There was some curiosity on Thursday morning in Los Angeles as word spread that Stephen A. Smith was going to unveil the match order for WrestleMania 39 on ESPN’s “First Take.”
As it turned out, that was only partially correct. Following a short promo by Sami Zayn, who admitted he’s never met Smith, it was his co-host Molly Qerim who actually did the reveal.
It also wasn’t quite the match order, which would have been a bit surprising since WWE generally doesn’t reveal the full order ahead of time. What was displayed for the first time was the breakdown of which WrestleMania matches are on which night.
Night 1 (Saturday, April 1) includes the following:
- Austin Theory (c) vs. John Cena – WWE United States Championship match
- Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley – WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship match
- The Usos (c) vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn – Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship match
- Becky Lynch, Lita and Trish Stratus vs. Damage CTRL
- Seth Rollins vs. Logan Paul
- Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio
- Braun Strowman and Ricochet vs. The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy vs. The Viking Raiders – Men’s WrestleMania Showcase
What’s still unknown is which match will close the show on night 1. ESPN presented the slate as being “headlined” by Theory vs. Cena, which was previously announced as the opening match of WrestleMania 39.
Both Flair vs. Ripley and The Usos vs. Owens and Zayn have been mentioned as top options for the night 1 main event.
For night 2 (Sunday, April 2), the slate looks like this:
- Roman Reigns (c) vs. Cody Rhodes – Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match
- Bianca Belair (c) vs. Asuka – WWE Raw Women’s Championship match
- Gunther (c) vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus – WWE Intercontinental Championship match
- Edge vs. Finn Balor – Hell in a Cell match
- Brock Lesnar vs. Omos
- Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez vs. Natalya and Shotzi vs. Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler vs. Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green – Women’s WrestleMania Showcase
Reigns vs. Rhodes will be the night 2 main event, as previously announced.
Smith did talk WWE, interviewing CEO Nick Khan. You can judge for yourself how up to speed on the current product he is, courtesy of Awful Announcing.
Here's how Stephen A. Smith started his interview with WWE CEO Nick Khan: "Talk to me on WrestleMania 39. I mean, this is considered like the Super Bowl of wrestling, obviously." pic.twitter.com/hv2aruv972
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 30, 2023
"How should the world feel about wrestling, and the state of the business with World Wrestling Entertainment today compared to years past?" Which then leads to Remembering Some Guys. pic.twitter.com/MqGPvMqdzh
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 30, 2023
The countdown is almost complete to WrestleMania, which is set to tear down the house at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles this Saturday and Sunday night.