WRESTLEMANIA 37. WHERE LEGENDS ARE MADE. What a great tagline. And what a great few nights we have lined up for the first WWE event in front of fans in over a year. It’s going to be an electric atmosphere in Tampa for this year’s Wrestlemania and we’ve got a great card on tap as well. You know the E is going to want to go all out for their first big show in front of fans, so Jake and Ty B have got you covered on our predictions for the whole show. Let’s start with night one.
WWE Championship match: Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Drew McIntyre.
Jake: Legitimately this is the most interesting match to me on the card because I could see them going either way with this, but whichever way they decide to go they need to commit to building that man up as an unstoppable force on Monday Night Raw. Here’s the thing, Drew deserves his Wrestlemania moment.
Yes, he was crowned champion last year at the end of Mania, but he never got the full crowd reaction to winning the title that he truly deserved. And after that, he held down Raw and was honestly, one of the only real bright spots in WWE during the early pandemic days when they were still figuring out how to present the show. Drew was there every night and he was compelling and sold his dominance really well.
On the other side, there’s an argument to be made that the Hurt Business held down Raw all the same. However, after their “breakup” it’s clear that WWE wants Drew to get the cheers and Bobby to get the boos in front of the live crowd. Give me the coronation of Drew.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
Ty: With the disbandment of The Hurt Business, it leaves a glaring hole in a big Lashley push. He could dominate Raw on his own, but the man cannot cut a promo without MVP(who for my money, is the best thing Lashley has going for him). Drew has been an incredible asset to the WWE throughout the pandemic and it feels like he’s due for a reward. Drew gets his title back and gets his Wrestlemania moment!
Winner: Drew McIntyre
Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro
Ty: This has been a fun, random storyline for me. And Seth Rollins going full “Karen” regarding spinning people around is just a great juxtaposition to his “Monday Night Messiah” persona. We might see Cesaro spin Rollins so many times that they take flight a la the Wright Brothers. Cesaro gets the W in this one.
Winner: Cesaro
Jake: The workrate match. This is gonna be a BANGER. I’m with you Ty, how many times can Cesaro spin Rollins? 25? 30? 100? 200? I’m open to any numbers. If we had a Trainwreck Sportsbook, I’d bet the over. And bet on Cesaro going over. No matter what, this match will be incredible.
Winner: Cesaro
Steel Cage match: Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon
Ty: Wow, another Shane McMahon storyline out of nowhere before Wrestlemania… *yawn* Strowman because there’s no need for Shane to stick around consistently with the amount of talent within the WWE ranks.
Winner: Braun
Jake: Yawn is right. I hope Braun just lawn darts Shane McMahon into the steel cage and off of WWE TV forever.
Winner: Braun, I guess
Bad Bunny and Damian Priest vs. The Miz and John Morrison
Ty: Pour one out for Bad Bunny’s Maserati! This storyline has built well off The Miz’s short title reign and subsequent Lashley beatdowns. HHH was very complimentary of Bad Bunny’s work ethic at the Performance Center on Pardon My Take, so I expect to see what he learned put to work. No more gimmicky guitar breaks… time to wrasssle! Bad Bunny and Damian Priest win this one as Priest gets a great boost going forward for some sort of title push.
Winner: Bad Bunny and Damian Priest
Jake: This might be my favorite build to a celebrity pay-per-view match… ever? Bad Bunny has committed heavily to putting on a great program and there is no one better for him to line up across from than The Miz. But this is really a vehicle for Damian Priest’s star moment. This guy might be the first challenger to the winner of the WWE Title match. Legit. He could get pushed TO THE MOON (s/o Tagecoin). I hope we see a Bad Bunny 450 splash and Damian Priest beating the living hell out of Miz and Morrison.
Winner: Bad Bunny and Damian Priest
Raw Tag Team Championship match: The New Day (c) vs. AJ Styles and Omos.
Jake: My biggest out there prediction of Mania? Omos turns on AJ Styles and joins the New Day. Now, I know they’ve explained it, but Omos being AJ’s muscle just has never sat right with me since AJ is at his best when he’s out-working everyone as a tweener (basically what AEW is trying to portray Christian as).
So, maybe he’s tired of cleaning up AJ’s mess and the New Day will help prop him up as the guy they throw their support behind while Big E keeps running the mid-card on Smackdown. That’s the theory. To be fair though, I think it has like a 10% chance of happening but we’ll see.
Most likely though? The giant Omos DESTROYS the New Day in a dominant debut and basically runs the Tag Team division on his own while AJ becomes a Triple Crown in WWE and racks up some more gold.
Winner: Omos and AJ Styles
Ty: I’m excited to finally see what Omos can do inside the ring. The glimpses we’ve seen have mostly been of his strength, but we’ll finally get to see his skills on full display. Squaring Omos off with New Day for his debut makes a ton of sense as Woods and Kingston are phenomenal performers. I think Omos and Styles get the win for a short reign as I see Styles accidentally hitting Omos in the near future.
Winner: Omos and AJ Styles
Tag Team Turmoil match: Lana and Naomi vs. Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose vs. The Riott Squad vs. Natalya and Tamina.
Jake: To be honest, this match doesn’t do much for me, other than to get more women on the Mania card. They didn’t ever really commit to a build for one of these teams to face Nia and Shayna. It shows with this match.
Give me Lana and Naomi, with a chance to complete the Lana redemption story on night two. Maybe even give her some WWE gold after they basically used her as a punching bag for a better part of the last year.
Winner: Lana and Naomi
Ty: Picking a winner in this feels like throwing a dart at a board(shoutout MereKat). Gonna go with who I’d like to see most for a match on Night 2 and that’s Mandy & Dana
Winner: Mandy and Dana
SmackDown Women’s Championship match: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Bianca Belair.
Jake: The main event of Night One and the match of the weekend for me. Star Power out the wazoo with these two women. I didn’t really vibe with the build to this match, but I think that can be the issue with some Rumble builds. Sometimes knowing the matchup that far in advance causes stale storytelling to keep the matchup interesting.
But it’s more what these women were working with story-wise than what they can do to build a story themselves. Because in their roles, they have excelled. And I’m sure that the video package will change my mind about this too once we get to this match tomorrow night. The video packages for Mania are always FIRE. Anyways, this match has the potential to be the match of the weekend, and one of the best women’s matches in WWE history.
These two women are the most electric superstars on the roster outside of Becky Lynch. Sasha is incredible in everything she does, and has done an amazing job of building up Bianca as an incredible challenger. But Bianca is also thriving, and letting everyone know the EST that runs this ish. It’s about time to push Belair to the moon and there’s no better way to do so than having a banger with Sasha.
Give me a long-term feud with a payoff in a ladder match at MITB in a few months with Sasha chasing. And maybe a certain other women’s superstar.
This post suggests we might see a certain former Women’s champion get involved during or after this one is concluded.
Winner: Bianca Belair
Ty: I’m very conflicted on who to pick in this one. Bianca is extraordinary and continues to grow into a superstar. Sasha is at the top of the mountain and could stay there until Ronda Rousey or Becky Lynch return. I
I’m gonna go with Bianca however as it opens up the possibility for a ton of subplots within the top of the women’s division with the returns looming. Bianca’s been the highlight of Smackdown lately and deserves to get that moment with fans finally back. I think Sasha gets the belt back quickly, but Bianca gets her Wrestlemania Moment.
Winner: Bianca Belair
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