WWE WrestleMania 38 Predictions for Sunday Night’s Updated Match Card

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Credit: WWE.com

WrestleMania Saturday set the bar incredibly high for the second night of festivities, thanks to a Match of the Year candidate in Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch, the shocking return of Cody Rhodes to WWE and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s first major, physical confrontation in two decades.

Sunday’s show will pit Roman Reigns against Brock Lesnar in the “Biggest Match of All Time,” in which both the WWE and Universal Championships will be up for grabs.

The monumental match headlines a card that features tag team titles up for grabs, a few grudge-settling showdowns, and a dream match between Edge and AJ Styles that will have die-hard fans salivating.

Ahead of the show, streaming on Peacock at 8:00 p.m., here are predictions for each match and two prominent stories to keep an eye on.

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Winner Takes All for the WWE and Universal Championships

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns (Prediction: Reigns)

     

Triple Threat Match for the Raw Tag Team Championship

RK-Bro (c) vs. The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy (Prediction: RK-Bro)

       

Fatal 4-Way Match for the Women’s Tag Team Championship

Sasha Banks and Naomi vs. Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan vs. Shayna Baszler and Natalya vs. Carmella and Queen Zelina (c) (Prediction: Banks and Naomi)

      

Anything Goes Match: Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn (Prediction: Knoxville)

     

AJ Styles vs. Edge (Prediction: Edge)

     

Bobby Lashley vs. Omos (Prediction: Lashley)

       

Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory (Prediction: McAfee)

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For a star to remain relevant as long as Edge has, he or she must evolve, grow and when the time calls for it, reinvent themselves.

The 2012 Hall of Famer has made a career of doing just that. From his days as a silent enigma in The Brood to the sarcastic heel alongside tag team partner Christian, to The Rated R Superstar, he has continuously recognized when it was time to freshen things up.

Here in 2022, having told just about every possible story he could as the returning veteran looking to prove he can still hang with the youth of today, he switched things up again.

The Iconoclast enters WrestleMania Sunday darker, more calculating and dangerous than he has ever been. Doing away with the pyro and replacing Alter Bridge’s high-octane “Metalingus” with the band’s “The Other Side,” he is now a master chess player, one step ahead of everyone, including AJ Styles. 

His brutal attack on The Phenomenal One sparked their rivalry and set up what may very well be the best match of the entire WrestleMania weekend, at least on paper. When he takes to the squared circle Sunday night, he will do so with a new persona, at age 48 years, proving there is no such thing as “too old” to start over.

If anything, he is proving fearless, adapting to an ever-changing landscape by changing a character that has been over and effective for nearly two decades.

To preserve the work that has gone into creating this new side of the competitor, he should beat Styles Sunday night in what would serve as the real jumping-off point for their rivalry. Let the rematches happen. Let Edge develop and grow into these new shoes.

A loss and it will be difficult to rekindle the initial impact of the new character.

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Sunday night will mark the third time Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar have danced in the main event of WrestleMania. 

What many expected to be Reigns’ coronation in 2015, instead, is remembered for a Money in the Bank cash-in by Seth Rollins that remains one of the best finishes in pro wrestling history. Three years later, Reigns entered as the undisputed top babyface in the company, only to be steamrolled in a one-sided squash match that turned the New Orleans fans against it.

A lot can happen in four years, not the least of which is a character makeover that elevated Reigns from a cookie-cutter good guy to a dominant, cunning, sometimes vulnerable but always imposing heel. The Head of the Table, he has reigned as Universal Champion since August 30, 2020. Ironically, it is as a heel that The Tribal Chief realized his full potential and is thriving as the top star in WWE.

For all of the acknowledgments and bloodlines, wise men and main event wins, there is one thing that eludes Reigns: a WrestleMania victory over Lesnar.

It is his Moby Dick, the great white whale that he has chased throughout his career. He recalled the disappointment experienced by his father when he failed to win the title in San Francisco the first time in a great promo Monday on Raw. It has frustrated him, and even created an unspoken doubt as to whether he can actually pull off such a victory.

After conquering everyone put before him over the last 18 months, he will have his latest, greatest opportunity to exorcise the demon that is The Beast. In the process, he would become the unified WWE Universal champion, a moment even grander than those that did not come to fruition in his first two clashes with Lesnar.

It will happen.

Reigns is the guy, the face of WWE’s present and future. He is now the star the company hoped he would be for years now. Sunday will reaffirm that with the biggest, most rewarding victory of a career already trending toward GOAT consideration.