Smark Out Moment

WWE WrestleMania 33 will take place on April 2, 2017 at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. WrestleMania XXXIII will be a co-branded event featuring stars from both the Raw and SmackDown rosters. Follow along here for spoilers and information on the event's card, lineup of matches and news regarding the pay-per-view.

Here are my predictions for the WWE WrestleMania 2017 PPV. Check back for WrestleMania 33 results and review coverage here.

WWE WrestleMania 2017 Spoilers

WWE Universal Championship Match: Goldberg (c) vs. Brock Lesnar

So despite neither of them being regular roster members, these two will be fighting for the Universal Championship. After all, it makes perfect sense that the guy who wrecked Lesnar multiple times would not only feel like he has something to prove, but he'd also put his title on the line in order to do that, right? If WWE were smart in booking this, it would be Lesnar who was going in as the champion so he has something to offer Goldberg in exchange for the rematch. Actually, if they were smarter than that, it would be Kevin Owens walking into WrestleMania as the champion so he can keep the title in the limelight AFTER WrestleMania and feud with someone like Finn Balor instead of having the belt held up by a guy who doesn't want to make any appearances. On paper, this is great, but you'd have to ignore that the match will either be super short or terrible and the repercussions to come out of it will be Lesnar holding the title hostage until SummerSlam, which only hurts the Raw brand. God forbid they plan on having Roman Reigns be the one who takes the belt from him in August, too. At that point, SmackDown is officially the A-show.

PREDICTION: Brock Lesnar wins.


WWE Championship Match: Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Randy Orton

While I still maintain my previous criticisms that this match should have instead been a regular non-championship triple threat that also included Luke Harper and the WWE Championship should have revolved around two other people, I'll submit that the babyface turn with Orton burning Sister Abigail's burial site was pretty cool and helped this feud out immensely. I don't love the idea that our two main champions by the end of WrestleMania will be Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton, but I also wouldn't like the whole Goldberg and Bray Wyatt combo, either. Here's hoping they continue to prove me wrong.

PREDICTION: Randy Orton wins the title.


WWE United States Championship Match: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Kevin Owens

I've yapped on and on about how this should be for the Universal Championship instead, so I'll save you that rant again. Ignoring that facet, this should be amazing. I really hope WWE gives them the proper time they deserve instead of shortchanging them. This can't be swept under the rug. It's the best thing they have going for this card.

PREDICTION: Kevin Owens wins the title and Jericho takes a leave of absence for a few months to tour with Fozzy. If there's a chance Jericho is sticking around long enough to wrestle at Payback, he may retain and lose it there.


Raw Women's Championship Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match: Bayley (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax

Three of these women are very talented, but I would have much rather preferred just Sasha against Bayley. One of the downsides to the brand split is that I've now seen Sasha and Charlotte lock up every single week in some fashion for what, a year? I've been fed up with Charlotte for the longest time and her inclusion only hinders it in my mind. But then you add Nia Jax to the mix and things just get worse. This will be a case where it won't be as good as they'll make it out to be, but everyone will have to sort of swallow the pill and talk it up as the best of all time or something because it just so happens to have 3 of the 4 Horsewomen of NXT in it. As this is now an elimination-style match, I'm really hoping (although I have zero faith it'll happen) that Nia Jax gets taken out almost immediately and Charlotte doesn't last too long, either, so we mostly get Sasha against Bayley.

PREDICTION: Bayley wins unless Sasha turns heel during the match to become champion.


SmackDown Women's Championship Match: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Entire SmackDown Roster

They are being purposely vague about this, wherein the only thing that we know is that Alexa Bliss will be facing "every available woman on the SmackDown roster" which could theoretically apply to Mickie James, Becky Lynch, Natalya, Carmella, Naomi (if she's healthy enough to compete), Nikki Bella and Maryse (despite them wrestling elsewhere on the card), Eva Marie (despite her absence), Tamina Snuka (despite her having not yet returned) and even the possibility that they bring someone up from NXT and say they signed her just in time, so don't count out Asuka, Peyton Royce, Billie Kay and others. At this point, I think there are too many options available for a title change not to take place.

PREDICTION: Too early to call, but I think Alexa drops the belt.


4th Annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

We can assume every person who has nothing else to do will be in this match, unless they're unlucky enough to be considered so expendable that they aren't even included in the match literally built into the card just for the sole reason of giving everyone a paycheck.

Confirmed participants = Mojo Rawley, Apollo Crews, Big Show, Curt Hawkins, Jinder Mahal, Bo Dallas, Epico, Primo, Curtis Axel, R-Truth, Goldust, Braun Strowman, Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze, Fandango, Dolph Ziggler, Heath Slater, Rhyno, Jason Jordan, Chad Gable, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Mark Henry, Sin Cara, Konnor, Viktor, Aiden English, Simon Gotch, Titus O'Neil, Kalisto, Tian Bing

Other possible entrants = Luke Harper, James Ellsworth, Kane + anybody on NXT, in the cruiserweight division and the United Kingdom folk

PREDICTION: Braun Strowman is the smart money.


Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker

Please, PLEASE turn Roman Reigns heel before this match takes place. I'm even okay with him beating The Undertaker if they turn him heel, but they can't have him do it as a babyface. This is your chance, WWE. Don't fuck it up.

PREDICTION: I don't put it past WWE to refuse to budge on the babyface Reigns mentality but to also be confused as to why he doesn't get any reaction against The Undertaker.


WWE Raw Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Ladder Match: Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (c) vs. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Enzo Amore & Big Cass

I could very well see this being bumped to the pre-show along with the Cruiserweight Championship and battle royal matches, but if not, it will be used as a sort of buffer match instead, being booked in a spot where people might be okay with missing it. Now that the ladder stipulation has been added, I think this will be a lot more entertaining.

PREDICTION: Gallows and Anderson retain.


John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse

While I think both The Miz and John Cena deserve better, I'm interested to see Maryse back in the ring and I have to admit that this feud has been pretty damn good. Hopefully, the feud continues to follow that trend and it ends up being more than just a glorified proposal segment. I don't want to see a squash match.

PREDICTION: Cena and Nikki win.


AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon

I'm really disappointed that this was something they decided to go with. AJ Styles should be in a match that will actually turn heads and be considered one of the main events, not pushed aside and given a random thing with Shane. I understand that he's the head of SmackDown and in theory, this should be huge, but it just isn't. Even Corey Graves agrees with that sentiment as he said it does nothing for him on Bring it to the Table. Could be worse, could be MUCH better.

PREDICTION: Styles had better win.


WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match: Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries

This is now confirmed to be on the pre-show, but don't let that discourage you. We all knew that was coming eventually. The cruiserweight division is an offshoot C-show (or even D-show if you rank NXT above it) and there's no way it wouldn't have been bumped off the main card. Knowing that information ahead of time just cuts to the chase, but the match itself should still be great. Aries and Neville are going to want to prove themselves even more now that they're on the kickoff and if they're given enough time, they could steal the entire show. At the very least, they could bring the type of intensity and energy needed to the start of WrestleMania for it to ride the momentum throughout a good portion of the rest of the night. Both Neville and Aries are great, so this match should in turn be pretty awesome if they can just do their thing without rushing.

PREDICTION: Austin Aries wins the championship.


WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Baron Corbin

I was hoping this would be a gimmick match of sorts (preferably Falls Count Anywhere) but it doesn't appear to have any kind of stipulation attached to it. Thus, it's more along the lines of a filler match compared to the more important things, even though Ambrose and Corbin are both entertaining and they have the potential to do something fun. Maybe they're saving a gimmick match for Backlash so they don't overload WrestleMania with too many No DQ stipulations, which I'm fine with. I can't imagine this stealing the show or even being something people particularly remember happened by the end of the night, but I like both guys, so I'm interested nevertheless.

PREDICTION: Baron Corbin wins the title either here or at Backlash.


Non-Sanctioned Match: Triple H vs. Seth Rollins

Rumor has it this will just be a short brawl, which is better than nothing. I'm convinced that Samoa Joe will be making an appearance coming out here to help Triple H before Finn Balor evens the odds on Seth's behalf, getting both of those guys on the card as well without dedicating a match to them.

PREDICTION: If the match actually happens, then unless an injury prevents it from going down properly, I think Rollins definitely wins, if you can technically win it instead of just looking strong in the end.