WrestleMania 40 predictions according to WWE 2K24

The Rock & Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins / 2K Games / WWE

The grandest stage of them all, the showcase of the immortals, the show of shows, the colossal tussle, the circus of big meaty men slapping meat. The point is, WrestleMania is this weekend.

As this year is WrestleMania 40, or XL in Roman numerals, WWE has taken to calling this “the biggest WrestleMania of all time,” and for once they might be on the money with that tagline. At the very least, it’s much better than the tagline for WrestleMania 25 in 2009, which was “the 25th anniversary of WrestleMania” – it was the 24th anniversary, idiots, your wedding day isn’t also your first anniversary – but I digress.

Across two nights is a fantastic selection of matches and I can honestly say I’m excited to see almost every single one of them. It also means I, like every wrestling fan, want to give my two cents on what’s going to happen. Still, I am a man of knowledge, so I shall be using a more scientific approach than most you see online. That is to say, I let every match play out in WWE 2K24 to find out the results.

Rhea Ripley(c) vs. Becky Lynch – Women’s World Championship

Rhea Ripley vs. Becky Lynch / 2K Games / WWE

This is one of the tougher matches to call this weekend. While Rhea Ripley is arguably the star on the rise with more to lose here, the past year she’s spent as champion has established her as the best of the best, and a loss to Becky Lynch in this match won’t hurt her momentum at all. Plus, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen The Man have a simple babyface run as champion, so why not have a bit of fun with it now?

We turned to WWE 2K24 to get our answer, and while it seemed like Lynch had a good strategy – working over Rhea’s arms from the Dis-Arm-Her – Ripley’s power was simply too much, and after dropping Becky from the top rope to the mat, one Riptide was all it took for Mami’s time on top to continue.

Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee vs. Santos Escobar & Dominik Mysterio

Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee vs. Santos Escobar & Dominik Mysterio / 2K Games / WWE

Last year, father and son came to blows in an excellent match, and it was the elder of the two that came away with the win. Given the run Dominik has been on with The Judgement Day since then, and Santos’ refreshed character since turning his back on his allies, it seems like a no-brainer to have the bad guys get the big win here. However, we can’t count out the up-and-coming Dragon Lee in this equation.

2K24 isn’t one for fairytale endings though, as Santos and Dominik came away with a dominant win. The high-flying antics of Rey and Lee were no match for Santos’ strength and Dominik’s…let’s call them, “creative tactics” to get the upper hand.

Gunther(c) vs. Sami Zayn – Intercontinental Championship

Gunther vs. Sami Zayn / 2K Games / WWE

With over 600 days as Intercontinental Champion, it’s hard to see Gunther losing to anyone anytime soon. However, Sami Zayn is a worthy candidate. It’s likely Gunther will be ascending into the world title picture sometime in the next year, and Sami Zayn has always been the ultimate David to slay any Goliath WWE has to offer.

The game is also in a biblical mood, it seems, and the eternal underdog eeked out a win against Gunther, ending his record-breaking title reign, hopefully ushering in a new era full of opportunities for all, and five-star matches every other week.

12-Man Ladder Match – WWE Tag Team Championships

12-Man Ladder Match / 2K Games / WWE

This is a chaotic affair, with six teams fighting for the titles, and it honestly seems like any team could win. All of them have momentum heading into the match, and all of them offer a fresh direction for the title post-WrestleMania.

Unfortunately, WWE 2K24 only supports up to 8-man matches, so instead we’ve taken one representative from each team and thrown them all in a ladder match together to see who triumphs.

Under these circumstances, Finn Balor closes out a perfect night for The Judgement Day, retaining his titles after a hard-fought battle. In the end, all he had to do was sneak up the ladder when everybody else was too busy fighting on the outside of the ring.

Bianca Belair, Naomi, & Jade Cargill vs. Damage CTRL

Bianca Belair, Naomi, Jade Cargill vs Damage CTRL / 2K Games

Even though the Women’s Tag Team Championships aren’t on the line, this match still promises to be a big-time clash, as it sees the full debut of Jade Cargill, who can just stand in the ring and feel like the biggest star out there. Damage CTRL have never been a group to win many big matches, and when it comes to getting over a brand-new star in Cargill, having the good guys win is an easy decision.

Thankfully, 2K24 didn’t make me look like a fool here and agreed that the team of Belair, Naomi, and Cargill will win this one with ease. Pretty much as soon as Jade set foot in the ring, it was all over for the mischievous trio.

Jimmy Uso vs. Jey Uso

Jimmy Uso vs. Jey Uso / 2K Games / WWE

The long-awaited brother vs. brother match that really should’ve happened six months ago, even if the hype isn’t huge for this one, it’s still going to be a fantastic match. It’s a fairly easy one to pick as well. While outside interference could change things, Jey is clearly the bigger star of the twins since they separated, and a win over his brother here would keep that momentum going.

Things got heated in this one, with both men fighting to the outside, and returning to the ring with blood dripping down their faces. In the end, it wasn’t even a traditional finisher that ended things, instead, they traded shots for what felt like five minutes, with it all ending in a hockey fight between the two. An opening was made, Jey struck with a superkick, and it was all over.

The Rock & Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins

The Rock & Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins / 2K Games / WWE

This massive tag match has heavy implications for the Night 2 main event, and it’s one that could go either way. On the one hand, making Reigns/Cody “Bloodline Rules” gives Cody all the more odds to overcome – as any hero should. However, making that match a straightforward fight with no interference would be cathartic after years of The Bloodline winning Roman’s matches for him.

Tensions were clearly running high in this match, as for whatever reason, Seth Rollins never tagged in his partner. This proved to be a big mistake, as Roman and The Rock took to beating him down with ease. Eventually, one Spear from the Tribal Chief was all it took to put Rollins away, and set the stage for the Night 2 main event to be “Bloodline Rules”.

LA Knight vs. AJ Styles

LA Knight vs. AJ Styles / 2K Games / WWE

This grudge match is likely to be an intense affair and hopefully will serve as a shot in the arm for both Styles and Knight, who have been floundering a bit as of late despite both being top-tier talents. The winner seems like a foregone conclusion though. AJ Styles may be the Phenomenal One, but the wave of popularity LA Knight continues to ride cannot be stopped.

As if to directly contradict what I just said, AJ Styles did, in fact, stop Knight. Every time LA Knight went for his finisher, Styles had a counter ready to go, meaning Knight had nothing left in the tank when AJ launched his Phenomenal Forearm for the win.

The Pride vs. The Final Testament

The Pride vs. The Final Testament / 2K Games / WWE

Somehow this feud already feels like it’s been going forever, so we’ll be happy to see the end of it in this Philadelphia Street Fight match. Picking a winner isn’t easy. The Final Testament are the new faction in town, so they should get a win, however, The Pride deserves to be a much bigger deal than they have been since coming together last year, so I’d rather give them the nod.

WWE 2K24 doesn’t care what I think though, as after a surprisingly long match, Akam and Rezar catch Montez Ford out of the air, drive him almost through the ring, and none of his allies can save him. The Final Testament take the win, which I’m sure won’t feel pointless in a month’s time.

Seth Rollins(c) vs. Drew McIntyre – World Heavyweight Championship

Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre / 2K Games / WWE

Whether he wins or loses in the Night 1 tag match, Seth Rollins is bound to be beaten up coming into his Night 2 title defense against Drew McIntyre. Combine that with the fact that Drew is on the roll of a lifetime right now, and I don’t see Seth coming away with his title around his waist.

In the end, that exhaustion got the better of Seth, with Drew constantly using hard strikes on the outside of the ring to keep Seth down time after time, without so much as a hopeful flurry from the champion. Eventually, Drew decided to end it with a Claymore and we have a new world champion.

Logan Paul(c) vs. Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton – United States Championship

Logan Paul(c) vs. Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton / 2K Games / WWE

If Logan Paul wasn’t everything that he is, he’d be a fan-favorite wrestler with his talent. The upside of him being just the worst human being is that it’s been a lot of fun to see him get RKO’ed and Stunnered every week in the build-up to this match. I wouldn’t count out any of these three men as the winner of this match, but I’d give the edge to Paul using his brass knuckles to pull out a cheap win yet again.

It was hard to keep any one man out of the action for long in this match, with Logan Paul in particular always finding ways to pop back up when Owens and Orton thought they’d gotten rid of him. Still, their hard work paid off in the end, as Orton threw Paul out of the ring only to walk into a Stunner from Owens, who picked up the win and the United States Championship.

Iyo Sky(c) vs. Bayley – WWE Women’s Championship

Iyo Sky vs. Bayley / 2K Games / WWE

In a more emotional battle, Bayley is finally the hero in this story after being the cheap heel for so long. Iyo Sky’s had a great run as champion too, and these two are sure to make magic in the ring together. While this may end in tragedy with Iyo’s run continuing, I think it’s far more likely Bayley finally gets her big WrestleMania win.

It seems 2K24 isn’t in the mood to give happy endings today, as despite Bayley fighting hard, she came up short. Iyo Sky called in backup from her Damage CTRL allies mid-match and it was too much for Bayley to overcome.

Roman Reigns(c) vs. Cody Rhodes – Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes / 2K Games / WWE

A three-and-a-half-year title reign may finally be coming to an end. Yet, as per the stipulation of Night 1’s tag match, this match will be fought under “Bloodline Rules” which is to say, anything goes. I will make no secret of being a die-hard Cody fan, I was very upset when he lost last year, and I will be even more distraught if he comes up short yet again on Sunday. Cody simply has to win this match.

Once again the game tells me to stop dreaming, as Roman Reigns pins Cody in the middle of the ring. I said there was no way this would happen last year and I was wrong, but I’m going to keep believing that Cody will finally finish his story on Sunday, and if he doesn’t I’ll be very grumpy about it on Twitter – your move WWE.

WWE 2K24 WrestleMania 40 prediction results

To sum it all up, here is who WWE 2K24 thought would win each match:

• Rhea Ripley def. Becky Lynch
• Santos Escobar & Dominik Mysterio def. Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee
• Sami Zayn def. Gunther
• The Judgement Day win the 12-man ladder match
• Bianca Belair, Naomi & Jade Cargil def. Damage CTRL
• Jey Uso def. Jimmy Uso
• The Rock & Roman Reigns def. Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins
• AJ Styles def. LA Knight
• The Final Testament def. The Pride
• Drew McIntyre def. Seth Rollins
• Kevin Owens def. Logan Paul & Randy Orton
• Iyo Sky def. Bayley
• Roman Reigns def. Cody Rhodes