The main event of the weekend.
WWEWrestleMania 37 will be a momentous moment in wrestling. For starters, it's the first WWE pay-per-view to take place in front of a crowd since last March. Second, it'll be the first WrestleMania not to air on the WWE Network since 2013 when John Cena beat The Rock at WrestleMania 29. Oh, and it's the first WrestleMania to not feature Triple H, The Undertaker or Shawn Michaels since WrestleMania 4.
Each night will be headlined by a world championship bout. Night 1 has Drew McIntyre challenging for Bobby Lashley's WWE Championship, and night 2 has the real main event of the weekend, Roman Reigns defending his Universal Championship against both Edge and Daniel Bryan.
How to watch: Peacock
For the first time since 2014, WrestleMania won't stream live on the WWE Network -- for US viewers, at least. The WWE Network has in essence migrated to NBC's Peacock streaming service, and that's where you'll go to watch WrestleMania 37. Peacock has three tiers, Free, Premium and Premium Plus. To watch WWE content, you'll need a Premium subsciption.
The good news is that'll set you back $5 a month, less than the $10 WWE Network. The better news is that there's currently a promotion that gives you 4 months of Premium access for $2.50 per month.
Start times
WrestleMania is a two-night extravaganza, taking place over April 10 and April 11. This is a godsend: Two nights is a much better idea than one seven-hour show, which was the style pre-COVID.
Both nights start at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, as the show emanates from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. (In front of fans, for the first time in over a year.) Grappling fans across the pond will have to stay up late, as WrestleMania starts at 1 a.m. UK time both nights. In Australia, both nights of WrestleMania begin at 10 a.m. AEST.
Night 1 match card
- WWE Championship match: Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Drew McIntyre.
- Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro.
- Steel Cage match: Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon.
- Bad Bunny and Damian Priest vs. The Miz and John Morrison.
- SmackDown Women's Championship match: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Bianca Belair.
- Raw Tag Team Championship match: The New Day (c) vs. AJ Styles and Omos.
- Tag Team Turmoil match: Lana and Naomi vs. Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose vs. The Riott Squad vs. Natalya and Tamina.
Night 2 match card
- Universal Championship match: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Edge vs. Daniel Bryan.
- The Fiend vs. Randy Orton.
- Raw Women's Tag Team Championship match: Asuka (c) vs. Rhea Ripley.
- Intercontinental Championship match: Big E (c) vs. Apollo Crews.
- United States Championship match: Riddle (c) vs. Sheamus.
- Sami Zayn (with Logan Paul) vs. Kevin Owens.
- Women's Tag Team Championship match: Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (c) vs. winners of Night 1 tag team turmoil match.
Predictions
Seth Rollins and Cesaro will steal night 1: Thus far, night 2 looks to be the better show. But the benefit of having two nights is that each match gets more time, at least in theory, and that's great news for Cesaro and Seth Rollins. Rollins is stuck in a deflating gimmick, but he's still easily among the best performers in the whole company. Meanwhile, this could be the breakout moment Cesaro has needed for years. Their match is sure to be excellent, better than anything else on night 1 and maybe even the best of the weekend.
Brock Lesnar may return: Though he's been protected for much of the last year, Bobby Lashley is a weak opponent for Drew McIntyre. It seems night 1 is built around McIntyre winning the WWE Championship in front of a live crowd, which he was deprived of last year, which is a fine plan. But Lashley has been positioned as a middle-card guy for too long, so his run as champion feels formulaic.
Lashley versus McIntyre doesn't feel like a WrestleMania main event. In fact, we already saw it at last year's Backlash pay-per-view, and it wasn't anything particularly memorable. I'm thinking that WWE has something up its sleeve to make the closing moments of night 1 pop, and that thing may be Brock Lesnar.
The Fiend versus Randy Orton will be awful: I mean, c'mon.
Daniel Bryan wins the Universal Championship: This seems unlikely in a way, since Bryan isn't considered a tippy-top star by WWE brass -- or at least, that's what I infer by the way he's been booked over the last year. But I'm predicting this on pure logic. Reigns is a great champion, but he's beaten everyone. Edge is a heel, and there are no strong babyfaces for him to feud with. Bryan is a babyface, and he'll have two ready opponents in Edge and Reigns to feud with after WrestleMania.
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