WWE WrestleMania 38: Predicting Match Order for Saturday and Sunday Cards

It seemed to take longer than usual, but WWE has announced the bulk of the April 2-3 WrestleMania 38 card. 

There's surely more to come for the biggest event on the WWE calendar, which again will take place over the course of two nights. But, as of now, both nights have at least five scheduled matches. 

How many for each night remains subject to speculation, especially with the mystery surrounding the long-awaited return of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, fittingly at an event in Arlington, Texas, at AT&T Stadium. 

Here's a predicted match order for both nights and a closer look at some of the most interesting placements. Only confirmed matches are included, so there is no Cody Rhodes-Seth Rollins match despite the wave of speculation surrounding it.

Predicted Night 1 Match Order

1. WWE Raw Women's Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Bianca Belair
2. Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio vs. The Miz and Logan Paul
3. Edge vs. AJ Styles
4. Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin (with Madcap Moss)
5. WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship: The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs
6. WWE SmackDown Women's Championship: Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Ronda Rousey
7. Stone Cold-Kevin Owens angle

Predicted Night 2 Match Order

1. WWE Raw Tag Team Championship: RK-Bro  (c) vs. The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy
2. Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn
3. WWE Women's Tag Team Championship: Queen Zelina and Carmella (c) vs. Sasha Banks and Naomi vs. Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan vs. Natalya and Shayna Baszler
4. Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory
5. Stone Cold-Kevin Owens angle/match?
6. WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship unification match: Brock Lesnar (WWE Champion) vs. Roman Reigns (Universal Champion) 

Breaking Down Predicted Match Placement

WWE Raw Women's Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Bianca Belair

More than any other match, this one might make the most sense as the opener to 'Mania overall. 

WWE, after all, loves to kick things off with a hot match, especially if a title is on the line. The mind wanders to Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar a few years ago. But even last year, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre opened Saturday night with a WWE Championship match. 

This year, Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair have a chance to do an opener in this vein better than anyone in the past. There is a ton of baked-in history and story to this one, stemming from Lynch's surprise return from maternity leave to steal Belair's title back in August at SummerSlam. 

Positioning this first could also allow Charlotte Flair-Ronda Rousey to go on last, since WWE understandably likes to have title matches in the main event. This will also allow WWE to strategically throw in cool-down matches between big matches, leaving Edge-AJ Styles in the middle of the card. 

Granted, what goes on last on Saturday night hinges on the biggest mystery of all...

The wild card: Stone Cold

WWE let rumors and buzz turn into something solid by announcing Stone Cold for 'Mania. 

What the company hasn't done, though, is specify the how and why of the legend's big return for some sort of encounter with Kevin Owens. 

Austin is 57 years old and hasn't wrestled since 2003, so anything beyond showing up, throwing out a stunner or two and drinking beers would exceed fan expectations. But the hype behind this feud has made it easy to think there is something much bigger planned. 

For example, an expected standoff on Night 1 could lead to an extended slugfest between the Superstars. That would need to go close to last on the Saturday card. But so would an encounter that leads to the two agreeing to a match on Night 2. And if that were to happen, while it wouldn't bump Roman Reigns-Brock Lesnar out of the main event, it would need to at least come close. 

This makes it harder than ever to project how WWE goes about booking the cards. Either way, fans can expect some of the traditional approaches, with huge championship matches going on first to set the tone for an entire night's card and savvy cool-down bouts used throughout to make the bigger events feel more special.