10 Predictions for WWE WrestleMania 2022 and Updated Match Card

WWE will roll into Dallas on April 2 and 3 for WrestleMania 38 with a stacked card featuring stars of both the sports and entertainment worlds that's headlined by a winner-takes-all match between WWE champion Brock Lesnar and universal champion Roman Reigns.

That colossal clash is set to conclude a two-night extravaganza also featuring Charlotte Flair defending her SmackDown Women's Championship against Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair settling their differences over the Raw women's title and a dream match between Edge and AJ Styles.

What can fans expect from the loaded card, though?

Find out with these 10 predictions for what should be a blockbuster event.

Match Card

WrestleMania Saturday

SmackDown Women's Championship match: Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair

Raw Women's Championship match: Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch

AJ Styles vs. Edge

The KO Show with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

Rey and Dominik Mysterio vs. The Miz and Logan Paul

Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin

WrestleMania Sunday

Championship unification match: WWE champion Brock Lesnar vs. Universal champion Roman Reigns

Women's Tag Team Championship match: Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley vs. Naomi and Sasha Banks vs. Queen Zelina and Carmella

Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn

Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory

A Triumphant Tribal Chief

There is the potential for Brock Lesnar to leave Dallas with the Universal and WWE Championships, paying off an improbably awesome babyface turn that has seen him connect with audiences more than he ever did as the silent destroyer he portrayed in the decade following his return to the squared circle, but this still feels like yet another coronation for Reigns.

The Tribal Chief has been the most critically acclaimed element of WWE programming since his heel turn in August 2020, and rightfully so. He has been phenomenal, embracing his role as the lead villain in WWE, and everything he has been involved in has been elevated as a result—including this feud with Lesnar.

Expect a much better showing from The Beast and The Head of the Table than their previous two WrestleMania main events, with Reigns overcoming an unpleasant trip to Suplex City and surviving an F-5 or two to retain his title, capture the Raw brand's top prize and stand atop the WWE mountain in way he was meant to seven years earlier.

Better-Than-Expected Celebrity Performances

If you paid any attention to Pat McAfee's performances in NXT, particularly against Adam Cole and inside War Games, you know to expect a balls-to-the-wall showing from the former Indianapolis Colts punter.

Johnny Knoxville is a master showman who has ingratiated himself with the WWE Universe, and as a result, he has been accepted in ways other celebrities have not. His willingness to take big bumps and never show up the wrestlers helps and should lend itself to a fun David vs. Goliath match.

The key will be Logan Paul's involvement in his match with The Miz against Rey and Dominik Mysterio.

He is an athlete, sure, but the negativity directed at him by the fanbase will force him into an uphill battle. If he can tune out the haters and the match is more than just a couple of minutes long in order to highlight Rey and hype the promotion's new video game, Paul will have the opportunity to hold up his end of the bargain.

This show represents a concentrated effort by WWE to bring in stars who can influence shows with their personalities but also perform up to the physical expectations of the role. Do not be surprised to see all three in question deliver inspiring performances that leave even the harshest of critics impressed.

The Most Physical Stone Cold Since 2003

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin retired following an epic encounter with The Rock at WrestleMania XIX. He has been physical since then, dropping McMahons and Eric Bischoff with Stone Cold Stunners, but he has never tested his body beyond that much at all.

That will change when he appears as a guest on The KO Show.

Austin has already promised to bring a can of whoop-ass with him to Dallas, and the intensity in the promo he cut on Owens suggests this will not be a run-of-the-mill segment wherein he drops the bad guy with a Stunner and drinks some beer.

He is prepared to fight and will.

The only question, then, is whether this serves as a test run to see whether his body can withstand the physicality for an actual match in the near future—perhaps in 2023 at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles.

Ronda Rousey's and Charlotte Flair's Match of the Year Candidate

One of the lowest-key WrestleMania main events in recent memory, the Charlotte Flair-Ronda Rousey match for the SmackDown Women's Championship, finally saw some escalation Friday night on SmackDown. Still, it lacks a considerable amount of buzz as the biggest event of the year draws near.

That will not affect the match itself.

Rousey and Flair will enter AT&T Stadium prepared to deliver a bout befitting their spot on the card.

Flair has a long history of getting the best out of her opponents and is arguably the best female wrestler on the roster. She is a big-game performer who saves her best for when the lights are brightest. Even if Rousey is not quite back to the level of performer she was prior to her hiatus, Flair will get the most out of the UFC Hall of Famer, and the match will benefit as a result.

Expect a physical, hard-hitting, submission-based contest that takes the audience by surprise given its lackluster build. A Match of the Year candidate should not be out of the question.

A Defining Performance for Sami Zayn

Sami Zayn has long been one of the most respected performers in WWE, thanks in large part to his early days with the company's NXT brand and his recent development of a conspiracy-theorist character who stands out against the other one-note personalities on Raw and SmackDown.

At WrestleMania, the former Intercontinental champion battles Jackass' Johnny Knoxville in a special attraction match that may not carry the 5-star rating his 2016 showdown with Shinsuke Nakamura does but will result in one of the most defining contests of Zayn's career.

This will be the second year in a row that WWE officials have trusted Zayn to work with celebrities.

In 2021, he feuded with Kevin Owens in a program that also featured Logan Paul in the celebrity YouTuber's first foray into the world of sports entertainment. This year, his match with Knoxville will be the culmination of a feud that began in January, ran through the Royal Rumble and has included the IC title at points.

Win or lose, the exposure for Zayn will be great, and the relatively hot feud will only elevate his stature in the company. Management already trusts him for these spots. It will be interesting to see whether he can channel a high-profile spot on the biggest show of the year into a sustained push.

After recently re-signing with the company and being featured as prominently as he has on WWE television, all signs point to that happening.

Bianca Belair Makes It 2 in a Row on Wrestling's Grandest Stage

If there were any questions about the bond Bianca Belair had forged with fans following her magical run to the women's title at last year's WrestleMania, they were answered quickly when Becky Lynch stomped back on to television and defeated her in mere seconds at SummerSlam in August.

The booking immediately turned Lynch heel, with fans outraged by the treatment of The EST of WWE.

Fast-forward nearly eight months, and Belair will have her opportunity to make it 2-0 in title matches on the grand stage when she challenges Big Time Becks for the Raw Women's Championship in one of the marquee bouts of this year's 'Mania.

She will do just that.

One of the great success stories of the past five years, Belair will run it back on the grandest stage, winning the title at The Showcase of the Immortals for the second consecutive year and establishing herself as one of the rare non-Four Horsewomen of NXT to thrive on the main roster.

It will be the culmination of a return to excellence for the breakout star of last year and the ignition point for the face of women's wrestling's future.

An American Nightmare in Dallas

There has been a great deal of mystery surrounding the Cody Rhodes' status and whether he will soon return to WWE or sign with another company. A report by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select on Sunday stated that one EVP within All Elite Wrestling was under the belief that Rhodes had signed with WWE and will square off with Seth Rollins at WrestleMania.

That Rollins has nothing slated for the biggest show of the year despite being one of the most prominent stars on the roster suggests WWE is waiting for the right time to pull the proverbial trigger on the program.

Or for Rhodes to sign on the dotted line.

Whatever the case may be, there is too much smoke for there not to be fire somewhere. The Rhodes-to-WWE reports spread the moment AEW President Tony Khan announced The American Nightmare's departure from his promotion, and while some of that buzz has undoubtedly died down, expect Rhodes to appear either during the lead-up to WrestleMania or to make his return to the company on the grand stage, answering some sort of open challenge from The Visionary.

Sasha Banks and Naomi Capture Tag Team Gold

Sasha Banks and Naomi are over. 

Really, really over.

There is no tag team in the women's division even half as popular as The Boss and her fellow former SmackDown women's champion, and now is the time to restore credibility to the Women's Tag Team Championship by giving them the gold in Dallas.

Banks and Naomi announced their new team on the February 25 episode of SmackDown and have been on a winning streak since. While Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan comprise a formidable duo and Queen Zelina and Carmella are a solid heel tandem as champs, this match feels very much like Banks and Naomi's to lose.

They will not, instead winning the tag titles to etch their names into the history books. And in the process, they will pay off the fans' belief in them.

The Mysterios Get Their Storybook Moment

In 2021, Rey and Dominik conspicuously missed out on a spot on the WrestleMania card. It was surprising given how much television exposure the father-son combination received in the months ahead of the big event. After all, their feud with Seth Rollins dominated WWE television for months, and a jump to SmackDown felt like an opportunity for them to experience success as a tag team.

They did—just not at The Granddaddy of Them All. That changes at WrestleMania Saturday when the Mysterios battle The Miz and Logan Paul in a high-profile tag team match.

All signs would seemingly point to the heels escaping with a win, especially considering it is Paul's first official match with the company. However, the fact that Rey is on the cover of the new WWE 2K22 video game and is a beloved legend whose Hall of Fame ring is already wrapped up helps steer the odds in his and Dominik's favor.

There will be an urge by WWE to book the hated Paul to win match No. 1, but The Mysterios will leave Dallas victorious and enjoy a special, unforgettable night for them and their family.

A Redemptive Moment for Drew McIntyre

In 2020, Drew McIntyre captured the WWE Championship by defeating Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania 36 and celebrated his monumental, career-changing win with no one. Not a single fan, family member or friend.

Instead, he stood tall as the most surreal WrestleMania event in history came to an end, wrapping up inside an empty WWE Performance Center as the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world. A year later, he entered Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, as the challenger for the same title, this time squaring off with Bobby Lashley.

What should have been the win that made up for the disappointing nature of his first title victory was, instead, a loss as he passed out while trapped in the Hurt Lock.

This year, McIntyre will have the chance at redemption when he battles Happy Corbin in singles competition. Their match is one that feels very much like a foregone conclusion. McIntyre is the lead babyface on SmackDown and the guy who will step up to challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship next.

He will bulldoze Corbin in what will be a tough, physical match that sees him emerge as a conquering hero on wrestling's most prestigious night.

And rightfully so.

The Scottish Warrior has earned this opportunity to bask in the adulation of 100,000 screaming fans in Dallas. Hopefully it is the start of his climb back to the top of the WWE mountain.