b

The Showcase of the Immortals is just around the corner with WrestleMania 39 taking place on April 1st and April 2nd. With Night Two of WrestleMania 39 taking place on April 2nd, we have decided to share with you the WWE 2K23 matches simulation results and our predictions for the event. Earlier this week, WWE shared with ESPN First Take the official Line-up for both nights of WrestleMania 39; however, they did not share what match would end night one. With the line-up how it is, it is hard to pinpoint what match will go proceed the next. Below are the matches that will take place each night.

WrestleMania 39 Matches

Night 1

1. Austin Theory (c) vs. John Cena – Singles match for the WWE United States Championship.
2. Seth “Freakin” Rollins vs. Logan Paul – Singles match.
3. Trish Stratus, Lita, and Becky Lynch vs. Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky) – Six-woman tag team match.
4. Braun Strowman and Ricochet vs. The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) vs. Alpha Academy (Chad Gable and Otis) vs. The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar) (with Valhalla) – Men’s WrestleMania Showcase fatal four-way tag team match.
5. Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley – Singles match for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship.
6. The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (c) vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn – a Tag team match for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship.
7. Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio – Singles match.

Night 2

1. Gunther (c) vs. Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre – Triple threat match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
2. Edge vs. “The Demon” Finn Bálor – Hell in a Cell match.
3. Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez vs. Natalya and Shotzi vs. Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler vs. Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville – Women’s WrestleMania Showcase fatal four-way tag team match.
4. Bianca Belair (c) vs. Asuka – Singles match for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship.
5. Brock Lesnar vs. Omos (with MVP) – Singles match.
6. Roman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Cody Rhodes – Singles match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
7. *LA Knight vs. Bobby Lashley/Stone Cold Steve Austin – Match is rumored.

WrestleMania 39 Simulation Results

For the WrestleMania 39 simulation, we used WWE 2K23. During our original set of simulations, the first three matches were decided by count out; because of this issue, we decided to turn off count outs, especially in title matches.

Night 2

Intercontinental Championship

What is potentially the first match of night 2, Gunther will face off against Sheamus and Drew McIntyre.

The WWE 2K23 simulation of this match went for 10 minutes with McIntrye and Sheamus going after one another first. The frustrations of each man explode with them ignoring Gunther at first. Gunther goes after Sheamus once McIntrye is in the corner but this ultimately backfires on him. All three men leave the ring and McIntyre grabs a steel chair. He then goes to hit both men with the steel chair but misses. The chair ends up being taken out of McIntyre’s hands and Sheamus does a swinging neck breaker onto the chair. Gunther lets McIntyre fight Sheamus outside the ring while catching his breath inside.  The match is rather back and forth with men using weapons trying to get the advantage.

Drew takes Gunther out of the match using a Kendo Stick. Drew McIntyre ends up pinning Sheamus after hitting a shoulder tackle.

Prediction

For WrestleMania 39, we expect one of two things will happen. 1. Gunther will retain due to Sheamus and McIntyre taking one another out. If Gunter retains WWE will most likely have him break The Honky Tonk Man’s Intercontinental Championship reign. 2. If Gunther does not win, we expect that Sheamus will be the second choice. The IC title is the last title Sheamus needs to win to be a grand slam champion. If they are going for a feel-good moment, this one makes the most sense.

Hell in a Cell

Edge vs. “The Demon” Finn Bálor in a Hell in a Cell match might be the most shocking match. At the moment, it is rumored that Edge will be accompanied to the ring by Christian and Gangrel. Meanwhile, Finn Bálor should have the Judgment Day accompany him to the ring.

For the WWE 2K23 Simulation, this was one of the longer matches especially since it was only two superstars. The simulation took about 14 mins but we expect the actual match will go a bit longer. Both men in the match utilized the cage to damage their opponents. At one point Balor fell off the cage. Instead of being incapacitated, Balor was able to get up after a short amount of time and climb back up the cage.

The two men fought on top of the cell and Balor would eventually throw Edge through the announcers’ table as Undertaker did to Mick Foley. Edge would ultimately get back up thanks to Balor and the two men would fight on the side of the steel cage as they were climbing. Edge caused Balor to fall off the cell and climbed back up to the top of the cell. The fighting would go back and forth up there until Balor puts Edge through the Cell ceiling. Edge manages to kick out at 2 but is still hurt. Balor climbs up to the top rope and hits a Coup Da Grace. Balor would finally get his revenge on Edge.

Predictions

For this WrestleMania 39 match, it can go 1 of 3 ways. The first two ways have Edge lose. Demon Balor could just beat the Brood Edge. The second option is having Christian come in from AEW and costing Edge the match potentially setting up a Forbidden Door show between WWE and AEW. The third option is Edge wins continuing his winning streak over Finn Balor. Honestly, we don’t see this one happening. We expect that Demon Balor will beat Edge to have it become what it should have always been, an unstoppable force. The god helps Roman win angle was ridiculous and should never have happened.

At the end of Balor vs Edge, we expect that Balor will be victorious.

Women’s Tag Match

Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez vs. Natalya and Shotzi vs. Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler vs. Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville – Women’s WrestleMania Showcase fatal four-way tag team match.

The entrances for this match took almost as long as the match itself. By the end of the match, everyone was sore and it was anyone’s match to win. While Raquel tried to make Deville tap, Rousey made Natalya tap from an arm bar. In the simulation, the women ended up using kendo sticks and chairs to damage their opponents.

Predictions

When it comes to this tag team match, only Rousey and Baszler seem like the most likely winners. Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez are likely contenders but we see the two former MMA fighters winning to help set up an eventual feud against Becky Lynch and Lita. Most of these teams were rapidly thrown together for this match and seem rather unlikely. Hopefully, WWE can do a better job with its women’s division.

Raw Women’s Championship

Out of all the matches taking place during WrestleMania 39, Bianca Belair vs. Asuka for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship is the second most disappointing. Before the match, WWE has done a poor job booking this rivalry. So far, WWE has done the how will they co-exist or when will Asuka turn on Bianca. The trigger for the build-up should have been pulled a lot sooner. Now the match on night 2 seems more like a friendly matchup for the title rather than a purely competitive one.

The simulation for the match only took six minutes from our lives. For most of the match, Bianca was in control. Occasionally Asuka would have some fiery offense but it would be shut down quickly. Despite Bianca hitting a KO.D on Asuka and Asuka hitting an Asuka Lock onto Belair, neither finisher would secure the victory. Bianca would end up hitting a 450 onto Asuka to pin her and retain.

Looking at the WrestleMania 39 card, this seems like one of the few matches where the champion will retain. We expect Biana Belair will retain the Raw Women’s championship. So far, Asuka is 0-3 at WrestleMania. This does not seem like the year for Asuka.

Battle of the Beefy Men

Brock Lesnar vs. Omos with MVP is a match that most will sleep on. Most WWE fans expect this match to actually be a joke by WWE leading to a different match. Now, with WrestleMania 39 taking place, it’s almost shocking that it’s a real thing. Omas has yet to get over truly in WWE and this match seems almost like a match to build Brock Lesnar back up. At the moment, it is rumored that Lesnar may take a break for a bit, so Omos winning or at least being competitive with the Beast could elevate Omos.

The WWE 2K23 simulated match had this fight going back and forth with each man hitting their own power moves. If Omos and Lesnar can pull off a similar match, it could put over Omos in the long run. After a Chokeslam, Omos almost gets a 3 count against Brock Lesnar. After kicking out, Omos deliberately targets Lesnar’s back and chest. Lesnar is able to take him down and set up an F5. Omos kicks out at 2 and then rolls outside the ring. Lesnar then climbs to the top rope to do a diving attack on Omos but he is caught and slammed to the floor.

Omas suplexes Lesnar and gets a 2 count. Frustrated Omos picks up Lesnar to put him away, but Brock is able to counter it and locks his arms, and hits three German Suplexes (Suplex City). Lesnar tries to pin him off these but Omos kicks out at 1. Frustrated, Lesnar picks him up and hits an F5. Lesnar pins Omos to win.

Just like Dominik in night one, MVP did not really interfere with this match.

The outcome of this match could go either way. Honestly, we expect that Brock Lesnar will win in order to rebuild the Beast’s image.

Finish the Story

In what will probably be the opener or closer to WrestleMania night 2, Cody Rhodes will take on Roman Reigns with Paul Heyman for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. This is either the biggest or second biggest story going into WrestleMania. Originally, many expected The Rock to take on Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39; sadly, this was not to be but doesn’t mean it won’t happen at WrestleMania 40. With the Rock out, Cody Rhodes was easily the second-best choice. After his return at WrestleMania 38, Cody Rhodes has been one of the most popular superstars tied with Sami Zayn.

The finish-the-story declaration is the long and hard journey Cody Rhodes has faced getting to this match. Between his original run in WWE, the independent scene, NJPW, and even AEW, Cody Rhodes has had a long and difficult journey. At Hell in a Cell, Cody continued to fight Seth Rollins despite the torn pectoral muscle. This match is a cumulation of all of Cody’s hard work, success, failures, and his father’s legacy.

Before we go into the WWE 2K23 simulation, we will state that we expect Cody Rhodes to win the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and finish the story.

Simulation

Over half of the WWE 2K23 simulation was just the entrances for these two men. Once the bell rings, Cody comes out swinging. Roman almost seems shocked with the first two minutes of the fight being all Cody. Cody then hits a Cross Rhodes onto Roman and goes for the pin. Roman kicks out of the pin at 2. After failing to pin Roman twice, Paul Heyman gets involved and distracts Cody. This gives Roman the chance to get back into the match.

Roman then goes on the offensive targeting Cody’s head and back. After Heyman distracts Cody again, Roman hits the Guillotine on Cody. Cody is able to break out but Roman sets up and lands the sphere. Cody is able to kick out at 2. Cody then starts to rally and hits a Vertabreaker onto Roman. Roman manages to kick out at 2. Roman then hits Cody in the back of the head and goes for the pin. Roman wins and the crowd boos.

Out of all the match finishes, this is one of the most anti-climatic from simulation.

Although Roman may have won in WWE 2K23, we expect Cody Rhodes to win at WrestleMania 39.