Predicting the match order at WrestleMania 37

It’s one thing to predict the winners and losers at WrestleMania 37, but how about taking a guess at the match order for the two night event?

WrestleMania 37 takes place tonight (Apr. 10) and tomorrow night (Apr. 11) at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, with the main card beginning at 8 pm ET on Peacock.

WWE has announced seven different segments for the main card of Night One. Here is my subjective view of how important each of these seven segments rank, ordered from most important to least important.

1. Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair
2. Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre
3. Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon
4. Bad Bunny & Damian Priest vs. Miz & John Morrison
5. Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins
6. New Day vs. Styles & Omos
7. Tag Team Turmoil

It seems to me like there’s a pretty good chance that we’ll see Bayley’s talk show on Night One, so I’m adding an eighth segment to this card.

Opening match & Main event

WWE is making this one easier for me by already announcing that Banks vs. Belair will be the main event, and Lashley vs. McIntyre will open the card.

There is only one match on this card that has been presented on television as a main event level match, and that’s Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre. Over the last two months, WWE has failed to come up with a single angle, match, or segment featuring Banks & Belair that could even plausibly main event a basic episode of their regular television shows. The build to this WrestleMania match has been a significant letdown.

The reason why Banks vs. Belair is still the most important match of the night is because it’s about representation, and that transcends how the match has been presented on television.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7:
Segment 8: Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair

Segment 2 and Segment 7

I don’t think WWE will immediately go to the part-timers (McMahon) or celebrities (Bad Bunny) for Segment 2, so that leaves Rollins, New Day, or Tag Turmoil for that spot.

WWE will probably try to build up Drew McIntyre’s crowning moment in Segment 1 as big as possible. Therefore the least important match of the night can go in Segment 2. That’s where I’ll put Tag Turmoil.

As for the back end of the card, I don’t see the need for a cooldown match because this card isn’t bloated. I’ll put the most important remaining match in Segment 7, which is the steel cage match with Strowman and McMahon.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre
Segment 2: Tag Team Turmoil
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7: Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon
Segment 8: Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair

Everything else

I’m not really sure where to go from here, so I’ll try to alternate singles and tag matches. Cesaro’s match looks like a good fit for Segment 3.

I don’t think WWE will put Bad Bunny and Shane McMahon back-to-back, so I’ll stick Bunny in Segment 4.

That leaves Bayley’s talk show for Segment 5, and New Day for Segment 6.

Finalized card

So here is my final prediction for the match order for Night One of WrestleMania 37, along with guesses on the bell-to-bell match times:

Segment 1: Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre (18 minutes)
Segment 2: Tag Team Turmoil (11)
Segment 3: Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins (14)
Segment 4: Bad Bunny & Damian Priest vs. Miz & John Morrison (13)
Segment 5: Bayley’s talk show
Segment 6: New Day vs. Styles & Omos (11)
Segment 7: Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon (17)
Segment 8: Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair (18)

I pretty much hate how this card looks, so I probably screwed something up. Hopefully you can come up with a better solution than this in the comments below, Cagesiders.

---

WWE has announced seven different segments for the main card of Night Two. Here is my subjective view of how important each of these seven segments rank, ordered from most important to least important.

1. Reigns vs. Bryan vs. Edge
2. The Fiend vs. Randy Orton
3. Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley
4. Big E vs. Apollo Crews
5. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
6. Riddle vs. Sheamus
7. Baszler & Jax vs. TBA

Opening match & Main event

The main event of this card is obvious. There’s no way anything other than the Universal championship triple threat match closes out Night Two of WrestleMania 37.

The card should open with a banger match. Let’s go with a case of déjà vu and book Rhea Ripley to open Night Two for the second straight year.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7: Reigns vs. Bryan vs. Edge

End of the card

The Fiend’s match is far and away the most important remaining match on the slate. I don’t think it should go back-to-back with the main event. So I’ll put in in Segment 5, and throw the least important match of the night in between them. That means Baszler & Jax go in Segment 6.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5: The Fiend vs. Randy Orton
Segment 6: Baszler & Jax vs. TBA
Segment 7: Reigns vs. Bryan vs. Edge

Everything else

The least important remaining match will go in Segment 2, so that’s Sheamus and Matt Riddle.

Ripley & Sheamus in the first two matches kicks off the card with some high quality standard wrestling matches, so we might as well change up the pace and go with a gimmick match for Segment 3. That’s the mysterious Nigerian Drum fight between Big E and Crews.

That leaves Owens, Zayn, and Logan Paul for Segment 4.

Finalized card

So here is my final prediction for the match order for Night Two of WrestleMania 37, along with guesses on the bell-to-bell match times:

Segment 1: Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley (15 minutes)
Segment 2: Riddle vs. Sheamus (14)
Segment 3: Big E vs. Apollo Crews (12)
Segment 4: Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn (13)
Segment 5: The Fiend vs. Randy Orton (16)
Segment 6: Baszler & Jax vs. TBA (7)
Segment 7: Reigns vs. Bryan vs. Edge (27)

That’s my prediction for the match order at WrestleMania 37. What’s yours?