Update: Check out our live coverage of WrestleMania 37 Night 2 here.
WrestleMania 37 Night 1 is in the books, and what a night it was. It started off with a 30-minute delay, as bad weather in Tampa, Florida meant pausing all action at Raymond James Stadium. But after that, we got a shock title defense from Bobby Lashley, who’s still WWE Champion, and a fantastic main event in Sasha Banks versus Bianca Belair.
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Now, we turn to Night 2 on Sunday. It airs on Peacock, as this is the first WrestleMania since 2013 to not broadcast on the WWE Network in the US. And it caps off a big week of wrestling, the Hall of Fame, two nights of NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver and of course WrestleMania Night 1.
The main event will see Roman Reigns defend his Universal Championship against Edge and Daniel Bryan. Asuka will also defend her Raw Women’s Championship against Rhea Ripley, and we’ve got a celebrity angle with Logan Paul siding with Sami Zayn in his clash with Kevin Owens.
Need to catch up on WrestleMania season? Check out GameSpot’s Wrestle Buddies podast here.
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 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. Natalya and Tamina.
Night 1 results
- WWE Championship match: Bobby Lashley defeated Drew McIntyre.
- Cesaro beat Seth Rollins
- Steel Cage match: Braun Strowman pinned Shane McMahon.
- Bad Bunny and Damian Priest defeated The Miz and John Morrison.
- SmackDown Women’s Championship match: Bianca Belair pinned Sasha Banks.
- Raw Tag Team Championship match: AJ Styles and Omos beat The New Day.
- Tag Team Turmoil match: Natalya and Tamina win shot at WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
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.