WWE WrestleMania 35: Preview and predictions

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WWE Intercontinental Championship Match

Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Finn Balor

Remember the last time Bobby Lashley competed at WrestleMania? Yep, that’s right. He was representing Donald Trump — a babyface, getting-cheered-for version of Trump in the “Battle of the Billionaires”. So that’s our fun trivia for the day. A dozen years later, Lashley is back on the grandest stage of them all as the Intercontinental Champion and he won’t be facing the Finn Balor he’s been taking on for the past couple of months. As we found out on Monday night, he’ll be facing The Demon King, as Balor is channeling his alter-ego for this big matchup. This match should go on a little later in the evening to make sure it’s dark enough for the entrance.

Prediction: Had The Demon character not been brought into this, it would probably be safe to pick Lashley for the win. However, Balor isn’t losing with the makeup on, so we’ll go in that direction.

WWE United States Championship Match

Samoa Joe (c) vs. Rey Mysterio

It was a bit of a surprise when Samoa Joe vs. Rey Mysterio in a one-on-one setting for the United States Championship was announced, but it now looks like this match may not even happen. The guess is that it may have never been in the cards in the first place. The official word from WWE is that Mysterio suffered an ankle injury on Monday Night Raw in his match against Baron Corbin. But this all seems like one big setup to get Joe a bigger matchup. It’s not that Joe vs. Mysterio wouldn’t have been a good match — it would have been — but there’s something else being planned for this.

Prediction: The word is that Mysterio will be evaluated throughout the week but the assumption is that, come Sunday, it will be announced that he’s unable to compete and that Joe will then issue a U.S. title Open Challenge, a challenge that will be answered by John Cena. Cena and Joe at WrestleMania is a huge matchup, but no matter if it’s Mysterio or Cena, Joe will still leave MetLife Stadium with the title.