Wrestlemania 40 – Predictions
It’s that time of the year again. The weekend on the calendar that every professional wrestling fan looks forward to, unless you’re one of those weird tribalistic fans who cares more about the name of the company than the product and performers involved. Of course, I am talking about the biggest and most historic annual WWE Premium Live Event spectacle which is WrestleMania! This weekend in Philadelphia, over 60 thousand fans will fill the seats of Lincoln Field, AKA The Linc, on both Saturday AND Sunday. It will be the kind of amazing visual that makes the whole event feel larger than life and I for one cannot wait for Dave “The Tuna” Meltzer to say he talked to a guy at concessions who only counted 300 people in the building.
Whether it be revenue, TV rights deals, attendance, or just the quality of the product, any way you measure it, WWE is the hottest it’s been in years. They are selling out building after building, setting live gate records, and have Netflix shelling out every dollar they saved by not letting you share your password with your grandma in Iowa to put Monday Night Raw on their streaming service. It’s rather serendipitous how we head into the 40th anniversary of Mania as the company continues to have the fresh feeling that it’s turned the page into a new era in its long and storied tenure. We’ve seen changes in presentation, the wrestlers appear to have more freedom on screen, and the commentators aren’t forced to repeat a robotic vernacular. Look no further than the story headlining this year’s WrestleMania as an example of the company’s evolution (which is a mystery by the way). WWE actually pivoted to give the fans what they want. Who would’ve thought that not force-feeding your paying audience something they don’t like would be a net positive?
We’ve waited all year, in some cases multiple years, to see how a multitude of intertwining stories will finally be resolved on the grandest stage of them all and that wait is almost over. Those stories have come together to fill out a two-night card with a total of 13 matches set to take place. Titles will be on the line and grudges will be settled. However, the most anticipated rivalry that will culminate is the war of pro wrestling predictions that Adam and Myself have waged here on Talent Alone over this past year of the WrestleMania calendar. Our last set of predictions dropped roughly a month ago for AEW’s Revolution PPV. I was desperate to make up ground and it once again blew up in my face. Adam won the night 6-4 as I fell deeper behind in this competition 74-64. Can I pull off the comeback? Probably not, but in an act of good sportsmanship/sympathy Adam has offered to go first in predicting all the Mania matches to allow me more opportunities to counter. Without further adieu let’s get to the finale of this competition and make predictions for the 40th installment of The Showcase of Immortals.
Wrestlemania 40 - Night One
Women’s World Championship:
Rhea Ripley (c) vs Becky Lynch
ADAM: This is one of the like 11 matches you could honestly tell me was the best match on the card and I would believe you. Unfortunately for Rhea and Becky, the conversation around this match has fallen behind the pace of the Bloodline story and it hasn’t gotten its due but they have been cooking on the mic during this feud. As much as Becky was the peak for hype in the Later-McMahon Era but no one puts Mami in the corner.
RHEA RIPLEY
MIKE: A year later and I still maintain my opinion that Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley was the best match at WrestleMania 39. That doesn’t have anything to do with this match, I just feel the need to mention it whenever I can.
Basic math shows I need to counter a lot of Adams’ picks to pull off an immaculate comeback, but I just can’t do it here. Becky is Becky. Win or lose her stock won’t change. Meanwhile, Rhea Ripley is a massively hot act for the company. Keep feeding that fire baby and don’t forget, Mami’s always on top.
RHEA RIPLEY
Intercontinental Championship:
Gunther (c) vs Sami Zayn
ADAM: Gunther now holds the record for longest reign and most cumulative days as champion for the Intercontinental Championship. That would normally lead me to say that it’s time for a change and that the belt won’t stay strong on Gunther forever and that it’s time to move Gunther up to the Main Event BUT it feels like there’s nothing to be gained by moving the belt to Zayn now. His time for a big push was last year at Elimination Chamber and they didn’t pull the trigger.
GUNTHER
MIKE: Oh Adam, how quick you are to forget history. Just last year at WrestleMania 39 Sami Zayn ended the 316-day reign off the Usos as Tag Team Champs. This time he will accomplish a feat 210.7% more impressive when he ends Gunther’s title reign that will sit at 666 days when this match takes place.
SAMI ZAYN
WWE Tag Team Championship Six Pack Ladder Match:
Judgement Day (c) vs #DIY vs The Awesome Truth vs The New Day vs A-Town Down Under vs New Catch Republic
ADAM: Don’t start to believe, don’t start to believe, don’t start to believe, don’t st-
#DIY
The other belts will probably go to someone Awesome *eyeball emoji*
A-TOWN DOWN UNDER
MIKE: Remember Hell in a Cell 2011. Awesome Truth snuck in after the main event, locked the Cell and beat the shit out of John Cena, CM Punk, and Alberto Del Rio. The cops came to the ring and arrested the duo. Made them look like a pretty legit and dangerous heel team. Until Triple H ran down the ramp and beat the shit out of Miz and Truth while they were handcuffed. It was a pretty cool five minute apex mountain for the team. Maybe Triple H makes good and lets them win the Raw belts here.
AWESOME TRUTH
As for the Smackdown belts, Waller and Theory are two young heels on the rise that the company has future plans for. They’re also in the running for the label of the most f*ck boy looking tag team in history.
A-TOWN DOWN UNDER
ADAM: Quick side note, Who the Fuck is Joey Swoll?
MIKE: I believe it’s a super jacked baby kangaroo.
Jey Uso vs Jimmy Uso
ADAM: Jimmy vs Jey has the potential to be the best brother vs brother match since Bragging Rights in 2010. This is the first branch to fall in the Bloodline story and I feel like the result will be telling for the matches to come. Main Event Jey seems like the favorite but I think WWE is carefully placing dominos to fall in Bloodline Rules Match on Nigh 2 and a Jey win would be like when I used to come in and kick over my dad’s dominos until one day he told my mom he couldn’t take it anymore and left forever.
JIMMY USO
MIKE: It’s nice when a pro-wrestling company doesn’t treat their audience like idiots with the attention span of a coked up golden retriever. It allows them to book a feud where the wrestlers go their separate ways without the score truly being settled, only for their paths to cross again and the story to reach its conclusion. This match will be part one of a three-act fall of The Bloodline.
JEY USO
Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill & Naomi vs Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai, Asuka, & Kairi Sane)
ADAM: WWE goes deep in their classic bag of tricks with this match, by which I mean they put all the black wrestlers onto a team together. Damage CTRL is still stuck in the Bayley vs Everyone turmoil and I feel like a combination of that story and this match just exists so the Ghost of Vince McMahon could yell “Look at her” about Jade leads me to an obvious conclusion.
BIANCA BELAIR, JADE CARGILL & NAOMI
MIKE: I know this is Jade Cargill’s first non-royal rumble match, so going with a six-man is a safe move, but can we just fast-forward to Belair vs Cargill? Another idea would be to scrap the six-man tag and just have Bianca and Jade do squats with members of Damage CTRL on their back until someone gives up. Naomi can be the ref.
BIANCA BELAIR, JADE CARGILL, & NAOMI
Latino World Order( Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee) vs Santo Escober & “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio
ADAM: Rey vs Dom has the potential to be the best father vs son match since Wrestlemania 17. Doesn’t it feel like we already completed this whole story a while ago? Like maybe a year ago at Wrestlemania? Well I, like the rest of the WWE Universe am excited to #FinishTheStory
SANTO ESCOBER & “DIRTY” DOMINIK MYSTERIO
MIKE: This match could lead to the birth of the greatest WrestleMania streak since The Undertakers if Rey goes 2-0 against his son.
LWO
The Bloodline (The Rock & Roman Reigns) vs Cody Rhodes & Seth “Freaking” Rollins
ADAM: I know at this point, you dear reader, are confident I already knew the results ahead of time because I’m batting like Wade Fucking Boggs on this Mania card, but, dear reader, I am not sure what the results will be for this match. My first thought is that if Cody will win night two, shouldn’t he lose night one? BUT thats what HHH and the Cabal of Super Geniuses running TKO want me to think so OBVIOUSLY Cody will win here to make us think he’ll lose on night 2 only for him to win on night 2 hitting us with the Vince Russo. BUT OH HO HO not so fast. What if Cody loses night 1 only for him to also lose night 2, thus leaving back to back ‘Manias in shame and being forced to start a new wrestling company just to force his way back into the title picture?
THE BLOODLINE
MIKE: As I quickly mentioned earlier, I think a big story over these two nights will be a Roman Empire-esque fall of The Bloodline. That will continue during the conclusion of night one. With Jimmy already defeated by Jey earlier in the night and the Cody rematch a mere 24 hours away, Reigns will begin to feel the pressure. In an act of cowardice and self-preservation, he will abandon The Rock, leaving The Final Boss to fend for himself in the late stages of this match. Rocky will then be subjected to an unnecessary amount of Stomps and Cross Rhodes, before being pinned by Cody. This allows WWE to get back their original plan and eventually have the big Rock vs Roman match at a later time to determine the true head of the table.
CODY RHODES AND SETH ROLLINS
Wrestlemania 40 - Night Two
World Heavyweight Championship:
Seth “Freakin” Rollins (c) vs Drew McIntyre (w/ CM Punk on commentary)
Bonus Point: Will Damian Priest Cash in?
ADAM: Remember when these guys did like a three-way promo battle to announce that CM Punk would be on commentary? Like what is the real-life version of that? An in-person meeting at work for 30 minutes to explain that there will be a new Slack Channel for questions about catering? I feel like the story coming in here is really focused on how distracted Seth is over the Cody story and that should give an opening for Drew to become a first-time world champion. Wait, I’m being told he was previously a world champion for almost a year? I refuse to believe that happened.
DREW McINTYRE
MIKE: Drew’s continued needling of CM Punk has been great and is a great example of how you can keep a feud going in the background until it’s able to happen.
— Drew (@DMcIntyreWWE) January 30, 2024
McIntyre also acting upset that Rollins is wrestling night one and won’t be a hundred percent for this match fits his character so well. It plays into the story of him getting lucky with interference on his path to this match. His heel logic has been heavily centered on him feeling he’s been screwed over in the past and he plans on finally winning the belt with fans in attendance. He’ll do just that here…until he gets screwed over once again. After the match CM Punk, AKA THE BEST IN THE WORLD, is going to lay that Scottish jabroni out with a GTS. Enter Damian Priest, who cashes in his money in the bank contract to leave WrestleMania as World Champ.
DREW McINTYRE (MITB CASH IN: YES)
ADAM: Wait does this mean I get a free point if there isn’t a cash in here? Deal.
MITB CASH IN: NO
WWE Women’s Championship:
Iyo Sky (c) vs Bayley
ADAM: Okay I’m trying to keep track of my heel-to-face ratio of picks for ‘Mania but I feel like that can’t actually inform me as well as I would like to believe. Bayley vs Damage CTRL is the second-best story in the women’s division but this match does have a small chance to completely steal the show. I’m tentative about taking a baby face to take the belt on the night of the Bloodline match but sometimes I feel a way about things and I just gotta stick it out you know?
BAYLEY
MIKE: Let’s drag this out a little longer until Bayley eventually gets some real backup to deal with the numbers disadvantage. Maybe a returning Mercedes Mone after she gets fired from AEW for punching Jack Perry. Allegedly.
IYO SKY
LA Knight vs AJ Styles
ADAM: Is it weird that I’m hoping this is just a shot-for-shot remake of the Boneyard Match from Wrestlemania 36? LA Knight kind of getting re-market corrected by the Rock returning to WWE Television is tough but I believe in the kid, he’s on the way up in this industry and he has plenty of time to break out. *PA Runs in from off stage and hands over a slip of paper* my apologies I am now being told that LA Knight is 41 years old. Well hey at least we all got to say “Yeah” for 4 months, that was a lot of fun.
LA KNIGHT
MIKE: Speaking of wrestlers’ ages, AJ Styles is 46 and still competing at a high level. However, if Styles really wanted to be an inspiration to middle-aged dads everywhere, he would stop being a coward and bust out a spiral tap for old-time’s sake. If WWE still has any main event plans for LA Knight, a WrestleMania win over a former World Champ would be a smart move. Looking ahead though, The Phenomenal One would be a good heel challenger to a newly crowned babyface Universal Champ.
AJ STYLES
United States Championship:
Logan Paul (c) vs Randy Orton vs Kevin Owens
ADAM: I would love to have some deep analysis of storylines and potential for a missued title on the right waist (see: Gunther) but Logan Paul’s canned indigestion drink just signed a “record-breaking” deal with WWE to plaster his ugly ass can on WWE Rings for generations to come.
LOGAN PAUL
MIKE: Part of what makes Logan Paul a good asset is he can get his comeuppance and take the L without losing any of his star power. My biggest wish in this match is a spot where Paul takes alternating Stunners and RKOs from the two babyface competitors. A total of at least six is preferable. Owens’ history with Paul goes back further than Orton and Randy is a legacy star that doesn’t really need a belt.
KEVIN OWENS
Philadelphia Street Fight:
The Pride (Bobby Lashley, Angelo Dawkins, & Montez Ford) vs The Final Testament (Karrion Kross, Akam, & Rezar)
ADAM: Hey, y’all remember 7 blurbs ago when I made the joke about WWE sticking all the black wrestlers together? The Hurt Business The Pride has some opportunity to be fun and I’ll be as dead in the ground as AJ Styles post Wrestlemania 36 before I’ll pick the NXT Rejects to win a Wrestlemania match.
THE PRIDE
MIKE: I like that WWE brought back the former Authors of Pain, Akam and Rezar. They work great as a big monster tag team, and having Paul Ellering as their manager always worked so well. Unfortunately, they paired them up with Karrion Kross. Ellering mostly just walks around silently with his two behemoths giving everybody death stares, and yet he still is way more interesting than Kross. I mean no offense to the man, I’m sure he’s a nice guy and luckily for him Triple H seems determined to find a way to make him work. Is this the time when things finally click for Kross in WWE? I’m not optimistic, but if they intend to give it a fair shake he and his squad need to get the win here.
THE FINAL TESTAMENT
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship:
Roman Reigns (c) vs Cody Rhodes
ADAM: I was a loud defender of Roman going over at Wrestlemania 39 and I stand by that analysis. The Bloodline story got a bit lost at the start of the Wrestling Calendar year but the Rock/Cody debut flip turn has added a huge burst of energy to this story that can carry it through and past this finish line. We still have a lot of unresolved elements for this storyline and I think it’s time to move the title onto Cody, but…. BUT, wouldn’t it be kind of sick if they didn’t give it to Cody again? Wouldn’t it be kind of crazy to see about stretching this chase for every cent you can pull out of it? I’m starting to talk myself into it. Let’s finish the story, but maybe at Summerslam.
ROMAN REIGNS
MIKE: Few things in 2023 were more entertaining than watching the wrestling community melt down after Cody lost last year. If Adams’ pick is right, it will be an amazing troll by Triple H and I will enjoy every second of the reaction to it.
However, this will indeed be the final act in the Bloodline’s demise as Roman Reigns finally falls. With no help from his family, the Tribal Chief will be left all alone on his Island of Relevancy. There will be no one by his side besides The Wiseman Paul Heyman, who will be forced to helplessly watch as the legendary run of Roman Reigns that he helped build comes to an end.
Over the course of two nights, Cody Rhodes will have pinned a legend in The Rock and ended arguably the greatest world title run in history. Story finished.
CODY RHODES
ADAM: Mike, we have disagreed on 10 results and a MITB Cash In. You need to go an unprecedented 11-0 in those decisions to win the title of Most Wrestling Knowing. How do you feel about your odds?
MIKE: As legendary hockey coach Kurt Russell told the 1980 US Olympic team, “Great moments are born from great opportunity.” That’s what I have here this weekend. I’m sick and tired of hearing about how good Adam Gorbachev is at making pro wrestling predictions. I’m going to pull off this comeback victory for Al Michaels and all of America.
