Predicting the match order at WrestleMania 36

It’s one thing to predict the winners and losers at WrestleMania 36, but how about taking a guess at the match order on that card?

WWE has announced sixteen different matches for this two night event. Here is my subjective view of how important each of these sixteen matches rank, ordered from most important to least important.

1. Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre
2. Edge vs. Randy Orton
3. John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
4. Undertaker vs. AJ Styles
5. Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler
6. Goldberg vs. Braun Strowman
7. Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
8. Bayley vs. Naomi vs. Evans vs. Tamina vs. Banks
9. Miz & Morrison vs. New Day vs. Usos
10. Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan
11. Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
12. Elias vs. King Corbin
13. Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler
14. Kabuki Warriors vs. Bliss & Cross
15. Street Profits vs. Garza & Theory
16. Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley

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.

I’m placing Corbin’s match higher than it deserves due to the fact that I expect Rob Gronkowski to play a major role in it, and maybe even replace Elias as Corbin’s opponent.

Splitting the matches up into pairs

WWE has turned this task into a giant headache due to their baffling decision to not even bother with announcing any matches that are taking place on specific nights, even though the show was taped over a week ago.

I’m assuming there will be eight matches on each night. Therefore I’m going to group the 16 matches into eight pairs, with the idea being that each pair will include two matches that will air on different nights.

1. Pre-show fodder: Black vs. Lashley, Street Profits vs. Garza & Theory
2. Filmed off site: Undertaker vs. Styles, Cena vs. Wyatt
3. Top male champs: Lesnar vs. McIntyre, Goldberg vs. Strowman
4. Top female champs: Lynch vs. Baszler, Bayley’s match
5. Remaining women: Ripley vs. Flair, Kabuki Warriors vs. Bliss & Cross
6. Gimmick matches: Edge vs. Orton, Morrison’s match
7. High workrate singles: Owens vs. Rollins, Zayn vs. Bryan
8. Other: Otis vs. Ziggler, Elias vs. Corbin

Night One or Night Two?

Now for each of the eight pairs, I need to assign one match for Night One, and the other match for Night Two.

• Pre-show fodder: Black vs. Lashley is the least important match of all, so it might as well be on the pre-show of Night One.
• Filmed off site: We just saw plenty of Cena/Wyatt last night on SmackDown, so I’m saving their match for Night Two.
• Top male champs: Goldberg’s match is a complete joke due to how WWE handled the announcement of Strowman as his opponent. Meanwhile there is a Lesnar marathon on ESPN on Sunday, and Lesnar makes much more sense as the main event of that night.
• Top female champs: Becky has hinted that she is wrestling on Night One, and I believe that Bayley specifically mentioned Sunday as the day she’ll see Tamina.
• Remaining women: I think WWE will keep Lynch and Flair on different nights, so that means Flair goes on Night Two, since in the previous entry I put Lynch on Night One.
• Gimmick matches: Night One received an advantage in star power due to getting Lynch over Bayley, so now Night Two makes up for that by getting Edge.
• High workrate singles: Owens mentioned that he’ll fight Rollins on Saturday, and that might not mean anything, but it’s good enough for me.
• Other: I expect Gronkowski to play a major role in the Corbin story, perhaps even as a replacement for Elias. I think WWE wants to air Gronkowski’s angle on Saturday so that it will get WWE some mainstream buzz and coverage before the start of Night Two.

That gives me the following lineup for each night:

Night One

• Undertaker vs. AJ Styles
• Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler
• Goldberg vs. Braun Strowman
• Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
• Miz & Morrison vs. New Day vs. Usos
• Elias vs. King Corbin
• Kabuki Warriors vs. Bliss & Cross
• Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley

Night Two

• Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre
• Edge vs. Randy Orton
• John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
• Bayley vs. Naomi vs. Evans vs. Tamina vs. Banks
• Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan
• Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
• Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler
• Street Profits vs. Garza & Theory

Finalized card

Now it’s just a matter of arranging the lineup for each night into the order it will take place. So here is my prediction for the match order at WrestleMania 36:

Night One

Pre-show: Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley
Segment 1: Miz & Morrison vs. New Day vs. Usos
Segment 2: Elias vs. King Corbin
Segment 3: Kabuki Warriors vs. Bliss & Cross
Segment 4: Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
Segment 5: Undertaker vs. AJ Styles
Segment 6: Goldberg vs. Braun Strowman
Segment 7: Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler

Night Two

Pre-show: Street Profits vs. Garza & Theory
Segment 1: Bayley vs. Naomi vs. Evans vs. Tamina vs. Banks
Segment 2: Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan
Segment 3: Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler
Segment 4: Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
Segment 5: John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
Segment 6: Edge vs. Randy Orton
Segment 7: Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre

I’m mostly keeping things simple, saving the big three matches on each night for the final three matches of the night.

The two women’s matches on Night Two aren’t among the three most important matches of the night, so I’m putting them in Segment 1 and Segment 4, in order to keep some distance.

Lynch vs. Baszler is by no means an obvious main event match for Night One, and it’s tempting to move Edge’s match onto Night One as the main event. But I think part of the reason why WWE has not announced specific lineups for each night is because Sunday’s card will feature a bit more star power.

That’s my prediction for the match order at WrestleMania 36. What’s yours?