Early WWE WrestleMania 40 Match Card Picks Including Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes
WrestleMania 40 is less than a month away and WWE is red-hot, with stories fans are invested in and characters they genuinely care about.
Business is booming, arenas are sold out for televised and untelevised live events, and some have labeled this the "Renaissance Era" of the company.
All of that makes the results of the April 6-7 show at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia that much more important.
From championship encounters to the highest-stakes tag team match in WWE history, the card is already stacked, with plenty more bouts yet to be announced.
Ahead of the biggest show of the year, and maybe the most significant the company has produced since 2001, enjoy these early predictions for those contests already made official.
Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins vs. The Rock and Roman Reigns
1 of 5Night 1 of WrestleMania will be headlined by the highest-stakes tag team match in the history of the event when Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes battle The Rock and Roman Reigns.
A win for Rhodes and the world heavyweight champion means no Bloodline involvement in the main event of Night 2. But a loss means it's Bloodline Rules on April 7, with the expectation being that The American Nightmare will be unable to wrest the title away from The Tribal Chief in their one-on-one showdown.
The match is, arguably, the biggest and hottest on this year's card, with multiple storyline layers. Will The Rock betray Reigns and prove he was working with Rhodes the entire time? Will a loss drive a wedge in The Bloodline and set up a battle for supremacy within the family?
Could we see Rollins turn on Rhodes, reigniting a rivalry between the two of them with implications that reach far beyond WrestleMania?
Each of those three scenarios is plausible based on the story that has been laid out before us, but the most likely is the first chapter of the unraveling of The Bloodline, with Rhodes and Rollins scoring the win and ensuring no nonsense in Sunday's main event.
Prediction: Rhodes and Rollins conquer The Rock and Reigns
WWE Women's Championship: Bayley vs. Iyo Sky
2 of 5Bayley achieved a career milestone in January by winning the women's Royal Rumble, only to be betrayed by her Damage CTRL teammates and left adrift entering WrestleMania 40.
Sure, she sniffed out the deceit of WWE women's champion Iyo Sky and WWE women's tag team champions Asuka and Kairi Sane, but it was the backstabbing dealt by Dakota Kai that most affected her.
Now vowing to tear down the same Damage CTRL she created by taking the title from Sky at 'Mania, Bayley has a chance to exact revenge on the grandest stage and add to what is already a Hall of Fame resume.
Of the two women's title matches slated for the show, this feels like the one most likely to see a championship change hands, with Bayley getting the WrestleMania moment that has strangely eluded her to this point.
Where the story goes from there, and if she ends up taking out the rest of the team before a showdown with Kai, remains to be seen.
Prediction: Bayley wins the WWE Women's Championship
Women's World Championship: Becky Lynch vs. Rhea Ripley
3 of 5When a performer is red-hot and turning in their best performances to date, you do not mess with them.
Such is the case ahead of WrestleMania 40, where Rhea Ripley enters the show on the heels of an Elimination Chamber premium live event in Australia where she was the focal point as the hometown hero whose shoulder bore the weight of the entire broadcast.
She rose to the occasion and delivered a career-defining performance that sent the fans home happy.
A year ago on the WrestleMania stage, she did the same. Faced with matching Charlotte Flair's skill, aggression and intensity, she bested The Queen and won championship gold for the second time at the event.
This year in Philadelphia, she defends against Becky Lynch, who has not held a singles main roster title since dropping the Raw Women's Championship to Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 38.
She enters the match driven to prove she is still the best in the women's division, capable of beating anyone and reminding the world why she is The Man. She also has an autobiography coming out that WWE would likely want to promote, and there are few better ways to do that than by strapping the women's title to her.
Still, Ripley is the face of women's wrestling now and for years to come.
Unless the plan is for such a defeat to necessitate the end of her days with The Judgment Day, she should retain and put Lynch on a path of uncertainty as she further questions whether she can beat the best.
Prediction: Ripley retains the title
World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre
4 of 5Rollins may score one monumental victory at WrestleMania, but he won't reach No. 2.
Drew McIntyre is the best heel in the business right now, a villain who justifies his actions based on the perceived injustices he has experienced in recent years.
The Scot is also an expert troll, keeping his feud with the injured CM Punk alive on social media and television, while not hesitating to target anyone else in his way.
This McIntyre is the version we have waited years for, and the idea of letting up on the gas and not completing the push with the title victory in front of a live audience that he has deserved since 2020 would be a mistake.
Rollins has been a great champion in the vein of Bret Hart; a workhorse who has delivered against an array of opponents every time. He will have his chance again, especially considering his placement on the shows and the trust management has in him.
However, this is McIntyre's moment and championship win.
Prediction: McIntyre wins gold for the second time on the WrestleMania stage
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns
5 of 5A year ago, the internet exploded as a defeated and broken Cody Rhodes sat in the center of the ring as Roman Reigns raised his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship high overhead to close out WrestleMania 39.
It was a creative decision that disappointed many and left others wondering what the endgame was.
When Rhodes won the 2024 men's Royal Rumble, it became clear: The American Nightmare had to work his way back to the title. The fans were all too eager to join him on that journey, supporting him as he battled the likes of Brock Lesnar, The Judgment Day and Shinsuke Nakamura on his way back to the top.
Sure, there was the major hiccup known as The Rock that threw a wrench into plans, but a stirring #WeWantCody movement ensured the fans would get that rematch between him and The Tribal Chief on the grand stage.
Assuming the earlier predicted outcome proves correct, with Rollins and Rhodes defeating Reigns and Rock on Night 1 of the show, it sets up The American Nightmare to prove Reigns is a mere mortal without The Bloodline behind him.
It also sets the wheels in motion for Rock to question whether the man he acknowledged as The Tribal Chief is just that, or if he needs to step in and represent the family.
More importantly, it allows the biggest babyface in WWE to finish his story and enjoy the show-closing WrestleMania moment he should have had a year ago.
Prediction: Rhodes wins the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship (and hopefully renames it the WWE Championship)
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