The biggest wrestling show of the year draws near. WrestleMania 40 takes place from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on April 6 and 7.
After Royal Rumble winners Cody Rhodes and Bayley have called their WrestleMania shots, the card is starting to come together. After appearing to choose a match with world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins rather than “finishing his story” against Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes did an about-face and used his Rumble win to call for a match with Reigns instead.
Similarly, women’s Royal Rumble winner Bayley initially suggested she would go after women’s world champion Rhea Ripley. Instead, Bayley will face her former Damage CTRL teammate Iyo Sky for the WWE women’s championship.
More matches will get announced in the coming weeks and months, but we can also take a look ahead to matches we think will take place at WrestleMania 40.
Let’s get to it and look at what we know — and what we think — will happen at WrestleMania 40, which streams live on Peacock on April 6 and 7 beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
2024 WWE WrestleMania 40 matches
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship — Roman Reigns (c) vs. Cody Rhodes: For the second consecutive year, it’s Reigns vs. Rhodes at WrestleMania. After winning the Royal Rumble again, Rhodes immediately made it clear he was coming for Reigns to “finish the story.” That plan quickly was sidelined when Rhodes appeared to step aside on SmackDown and hand the Reigns match over to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Fan backlash to the idea of Rhodes’ two-year-long story was strong and it appears that pushed WWE to pivot back to Rhodes getting his match with Reigns. At the WrestleMania 40 Kickoff, Reigns and Rock were celebrating their upcoming match, with Rock suddenly on good terms with Reigns. Rhodes interrupted, said he got to make the decision, not Reigns, and said he was coming after Reigns. It’s worth keeping an eye on how The Rock factors into things as we move forward.
WWE Women’s Championship — Iyo Sky (c) vs. Bayley: Bayley was the winner of this year’s women’s Royal Rumble. Now, she faces one of her former Damage CTRL teammates in Sky. Despite creating Damage CTRL, Bayley had been on the outs with the group for quite some time. While Bayley hinted at challenging Rhea Ripley for the women’s world title, Nia Jax stepped in and scared Bayley off, leading to Bayley challenging Sky and fighting off all of Damage CTRL.
2024 WWE WrestleMania 40 predictions
World Heavyweight Championship — Seth Rollins (c) vs. Drew McIntyre: With Rollins injured, it feels like he needs to lose the belt at WrestleMania. While it appeared Rollins would face CM Punk at the event, Punk suffered an injury in the Royal Rumble that has sidelined him. Rhodes chose Reigns over Rollins, leaving Rollins needing a challenger for his title. McIntyre has been the man most involved with Rollins aside from Rhodes and Punk, which would seem to make him a leading candidate for a title shot. Rollins’ challenger will likely come from a men’s Elimination Chamber match, so anything can happen. But it’s wroth remembering that Damian Priest needs to cash in the Money in the Bank contract at some point.
Intercontinental Championship — Gunther (c) vs. Bron Breakker: It’s still a long way out from WrestleMania so these predictions are largely shots in the dark at this point. Breakker is the last man to pin Gunther in a WWE ring, pulling off the feat in an NXT match, which makes this a natural match as Breakker is ready for the main roster. There were also rumors of Gunther facing Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, but Lesnar has been written out of WWE’s plans after his assumed involvement with the recent allegations against Vince McMahon. Breakker took Lesnar’s spot in the Royal Rumble, basically doing everything Lesnar was set to do in the match. It makes enough sense that it’s hard to see a better path for Gunther.
Jey Uso vs. Jimmy Uso: A match between the Uso twins has been a seemingly sure thing since Jey split from The Bloodline. The two were the first two men in the ring at the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania is a time for paying off big stories. It would be easy to get to this match by having Jimmy cost Jey the intercontinental title in a recently teased Jey vs. Gunther match, allowing the two to become entangled as The Rock and Roman Reigns amp up the family aspects of The Bloodline story once again.
Women’s World Championship — Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Becky Lynch: This is a pure shot in the dark at this point but Lynch punched her ticket to the Elimination Chamber match, which will determine Ripley’s WrestleMania challenger. Lynch’s recent story has been about her failure to achieve the success that had come so often in the past. Positioning Lynch as trying to prove she “still has it” needs a big payoff and winning the Chamber and going to WrestleMania would tick that box.
