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins that blurred the lines between work and shoot. We got a promo battle between Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch that got very emotional and touched on Becky’s daughter. We got The Rock and Cody Rhodes engaging in a mean-spirited parking lot fight in the rain, filled with non-stop taunting. We got R Truth on commentary hilariously trying to prematurely send the show to commercial break to avoid taking a beating. We got Ricochet and JD McDonagh giving us a fast-paced, hyper-athletic match filled with moves we’d normally see in AEW. We got a Bronson Reed and Sami Zayn match that was way more about developing character than showing off move sets. We got Candace LeRae developing a mid-card story about disappointing her friends. I could go on and on. 

Blood And Swearing Were Incorporated In Impactful Ways

There are few things wrestling fans like arguing about more than swearing and blood. WWE has traditionally shied away from both of those elements, as they’re trying to cater to a family friendly audience. I’m somewhere in the middle. I don’t want to see blood every week, nor do I want to see wrestlers swear non-stop. I think it’s important that we keep the show semi-appropriate for younger viewers, and to be honest, I’m not really interested in constantly seeing people blade themselves. Bleeding for the sake of bleeding is kind of gross and barbaric, and sometimes it can go way too far.

That being said, a bit of unexpected blood or a surprise swear can really add something when used right, and WWE used both of those elements right last night. Both The Rock and CM Punk dropped words WWE doesn’t normally say on television, to the shocked reaction of the crowd, and Cody Rhodes got a little bit of color during his parking lot brawl with The Rock, which The People’s Champ then wiped his belt with. 

Maybe this will represent a larger change in philosophy. I hope not. Instead, what I hope it represents is a loosening of the hard and fast rules. I don’t want to hear swearing every episode or see people bleeding in every match. It lessens the impact. Instead, what I want to see are the occasional well-placed moments where it’s used correctly, and that’s exactly what we got last night.

The Parking Lot Brawl Was One Of The Best Produced Segments We’ve Gotten In A Long Time

This is the moment everyone is talking about and with good reason. The Rock interrupted Cody Rhodes’ promo early in the night and whispered something to him. Because of the way it was shot, it wasn’t entirely clear what he said, which WWE made a plot point throughout the episode. They asked The Rock and later Cody Rhodes, neither of whom would comment on what happened. Then, at the end of the episode, The Rock blindsided Cody Rhodes and beat the American Nightmare out of him in the parking lot while it was raining. 

We’ve seen plenty of backstage brawls in wrestling before, but this one just felt different. Maybe it was because of The Rock’s non-stop taunting. Maybe it was because it was raining. Maybe it was because it featured trash can shots to the head and later blood, but it just felt like a vicious grudge match featuring two of the characters fans care about the most. With less than two weeks to go before WrestleMania, it found a way to get fans even more fired up for the big showdown in Philly (even dropping some fun hints), and it showed, with no rules, new camera angles and new ideas, what’s possible in this new version of WWE.

I don’t have a time machine and I can’t see into the future, but I’m sure one day people will look back on our current era of WWE, and wrestling as a whole, as one of the greatest periods in the history of sports entertainment. The in-ring product, storylines, and a healthy amount of competition have led to some great moments and even greater changes in the past decade, and one area of WWE’s product that has gotten so much better is the women’s division.

Earlier this year I wrote about everything that has changed since the launch of the WWE Network in February 2014. In that article, I briefly touched on how the women’s division has become one of the strongest components of the company. But since I had to keep things brief at the time, I decided to go back and revisit some of the ways WWE’s exciting women’s division has improved and become the standard bearer for the industry as a whole. Well, now is that time…

The NXT Roster Completely Reshaped Women's Wrestling In WWE

As far as I’m concerned, some of WWE’s best wrestling in the past 20 years took place in NXT between 2014 and 2018, and a lot of the buzz surrounding the developmental brand was its stellar women’s division. Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch, all of whom have won various championships on the main roster in the past, all got their start down in Florida, and little did we know at the time, they were reshaping women’s wrestling into how we know it today.

While the Divas division was still focusing more on models-turned-wrestlers than longtime fans of the sport, these four, and numerous others like Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Emma, and Paige gave their blood, sweat, and tears, waiting for their time to strike and usher in a new era. And they did just that…

The "Four Horsewomen" Brought Next-Level Matches To The Main Roster

Between 2015 and 2016, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch, also known as the “Four Horsewomen,” a reference to the legendary Four Horsemen, made their debuts on WWE’s main roster. While Bayley wouldn’t be fully in the mix until a year after her fellow NXT alums, the other three made an instant impact on the product and let fans of their work in developmental know it wasn’t going to be cast aside on Raw or SmackDown. Instead, it flourished.

The Divas Era officially came to an end at WrestleMania 32 in April 2016 when Flair defeated Banks and Lynch in a game-changing triple threat match for the new WWE Women’s Championship. And with that, the women's roster began to take over and get better by the day.

The Divas Championship Has Been Replaced By Two Prestigious Titles

The Divas Championship was around for the better part of a decade, with all but two years of its existence seeing it as the only women’s title on the WWE main roster. While there were some legendary champions to hold the belt over the years like Michelle McCool, AJ Lee, Paige, and even Charlotte Flair at the end of its run, the belt wasn’t always associated with great wrestling. 

Since then, the WWE Women’s Championship and the Women’s World Championship have been fought over in some major matches, including the main events of shows like WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and most recently, Elimination Chamber 2024, where Rhea Ripley defended the World Championship in her native Australia.

The Women's Roster Is So Deep

If you look at the official WWE roster, it’s not difficult to see that there are more women wrestling for the company than ever before. Between NXT, Raw, and SmackDown, there are a few dozen female wrestlers, enough to build their own show in the vein of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) back in the ‘80s. Stables, tag teams within those stables, main event talent, mid-carders, up-and-comers, you name it, it’s there.

This stacked women’s roster is also something of a curse, however, as there are so many talented superstars but only two singles titles and a tag team championship on the main roster. And, like how WWE’s going to have to leave big stars off WrestleMania 40, there are only so many spaces to fill in the title picture. Well, unless the company introduces a much-needed midcard title for the division… 

Women's Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, And MITB Matches Have Leveled The Playing Field

Another thing that has made WWE so much fun to watch the past half-decade or so is the introduction of the Women’s Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, and Money in the Bank matches that were once reserved only for the male wrestlers on the roster. These marquee matches have leveled the playing field, so to speak, and have given even more women time to shine on some of the company’s biggest shows.

Long gone are the days of the “bra and panties” contest before the men’s rumble, the “Miss WrestleMania” pageants, and other various dated and disgusting gimmick matches that were so prevalent during the Attitude Era and Ruthless Aggression phase. It’s better this way, even when not talking about equality in the ring.

Wrestlers Like Rhea Ripley And Bianca Belair Have Been Able To Make Themselves Into Massive Stars

Back in February 2020, I wrote about six up-and-coming female wrestlers to watch out for in WWE, and two of those superstars – Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair – have become some of the biggest stars the company, and the sport as a whole, has seen in years. Both of these wrestlers have held the various women’s titles for extended periods of time, taken part in high-profile WrestleMania main event matches (Belair headlined Night 1 of the 2022 “Showcase of the Immortals”), and developed beloved characters that connect with the fans.

These are just two examples of female wrestlers grabbing the proverbial brass rings and making names for themselves through grit, determination, and iconic moments in and outside of the ring.

More Respectful And Engaging Storylines Have Become The Norm

Perhaps the best thing to happen WWE’s women’s division over the past decade has been the inclusion of more respectful and engaging storylines, angles that have been given just as much time, consideration, and heat as anything with the male wrestlers. Becky Lynch becoming “The Man” and winning the first women’s main event match at WrestleMania 35,  Bayley’s current program going against her former Damage CTRL stable, and Asuka being treated as one of the most dominant forces in wrestling a few years ago are just three examples of this.

Sure, there have been some duds over the years, but that’s just part of wrestling, and everyone is prone to have something just not work or connect with the fans. But overall, the storylines and matches have resonated with the public for the most part, and that’s what really matters.

WWE is in a much better place today than it was a decade ago, and a lot of that is because of the strong women’s division. But as they say, the best is yet to come, and I think this is just the beginning. I just can’t wait to see what’s in store at some of the big upcoming WWE events like the two-night WrestleMania 40.

We’re barely more than a month away from WrestleMania 40, and a lot of the matches are starting to come into focus. Only the four World Title contests have been officially announced at this point, but WWE is also being pretty obvious with some of the other puzzle pieces including Jimmy And Jey Uso, Awesome Truth and Judgment Day, AJ Styles and LA Knight and Logan Paul, Randy Orton and maybe KO. Gunther will also obviously get a prime spot on the card and will defend The Intercontinental Championship, though his opponent is less clear, and it’s been heavily rumored and hinted at on screen that we’re going to get Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes vs The Rock and Roman Reigns in a tag match.

Altogether, it’s shaping up to be one of the most stacked and exciting cards in WrestleMania history, but it’s also presenting a really obvious numbers problem for WWE. If you only count the matches I referenced above, that’s 10 slots that are pretty close to locked in for ‘Mania. Last year, if you don’t count The Miz’s two unannounced comedy fights, there were 13 matches on the card. If you remove Vince McMahon’s unannounced match from WrestleMania 38, there were 15 matches that year. The year before that at WrestleMania 37, there were 14 matches. That range seems to be the sweet spot WWE likes, and given The Rock is involved this year and likely to get a significant amount of time, it’s hard to think Triple H and company are going to push for more than usual.

Here’s the problem: all those matches I outlined above don’t include a ton of huge names. Let me just run down several of the heaviest hitters we haven’t talked about yet: Bianca Belair, Sami Zayn, Bobby Lashley, Jade Cargill, Dominik Mysterio, Asuka, Austin Theory, The New Day and Liv Morgan. Now throw in Sheamus and Rey Mysterio, both of whom are rumored to be ready to return from injury. Now throw in all of the following people who fans love and/ or have been getting TV time over the last few months: Andrade, Grayson Waller, Naomi, Nia Jax, Shinsuke Nakamura, The Street Profits. Alpha Academy, Bronson Reed, Ivar, Chelsea Green, Santos Escobar, Carlito, Raquel Rodriguez, Dakota Kai, Ricochet, Baron Corbin, Zelina Vega, DIY, Karrion Kross, Kayden Carter And Katana Chance, Piper Niven, Shayna Baszler, Zoey Stark, Omos, Pretty Deadly, New Catch Republic, Imperium, JD McDonagh, Ivy Nile, The Creed Brothers, Natalya, Michin, The Good Brothers, Xia Li, Tegan Nox, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell, among others.

And what about some of the recent NXT call-ups who seem like they’re in line to get a huge push? Bron Breakker and Tiffany Stratton have both been made to look really strong, including in big premium live event moments over the last month. What would be the point of bringing them up before WrestleMania and then ignoring them at the biggest show of the year? If you really want to develop momentum for someone, the best way to do it is with a strong showing at The Showcase Of The Immortals.

Now, some of these people don’t have to be on the WrestleMania card, and some of them can be used without having an actual match. I’m not going to put anyone on blast, but you can rundown that list above and probably pick out at least 15 or 20 people you don’t think need to be on the card. There are also creative ways WWE can  use Dominik Mysterio, Dakota Kai and a few others that don’t require their own match, but at some point, those easy cuts start getting harder and harder. At some point, you realize WWE might be forced to make choices between heavy hitters like Sheamus and Bobby Lashley or The Street Profits and A New Day or Bronson Reed and Austin Theory.

My guess is WWE is going to mix in at least two or three matches with a high volume of participants. I think Gunther, as an example, might defend The Intercontinental Championship in a gauntlet match with like five or six competitors. I think we might get a women’s midcard belt introduced in some kind of battle royal or my personal preference, a ladder match. Maybe we’ll get some four team tag matches like we did last year at ‘Mania. There’s going to need to be some creativity here, but even with that, I think we all need to be prepared for a WrestleMania that’s missing some big names. 

Because of injuries, circumstances and plotlines just not working as expected, there are always unexpected people who don’t make the ‘Mania card. That’s just how it works, but ordinarily, five weeks out from WrestleMania, there aren’t this many big stars without a clear path forward. Many of them will make the card in some capacity. Barring injury, Bianca Belair is going to have a match, as are Sami Zayn and quite a few others, but there’s not room for all of these people. Don’t be surprised if some of the people left out are ones you’d never guess. 

Rhea Ripley is the top heel of the women's division in the WWE, but she broke character ahead of WrestleMania 40 recently for a good reason. The Women's World Champion took a break from taunting Becky Lynch to speak to the fans after seeing a recent viral video of Maxxine Dupri. Fans decided to boo Dupri at a house show following her performance, and the Judgment Day leader didn't like seeing that one bit. 

As many superstars are preparing for WrestleMania and other upcoming WWE events, Rhea Ripley took some time to defend Maxxine Dupri after seeing a video of her making rounds on social media. The video featured several fans loudly booing her as she exited the ring and one fan shouting: "You suck, Maxxine, don't come back." Check out the video below, which Ripley shared along with her response to it: 

Ripley defended Maxxine Dupri, who only recently began having matches on WWE's main roster. It's a massive step up for someone who had no professional wrestling experience prior to her tryout, compared to a star like Ripley, who spent five years wrestling in the indies before joining the company. Even so, it's clear Ripley has compassion for Dupri's efforts, and she doesn't think it's fair for fans to put her through this. 

Maxxine Dupri continues to get chances to perform in the ring, and her position as one of the women's wrestlers lower on the totem pole allows her that opportunity. Jade Cargill, despite looking like a world-beater in AEW, hasn't been given the same amount of opportunities since signing in WWE. To date, Cargill wrestled briefly in the Royal Rumble, and that's it. 

Maxxine Dupri continues to get exposure on Monday Night Raw as a member of the Alpha Academy, but whether she'll ever work her way into the women's title scene as a legitimate contender remains to be seen. As evidenced by the things we loved about the 2024 Royal Rumble match, the women's division is as strong as it has ever been with plenty of future wrestling Hall of Famers working matches every week. Check out any women's match in the last year of pay-per-views with a Peacock Premium Subscription, and you'll see it's true. 

In truth, the standard for quality pro wrestling has increased drastically over the past decade, which is part of why WWE is on such a hot streak right now and negotiating massive deals with Netflix. The fact that decision-makers allow Dupri to wrestle on the main roster should be a show of faith that they're expecting her to improve and see the potential. 

Catch Maxxine Dupri and Rhea Ripley on Monday Night Raw, which airs on the 2024 TV schedule on USA Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. With just weeks to go before WrestleMania 40, now is the perfect time to tune in and learn about all the big things we can expect to see happen during wrestling's two biggest nights. 

So much can change in such a short amount of time in the wrestling business. Several months ago, it seemed pretty obvious we were heading toward a WrestleMania 40 that featured Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and CM Punk, Gunther and Brock Lesnar, Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley And Becky Lynch and Iyo Sky and Bayley, among many others. Well, CM Punk and Charlotte Flair both got hurt. Brock Lesnar is off TV after being implicated in the Vince McMahon allegations, and oh yeah, The Rock has returned to WWE and now sits on the board of directors. So, quite a bit of the ‘Mania card is still TBD, and The Elimination Chamber will go a long way to providing some clarity.

It should also be quite entertaining. Continuing the trend we saw at The Royal Rumble, there are only four matches scheduled, which should allow all of them plenty of time to breathe. We have a women’s match that will see the winner face Rhea Ripley (or Nia Jax) at WrestleMania. We have a men’s match that will see the winner face Seth Rollins at WrestleMania. We’ll also see Judgment Day defend the tag belts and Rhea Ripley and Nia Jax battle for the Women’s World Championship and a segment involving Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins and Grayson Waller. 

To be honest, I don’t remember ever being this confident about my predictions ahead of a premium live event. Last year, I forecasted every single match correctly at The Royal Rumble, Payback and Survivor Series, but there was plenty of doubt in some of those matches. On paper, all four of these matches seem to have pretty obvious outcomes, but the fact that every single one has a likely winner (at least in my mind) scares me a little bit. It doesn’t scare me enough to change my predictions though; so, fingers crossed I can put up some more wins on my career leaderboard seen below…

The Judgment Day (Damian Priest And Finn Bálor) Vs Pete Dunne And Tyler Bate For The Tag Team Championships

Triple H has always been a Pete Dunne fan. He put The Brawling Brutes in some high level spots back when he was playing Butch, and now, he’s gotten a nice little push here after he was repackaged as Pete Dunne. I suspect he, along with new partner Tyler Bate, are going to be given every opportunity to show what they can do in a competitive match, but let’s be realistic for a second. In what world does it make sense for The Judgment Day, in the middle of a super hot program with R-Truth and The Miz, to drop the tag titles at the premium live event before WrestleMania? It doesn’t.

Judgment Day are probably only on this card because none of the other men’s titles are being defended. Roman doesn’t defend on PPVs like this anymore. Seth Rollins is hurt. Gunther allegedly has immigration issues, and Logan Paul is working the elimination chamber match itself to try and win a shot at The World Heavyweight Championship. So, by process of elimination, we have Judgment Day defending the tag belts. That being said, I love Judgment Day, and it also makes sense to have them on the card because of their close connection with Rhea Ripley. So, the booking makes a lot of sense here. There’s just almost no doubt about the outcome. 

Predicted Winner: Judgment Day

Rhea Ripley Vs Nia Jax For The Women's World Championship

Nia Jax is on the best run of her entire career. She’s moving around the ring better than she ever has. Her promo work has gone from poor to average, and she’s right there in the zone with her character. WWE has rewarded all the good work by giving her a strong performance in The Royal Rumble and a some big wins, including one over Becky Lynch. I predict sometime in the next few years, she will get a short, multiple month run with one of the two major women’s championships, and I’ll actually be excited about it. That’s how much better she’s gotten! 

But Rhea Ripley is not losing The Women’s World Championship a month before WrestleMania 40, and she’s certainly not losing it in front of a hot home crowd in Australia. Just like with Judgment Day, that wouldn’t make any sense to the overall story they’re telling. Rhea is going to win because WWE is going to want her going into WrestleMania with the belt looking as strong as possible. Triple H and company are also going to want to keep Nia looking strong, as she’ll probably get a WrestleMania match, but Rhea is going to take the win here, almost certainly after picking up Nia Jax and giving her a Riptide.

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley

The Women's Elimination Chamber Match

Let’s run down who we’ve got here. There’s Liv Morgan, Tiffany Stratton, Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Raquel Rodriguez and Naomi. The winner is going to get a shot at Rhea Ripley (or Nia Jax) for The Women’s World Championship at WrestleMania, which will be either the first or second most prominent women’s match at ‘Mania, depending on how you feel about Bayley and Iyo Sky. So, whoever wins needs to be someone WWE wants to showcase at its biggest event of the year. As such, I think there are some people we can eliminate right away.

I love seeing Tiffany Stratton in such a big spot. She’s got a really bright future, but she’s been on the main roster for like two weeks. She is not winning this match. Neither is Raquel Rodriguez. I love Raquel. I’m really glad to see her back after an extended absence. I’m still high on her long-term potential, but she’s not wrestling Rhea at ‘Mania. I also don’t think we’re going to get Naomi either. She belongs in WWE, and I’m so happy she returned after leaving under less than ideal circumstances. She’ll be in plenty of big moments moving forward, but she’s not, in my opinion, on the level where you’d immediately throw her into a world title program without an obvious feud or backstory. 

So, that leaves Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan and Becky Lynch. WWE clearly wants to push Bianca to the moon. She and husband Montez Ford just launched their reality show on Hulu. She appeared at the WrestleMania press conference, and after Charlotte Flair got hurt, she’s in desperate need of someone to fight at The Showcase Of The Immortals. She’s definitely an outside threat to win this match, but given she’s on SmackDown, not Raw, and there hasn’t really been much build-up on her side ahead of this match, I think WWE will probably go in another direction with her at WrestleMania. Maybe they’ll just feed her Nia Jax or Tiffany Stratton and let her continue her winning streak.

Liv Morgan has the most obvious backstory here with Rhea Ripley, given they were formerly in a tag team together and Rhea previously injured Liv. There are some who would definitely say a ‘Mania match against Rhea Ripley is a bit of an overreach for her position on the card, but the crowd really loves Liv and WWE has put her in some high profile spots before, specifically winning Money In The Bank and cashing in on Ronda Rousey. She could absolutely win here.

But there’s a reason WWE had Becky Lynch staring down Rhea Ripley and calling her a bottom during the WrestleMania 40 press conference. She’s been the most consistent one on WWE programming talking about this match, and her story of needing to see whether she still has it and can beat Rhea is a perfect Mania program. I think she’s going to win here, though there’s more doubt in my mind about this than the other matches.

Predicted Winner: Becky Lynch

The Men's Elimination Chamber Match

If you haven’t been watching WWE programming for the last few months, this match might feel like a toss-up. Randy Orton, LA Knight, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Kevin Owens and Logan Paul are all either former world champions or guys who have main evented PPVs fighting for a world championship in the last few years. Any could be put into a big spot at WrestleMania and not seem totally out of place, but if you have been watching WWE programming for the last few months, you’re aware of the fact that Drew McIntyre is on the best run of his entire career. He is right there in the zone with his heelish character and is the perfect choice to fight Seth Rollins now that CM Punk is off the table.

I’m not saying it’s not possible Randy Orton in particular could win this match, but it would be a tremendous shock if it wasn’t Drew McIntyre. So, instead of the overall outcome, I’m more focused on what else this match tries to do. For instance, I think we’re likely going to get a continuation of Kevin Owens and Logan Paul’s ongoing feud that will lead to the two hashing out their differences at WrestleMania. Orton and La Knight are also in need of something to do at ‘Mania. Maybe AJ Styles interferes in the match to cost LA Knight, and that sets up a program for them at WrestleMania. Or maybe LA Knight gets involved with Owens and Logan Paul, and we get a triple threat there. Maybe Solo Sikoa gets involved with Randy Orton, and it sets something up for them at WrestleMania. Maybe Karrion Kross shows up and does something to Bobby Lashley. WrestleMania is just six weeks or so after Elimination Chamber. These programs need to start coming together. I predict at least one will start coming together here.

Predicted Winner: Drew McIntyre

You want to know how much I love The Royal Rumble? Every year when my wife buys her calendar for the new year, which she keeps all our plans in, I immediately have her add the Rumble. It’s too important. I can’t have her mistakenly making plans I’m emotionally obligated to attend. So, yeah, I’m pretty Seth Freakin’ Rollins excited about Saturday, partly because the Rumble is always exciting and partly because there are a lot of possible paths WWE could take in both the men’s and women’s editions.

Last year, I predicted we’d see Cody Rhodes win the men’s Rumble and Rhea Ripley win the women’s Rumble. Ordinarily I’d brag a little harder about calling both winners, but to be honest, those end results were pretty obvious. Cody was the conquering babyface returning from his injury and the obvious choice to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, and everyone who watched the product even occasionally knew Rhea Ripley was a massive star about to break out.

This year, however, there are a lot more question marks in the Rumbles, and even at the time of typing this sentence, I’m not one hundred percent sure who I’m choosing in either. That’s really exciting, at least for the wrestling fan portion of my identity. The predictor portion of my identity is terrified, but thankfully, we have a few matches with seemingly more obvious results to help my batting average. But first, let’s look at how I did in the Big 4 PPVs last year, as well as an overall total for every premium live event since WrestleMania 38…

I’m not sure I’m going to be able to improve those lofty stats here, but I am so excited to try. And the if I end up missing and get surprised, well, that’ll only make The Royal Rumble itself even more exciting. So, without further ado, here are my predictions…

Kevin Owens Vs Logan Paul (Champion) For The United States Championship

This match isn’t about Kevin Owens. He’s great and should always be in contention for holding championships. This match is about whether WWE wants Logan Paul to go into WrestleMania as champion. The upshot of that is obvious. He’s a social media megastar with a huge podcast that is going to encourage his fans to tune into The Showcase Of The Immortals. In addition, he’s a reviled heel who many hardcore fans would like to see lose. So, him holding the belt at WrestleMania gives WWE the chance to give someone (LA Knight) a huge moment by taking it off him at the biggest event of the year.

Now, there’s a case for Kevin Owens here too. He’s a future WWE Hall Of Famer who main evented the last two WrestleManias. He needs something compelling to do in April, and defending the United States Championship would allow him to do that. Unlike Paul, he’s also a weekly performer and assumedly, will be around more often to defend the belt moving forward, which is probably especially appealing given Roman Reigns is a part-time champion and Seth Rollins just blew out his knee.

I’m gonna go with Logan Paul. I think putting him in a big spot at WrestleMania is just too appealing, though I think it’s possible whatever that big spot is may end up involving Kevin Owens too in some kind of triple threat or multi-man title match.

Predicted Winner: Logan Paul

Roman Reigns (Champion) Vs LA Knight Vs Randy Orton Vs AJ Styles For The WWE Universal Championship

We all know Roman Reigns isn’t getting pinned here; so, I appreciate WWE trying to add some intrigue by including so many people in the match. That opens up the remote possibility Roman loses because two of these other dudes pin each other, but let’s be serious for a second. Roman has been the champion for more than three years. In what world would Triple H, Bruce Prichard and company take the title off Roman Reigns a few months before the main event of WrestleMania 40? Outside of an injury or some kind of backstage disagreement, it’s hard to even make a case for why that would make sense.

To me, the real question is whether Roman can win a match here without interference from Solo Sikoa. I’ve watched enough wrestling to know heels winning in a heelish way is part of the game, but sometimes it’s okay to just make the heel look as strong as possible. Roman is the top guy in the company, and none of these dudes are likely to work with him again, given he’ll be paired with Cody Rhodes, The Rock or both at WrestleMania; so, one of them can eat a clean pinfall without doing too much damage to their character. I’m gonna guess that person will be AJ Styles, given he’s not quite as hot right now as the other two, but we’ll see.

Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns

The Women's Royal Rumble

There are so many good options here. Let’s run them down, starting with Bayley. She makes the most sense from a storyline perspective. WWE has been teasing problems within Damage CTRL for awhile, particularly problems between Bayley and the rest of Damage CTRL. It seems likely at some point she is going to be booted out and Dakota Kai is going to become the new mouthpiece. If Bayley were to win The Rumble, she could shift gears and instead of challenging Rhea Ripley, challenge her current stablemate Iyo Sky. There’s a really good, easy to tell story there and an obvious WrestleMania match that I think will happen, regardless of who wins The Rumble.

Then there’s Becky Lynch. WWE gave us a confrontation between her and Rhea Ripley earlier this month, and that’s clearly a match WWE fans want to see. Becky has also been extremely selfless over the last year, spending time in NXT to help grow that program and putting on matches with a lot of female talent who haven’t been given a chance. She also put Nia Jax over on Raw, which really helped elevate her. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see her paid back.

Bianca Belair is also always a threat. She was recently announced as the coverwoman of 2K24 alongside Rhea Ripley. She seemed on a collision course to wrestle Charlotte Flair, but that’s off the table now after The Queen got injured. She needs something to do and is one of the most reliable main eventers the women’s roster has. She’s also won before and would love to be the first woman to win a second time.

There’s also Nia Jax, who has been pushed really hard in recent weeks. There’s a potentially returning Liv Morgan and a potentially returning Naomi. I don’t think any of those three are quite on a win The Royal Rumble level, but they would be fun surprises. You know who is on that level though? Sasha Banks. Rumors have been saying she’s likely headed to AEW, but with Triple H in charge of WWE now, it’s definitely possible that animosity is gone and she could return. Just ask yourself. If you were in charge and she was returning, would you book her to win The Rumble? Probably.

And then there’s Jade Cargill. WWE’s most exciting recent signing not named CM Punk was pushed heavily on television after she first arrived, but she’s been gone for awhile and has been quietly training. WWE could set her up as an immediate main event player if she won here.

The Internet seems to be rallying around Bayley. She would be a great choice and probably the most logical one, but I keep coming back to Becky Lynch. I think her match with Rhea is going to happen at WrestleMania, and I think WWE is going to pay off her selfless work this year with a second Rumble win.

Predicted Winner: Becky Lynch

The Men’s Royal Rumble

Part of the reason why I didn’t publish these predictions yesterday is because I was waiting to see what Seth Rollins was going to do after his recent injury. If he vacated his title, whether or not it was put up at The Rumble, it would have created all kinds of chaos, and it would have dramatically increased the possible winners. 

Think about it this way. There are two world champions in WWE. The winner of The Royal Rumble is going to wrestle one of those two at WrestleMania. If we know the champions are going to be Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, then you’re essentially saying the winner of The Rumble is going to be one of their opponents. If Rollins was off the table, the possibilities would be endless. You’d have to start throwing in guys like Gunther, Drew McIntyre, Damian Priest, Brock Lesnar, Bobby Lashley, Sami Zayn and Randy Orton, but if Rollins is locked in, that means, by my estimation, there are only three options to win The Rumble and an unlikely wild card fourth option I'll get to later.

Roman Reigns is going to fight either Cody Rhodes, The Rock or both at WrestleMania. Seth Rollins is almost certainly going to fight CM Punk. That means the winner of The Rumble is going to be Cody, The Rock or CM Punk (probably). I think, of those three, The Rock is the least likely. The Tampa Bay crowd would be stoked to see him show up and enter The Rumble for sure, but I’m not sure people would really want to see him win. That honor should probably go to a more modern guy. So, it’s either Cody winning two years in a row or CM Punk. 

I’m gonna go with CM Punk. I think he’s the most logical choice. His probable match against Seth Rollins is likely his best chance ever to main event a WrestleMania, and I think the crowd would be happy to see him have that level of success. It would also provide another reminder to everyone in AEW that if you want to come over to WWE, there are potential huge opportunities.

If I was forced to come up with a fourth option, I would go with Gunther. He's ready to be in the world title picture. Maybe there's a world in which, if The Rock is going to wrestle Roman Reigns, WWE decides to have Cody Rhodes wrestle CM Punk, which leaves Gunther to deal with Seth Rollins. I think that's unlikely, but I'll throw it out into the universe just in case.

Predicted Winner: CM Punk

If you're in The United States, you can stream The Royal Rumble this Saturday night for free with a Peacock subscription. 

There are only two upcoming WWE main roster premium live events left in 2023: Crown Jewel and Survivor Series. After that, it’s on to The Royal Rumble in late January and the road to WrestleMania. As such, WWE is already hard at work moving around the pieces and setting up the storylines that will carry them through to WrestleMania 40. That doesn’t mean every wrestler is literally involved in a storyline they’ll carry through til April, but it does mean Triple H and company are already thinking about questions like who should hold the key belts at ‘Mania and which main event level superstars will be entered into the Rumble.

That’s why Crown Jewel is giving us 5 title matches with both of the men’s and women’s big belts on the line, as well as The United States Championship. It’s also why I think we’re going to get some actual title changes, as well as some advancements in major storylines that will be primary focuses for WWE over the next six or seven months. 

On a more personal note, I also hope Crown Jewel will be a big bounceback pay per view for me. Since I started doing my predictions back at WrestleMania 38, I’ve gone 94-35. Unfortunately at Fastlane, I went a miserable 2-3, which is the same record Austin Theory has at premium live events in 2023. I’ve got to be better than that or I’ll run the risk of slipping down the card and having to tag with Grayson Waller.

Here’s a quick look back at how I’ve done at some recent events…

I wish I could say I was extremely confident heading into Crown Jewel, but there are some tricky matches on here too. Fortunately, anytime there’s a lot of possible outcomes for matches, that typically means we’re in for a lively and unpredictable pay per view. Nonetheless, here’s my best attempt at guessing what’s going to happen…

Sami Zayn Vs JD McDonagh

I’m a big JD McDonagh guy. I’d like to see him be a more regular part of The Bloodline, and I’d like to see him presented as more of a credible threat. Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine that credibility is going to start on the preshow of Crown Jewel, especially when the crowd will likely be very vocally behind Sami Zayn, who has long been open about his heritage and love for The Middle East.

The Judgment Day is always a threat to interfere and work some shenanigans, but once again, I just don’t really see that happening on the preshow. I think the plan is for Sami Zayn to be a contender for the big belts down the road, and that continued elevation to the main event doesn’t happen if he’s losing at premium live events to the weakest associate of Judgment Day.

Predicted Winner: Sami Zayn

Seth Freakin’ Rollins (Champion) Vs Drew McIntyre For The World Heavyweight Championship

Drew McIntyre has recently gotten some changes to his character. He’s essentially the same guy, but he’s just not going out of his way to be helpful. It’s like he exists in some kind of grey area between face and heel. He’s not going to beat up grandmothers or insult the audience for no apparent reason, but he’s also not going to lift a finger to help other people. He’s looking after number one, and that number one is the best version of the Drew character we’ve gotten since his loss to Roman Reigns at Clash At The Castle more than a year ago. 

So, on the one hand, I’d like to see WWE reward that forward progress with a big victory here. Drew has had a lot more notable losses in key spots than wins over the last few years, and at some point, he needs to win a title and/ or beat a major name or he’s going to lose the fresh momentum he’s created over the last month or two. I mean the poor guy hasn’t won at a premium live event since he beat Karrion Kross back at Crown Jewel in 2022. He’s due.

On the other hand, has he really done enough in this build to take the title off Seth Rollins? And should we be concerned about his alleged contract situation? Rollins has held The World Heavyweight Championship since May and defended the belt on five different premium live events since. I definitely don’t think we’re going to see Rollins have a multi-year run like Roman Reigns, but you shouldn’t take the belt off him unless there’s a better story to tell. And while I know there’s a story there with Drew somewhere, we just haven’t seen enough of it yet. So, I think they’re going to keep it on Seth and/ or we’re going to see a Damian Priest cash-in.

Predicted Winner: Seth Freakin’ Rollins

Rhea Ripley (Champion) Vs Nia Jax Vs Shayna Baszler Vs Zoey Stark Vs Raquel Rodriguez For The Women’s World Championship

I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me, but it’s hard to imagine anyone has gotten more screentime on Raw over the last six months than Rhea Ripley. A meaningful case could be made that she’s the main character on the entire show, and while it might be fun to watch her angrily chase the belt at some point, right now I’d prefer to see her continue to look dominant.

If there’s been one complaint about her current title run, it’s been that she hasn’t had enough meaningful feuds with other women on the roster. A lot of her screentime has been in service of handling Judgment Day business and/ or interacting with the top men on the roster. The build to this match has been a good step to alleviate some of those concerns, though. We’ve gotten quite a few segments of just mass chaos, especially involving Nia Jax, who has been presented as a real threat to win the title.

Will she though? I’ve gotta imagine this is going to continue to be Rhea. She’s at the top of the women’s division, and to me, that means she should continue holding the belt.

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley

John Cena Vs Solo Sikoa

I don’t like the idea of Solo losing here. I’d like to see him feud with Roman Reigns at some point in the future, and I’d like him looking as vicious and strong as possible when that happens. But poor John Cena also needs a singles win desperately. He’s been so selfless with putting guys over since he’s gotten older, but everytime he puts someone else over, it makes it seem like more of an inevitability that he’s going to lose big matches. That’s not in anyone’s best interests.

So, I think Cena is going to beat Solo here. It’ll probably be in a very protected fashion. It’ll probably involve Jim Uso screwing up and accidentally blowing it for Solo. Maybe he’ll run out and accidentally superkick him. Maybe he’ll accidentally distract the ref when Solo was about to win with a three count. Something weird is going to happen, and that’ll further accelerate the friction between Jimmy Uso and Roman Reigns.

Predicted Winner: John Cena

Iyo Sky (Champion) Vs Bianca Belair For The WWE Women’s Championship

Is Iyo Sky telling a championship story or is she telling a friction within Damage CTRL story? That’s what I have a hard time figuring out. I really like Iyo a lot. I’d buy her as a long-term champion, but sometimes it feels like Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair are telling a story about trying to win a championship, and she’s telling a story about Damage CTRL maybe breaking up. That distinction matters because, if the real story here is between Charlotte and Bianca, then Iyo needs to lose the title at Crown Jewel, Survivor Series or The Royal Rumble. 

I’m also very interested to see what the reaction to Bianca is going to be. Iyo is technically a heel, but she has a history of getting cheered at PPVs, especially at Backlash. Bianca wasn’t getting the best receptions prior to her injury, but now that she’s back, maybe she’ll have the good will of fans again. Or maybe she’ll transition into being the heel some fans are hoping she’ll turn into. I don’t really know, and since I don’t really know, I’m going to default to Iyo holding onto the title.

Predicted Winner: Iyo Sky

Rey Mysterio (Champion) Vs Logan Paul For The United States Championship

Before Logan Paul debuted at WrestleMania 38, I would have been furious with a future version of myself for predicting he would win a legitimate WWE belt, but the dude just gets professional wrestling. I’m not saying he doesn’t have a lot to work on. He does. There’s a lot of distance between where he’s at and where he would need to get to in order to credibly hold one of WWE’s top two belts, but the question I’m asking myself is if The United States Championship would be better served around Logan Paul’s waist. Right now, I think the answer is yes.

Gunther has elevated The Intercontinental Championship to the point where it feels like a big prize almost everyone on the roster would love to have. The United States Championship hasn’t quite had that same momentum. Many of us hoped Austin Theory could get it to that next level, but his run with the belt felt like it was missing something. It’s been nice to see Rey Mysterio get some late career shine, but it feels like he’s got something else going with Bobby Lashley/ The Street Profits and The LWO that doesn’t need the title.

Besides, if Logan Paul does win the title, it sets up a potential clash with LA Knight, and I can already hear in my head how hot that crowd would be. Some people are looking to The Royal Rumble as the potential moment where LA Knight pays off all the crowd support he’s gotten the past six months, but I think what’s more likely is we’ll see him pay off that crowd support by kicking Logan Paul’s ass at WrestleMania 40 after what’s hopefully a six month run of heel greatness from the social media star.

Predicted Winner: Logan Paul

Cody Rhodes Vs Damian Priest

I’m not sure there are two people who have been involved in more Raw main event matches over the last year than Cody Rhodes and Damian Priest. They’ve worked together extensively, but I think Rhodes’ promo to end this past episode in which he accused Priest of being a follower is the most invested I’ve been in their shared storyline. 

We all know what Cody Rhodes is going to do. He’s going to go on to WrestleMania 40 and Main Event against Roman Reigns (unless The Rock gets involved). What Damian Priest’s future looks like is a lot more complicated. He fits in perfectly with The Judgment Day from a visual perspective, and he’s really found his niche inside the group as the muscle/ workhorse. He also has a fun, almost brother/ sister relationship with Rhea Ripley. But she’s also clearly the leader of the group, and standing next to her might put some kind of ceiling on his future development. That’s likely why there have been consistent rumors that WWE may have long-term plans to turn him into a babyface. I have no idea if that’s a good idea, but I do know Priest has many of the natural gifts needed to hold one of the two big titles. 

The most important priority, however, is to keep Cody Rhodes looking like the biggest babyface on the roster, and that starts by winning big matches at premium live events. So, barring injury or a desire to further some kind of storyline we don’t know about yet, I expect Cody to pick up a pinfall victory here.

Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes

Roman Reigns (Champion) Vs LA Knight For The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

I’ll give LA Knight a bit YEAH for being put in the biggest spot of his entire career, but it just doesn’t make sense for either Roman's story or his for the megastar to win the title here. There’s no point in immediately going from never having held a title in WWE to holding the biggest title there is. He already has the crowd. They’re aching for him to take a big step up and win a championship, but at this point, any championship will be a big step up. 

Cody Rhodes’ story is that he was able to accomplish everything in WWE except win the WWE title, which no one in his family has ever done. For him, The United States Championship and Intercontinental Championship don’t matter. He even recently won the Tag Team Titles (briefly), and while that was a lot of fun, that didn’t really matter either. That wasn’t where his story was going. But for LA Knight, his story is about gaining respect and progress, and he can do that by beating lesser people who aren’t Roman Reigns. Plus, there’s nothing that helps a babyface become more popular than encountering a little adversity now and again.

Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns

As with all of WWE's premium live events, you can stream in The United States with a Peacock subscription. Or, if you're outside the States, you can check it out on WWE network or wherever WWE streams locally. 

From the time it was reported that Jade Cargill was leaving AEW, wrestling fans who weren't concerned about Tony Khan's brand started speculating about when she'd eventually sign with the WWE. Well, it only took a little under two weeks for the official announcement confirming that Jade Cargill is coming to the WWE and will begin a multi-year contract. "Big Jade" is reportedly already at the brand's performance center, but I think we all know where her arc is going.

Now that the WWE has officially announced Jade Cargill is in the company, we're left to speculate what's next. As of now, we don't know whether or not she'll start out on NXT or skip forward straight to the main roster. I think Cargill is a name that needs no introduction in the brand, and if the powers that be understand that, she could very well be headed straight for the top to take on one champion. 

Jade Cargill's Arrival Sets Her On The Path To WrestleMania 40 Against Rhea Ripley

While she may have some stiff competition following Nia Jax's controversial return, Rhea Ripley has largely dominated the women's division ever since she beat Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39 for the title. It's clear at this point she needs someone at another level to defeat her, someone who is just as unstoppable. 

Who better than Jade Cargill, who established herself as one of the most dominant women's competitors in AEW? Cargill held the TBS Championship for 508 days and went on a 60-0 undefeated streak. That's a level of dominance that exceeds anything Rhea Ripley has accomplished in the WWE thus far, even with her faction Judgment Day slowly becoming the next Bloodline. Cargill's debut sets the stage for "Mami" to face someone for the first time who is her better on paper in every way. 

While I originally thought originally thought Nia Jax was the obvious matchup for Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 40, Jade Cargill is the better option. Now it's more of a question of when we'll see her on the main roster and when we'll see these two finally square off in a ring for the first time. 

When Will Jade Cargill Make Her Main Roster Debut? 

Given how publicly the WWE announced its signing of Jade Cargill, I wouldn't be surprised if she springs up as early as the next SmackDown or Monday Night Raw, even if it's not for an actual match. There's also a chance we'll see her on NXT, as even the greatest superstars in the WWE today start there. In fact, she'd probably be an excellent challenger to take down Becky Lynch and prove that she's a significant threat. 

One problem, however, is that Jade Cargill must remain powerful and undefeated in her debut. The trick for the WWE will be to justify building her up to be a dominant force in the brand while still making excuses as to why she can't pursue the Women's Championship as soon as she debuts. Therefore it may just be best to let Becky be, and to start her reign of dominance on the main roster and bypass NXT entirely. 

As for how she ends up on the WrestleMania card against Rhea Ripley, the most obvious path is through the Royal Rumble ahead of WrestleMania 40. As much as I hate to see the winners telegraphed so far in advance, it's the easiest way to establish Jade Cargill as a major threat and earn her an opportunity to take on Ripley and earn the title. 

Keep an eye out for when Jade Cargill could appear at upcoming WWE events. Monday Night Raw airs on USA on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET, and SmackDown is on Fox on Fridays at the same time. I'm absolutely hyped for this new era in the women's division, and I think, for the first time in a long time, the women's singles division might be stronger than the men's. 

After a brief appearance at the 2023 Royal Rumble, Nia Jax returned on Monday Night Raw and made quite a statement. Jax spoiled Raquel Rodriguez's shot at beating Rhea Ripley and then beat down Ripley shortly after the Women's World Champion's victory. Jax seemingly made it clear she's ready to take control of the women's division once again, but I'm worried about the plans to bring her into a feud with Ripley. 

While it's exciting to see another former champion return to Monday Night Raw, I do wonder if now is the right time for Nia Jax. Is the WWE making the right call bringing her back so soon, or is it too premature to immediately put her in the mix with a Rhea Ripley feud? 

Nia Jax Is The Immovable Object To Rhea's Unstoppable Force, And Should Be Given A Bigger Spotlight

I should start by saying that I don't believe that it's a bad idea to have Nia Jax feud with Rhea Ripley. To this point, Ripley has mowed through a few of the heavy hitters on the WWE roster since her decisive win over Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39. This has led to her latest feud with Raquel Rodriguez, who hasn't proven to be much of a challenge. To be fair, Rodriguez was injured for the bulk of this feud, and Jax interrupted her best chance at beating Ripley to date. 

One of the recurring themes in Rhea Ripley's booking is that there are several women superstars talented enough to beat her, but Ripley is just too strong. She can take a punishment, and even when she's on the ropes, she'll find the strength to overpower her opponent and put them down. Ripley has made up for any shortcomings in her wrestling with sheer size and strength.

That won't work with Nia Jax, who, on paper, overpowers Rhea Ripley in those categories. What's more is that Jax, for better or worse, has a reputation with fans for being a "stiff" working wrestler. This reputation was partly gained due to an in-ring altercation with former champion Charlotte Flair that had fans talking, even though Jax later showed they were on good terms. Other incidents included breaking Becky Lynch's nose after an errant punch, as well as injuring former WWE star Kairi Sane during a match in 2020. 

Nia Jax likely doesn't appreciate fan suggestions that she's an unsafe worker, but that reputation adds real drama to an impending feud with Rhea Ripley. This is the women's division equivalent to Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant, and a booking like that deserves nothing less than WrestleMania 40. To do this match at an upcoming WWE event in the near future is, in my eyes, a total waste. 

Ripley was already sidelined at SummerSlam and deserves a big match that will draw eyes. A showdown against Jax does that and should happen on the grandest stage of them all. Every great superstar should have that match where they're up against an immovable object, and this is the perfect time for Ripley to check that off her list in her career. 

What Can The WWE Do With Nia Jax While Waiting For WrestleMania 40? 

This might be the plan already, but I think the WWE should work on building Nia Jax back up since she hasn't been around since her release in 2021. Her Monday Night Raw appearance set the stage for a feud with Raquel Rodriguez that would greatly benefit both superstars at this time. 

Raquel Rodriguez certainly has superstar potential on the main roster, but I think it's fair to say fans haven't seen much of her character work. For roughly the past year, Rodriguez hasn't done much but show up in the ring, flex her back muscles for the crowd and then win some tough matches. There's no denying she has some skills in the ring, but there's no evidence that she has charisma and can cut a solid promo. 

If the plan was for Nia Jax to face Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania, then it wouldn't make much sense for Jax to lose a feud with Rodriguez. With that said, Rodriguez can use the feud to show the WWE powers-that-be that she can be more than the strong supporting character with back muscles, which is what she largely did during her brief tag-team championship runs with Liv Morgan. Since there's still no word on Morgan's status following injury rumors, a feud like this would give Rodriguez the television time to put herself over on Monday Night Raw. 

A feud like this could also be a proving ground for Nia Jax, who, as previously mentioned, faced criticism from fans and pundits for being an unsafe performer. While wrestlers like Asuka have openly disputed this claim, at this point, it feels like there are fans who will need to see Jax go through a feud and prove that she's capable of being entertaining in matches while also protecting her opponents behind the scenes. It can be fun when pro wrestling feels real, but I don't think anyone wants to see superstars like Rhea Ripley and Rodriguez seriously injured at the expense of entertainment. 

While others may have concerns about the return of Nia Jax to the WWE for other reasons, my only concern is that it's too soon to pit her against Rhea Ripley. The only caveat with that statement is if Ripley is going to lose the title before WrestleMania 40 it makes sense to have Jax feud now. Given we're in an era where everyone is seemingly a long-term champion, I don't see that happening. The Judgment Day is still red hot in the company, and as long as they are, I would expect "Mami" to stay at the top of the women's division for the foreseeable future. 

For now, it would appear that Nia Jax is going to be a fixture on Monday Night Raw, which airs on USA Network Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. With WrestleMania season kicking off in January, now is a great time to catch up on anything you've missed with a Peacock Premium subscription, or just to check out Jax's past work before she was released. 

Payback is the first WWE Premium Live Event of 2023 that doesn’t have a little extra pizazz to it. Royal Rumble, WrestleMania and SummerSlam never need any help. Money In The Bank was in London. Backlash was in Puerto Rico. Elimination Chamber was in Montreal and featured Montreal native Sami Zayn in the main event. Payback is in Pittsburgh, and is missing many of WWE’s biggest stars. Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, Gunther, Charlotte Flair, Bobby Lashley, Bianca Belair, Asuka and The Usos, among many others are all sitting it out. Cody Rhodes will be there but only in a segment that will likely set up his next feud.

Given that, there are plenty of reasons to be concerned this could feel a little more In Your House-ish than your average PPV. On the other hand, there’s also the potential here for some real bangers. Four titles are on the line. LA Knight is getting only his second premium live event singles match, and it seems likely all the Judgment Day internal dissension might finally come to a head. So, there’s a real chance this could be one of the more forgettable PPVs of 2023, and there’s a real chance this could be a really meaningful night.

Regardless, I’m, as always, here with the predictions. I’ve been on a heater lately. You can check out my record from some recent premium live events, as well as my overall mark.

My confidence level here is a mixed bag and not nearly as high as it was for my SummerSlam predictions. There are a few matches that feel like near sure things, and there are a few matches that could go either way, depending on where WWE wants to take the story. I’m going to hope I go 4-2, but we’ll just have to see.

Becky Lynch vs Trish Stratus

Wrestling fans have been turning on this feud a bit, and that’s a real shame. Stratus has been mostly fantastic since her return earlier this year, and the story has had a lot of fun twists and turns, from their shared win alongside Lita against Damage CTRL at WrestleMania to Stratus’ betrayal to the introduction of Zoey Stark. There’s also been some really good mic work from both women, but over the last month or so, it has started to drag on. A planned match at SummerSlam was postponed in controversial fashion. It later turned into a segment on Raw which ended in a double countout, which has now turned into this steel cage match at Payback. 

I have no idea if Trish Stratus is planning to stick around long-term. I’d like to see more from her, as I think she brings a fun presence and can sell a story well, but she can’t be winning feuds over Becky Lynch, who should be one of the biggest stars on the women’s roster. Lynch needs to win here, and I would be shocked if she didn’t get it.  

Predicted Winner: Becky Lynch

Seth Freakin’ Rollins (Champion) Vs Shinsuke Nakamura For The World Heavyweight Championship

Three weeks ago, I would have said Shinsuke’s only chance here was an unexpected mid-match injury to Seth Rollins, but the build to this has been way better than expected. I have now opened up my brain to the possibility that Nakamura could win. His Japanese language promos have been going really hard with him promising crazy things like being the reason Rollins won’t be able to walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding. He’s also repeatedly focused on Rollins’ back and made that a major storyline, which makes me wonder if it’ll become a storyline in the match.

To me, Seth Rollins is the most important guy on WWE’s entire roster. He’s not the biggest star, but he’s a workhorse who just gets it. The fans love him, and he's capable of making anyone look competent in the ring. It’s been great to see him get serenaded by the audience, but he’s not the type of guy I’d expect to have a Roman Reigns-like multi-year title run. He’s going to lose this belt at some point. It would be nice to see Shinsuke take it and be a transitional champion, but that doesn’t really make sense given Damian Priest has the Money In The Bank briefcase and has interacted with Rollins way more than Nakamura. 

Given all that, I think Nakamura is going to injure Rollins’ back, but Rollins will still miraculously pull through. Then that’ll set the stage for Priest to cash-in. It’s possible some shenanigans will happen with Finn Bálor and he’ll fail, but I think he’ll probably succeed. Regardless, I’ll take Rollins in the match itself.

Predicted Winner: Seth Freakin’ Rollins

Rhea Ripley (Champion) Vs Raquel Rodriguez For The Women’s World Championship

I like Raquel Rodriguez. It was fun to see her paired with Liv Morgan back when that was a thing, and it’s been nice to see her have something to do beyond showing off her back muscles. But Rhea Ripley is one of the biggest attractions in WWE and has all the tools to be the greatest women’s wrestler in history. Despite being the leader of the biggest heel faction in WWE, fans will almost certainly root for her here, partially out of respect and partially because Raquel isn’t fully over with fans.

Based on all of the above, this should be Rhea all day long, but if you’re looking for one more reason, look to Rhea’s comments his past week on Raw. She told Damian Priest and Finn Bálor they better come back with gold or there could be some changes in Judgment Day. I don’t know what’s going to happen with either of those two dudes, but regardless, Rhea ending the night without her gold would make her look really foolish and stupid, which is the last thing WWE wants. 

I think the best Raquel can hope for here is a really good back and forth match that will hopefully help her grow her character and find a good direction moving forward. She’s powerful. She’s pretty good in the ring. She has the looks. Sometimes little bits of charisma come through. Maybe this is the moment where fans will see it start to come together. 

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley

Rey Mysterio (Champion) Vs Austin Theory For The United States Championship

Look: Rey Mysterio is an all-time legend. He’s a first ballot Hall of Famer and I’m happy to see him get another run with a mid-card title. It’s well-deserved for so many different reasons, but we all know the title is around his waist because Austin Theory’s run wasn’t going anywhere. Theory has all the talent in the world, but in my opinion, his character has gotten worse since they took away his cell phone and tried to make him more serious and less douchey and also screwed up the whole Money In The Bank situation. I get why they wanted him to grow up and seem more like a main event guy, but he’s just not drawing enough heat right now and not involved in interesting enough storylines. 

If WWE has something compelling for Austin Theory to do, then they should give him the belt back. Maybe he can move off of this into a feud with LA Knight and that’ll bring something more out of him. Maybe they’ll give him back his cell phone or have him take a character under his wing. I’m open to trying almost anything since I really do like him, but If it’s just going to be more of the same, then they should keep it on Rey Mysterio and let him run for another month or two. Theory needs change, and that’s what’s most important.

I guess I’m going to go with Rey Mysterio, but I really have no idea. There’s part of me that thinks we could get a Santos Escobar heel turn here, given Rey kinda sorta took his shot at the title and that’s been teased a few times, but I’m not sure what’s left of the LWO if that happens. So, we’ll save that for down the road, if ever. 

Predicted Winner: Rey Mysterio

LA Knight Vs The Miz

This has been one of my favorite feuds in a long-time. LA Knight and The Miz have both thrived working alongside someone else who is good on the microphone. Every segment was better than I expected it to be, from their initial promo battle to their most recent impressions of each other. The response from wrestling fans on Twitter has also been fantastic with just about everyone marking out and talking about how good these two are together. It's exactly what each needed.

In a perfect world, I’d love to see them continue their work beyond Payback, but unfortunately, WWE hasn’t built up Miz’s character enough to let a sustained feud make sense for LA Knight’s character. The Megastar needs his first PPV singles win and then to move up the card, but shoutout to everyone involved here. We all know LA Knight is on the rise, but WWE should also use this as evidence that it’s worth building Miz back up. He’s fantastic when he has real material to work with, and I would love to see him get another run with a mid-card title. 

Predicted Winner: LA Knight

Sami Zayn And Kevin Owens (Champions) Vs Damian Priest And Finn Bálor For The Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships

My head says Triple H and company are going to use this match to continue sewing friction between Damian Priest, Finn Bálor and The Judgment Day. There’s been nothing but miscommunications and screw-ups between Priest and Bálor over the last month, and the animosity between the two has gotten so palpable that it’s addressed on TV on a weekly basis. With Rhea Ripley saying there will be consequences for anyone who doesn’t come home with a title and Finn’s friend JD McDonagh hanging around the group, now feels like the moment all that turmoil will come to a dramatic head.

My heart says breaking up Judgment Day is incredibly stupid. They work really well together, and if the writing staff would let them start winning matches on a regular basis, they could be so much fun to boo. Just because you teased a potential break-up doesn’t mean you need to follow through on that potential break-up. Lots of people are saying the faction is on the PPV poster because it’s the last time the four of them will be together as a team, but what if they’re on the poster because Rhea is going to retain the Women’s World Championship, Damian and Finn are going to win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships and maybe Damian is also going to win The World Heavyweight Championship on a cash-in? What if all this disharmony leads to success and a recommitment to their goals? Maybe we’ll even see JD officially join as a fifth member. That’s what I want. Normally I go with my head, but today, I’m going with my heart.

Predicted Winner: The Judgment Day

You can stream Payback in The United States for free with a Peacock subscription. The event is on Saturday evening and will air live from Pittsburgh. 

SummerSlam 2023 is now behind us, and while there's no denying this year's event delivered some bright spots that will be talked about for months to come, shortcomings weren't exactly avoided across the board. One sore spot was the noticeable lack of ring-time for top superstars like the outspoken Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley, who had established storylines on Monday Night Raw that will now be resolved after the big event. Triple H responded to criticism of the booking decisions of the Premium Live Event, and explained why certain superstars and their matches were held for upcoming WWE events. 

Triple H spoke at the press conference that followed SummerSlam 2023, and was almost immediately asked about the situation with booking female superstars in the WWE. While the question was not inherently pointing to Becky Lynch (who didn't settle her grudge match with Trish Stratus) or Rhea Ripley (who didn't have a title defense), it seemed the head of creative still wanted to address the comments made by both women on social media. The CCO talked about the SummerSlam booking process, and how he views setting up women's matches versus men's matches, saying:

SummerSlam 2023 might not have unveiled an official match card ahead of time, but there were certainly bouts that were officially announced and confirmed the annual event. So Triple H was playing it hyper-logical in stating that a match couldn't be cut if there was no card where said match appeared. But he might have sounded less defensive had it been framed as superstars with clear feuds heading into SummerSlam were being held back in order to set up headlining matches for later dates. 

And to be clear, this wasn't simply a snub to the female superstar, because even though Becky Lynch, Trish Stratus, and Rhea Ripley didn't draw focus, other notable men's matches also didn't make the cut. Santos Escobar, who defeated Rey Mysterio for a chance at the United States championship, is now only getting that shot on an upcoming SmackDown episode, despite qualifying ahead of SummerSlam, where such a contest would have been celebrated. 

In regards to key storylines being pushed to later dates, Triple H gave his mindset behind why there weren't more matches on the card: 

Triple H's reasons for booking seem sound enough, if overt with the manager-speak, but they don't really speak to the fact that some top stars in the company felt slighted by being left out. Especially if it's all going to be blamed on time. With that said, Rhea Ripley still appeared ringside to offer Finn Bálor support, despite her saucy tweets about not having a match. Though Becky Lynch was not present, she kept fans abreast of what she was up to regardless: 

We're far removed from the days when WWE's top brass were presented as major on-screen characters via Monday Night Raw or SmackDown, so for top superstars to go public over being miffed about being left out of major events, it indicates at least a mild problem brewing. Whether the anger will hold or fade is another question entirely, but it should be interesting to observe as the weeks go on. 

Monday Night Raw airs on the USA Network on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET, and fans can catch SmackDown on Fox on Fridays at the same time. SummerSlam is over and done with, but those with a Peacock Premium subscription can watch it right now. 

I am an utterly shameless Damian Priest fan. He’s my favorite part of Judgment Day, and Judgment Day is one of my favorite things going in WWE. I was writing articles all the way back in March about how WWE could turn them into the next main event stable, and spoiler alert: we’ve gotten there. They run Monday Night Raw, and despite Finn Bálor infuriatingly being the only member on the SummerSlam card, it’s pretty obvious WWE sees them as feature attractions.

So, you’d think, based on all that, I’d be pushing for Damian Priest to cash-in his Money In The Bank contract and win The World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam, but I actually hope he does not. I think pulling the trigger this quickly would be a huge mistake. I’m all for him being on the show and teasing the big moment, but a full-on cash-in would be a mistake. Let’s talk about why…

#1) There’s More Story Options With The Briefcase Than Without

The Money In The Bank briefcase is, at its most basic level, a storytelling device. It adds uncertainty and tension into any situation and raises the potential stakes. So far, in the last month, WWE has used the briefcase to seemingly cost Finn Bálor his MITB match against Seth Rollins and to build tension within Judgment Day. They’ve also teased a possible cash-in on multiple episodes of Raw, and now, the briefcase is lingering over this Finn and Seth rematch like an approaching storm cloud. 

I’m not saying I want Damian Priest to hold onto this thing for six months, but wielding it bestows a gravitas and sense of importance on whoever has it. Right now, it’s helping Damian Priest look more and more like a future main event guy by the week, and even if he successfully cashes-in and wins The World Heavyweight Championship, he would still lose that element of chaos that’s making him so fascinating right now. 

I don’t know what’s going to happen with any of this. I don’t know if Priest is going to cash-in on Rollins or cash-in on Bálor. I don’t know if this is going to lead to Judgment Day breaking up or getting stronger. I don’t know if he’s going to succeed or fail when he tries. Right now, there’s a bunch of fun possibilities, and even if his eventual cash-in is handled perfectly, that sense of uncertainty will be gone. Let’s hold onto it for at least another month or two!

#2) SummerSlam Should Be Finn Bálor’s Moment

Damian Priest might be my favorite member of Judgment Day, but I really love everyone else too. I’m convinced Rhea Ripley will ultimately go down as the greatest women’s wrestler in history. Dominik Mysterio has somehow gone from the overwhelmed and boring tag pattern of his father to one of the best heels on the entire roster, and Finn Bálor has reignited his career in his new role. I want big, breakout moments for all of them, and the story is there to make this Finn’s moment.

Seven years ago, Finn Bálor beat Seth Rollins for the inaugural Universal Championship, but an injury suffered during the match forced him to relinquish his title. To be honest, it’s been a great many years since the Irishman has felt like a real world title threat, but he’s really found a new direction and a purpose within Judgment Day. His promos have been some of the best of his career, and he still remains one of the most talented in-ring guys WWE has. He’s bought in, put in the work and I’d love to see him rewarded with another reign with a major belt. A Priest cash-in at Judgment Day would almost certainly prevent that from happening.

#3) I Don’t Want Judgment Day To Break Up

There comes a time when every stable should break-up. That’s what we’re seeing right now with The Bloodline, but in my opinion, we’re nowhere close to that with Judgment Day. Despite a somewhat bumpy start, they’re the hottest thing on Raw right now, and while a feud between its members would be a really hot storyline, I think it’s way too early for that. I want to keep rising for them!

Triple H, Bruce Prichard and the other writers have given us repeated doses of tension between the members over the last month, specifically between Priest and Bálor. At Money In The Bank, the former seemingly cost the latter a world title when it looked like he was going to cash-in. I’m not sure their relationship could survive another moment like that. I’m not sure Finn could co-exist with Damian if he thought he cost him another match. I certainly don’t think they could co-exist if Priest straight up cashed-in on Bálor. So, I’d much rather we see them work together, which would mean the briefcase doesn’t get used until a future WWE premium live event.

You can stream SummerSlam free with a Peacock subscription on Saturday August 5th. You can also check out my full SummerSlam predictions here. 

SummerSlam is nearly here, but there's no denying the vibe feels a bit different than it has in years past. That's thanks in part to a few key omissions of superstars and scratches of matches previously the card, which mean we won't see Rhea Ripley, Becky Lynch, and a handful of other big names on one of the year's biggest shows. Ripley and Lynch are understandably pretty upset about being left out of the fun of the upcoming WWE event, and they're airing out their frustrations on social media. 

Women's Heavyweight Champion Rhea Ripley will not compete at SummerSlam, even though it appears she was at one point set for a bout. Ripley was featured on the poster promoting SummerSlam and even previewed a future live makeup session with InStyle  to create her look for the big night. Ripley promoted the article and event, perhaps to throw some sass at the WWE for removing her from SummerSlam while keeping the promotional art up: 

It's looking like the WWE still plans to have Rhea Ripley take part in the live makeup session ahead of SummerSlam, even if she won't be defending her title against anyone. Ripley kept the reactions rolling with a gif from American Horror Story: Hotel of Sarah Paulson's Hypodermic Sally failing at lipstick, though looking about as fearsome as Ripley does in the ring. Is this a statement or just a joke?

As mentioned, Rhea Ripley isn't the only person potentially mad about not being on the card for SummerSlam. Becky Lynch shared something similar on Instagram, as she had a gallery of photos next to cars that will probably not be used. Meanwhile, Hall of Famer and legend Trish Stratus shared a photo of her and Becky fighting, along with the following caption: 

It's entirely possible that Trish Stratus was in character and talking about how she was tired of being attacked by Becky Lynch. At the same time, it does feel like a sneaky way of voicing displeasure for the fact that their match was moved until after SummerSlam when it was originally promoted for the match card. Instead, the two will have their months-long feud seemingly conclude on an episode of Monday Night Raw on August 14th.

The WWE removed and shifted a few key matchups that were already planned or might've been added to SummerSlam and added a previously unannounced battle royal match sponsored by Slim Jim. F4Wonline.com reports it's the start of a major partnership between the WWE and the meat stick brand, which will also be promoting Survivor Series, the Royal Rumble, and WrestleMania 40. The company hailed it as the largest sponsorship deal in WWE history, though a dollar amount was not disclosed. 

While sponsorship money is good for the WWE and probably good for the main roster at large, it's understandable if there are hurt feelings by superstars who expected a chance to compete on one of the biggest nights of pro wrestling. This is especially true if you're someone like Rhea Ripley or Becky Lynch, who is usually a mainstay on any major event unless they're out with an injury. Hopefully, SummerSlam will be the last time in a while that either is left out of a big event for a long time. 

Those with a Peacock Premium subscription will be able to stream SummerSlam on Saturday, August 5th, beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. Here's hoping that the show lives up to the reputation set by previous years and that leaving off some key superstars was a wise decision.