Over a year ago now, I made some Predictions for what I thought the NXT Stand and Deliver and WrestleMania 40 cards would look like. Whilst not every match has been confirmed, I have a rough idea as to who’s going to be on the show or not, and I thought this would be quite fun given I’m pretty terrible at Predictions and have literally no clue what I said! Right, let’s begin with NXT’s biggest show of the year!
NXT Stand and Deliver
NXT North American Championship: Dragon Lee VS Axiom VS Grayson Waller VS Trick Williams
Right! Dragon Lee did win the NXT North American Championship funnily enough, but he doesn’t hold it now! Axiom is currently in a Tag Team with Nathan Frazer whilst Grayson Waller is in a Team with Austin Theory on SmackDown. I’m glad I predicted Trick to be on the show, but even he’s done better than I anticipated!
Lyra Valkyria VS Nikkita Lyons
My theory here was that Lyra Valkyria was going to be revealed as the person who attacked and ultimately injured Nikkita Lyons. Of course, that wasn’t the case as it was in fact Blair Davenport. Whilst this prediction isn’t very good, it’s interesting to note that I did say that I came close to putting Lyra in the NXT Women’s Championship match!
NXT Tag Team Championships: The Dyad VS The Family VS Indus Sher VS Drew Gulak and Charlie Dempsey
Another multi-man match! The Dyad are obviously no longer in the company so that was a great prediction, but to be fair, The Family only just recently lost their NXT Tag Team Titles so I wasn’t far off with them. Indus Sher is a pretty bad call though whilst it’s unclear as to whether either Gulak or Dempsey will wrestle for the NXT Heritage Cup or not.
Dijak VS Odyssey Jones
This is really bad! Firstly, Dijak is going to be at NXT Stand and Deliver this year so I can at least say I got that right (sort of). However, Odyssey Jones was called up to the Main Roster last May, and I legitimately haven’t seen him since. It’s probably my fault!
NXT Women’s Championship: Sol Ruca VS Blair Davenport
This is a really interesting one as Sol Ruca and Blair Davenport aren’t in Title contention right now, mainly because Sol got injured for over 10 months whilst Blair has already lost in her Championship opportunity. However, these two are feuding right now, and Davenport was the one who injured Ruca (storyline-wise) so I’m actually quite pleased with this one (even if the match is actually happening on next week’s NXT).
NXT Championship: Carmelo Hayes VS Nathan Frazer
I’m wondering if this was more hope on my end than anything else. Carmelo Hayes ultimately lost the NXT Championship to Ilja Dragunov at NXT No Mercy whilst Nathan Frazer hasn’t been booked nearly as well as before he suffered his unfortunate injury. However, this is still a small chance that Frazer makes it onto the Stand and Deliver card in a week and a bit whilst Melo is set to Main Event again so at least that’s something!
WrestleMania 40
Night 1
Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: LA Knight VS Montez Ford VS Ilja Dragunov VS JD McDonagh VS Ricochet VS Solo Sikoa
Well, there is a potential that WrestleMania starts this year with a Ladder Match so that’s at least something! In terms of this match happening though, absolutely no chance! So far, only LA Knight here has a match booked for WrestleMania, but it is worth mentioning that we could still well see Montez Ford, JD McDonagh, and Solo Sikoa make appearances at The Show of Shows. Ilja Dragunov is also defending the NXT Championship at NXT Stand and Deliver so it’s only Ricochet who looks set to miss the biggest weekend of the year.
Legado Del Fantasma VS The Hurt Business
Haha, this one’s funny! Obviously, this match isn’t anywhere close to happening, but what’s funny about is the fact I had it as the O.G. Legado taking on the O.G. Hurt Business, rather than what’s currently going on with Santos and Bobby Lashley’s new crew. Moving on!
Kevin Owens VS Sami Zayn
I just couldn’t help myself with this one, could I?! I expected Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to dethrone The Usos at WrestleMania 39, and it was then a case of expecting them to break up once they lost the Tag Team Titles. In the end, this kind of happened, but not the way I expected as KO was traded to SmackDown. Still, both Kevin and Sami are going to be in big-time matches at Mania this year so that’s at least something!
SmackDown Women’s Championship: Raquel Rodriguez VS Bayley
Well, we’re already off to a great start as the SmackDown Women’s Championship no longer exists (it’s now the Women’s World Championship). Unfortunately for Raquel Rodriguez, she’s been dealing with some health issues that have taken her off TV for a while now (minus an appearance at Elimination Chamber), but Bayley does have a Women’s Title match at Mania this year so I’m actually pretty satisfied with this Prediction.
AJ Styles VS Shinsuke Nakamura
Here we go again! This match obviously isn’t happening again, with AJ Styles currently in a feud with LA Knight whilst Shinsuke Nakamura isn’t even close to making it onto the WrestleMania XL card (which is actually really harsh if you ask me). I also thought this could be a “Loser Leaves WWE/Retires” match which is actually quite hilarious!
Raw Tag Team Championships: DIY VS The Creed Brothers VS The Judgment Day VS Pretty Deadly
Now we’re talking! Whilst this isn’t correct by any stretch, I’m really happy with this Prediction! First of all, predicting DIY to reunite is pretty impressive (for me anyway) whilst The Judgment Day are also in a Tag Team Title match at WrestleMania 40. Whilst The Creed Brothers and Pretty Deadly aren’t scheduled to be on the card, they weren’t far off, and in my opinion, they really should be! So yeah, I think this might be my best one yet (mainly because I haven’t gotten any right yet)!
Becky Lynch VS Rhea Ripley
Hold the phone, I actually got one right! Whilst I didn’t predict this match to be for the Title (because I thought Rhea would get cashed in on by Raquel Rodriguez), I expected WWE would want to put their top stars against one another and Lynch-Ripley is certainly one of those matches! I might have to retire here (I obviously won’t)!
WWE Championship: Seth “Freakin” Rollins VS Austin Theory
And in the Main Event of Night 1, I predicted Seth “Freakin” Rollins would put his WWE Championship on the line against Austin Theory! Okay, so, Seth Rollins is currently a World Champion and he will also Main Event Night 1 of WrestleMania XL so that’s not too bad. However, Austin Theory has massively dropped down the card in the past year and the fact that I also predicted him to win the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble is honestly just a disaster!
Night 2
Brock Lesnar VS Bron Breakker
Okay, so Brock Lesnar obviously isn’t on WrestleMania this year for reasons, whilst Bron Breakker has been stuck on NXT for far too long now (even though he’s actually doing the best work of his career alongside Baron Corbin). I don’t have much more to add on this, but I definitely think Bron will be at Mania next year (small spoiler for an upcoming article).
SmackDown Tag Team Championships: Imperium VS The Usos
Okay, so there were two parts to this Prediction. Firstly, I thought Imperium were going to turn into Babyfaces which definitely hasn’t happened whilst I also thought The Usos would continue to be the Best Tag Team in the World. Obviously, that didn’t happen either, but I actually think that’s worked out for the best.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Carmella and Chelsea Green VS Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell VS Shotzi and Tegan Nox VS Piper Niven and Zoey Stark
Okay, we’ve got a lot to break down. The funniest thing about this is when I uploaded this first article a year ago, Carmella and Chelsea Green were starting to become a Tag Team. However, it didn’t last very long due to Mella getting pregnant. As for the other teams, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell are together but don’t look like they’re going to be on Mania, Shotzi and Tegan Nox are very much not a team anymore, whilst Piper Niven and Zoey Stark have different Tag Team partners (Niven is with Chelsea Green, Stark is with Shayna Baszler).
Drew McIntyre VS Bray Wyatt
This is kind of nice and sad at the same time! Drew McIntyre is at WrestleMania this year as he takes on Seth “Freakin” Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship. Unfortunately, as we all know, Bray Wyatt sadly passed away last year.
Raw Women’s Championship: Asuka VS Liv Morgan
I fully expected Asuka to win the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 39 before she went on a long, dominant run. It’s safe to say that neither of those things happened! As for Liv Morgan, injuries have really hurt her year, but she wasn’t far off winning the Women’s Royal Rumble (which is what I said would happen).
United States Championship: Bronson Reed VS Cody Rhodes
Oh my! Firstly, I do believe that Bronson Reed would be a really good mid-card Champion and I also think he should be on WrestleMania this year. As for his opponent, Cody Rhodes is Main Eventing both nights this year so this is a really bad one!
Bianca Belair VS Charlotte Flair
I feel a bit unlucky with this Prediction because for me, it felt pretty certain that we were going to get Bianca Belair VS Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 40, but an unfortunate injury to The Queen sort of ruined all of those plans. Mania 41 perhaps?
Universal Championship: Gunther VS Roman Reigns
If there’s one Prediction I wished I’d gotten right more than any other, it’s this one. The interesting thing to note is I thought Gunther would enter this match as the Universal Champion, which has honestly taken me a little bit by surprise. I also thought Gunther would start to get cheered more (which has definitely happened) and that Gunther-Roman Reigns is the biggest match WWE could put on. I’m not being funny, but I still stand by that (even if the Prediction itself was wrong).