The biggest weekend in professional wrestling is back with Las Vegas hosting WWE WrestleMania 42 from Allegiant Stadium, home of the Raiders. The two-night mega show always serves as WWE’s season finale, of sorts, closing the biggest storylines, dripping with celebrity involvement, and putting on a spectacle like nothing else.
This year’s Mania feels different. It’s a show that has been constructed less with wrestling fans in mind, and more about capturing broad appeal. With the full weight of ESPN’s promotional strength behind them we’ve had Pat McAfee get attacked on his set, Danhausen curse Stephen A. Smith — with a focus on Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha with the addition of streamer IShowSpeed to the card. Let’s break down both nights of WrestleMania with predictions for how it will all go down.
The Vision (Logan Paul and Austin Theory) and IShowSpeed vs. The Usos (Jimmy and Hey Uso) and LA Knight
There’s no reason to dive deep into this one. They put IShowSpeed on the card for a reason, and teaming him with Logan Paul makes this one obvious.
Winner: The Vision and IShowSpeed
Jacob Fatu vs. Drew McIntyre
This is one of the guaranteed two wrestling bangers on the card for night one. Two extremely athletic men for their size are going to put on a slugfest with a few big high-spots to pop the crowd. The plan here has to be elevating Fatu into the title picture, which I think is the plan here.
The Irresistible Forces (Nia Jax and Lash Legend) (c) vs. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley and Lyra Valkyrie vs. The Bella Twins (Brie and Nikki Bella) — WWE Women’s Tag-Team Championship
There’s a lot of talent here, but the match is overbooked. There’s a good chance this could get too sloppy as a result of having all these disparate forces in the ring at once. There’s really only one pick that makes sense to me given the build for this match and how stale the women’s tag-team division has been of late.
Winner: Bayley and Lyra Valkyrie
AJ Lee (c) vs. Becky Lynch — WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship
The return of AJ Lee has been really fun, as has her title run — but it ends at WrestleMania. This is about getting Becky Lynch back in the women’s championship picture as a stepping stone to her returning to being one of the biggest names in wrestling. The match quality of this one is an utter mystery, but as far as I’m concerned the end result is clear as day.
A bit of a strange build to this one as WWE had to pivot after Bronn Breaker was injured to set up a program for Rollins and Gunther. Two of the best pure workers in the company, Rollins especially has a gift for putting on a mammoth show on the brightest stage. I think there’s enough intrigue in a quickness vs. strength match here to make it interesting, but I also think the result is clear with WWE sticking to the booking they had planned leading up to this.
Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Liv Morgan — Women’s World Championship
There’s been a rocket strapped to Liv Morgan’s back ever since she returned from injury, and this is the natural conclusion. Vaquer is the best women’s wrestler on the planet from an in-ring perspective, but WWE covets much more than simply being able to go. That makes this pick somewhat easy.
Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Randy Orton (with Pat McAfee) — Undisputed WWE Championship
The main event to night one has been brewing for months, with Rhodes and Orton being extremely close real-life friends. It’s been a really messy build that’s tried to involve a hundred different angles at once, including Jelly Roll for some reason. They’re both getting up in age, especially Randy Orton, but they have the capability of putting on one last banger — unless messy booking turns this into a celebrity-fest.
The big stipulation to this match is that if Orton loses, then McAfee has to walk away from professional wrestling. There’s too much shared investment for WWE and ESPN to have that happen, so I’m following the money
Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar
Without a doubt this is the match people seem most hyped for in the lead up to WrestleMania. WWE has been establishing Oba Femi as the new monster destined to take over the mantle of “big scary” in wrestling, and to do that he needs to get through the gatekeeper. The plan here is to legitimize Femi as the future, and this match will do just that.
Penta (c) vs. Rusev vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Dragon Lee vs. JD McDonagh vs. Rey Mysterio — Ladder Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
This could be terrifying with there being so many people in this match who value putting on a show over their own bodies. A multi-person ladder match is always something to watch for the high spots, but when the dust settles there’s only one outcome that really clicks for me and that’s Penta retaining. He is so over with the audience that cutting his legs out from under him isn’t the move here.
Sami Zayn (c) vs. Trick Williams (with Lil Yachty) — WWE Intercontinental Championship
Sami Zayn is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, and it’s growing apparent that he’s never going to actually get his moment in the sun. That could be because of Zayn being outspoken on social media about social issues, maybe they just see him as being too small — who knows? One thing that is certain is that you don’t bring out Lil Yachty at WrestleMania to have his guy lose. Trick Williams deserves a title run, and this is it.
“The Demon” Finn Balor vs. Dominik Mysterio
Who cares? For the life of me I still don’t really understand what WWE sees in Dom, but I know I might be in the minority. At this point they think he’s a future star, but you also don’t have Demon Balor lose in a match like this. I think there will be some shenanigans to make Balor look strong, but he still loses.
Jade Cargill (c) vs. Rhea Ripley — WWE Women’s Championship
Jade Cargill is the total package … except for the not being able to wrestle thing. Catapulted into the limelight because of her astonishing look, this title reign has never worked simply because she’s not good enough in the ring to have solid matches with established pro wrestlers. This is a chance to course-correct, and put the strap back on Rhea Ripley.
CM Punk (c) vs. Roman Reigns — World Heavyweight Championship
This match is a total tossup. Logic generally dictates that we have one title change on WrestleMania weekend, and I have that going to Randy Orton the night before. However, when I look at the long-term plans of WWE it has to involve putting Reigns back as champion, even if he’s more or less a part-time worker at this point. Punk is a guy who is always better on the chase than being the champ, so I’m going to go with my heart on this one.
How to watch WWE WrestleMania 2026
Date: Saturday, April 18 (Night 1) and Sunday, April 19 (Night 2)
Location: Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada
Stream: ESPN Unlimited (via the ESPN app) for viewers in the United States. Netflix for international viewers.
The first hour of both nights airing on ESPN2 (Saturday) and ESPN (Sunday) at 6 p.m. ET.
