Predicting the match order at WrestleMania 35

It’s one thing to predict the winners and losers at WrestleMania 35, but how about taking a guess at the match order on that card?

WWE has announced 13 different matches for the main card of WrestleMania 35, not counting the kickoff show’s two battle royal matches and the cruiserweight championship match.

Here is my subjective view of how important each of these 13 segments rank on the WrestleMania 35 card, ordered from most important to least important.

1. Rousey vs. Flair vs. Lynch
2. Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston
3. Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
4. Triple H vs. Batista
5. Kurt Angle vs. Baron Corbin
6. The Miz vs. Shane McMahon
7. Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre
8. AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton
9. Women’s tag championship Fatal 4-way
10. Bobby Lashley vs. Finn Balor
11. SmackDown tag championship Fatal 4-way
12. Samoa Joe vs. Rey Mysterio
13. The Revival vs. Ryder & Hawkins

It is important to come up with a list like this to get an idea of which matches are going to be placed in the key spots on the card or take up the most time, and which matches might end up in the cool-down spots or be given the least amount of time.

We know that Rousey’s match is the main event, so it gets the top spot. After that, Bryan and Lesnar come next because they are the top male champions, with a slight edge to Bryan due to the rise of Kofi Kingston and the lack of Brock Lesnar on television. Triple H and Batista round out the four most important matches, mostly because both these guys are established main event level stars.

The next four matches can be arranged in whatever order you like. I’m giving Angle top billing from this set because WWE has invested a lot of time into the story of his farewell tour, and he is a legend whose final match should be treated as a big deal (and John Cena might get involved in this one). Shane’s match gets a slight edge over both Reigns and Orton, once again primarily because the story for Shane’s match has been told for the better part of six months, and Shane McMahon is always treated like a top star. Reigns then ranks ahead of Orton because Roman has main evented four straight WrestleMania events.

There is a big gap between those top eight matches and the remaining five matches, in terms of importance to this event. The return of Beth Phoenix and the Demon are special enough to give them the nod over the bottom three matches. The next two matches (Usos, Joe) can happen on any regular pay-per-view. Mysterio’s match ranks below the Usos because his status is unknown due to injury, and the United States championship feud was pretty much sacrificed to the Angle vs. Corbin story anyway, with Joe losing to Kurt and then Rey losing to Corbin in recent matches. Joe versus Rey just doesn’t have much going for it right now.

The Revival’s title defense is clearly the least important match on the card; this match wouldn’t even make it onto most episodes of Raw.

I’m not counting any talking segments with Alexa Bliss and Elias in this exercise. Both of them could very well appear in multiple segments throughout the night. I’m also ignoring John Cena, who is not advertised for anything, but will probably make his presence known at some point in the night.

Main event

The main event match will be Ronda Rousey versus Charlotte Flair versus Becky Lynch. WWE made this announcement ahead of time, so it’s as close to a lock as a main event match can possibly be.

Upper card

The WWE Championship match always occurs towards the end of the night at WrestleMania, with the exception of maybe WrestleMania 8. Anything is possible, but I think Bryan and Lesnar will both defend their titles among the final four matches of the night.

Assuming Lynch and Kingston both win, it’s probably best to break them apart with at least one match so that the crowd has time to recover a bit from celebrating Kofi’s victory. Kofi’s victory will be extremely emotional, so it’s best to follow that with a cool-down match. The Revival’s match is the best choice for the kind of filler match that can be buried away late in the card, just like Strowman’s tag title match last year. Therefore I think one sensible way to end the night is with Bryan in Segment 10, Revival in Segment 11, Lesnar in Segment 12, and Rousey in Segment 13.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1:
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7:
Segment 8:
Segment 9:
Segment 10: Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston
Segment 11: The Revival vs. Ryder & Hawkins
Segment 12: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
Segment 13: Rousey vs. Flair vs. Lynch

Opening match

The opening match of the night is usually one of the mid-level attractions with good work rate that doesn’t require a dedicated video package ahead of time to hype it up. Things might be very different on this night though, because the show could begin with a talking segment in the ring with Alexa Bliss, Elias, or past legends. My guess is that WWE will open this card with Alexa Bliss and then go right into one of the big matches.

I have already used up three of the eight most important matches on the card and one cool-down match, so that means I have 5 important matches and 4 not-so-important matches remaining.

I can’t see Batista or Angle opening the night, so that leaves Styles, Reigns, or Shane as the most viable choices for the first match of the main card. Styles and Shane opened WrestleMania 33, while Miz opened WrestleMania 34. Reigns has spent his entire singles career closing WrestleMania events, so this would be an unusual spot for him.

I am going to choose Shane and Miz for this spot. Sometimes Randy Orton can work a very slow match that doesn’t really fit well in the opener, whereas Miz and Shane will probably be a crazy car crash type brawl. And I think it’s unlikely that Roman goes from headliner to opening act.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: The Miz vs. Shane McMahon
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7:
Segment 8:
Segment 9:
Segment 10: Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston
Segment 11: The Revival vs. Ryder & Hawkins
Segment 12: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
Segment 13: Rousey vs. Flair vs. Lynch

Everything else

That leaves me with four important matches and four not-so-important matches for Segment 2 through Segment 9. WrestleMania is a stacked card, so I don’t think there is a need to ever have two consecutive matches from the “not-so-important” designation. That means I am going to alternate between the important matches and the lesser matches for all of these remaining segments.

I’d prefer to put a Raw match in Segment 2 due to selecting a SmackDown match in Segment 1. The two most likely matches for this early spot on the card are either Balor or Sasha (there is a SmackDown team in that one, but I’m pretty sure it will be called by the Raw commentators).

There are only two women’s matches on the main card of WrestleMania, one of which is the main event, so I’m going to hold off on Sasha for a little longer. If I put the women’s tag in Segment 2, then there would be more than 10 consecutive men’s matches before we get to the main event. That doesn’t sound ideal. That means I’m putting a quick Demon squash in Segment 2.

Following my strategy of alternating the important and lesser matches, Segment 3 will include either Angle, Reigns, Styles, or Batista. This spot still feels a bit early for most of those matches. Styles and Orton probably slot in here the best, as their match doesn’t have any retirement implications (which feel better suited for later on) and it doesn’t have the Reigns leukemia comeback story. Also, following a brawl in Segment 1 and a squash in Segment 2, it’s probably a good time to put on a normal one-on-one wrestling match.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: The Miz vs. Shane McMahon
Segment 2: Bobby Lashley vs. Finn Balor
Segment 3: AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7:
Segment 8:
Segment 9:
Segment 10: Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston
Segment 11: The Revival vs. Ryder & Hawkins
Segment 12: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
Segment 13: Rousey vs. Flair vs. Lynch

Moving back to the less important matches, Segment 4 will include either Sasha, Joe, or the Usos. There hasn’t been a tag team match or a women’s match yet on my card, so I might as well get both out of the way in one spot by selecting the women’s tag match in Segment 4.

Segment 5 will then feature either Angle, Reigns, or Batista. Considering there are two matches with retirement implications, it’s probably best to use one of them up already. Therefore I’ll ignore Reigns here and focus on the other choices. Angle’s match comes with a guaranteed retirement, whereas Batista’s doesn’t. I think any potential teases of Triple H’s career ending should probably come before Kurt Angle’s career actually does come to an end. Also, considering the back end of my card is stacked with championship matches, I think it’s best to go with a match at this point that can deliver a big fight feel, sort of like the main event of the first half of the night, in some sense. Triple H and Batista fit that concept much better than Angle and Corbin. I also think that Triple H knows his match will be better received earlier in the night before the audience is completely exhausted.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: The Miz vs. Shane McMahon
Segment 2: Bobby Lashley vs. Finn Balor
Segment 3: AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton
Segment 4: Women’s tag championship Fatal 4-way
Segment 5: Triple H vs. Batista
Segment 6:
Segment 7:
Segment 8:
Segment 9:
Segment 10: Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston
Segment 11: The Revival vs. Ryder & Hawkins
Segment 12: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
Segment 13: Rousey vs. Flair vs. Lynch

Following what will likely be a slower-paced match between Batista and Triple H in Segment 5 (and then maybe the on-stage HOF segment), a fast-paced Usos tag team match is a good change of pace in Segment 6.

After that, I’ll go back to the important matches and decide on either Reigns or Angle for Segment 7. Angle’s match will likely come with a very emotional post-match segment, so it’s a good idea to put some distance between that and Kofi’s victory celebration in Segment 10. Therefore I’ll stick Angle in Segment 7 rather than delaying any longer.

That leaves Joe and Mysterio for Segment 8, and Reigns and McIntyre for Segment 9.

Finalized card

So here is my final prediction for the match order at WrestleMania 35, along with guesses on the bell-to-bell match times.

Segment 1: The Miz vs. Shane McMahon (15)
Segment 2: Bobby Lashley vs. Finn Balor (4)
Segment 3: AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton (14)
Segment 4: Women’s tag championship Fatal 4-way (10)
Segment 5: Triple H vs. Batista (18 minutes)
Segment 6: SmackDown tag championship Fatal 4-way (11)
Segment 7: Kurt Angle vs. Baron Corbin (8)
Segment 8: Samoa Joe vs. Rey Mysterio (9)
Segment 9: Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre (12)
Segment 10: Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston (17)
Segment 11: The Revival vs. Ryder & Hawkins (3)
Segment 12: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins (13)
Segment 13: Rousey vs. Flair vs. Lynch (17)

Some of these match times might seem a little short, and that’s because we’re dealing with the annual WrestleMania time crunch.

That’s my prediction for the match order at WrestleMania 35. What’s yours?