WWE WrestleMania 40 Night 1 Predictions: Wrestling Inc. Picks The Winners
Well, here we are. For the 40th consecutive year, "The Show of Shows" has arrived. And for the first consecutive year, Wrestling Inc. has arrived to make our official WWE WrestleMania 40 picks.
We've compiled our consensus picks for every PPV and PLE so far in 2024, and if the recent past is any indication, you can view this column as less of a prediction and more of a spoiler. We are 20-2 as a group so far this year, with the meaning the person a majority of us predict to win a PPV match is almost always the person who wins that match. But with three massive WWE shows taking place over two days, WrestleMania weekend has the potential to elevate our hot streak to new heights — or dash it against the rocks of defeat.
To kick things off, let's talk about Night One of WrestleMania, a stacked card with seven highly-anticipated matchups. In some cases, the results seem fairly obvious — what's up, Jey Uso and Jade Cargill — but overall this was a tough card to figure out. Where did we ultimately land? Let's get to the picks!
Uso vs. Uso: Jey Uso (94%)
Jey Uso has been a frustrating case of the right guy with the wrong label. Dubbed "Main Event" Jey Uso, the former WWE Tag Team Champion has been a solid presence in WWE's midcard and occasionally raised to main event status solely by his feud with his family, which is why it feels like there is no other option for WrestleMania 40 than Jey finally getting the big win he's been chasing for years.
Uso's bitter feud with his brother Jimmy has been a long time coming, and while Jimmy has the entire Bloodline backing him up, Jey has something even more powerful: the goodwill of the WWE Universe. Fans buy into Uso as a superstar. He walks like a star. He talks like a star. He just needs the right win to fulfill all the promises of his packaging.
Dethroning Roman Reigns has become a lost cause. His chance at ending Gunther's IC Title reign has come and gone. There is one last victory that can make Jey Uso the "main event" talent he claims to be. He must take a page out of Cain's book and crush his brother into dust, and a whopping 94% of the Wrestling Inc. staff thinks he can do it.
Written by Ross Berman
Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee (59%)
Rey Mysterio and his estranged son Dominik Mysterio renewed their WrestleMania 39 rivalry for this year's "Show of Shows" two weeks back, with "Dirty Dom" costing his father a victory over fellow rival Santos Escobar. With Escobar and Dominik united in their malign for the masked luchador, Rey not only invited Dragon Lee into the LWO but also confirmed they would enter WrestleMania 40 together to put the rivalry to bed.
When it comes to singles competition, Dominik Mysterio has yet to score a win over daddy dearest, although he has got measures of revenge in tag team action alongside the Judgment Day. It was also Dragon Lee who dethroned Dominik Mysterio as "WWE NXT" North American Champion. But Escobar holds singles victories over both Rey and Lee, and that could prove all the difference in a match where the babyfaces enter with the statistics on their side. The poll put to the Wrestling Inc. team fits the billing as a match of fine margins, with a 59-41% split favoring Mysterio and Lee to pick up the win. It's worth considering that before this feud, Dominik and Escobar have only stood opposite one another; while Dragon Lee is new to the LWO, he's fully on board with Mysterio's direction as his stablemate, whereas Escobar and Dominik don't appear to have common ground outside this specific rivalry. It stands to reason that the temporary alliance may crumble in the face of LWO supremacy, with the senior Mysterio making it two-for-two in 'Mania matches against his progeny.
Written by Max Everett
Damage CTRL vs. Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, Naomi: Bianca, Jade, Naomi (100%)
The WINC team is not betting against Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair, and Naomi this WrestleMania. The team facing Damage CTRL (comprised of Dakota Kai, Asuka, and Kairi Sane) is full of star power, including "Mrs. WrestleMania" herself, Belair, who is 3-0 on "The Grandest Stage of the All." While Belair doesn't have a singles match at WrestleMania this year, she's in good company. The returning Naomi proved just how formidable of a competitor she is during her run with TNA and subsequent return at the Royal Rumble, where she lasted over an hour. And then there's Cargill, whose WWE debut sent shockwaves across the wrestling world when she jumped ship from AEW, a promotion where she was nearly undefeated. Cargill also had an impressive showing of strength at the Rumble. She has yet to have a singles match in WWE, but here she's in great hands and should be able show the fans what she can do while still being protected.
The team of Belair, Cargill, and Naomi almost make Damage CTRL feel like an afterthought when it comes to this match, which is a shame since it features the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions. It's disappointing the titles won't be featured on WrestleMania, but if Kai and the Kabuki Warriors have to do something else, being in the ring with Cargill, especially, is still going to put all eyes on them. That said, even with the champions in the ring alongside Kai, we here at WINC don't think they stand a chance. A full 100% of us think Cargill, Belair, and Naomi are going to run away with this match — the only contest where the pick was unanimous.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Six-Pack Tag Team Ladder Match For The Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships: Awesome Truth (47%)
Last month, WWE General Managers Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis announced that the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships would be defended in a six-pack ladder match at WrestleMania 40. In consideration of the stipulation and wide range of participants, many are expecting this title match to be nothing but pure, unpredictable chaos. But in analyzing the lineup of teams, which includes The Judgment Day, Awesome Truth, DIY, New Day, New Catch Republic, and A-Town Down Under, there is one competitor who prides himself on being predictably unpredictable. That, of course, is R-Truth, who, up until recently, fully believed he had successfully infiltrated into The Judgment Day faction.
After months of being beaten down and berated by The Judgment Day members, Truth finally realized that they had denied his entry into the group. As such, Truth (backed by his tag partner The Miz) vowed to not only score a sense of vindication, but also the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship currently held by The Judgment Day's Damian Priest and Finn Balor. Given their personal history with The Judgment Day, 47% of the Wrestling Inc. staff believe Awesome Truth will succeed in their quest to unseat Priest and Balor in heartwarming fashion at WrestleMania. Second place in our predictions is DIY, as 29% of our staffers see Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa walking out with tag team gold in their first WrestleMania. The Judgment Day themselves got 18% of the vote, while a slim 6% voted for dark horse contenders Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne, the New Catch Republic.
Satisfying triumphs aside, WWE has also clarified that this six-pack ladder match will be contested until both sets of titles are retrieved from the suspension rig above the ring. Naturally, this condition has led many fans to speculate that WWE may once again be separating the tag team titles — meaning one, two, or none of the above picks could end up being correct.
Written by Ella Jay
Intercontinental Championship: GUNTHER (71%)
Heading into the first night of WrestleMania 40, GUNTHER has held the WWE Intercontinental Championship for 666 days and counting, with Sami Zayn looking to bring the lengthy run to an end. Although Zayn is a favorite of many on the Wrestling Inc. staff, the majority of us believe he will fall short against GUNTHER this weekend.
One of the most exciting WWE feuds of 2023 was between GUNTHER and Chad Gable, and it feels like the two still have unfinished business over the Intercontinental Championship. Additionally, Zayn seems poised for bigger things going forward, with some fans disappointed that he was given a shot at the Intercontinental title rather than one of the company's world titles. We posit that a continuation of the GUNTHER-Gable feud could still be the long-term plan, with GUNTHER and Zayn given an opportunity to showcase their skills on a grand stage before moving the pieces forward for the future.
It's almost certain that Zayn and GUNTHER will go out on Saturday night and put on an incredible performance. The stakes are high, with GUNTHER's reign now well past the previous record of combined days with the title held by Pedro Morales. While the perennial underdog Zayn could always surprise us, 71% of us feel that GUNTHER will continue his impressive run for the time being.
Written by Nick Miller
Women's World Championship: Rhea Ripley (82%)
The intensity between Becky Lynch and WWE Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley has certainly picked up in recent weeks, even outside of the ring, as evidenced by Lynch invading Ripley's appearance on Ariel Helwani's "MMA Hour" at the start of WrestleMania week ahead of Monday's "WWE Raw." Still, that hasn't done much to influence our prediction panel, with 82% of respondents seeing the title remain with the champion. (The only singles match on either night of WrestleMania with a higher prediction percentage is Jey Uso over Jimmy.)
Lynch's road to her first shot at gold since holding the "NXT" Women's Championship for a little over a month late in 2023 was not easy. She had to survive a trio of matches against Nia Jax, including a brutal Last Woman Standing match on "Raw" in mid-March; fend off a feisty Liv Morgan; get past the ever-dangerous Shayna Baszler to qualify for Elimination Chamber and then win the Chamber match itself to earn her shot. At the same time, Ripley has only had a pair of televised title defenses in 2024, besting an upstart Ivy Nile and the aforementioned Jax to hang onto her hardware. And with all that in mind, the masses are still leaning toward "The Eradictor."
The intrigue in this match goes far beyond who will walk out with the championship, however. With Ripley still technically playing the heel role from a character perspective, though crowds have been heavily leaning in her favor for some time now, with Philadelphia surely to follow overwhelmingly in turn, Lynch will hit the ring in a tough spot. Though widely respected, she'll be treated as the bad guy in this one almost certainly, which makes one wonder, might the makings of a double-turn be in the works? Ripley seems bigger than The Judgment Day at this point and the crowd would be all for her moving on therefore, whether it happens right there at WrestleMania or in the coming weeks thereafter.
Written by Jon Jordan
The Rock and Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins: Rock & Roman (76.5%)
We made it. It was a bumpy road, and not a lot of it made sense, but we made it. The first of two main events for WrestleMania 40 will see Part One of Cody Rhodes trying to finish his story — a story that still might not get finished if The Bloodline has their way.
The Rock and Roman Reigns want to rule WWE with an iron fist covered in Samoan tattoos, while Rhodes and Seth Rollins want to fight for the good of the company. It's a very simple story that has gone through more changes than a model at a fashion show, but with this being a match involving The Bloodline, expect the drama to be milked until there is absolutely nothing left. Reigns will want the advantage of "Bloodline Rules" going into Night Two, meaning he could potentially have a mean streak that matches what The Rock has done in recent weeks. However, will spilling his blood come back to bite The Rock on the rear end as Rhodes arrives with all guns blazing? Meanwhile, Rollins has his own match to worry about on Night Two against Drew McIntyre — could he potentially play a role in things? There are tons of questions going into a WrestleMania main event for the first time in a long time, which is ironic considering the result seems fairly obvious.
Like Chekhov's gun, it's hard to imagine WWE introducing something like "Bloodline Rules" only for Rhodes and Rollins to win and prevent fans from seeing what that match would look like. Besides, if Rhodes is going to finish his story, giving The Bloodline the advantage going into Night Two would make that victory feel more earned. That's not to say Rhodes is guaranteed a win, of course — given what happened last year, it's worth remembering that anything can happen in WWE.
Written by Sam Palmer