{"id":18090,"date":"2026-04-19T16:41:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/18090\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T16:41:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:41:37","slug":"wrestlemania-42-predictions-night-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/18090\/","title":{"rendered":"WrestleMania 42 predictions: Night Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

WrestleMania 42 is coming to us all weekend in Las Vegas\u2019 Allegiant Stadium, wrapping up on Sun., April 19 with even more pro wrestling spectacle from WWE. Like Saturday, tonight will feature a free \u201cCountdown\u201d pre-show, then the premium live event itself begins at 6 p.m. ET \u2014 streaming HERE<\/a> on ESPN in the U.S., and on Netflix pretty much everywhere else.<\/p>\n

Night Two kicks off on ESPN with Brock Lesnar taking on Oba Femi, and will conclude on ESPN Unlimited platform with Roman Reigns challenging CM Punk for the World Heavyweight championship. WrestleMania Sunday will also feature three other title bouts, including a highly anticipated clash between Royal Rumble winner Rhea Ripley and Women\u2019s champ Jade Cargill. And more!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot to process. Luckily for you Cagesiders, our staff of learned wrestling blowhards is here to help figure out just how the event is going to play out with predictions for each match on the card.<\/p>\n

PREDICTIONS FOR WRESTLEMANIA 42 NIGHT ONE<\/p>\n

WWE World Heavyweight championship: CM Punk (c) vs. Roman Reigns<\/p>\n

Geno Mrosko: It\u2019s the Tribal Chief\u2019s world, we\u2019re all just living in it. Plus, Punker needs some time off, man. He\u2019s been running real hard and the bumps take a different toll at his age. Not that he\u2019s old or anything. Not at all. Pick: Roman Reigns<\/p>\n

Sean Rueter: This version of M.\u2019s Tribal Chief is easy to cheer as is. Punk and hopefully Triple H realize they don\u2019t have long before the Old Man Phil babyface act starts getting treated like Cody Rhodes was last night. I wouldn\u2019t even want to guess at how this might involve Pat McAfee, or Paul Heyman, or both. But the belt stays with the Best in the World with a close that makes us anxious for Roman\u2019s return. Pick: CM Punk<\/p>\n

Kyle Decker: Honestly probably picking against the odds here, but I\u2019m going with the guy who will be around more to represent the title. Maybe they go with a heel turn or something interesting to get there, but if Roman is going to keep the schedule he had last year, he probably shouldn\u2019t win the title. Pick: CM Punk<\/p>\n

Claire Elizabeth: I\u2019m just very slightly baffled by the way things deescalated on the go-home show, with each guy sharing how he feels and more or less agreeing to disagree as to who\u2019s gonna win when it comes to the actual match. It\u2019s not bad, I liked it, it just makes me feel like I have less of a handle on who is gonna walk away with the title. That being said, ain\u2019t no way I can pick against my guy, the Second City Saint. Pick: CM Punk<\/p>\n

Cain A. Knight: There is plenty of evidence that shows WWE won\u2019t shy away from putting the world title on a part-time wrestler who is only around for a handful of matches per year. Roman\u2019s time on top with The Bloodline was WWE at its peak, so I think they will try to recapture that magic by going back to Reigns as the champion at WrestleMania, even if he needs outside help to beat the Best Old Man in the World. I just don\u2019t see Roman losing at three consecutive WrestleMania events. Pick: Roman Reigns<\/p>\n

Marcus Benjamin: This is one of those situations where one wrestler\u2019s talked so much trash about his opponent, the state of the business, and pretty much everything that he has to win. Roman Reigns can\u2019t lose to a guy he called \u201cold.\u201d I don\u2019t make the rules I just know them. Pick: Roman Reigns<\/p>\n

M. G0MEZ: While the build had its ups and downs, ultimately, CM Punk and Roman Reigns did a great job making the outcome feel as important as it is uncertain, especially Reigns<\/a>. Still, I stand by what I said after the Royal Rumble: Reigns is leading WWE into WrestleMania 43. The OTC wins in a sub-ten-minute squash. Pick: Roman Reigns <\/p>\n

Jon Velez-Jackson: A lot of what CM Punk has said about Roman is true. He\u2019s a nepo baby, he\u2019s boring and safe when speaking with the media (except when he\u2019s talking about his support for Donald Trump<\/a>). But the point he really stuck is that Reigns is a part-timer. While Roman is WWE\u2019s favorite son and the odd\u2019s-on favorite, I want a fighting champion. Pick: CM Punk<\/p>\n

Josh Jagler: With Roman\u2019s wrestling career seeming to be on the back 9, this seems like a great time to put the gold back on him here so he can give out some rub before he hangs up his Jordans for good. Pick: Roman Reigns<\/p>\n

WWE Women\u2019s championship: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Rhea Ripley<\/p>\n

Geno Mrosko: I\u2019m not sold on Cargill like WWE seems to be, but this match will tell us a lot about her future trajectory. If she can\u2019t have a banger with Ripley at WrestleMania\u2026 Even still, I\u2019m picking with my heart on this one. Pick: Rhea Ripley<\/p>\n

Sean Rueter: Given how big a star it feels Ripley\u2019s become, it\u2019s something that she hasn\u2019t held any of the four main roster women\u2019s singles belts in almost a year. Here\u2019s where they fix that, just in time for post-WrestleMania press. And put me in the camp that believes Jade will impress in defeat. Pick: Rhea Ripley<\/p>\n

Kyle Decker: This is kind of make or break for Jade. That doesn\u2019t mean she has to win. But she has to look like she\u2019s in the same league as Rhea. I don\u2019t think they\u2019ve given up on Jade as a big deal (though it\u2019s possible given this title reign) so I am going to say they give her a marquee win over Ripley. Pick: Jade Cargill<\/p>\n

Claire Elizabeth: Jade made the mistake of picking on Rhea\u2019s girlfriend, and she\u2019s gonna learn a lesson here she won\u2019t soon forget. Pick: Rhea Ripley<\/p>\n

Cain A. Knight: Cargill\u2019s championship reign has been mostly boring and underwhelming. Sometimes the most obvious solution to a problem is to have the biggest star in the division take back the gold. Pick: Rhea Ripley<\/p>\n

Marcus Benjamin: I\u2019m not sure about this one so I\u2019ll figure it out as I type. Like most matches on either card, this build is meh. Jade would get more from a win than Rhea, while Rhea wouldn\u2019t suffer much from a loss. On the other hand, I can\u2019t see WWE letting Rhea walk out of their biggest show of the year without Rhea sporting gold. Pick: Rhea Ripley<\/p>\n

M. G0MEZ: When Cargill got backup, victory seemed certain, but Ripley appears to have neutralized that threat. While Ripley can absorb a loss, her rock star status suggests she should be champion. A loss for Cargill would hurt her future. I\u2019m not 100% confident in my pick, but I\u2019m certain that the result will say a lot about how the office views Cargill. Pick: Rhea Ripley<\/p>\n

Jon Velez-Jackson: A Jade victory would make her look incredibly strong, and Rhea has reached the level of stardom where she doesn\u2019t need a title. However, Ripley winning would be an ultimate feel-good moment for her legions of fans. Pick: Rhea Ripley <\/p>\n

Josh Jagler: If anyone in WWE is loss-proof right now it\u2019s Rhea Ripley. Putting her in this spot because she was the biggest star the WWE could put in a match with Jade to make Cargill\u2019s match seem like a big deal doesn\u2019t guarantee that Rhea has to win. Jade adding backup recently makes me think her title run is closer to the beginning than it is the end. Pick: Jade Cargill<\/p>\n

United States championship: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Trick Williams<\/p>\n

Geno Mrosko: WHOOP THAT TRICK! Pick: Trick Williams<\/p>\n

Sean Rueter: To really sell the double turn and build anticipation for T. Willy\u2019s coronation at Backlash\u2026 Pick: Sami Zayn<\/p>\n

Kyle Decker: There\u2019s no way it\u2019s not Trick Williams. Uh huh. I like it. Pick: Trick Williams<\/p>\n

Claire Elizabeth: The shadows are growing long over Sami\u2019s face no doubt, and Trick\u2019s star is rising like a rocket, but fundamentally I think that just means that Zayn is gonna cut a corner or two and do whatever it takes to keep the title around his waist. Pick: Sami Zayn<\/p>\n

Cain A. Knight: Trick Williams is super over with the WWE audience while Sami Hogan is getting easier to boo, so this one seems like a no-brainer. Pick: Trick Williams<\/p>\n

Marcus Benjamin: I\u2019m picking the guy who is a much better wrestler than he is a rapper. And no, I will not talk about it. Pick: Trick Williams<\/p>\n

M. G0MEZ: The Gingerbread Man is getting ginger-snapped. #AndNew. Let\u2019s talk about it. Pick: Trick Williams<\/p>\n

Jon Velez-Jackson: Even when holding a title, Sami is forever the underdog. Simply put, Trick is the future, and he\u2019s on an upward trajectory. Pick: Trick Williams<\/p>\n

Josh Jagler: The seeds for a double turn here were planted and have been organically blossoming for weeks. Part of me can see Sami embracing a full heel turn and finding a way to retain, but the visual (or audio, I guess) of 60,000 people chanting \u201cWhoop that trick!\u201d after Trick Willy prevails is too good to pass up on. Pick: Trick Williams<\/p>\n

Singles match: Dominik Mysterio vs. \u201cThe Demon\u201d Finn B\u00e1lor<\/p>\n

Geno Mrosko: The Demon is back, and Finn doesn\u2019t lose when he breaks it out. Pick: Finn Balor<\/p>\n

Sean Rueter: Maybe it\u2019s everyone else picking The Demon making me want to be a contrarian, and reminded me I was never a fan of WWE\u2019s version of Prince Devitt\u2019s facepaint gimmick (that may be the smarkiest thing I\u2019ve ever written, which is saying something)\u2026 but El Sucio isn\u2019t a recent call-up, and we can be pretty sure at this point that WWE doesn\u2019t see B\u00e1lor as being in Brock Lesnar\u2019s league, and I ain\u2019t just talking about Beast in the East. Judgment Day-ference is always an option if they want to protect Finn in defeat. Pick: Dirty Dom Mysterio<\/p>\n

Kyle Decker: The Demon is a spoiler. (One of the many reasons I wish they\u2019d leave it buried.) Pick: Finn B\u00e1lor<\/p>\n

Claire Elizabeth: Do we know where the Demon stands on chicken nuggets? Can Dominik make a Faustian bargain to get himself out of this one? My hopes are not high for him. Pick: Finn Balor<\/p>\n

Cain A. Knight: Vince McMahon did his best to ruin The Demon, so now WWE has some work to do to reestablish Finn\u2019s aura in this form. That begins with a win over Dirty Dom at WrestleMania. Pick: Finn B\u00e1lor<\/p>\n

Marcus Benjamin: The Demon can\u2019t come out to play only for a loss. Pick: Finn Balor<\/p>\n

M. G0MEZ: \u201cThe Demon\u201d is not coming back to lose to \u201cEl Sucio.\u201d Pick: Finn B\u00e1lor<\/p>\n

Jon Velez-Jackson: As others have stated better than I can, The Demon is back for a reason. Pick: Finn B\u00e1lor<\/p>\n

Josh Jagler: Finn will win this one, but I\u2019m more curious to see where he goes from here. Here\u2019s to hoping an upper-card babyface run is the result of beating Dirty Dom. Pick: Finn Balor<\/p>\n

Singles match: Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar<\/p>\n

Geno Mrosko: I couldn\u2019t believe any more strongly in the idea that Lesnar needs to lose here, and it needs to be a definitive loss. Like, it shouldn\u2019t go more than five minutes, and Femi should only need one finisher to do it. Really put the stamp on it. Pick: Oba Femi<\/p>\n

Sean Rueter: Regardless of who\u2019s doing the booking and\/or pulling the strings, it just doesn\u2019t seem like it\u2019s in the WWE playbook to have a guy who just debuted in February beat someone with Lesnar\u2019s resume in his WrestleMania debut, regardless of his nigh-invincibility in NXT, or his buzz\/aura \u2014 especially when the biggest names making up the 6 in that recent call-up\u2019s 6-1 main roster record are Rusev and The Miz. Femi will look like a big deal, and probably get a handshake afterwards. But he\u2019s not getting a win. This time, anyway. Pick: Brock Lesnar<\/p>\n

Kyle Decker: At first I thought the build was enough to get Oba over. But as it went on, I don\u2019t think you go this far with making the Ruler look like a star and don\u2019t go all the way. Pick: Oba Femi<\/p>\n

Claire Elizabeth: Cue up the Holst, \u2019cause the Bringer of War is gonna smash the Beast and it ain\u2019t even gonna be close. Pick: Oba Femi<\/p>\n

Cain A. Knight: There are relatively few matches where I think one wrestler absolutely needs to win or else it is booking malpractice. Oba Femi losing to Brock Lesnar would be booking malpractice. But considering how bad the build to WrestleMania 42 has been, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if even this match somehow gets ruined by some higher power too. Pick: Brock Lesnar<\/p>\n

Marcus Benjamin: Justice for Kofi Kingston. Seriously though, like Geno said, this needs to be definitive. Oba has to win and he has to win big. Pick:Oba Femi<\/p>\n

M. G0MEZ: It\u2019s no coincidence that Oba Femi opens the show that Roman Reigns closes. These bookends are destined to collide, where \u201cThe Ruler\u201d becomes WWE\u2019s next big thing. To get there, Femi must crush Lesnar, once hailed as \u201cThe Next Big Thing.\u201d The circle of life<\/a>. Pick: Oba Femi<\/p>\n

Jon Velez-Jackson: Brock doesn\u2019t lose to just anybody, but Oba \u2014 in a very short amount of time \u2014 has proven that he\u2019s a very unique talent. The Ruler will come out on top here and cement himself as among the top stars in WWE today. Pick: Oba Femi <\/p>\n

Josh Jagler: I wrote a piece weeks ago imploring the WWE to strap the rocket to Oba at WrestleMania this year. While I was hoping he\u2019d end up in a World Title match, in today\u2019s WWE, a win over Brock Lesnar is the next best thing. Putting the coming-out party of The Ruler on ESPN proper on Sunday is a way to show Oba off to the world. Oba Feminists unite! Pick: Oba Femi<\/p>\n

Intercontinental championship Ladder Match: Penta (c) vs. Je\u2019von Evans vs. Dragon Lee vs. JD McDonagh vs. Rusev vs. Rey Mysterio<\/p>\n

Geno Mrosko: I don\u2019t know how this is going to work, and I fear for Rey trying to do anything on those ladders, but Evans is almost certainly going to do one, or maybe even two, things that we\u2019ll never forget. Pick: Penta<\/p>\n

Sean Rueter: If George Kittle isn\u2019t too hungover<\/a> from Night One (or already too far gone<\/a> by the time Femi\/Lesnar is over), he\u2019ll be on-hand to celebrate with his favorite fearless luchador, even if the Niners won\u2019t let him get physical. Pick: Penta<\/p>\n

Kyle Decker: I\u2019m still a mark for the guy and would like to see him get a bit of a push. Pick: Rusev<\/p>\n

Claire Elizabeth: Je\u2019Von is The Guy and will continue to be The Guy. Pick: Je\u2019Von Evans<\/p>\n

Cain A. Knight: Dragon, McDonagh, and Rusev are not winning this match. I hope Penta is just getting started on his low key run as one of the best babyfaces in WWE. Pick: Penta<\/p>\n

Marcus Benjamin: There are interesting picks all around here so how about I just go with a random generator on google. Pick: Je\u2019Von Evans<\/p>\n

M. G0MEZ: A ladder match is a perfect way to crown a winner without someone taking a fall. Night Two is shaping up to be a big night for former NXT stars Oba Femi and Trick Williams. I suspect Je\u2019Von Evans will make it a clean sweep for the NXThree. Pick: Je\u2019Von Evans<\/p>\n

Jon Velez-Jackson: I\u2019m torn on this one, because I could see Je\u2019Von pulling off a victory here. Yet, something tells me Penta still has some mileage left in this title run. Pick: Penta<\/p>\n

Josh Jagler: I literally just rolled a die and it landed on Dragon Lee. With the cats involved in this match, I can easily see this being one of the matches of the weekend. The real winners here might be us. Pick: Dragon Lee<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how we see Sunday night\u2019s matches playing out. In the comments, tell us where we\u2019re wrong or why you agree, and give us your predictions for Night Two of WrestleMania 42!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WrestleMania 42 is coming to us all weekend in Las Vegas\u2019 Allegiant Stadium, wrapping up on Sun., April…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11092,8,9,7,10976,10977,10978,10980],"class_list":{"0":"post-18090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-cageside-seats-features","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-wrestlemania-42","13":"tag-wwe","14":"tag-wwe-raw","15":"tag-wwe-smackdown"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116432370573030454","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}