WrestleMania 38 predictions: Saturday

WrestleMania 38 is taking place this weekend with two separate nights of action, on Sat. Apr. 2 and Sun. Apr. 3, 2022. The show will air live from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It begins at 6:00 pm ET with the Kickoff show leading right on into the main course at 8 pm ET on Peacock in the U.S., WWE Network everywhere else, or your local cable pay-per-view provider.

Luckily for you Cagesiders, our staff of learned wrestling blowhards is here to help figure out just how the event is going to play out with predictions for each match on the card.

Let’s get to it.

---

WrestleMania 38 predictions

SmackDown Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Ronda Rousey

Geno Mrosko: I’ll never underestimate Charlotte Flair on pay-per-view but it’s nearly impossible to pick against Ronda Rousey here. Pick: Ronda Rousey

Sean Rueter: It’s like this feud was genetically engineered for me to not care about it. Pick: Ronda Rousey

Kyle Decker: Ronda has one loss in her career and I don’t see any reason her debut match would be number two. I just hope they don’t run this again at WrestleMania Backlash and again a month after that because these two just don’t have it together. Pick: Ronda Rousey

Claire Elizabeth: I don’t want it to be Ronda, but it’s gonna be Ronda, and losing the title and the champion’s purse is really gonna put a dent in Charlotte’s weird sparkly jumpsuit budget. Pick: Ronda Rousey

Cain A. Knight: Many aspects of this feud just aren’t clicking. Ronda will win the title, of course, but she has not impressed at all thus far during her return to WWE. Pick: Ronda Rousey

Stella Cheeks: Never bet against Charlotte Flair unless she’s facing Ronda Rousey. Pick: Ronda Rousey

Marcus Benjamin: This is a boring feud. Mostly because Ronda isn’t ready for what WWE is putting her into right now. That said, she knows how to look good with a belt and as a frontrunner. Pick: Ronda Rousey

---

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

Geno Mrosko: This definitely hasn’t felt like they’ve been building Belair up for a coronation like last year. Instead, it still feels like Lynch is the main focus, and probably will be even after this. Pick: Becky Lynch

Sean Rueter: While I absolutely would not be surprised if Lynch won and WWE did something else to give Bianca a moment (something that may or may not include winning the title back), I’m going to hope that common sense and basic storytelling logic prevail and the hero vanquishes the villain at the end of their journey. Pick: Bianca Belair

Kyle Decker: This should be Bianca given the lame way she lost the title to Bex at SummerSlam. But having Rousey return may mean they want to keep Lynch as strong as possible until they finally have their one on one match. That said, Bianca absolutely needs to win here. A loss would lessen the character. I’d like to think enough people know that to make the right call, even though only one certain person needs not to for the wrong call to be made. Pick: Bianca Belair

Claire Elizabeth: Bianca should absolutely close the circle and win the title back here, at Wrestle-by-god-Mania, but WWE has a tendency to overthink these things and I think they’re gonna do a “Becky pulls this one out by the skin of her teeth and Bianca wins at WrestleMania Backlash” kinda thing, alas. Plus I just think that despite how great she is, they don’t see Bianca as a “win the title at back to back WrestleManias” type of star. Pick: Becky Lynch

Cain A. Knight: Lynch took 2 KOD’s and got her hair cut on the go-home show. I think that means Becky is going over at ‘Mania. Pick: Becky Lynch

Stella Cheeks: Bianca Belair deserves to win this title from Becky Lynch as a big apology from the writers for how they did her dirty at SummerSlam. Becky is basically infallible in WWE. Bianca is over like crazy, but another big loss from Becky could hurt her. Pick: Bianca Belair

Marcus Benjamin: So I’m torn here. My heart, as always, is with Bianca. But those two KODs Becky took on the Raw, along with getting her hair chopped, gives me pause. Logic says Becky gets the W here. But Bianca deserves this title and this revenge after the shenanigans last summer. Pick: Bianca Belair

---

SmackDown Tag Team Championship: The Usos (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Rick BOOGS

Geno Mrosko: This doesn’t quite feel like the time for Jimmy & Jey to finally lose their titles. Pick: The Usos

Sean Rueter: Rick and Shin get to do adventure tourism on Toyota’s dime. That’s reward enough. Pick: The Usos

Kyle Decker: There’s no reason to make a change here. The Usos are the default winner to keep the Bloodline strong until they have a challenger where a change makes sense. And given the tag scene, that may never happen. Pick: The Usos

Claire Elizabeth: This is an Evolve “let’s throw a super team against the established tag champs because we don’t have anything better to do for night two of the weekend double shot” type match, and I think that means the Usos win here. Pick: The Usos

Cain A. Knight: The most important thing is it’s a Saturday match, which means Pat McAfee can still do his thing at the commentary table for Shinsuke’s entrance. Pick: The Usos

Stella Cheeks: Shinsuke & Boogs are fun as hell, but they are still a random tag team. No random team up is going to dethrone The Bloodline. Pick: The Usos

Marcus Benjamin: Not even spending a lot of time and energy on this one. No way the champs lose. Pick: The Usos

---

Seth Rollins vs. TBA

Geno Mrosko: All signs point to Cody Rhodes being the TBA here, and if that’s the case it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to have him lose. That said, he’s coming in as a former AEW guy and we’ve seen how Vince McMahon operates under circumstances like this before. Pick: Seth Rollins

Sean Rueter: This should really be an episode of Freakin’ Speakin’. Talk show segments are the new main event. Anyway, while the ultimate troll would be having someone other than Cody be the TBA... assuming it’s Cody, the next best troll would be having him win his first match back via disqualification. Pick: TBA

Kyle Decker: While as a rooter for chaos, I really hope TBA is Shane O’Mac, let’s make the pick assuming it is Cody. While like Cain mentions below, bringing in the AEW guy to lose to the WWE guy immediately is VERY Vince, I think there’s also benefit of booking the first AEW rather strong to entice future free agents from Jacksonville. Pick: Cody Rhodes

Claire Elizabeth: I hate hate hate hate HATE so much the way they’ve dragged this out. It’s so silly, why wouldn’t you want to promote one of your top stars in a big match against a returning star ahead of time? Why would you paint one of your top guys as a dummy who’s not bright enough to get a match at WrestleMania? The only reason I can think of is if the ink isn’t actually dry on the deal to bring Cody back and in that case... oof. Anyway, they haven’t done anything else right here, so why would they start now? Pick: Seth Rollins

Cain A. Knight: Bringing in the AEW guy and having him job out to the WWE guy right away sounds like a Vince McMahon thing to do. But the WWE guy who Cody will take that first loss against is Roman Reigns, not Seth Rollins. Pick: Cody Rhodes

Stella Cheeks: Look, my favorite thing in the world to do is make fun of Cody Rhodes. But my new favorite thing in the world to do would be to be on Twitter when Shane McMahon shows up instead of The American Nightmare. It’s so bad, it’s good. Pick: HERE COMES THE MONEY

Marcus Benjamin: Seth Rollins is doing yeoman’s work with this story. A story I detest, mind you, mostly because they dragged it out. If Cody Rhodes doesn’t come through those curtains Saturday night, but Shane O’Mac does? Whew. While I will celebrate because that’s an inherently funny outcome, it feels like a huge letdown for the live crowd. Plus, there’s always a chance Cody says “nah” and backs out just because he can. Pick: Cody Rhodes. I think.

---

Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin

Geno Mrosko: The culmination of a feud that has largely underwhelmed and was always designed to heat up a future title contender. The big question here isn’t who wins but if they do the Corbin/Madcap Moss breakup here. Pick: Drew McIntyre

Sean Rueter: Not entirely convinced this program won’t still be going on at WrestleMania 39. Pick: Drew McIntyre

Kyle Decker: This story has been very underwhelming. Pick: Drew McIntyre

Claire Elizabeth: I still think Drew should have literally murdered Happy Corbin with his sword in Saudi Arabia. You pay off the fact that we know McIntyre’s never gonna use the sword, he could have “gone to jail” for a few months, healed up all those nagging injuries, and Tom Pestock could have come back with a new fresh gimmick, it would have been wins all around. And hell, it could still happen, let’s do it! Pick: Drew McIntyre by technical murder

Cain A. Knight: That Happy Corbin is the best opponent WWE could come up with for Drew at WrestleMania shows how thin the SmackDown roster is right now. Pick: Drew McIntyre

Stella Cheeks: If Drew loses this match he may as well tender his resignation. Pick: Drew McIntyre

Marcus Benjamin: This story sucks. At least Drew gets his sword back. Pick: Drew McIntyre

---

Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. The Miz & Logan Paul

Geno Mrosko: You wouldn’t think the bad guys win here but I’m feeling like Logan Paul gets one over. Pick: The Miz & Logan Paul

Sean Rueter: Neither Mike nor Logan get paid the big bucks to win. Pick: Rey & Dom

Kyle Decker: Rey and Dominik have been too disrespected throughout this to lose. And neither the Miz nor Logan Paul need to be protected here. Pick: The Mysterios

Claire Elizabeth: Ugh. Do not want. Pick: The Miz & Logan Paul

Cain A. Knight: The Miz lost in a tag team match against a celebrity last year at WrestleMania. This year he smartened up and made sure the celebrity is on his side. Pick: The Miz & Logan Paul

Stella Cheeks: Rey Mysterio is not losing to a trumped up YouTube star on the grandest stage of them all. Pick: The Mysterios

Marcus Benjamin: The Mysterios better win. Seriously. Pick: The Mysterios

---

The New Day vs. Sheamus & Ridge Holland

Geno Mrosko: It’s a pre-show match, and something to get the crowd settled in. I always think that means the babyfaces are going over to get the night started right. Pick: The New Day

Sean Rueter: Provided they can find a way to get the flagitious Butch thrown out, I like Kofi & Woods’ chances. Pick: The New Day

Kyle Decker: I bet they have Big E come out to get a big pop from the crowd and to encourage Kofi and Woods to a win. Pick: New Day

Claire Elizabeth: New Day absolutely have to avenge Big E here, there’s no other way. Pick: New Day

Cain A. Knight: I can’t believe the nefarious and rabid Butch won’t be wrestling in a match at WrestleMania. Pick: New Day

Stella Cheeks: King Woods is back to make WrestleMania live up to the STUPENDOUS hype. Pick: New Day

Marcus Benjamin: Who is powerful enough to defeat Butch?! The New Day, that’s who. Pick: The New Day

---

That’s how we see the card playing out.

You?