Final Predictions for Lesnar, Rousey and Entire WWE WrestleMania 2019 Match Card

WWE WrestleMania 35 is almost here, and on Sunday evening, the biggest show of the year will hit us with 16 matches and more spectacle than ever before.

The Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. ET on WWE Network, meaning it's last call for any lingering predictions on what will happen on the Grandest Stage of Them All.

Will Becky Lynch prove herself to be The Man by taking out both Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair to become the undisputed women's champion by the end of the night?

Is it finally time for Kofi Kingston to ascend to the top of the food chain by dethroning Daniel Bryan and obtaining the WWE Championship?

Every title is on the line, two Hall of Famers may be wrestling their final matches and scores will be settled.

Before the first bell rings, let's gaze into our crystal ball and give one final round of picks for the matches set to take place at WrestleMania 35.

The friendship between Tony Nese and Buddy Murphy was shattered after Nese won the tournament to determine who would face Murphy at WrestleMania.

The champion immediately turned on his pal, and the two have been going at it ever since.

Normally, this would be an interesting story to track, as they have been a pair for nearly a year, but there's something missing to this to make it special.

Instead of feeling even as important as last year's match between Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali, this will likely be the opening match on the Kickoff and forgotten about by the time the main card begins.

Sadly, the lack of buzz around this probably means Nese, the hometown boy of sorts, doesn't have as much of a chance to win as he normally would.

If the title changes hands, it will be because of the location, not from any momentum in Nese's direction, as Murphy is arguably the better choice to keep going forward with as the champion.

205 Live as a brand and many of the competitors on that show deserve much more credit than they get, but this match isn't likely to win any new fans.

Final Pick: Buddy Murphy retains the title.

There are fewer Superstars competing in the Women's Battle Royal this year than last since the Women's Tag Team Championships match has taken so many potential competitors off the table.

This is a good thing, though, as it opens the field for more outside talent to appear from NXT, NXT UK and even legends to make returns.

With that in mind, the winner of this match could be anyone from Eve Torres or Michelle McCool to Toni Storm or even Kacy Catanzaro.

The competitors who stand the best chance of winning, though, are Asuka, Lacey Evans and Mandy Rose.

In Asuka's case, this win would act as a consolation prize for having her SmackDown women's title taken away at the eleventh hour, along with a higher-profile match at WrestleMania. She also proved her dominance by standing tall in the brawl on the go-home episode of SmackDown.

Giving her that spotlight might mean she won't win, though, and it could be someone like Evans who surprises everyone by not only competing but stealing the victory.

Another scenario could see Rose last eliminate Sonya Deville, further splitting that friendship in the interest of pushing Rose and illustrating how she's going to look out for herself and never for her best friend.

Outsider picks for this could be Bianca Belair or Shayna Baszler, as both women are more than capable of coming up to the main roster at any time and could use this victory as a springboard going into the Superstar Shake-up.

Final Pick: Lacey Evans wins.

After seeing all five previous winners amount to nothing mere weeks following their wins, WWE has proved that it doesn't matter who comes out on top in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Since the victory is virtually meaningless to the people in charge, there's just as much of a chance someone like Konnor of The Ascension can win this as there is that it goes to someone who is much more deserving, like Bobby Roode.

It would be great to see EC3 win this to turn around his awful start on the main roster, but that isn't going to happen. Apollo Crews could be victorious, but don't bet on him, either.

If this will be done for laughs, watch out for Otis Dozovic. If it's treated much more seriously, though, two of the standout choices are Andrade and Ali, both of whom are on the cusp of something greater and could use this to reach that next level.

But above all else, this match is being marketed to feature Braun Strowman, Michael Che and Colin Jost. The Monster Among Men and the Saturday Night Live crew will be the focal points.

Giving the victory to Che or Jost would make a mockery of it all, so the smart money goes with Strowman. The only real threat to him is the inclusion of an outsider like Lars Sullivan, who might come in and upset that party by tossing the big man over the top rope to start a new feud.

Final Pick: Braun Strowman wins.

Curt Hawkins is coming into WrestleMania with a losing streak just shy of 270 matches long, but he and Zack Ryder stand an extremely strong chance of reversing his fortune.

As they are from New York, they will be treated as hometown heroes, and seeing the losing streak end at WrestleMania with new champions being crowned is likely too good of a WrestleMania moment for WWE to pass up.

It isn't as though the champions have a track record that paints them as an unstoppable force Ryder and Hawkins can't overcome, as The Revival are far from a top priority. If anything, it's becoming more and more obvious how little WWE cares about them.

Despite holding the titles, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder have rarely had a televised entrance in the past few months. When they do wrestle, they are afterthoughts who only win when necessary and in ways that portray them as weak.

Basically, this is a match comprising four losers—at least in the eyes of the people calling the shots—so there's no reason Hawkins won't be allowed to go from a 269-match losing streak to a champion.

Last year, these belts were used for a comedy segment, with a 10-year-old winning them alongside Braun Strowman. This year, the gag is Hawkins at the expense of perhaps the top team in the company who most fans feel deserves better treatment.

As bad as that will make The Revival look, it will be great for The Major Bros to win the titles nearly 11 years after their previous reign.

Final Pick: Hawkins and Ryder become the new champions.

The Falls Count Anywhere match between Shane McMahon and The Miz is a textbook example of a story that has to end with the babyface coming out on top or there's no other justification behind it.

Not only is this a tale of retribution for McMahon for having attacked The Miz's father, but it's also a means to cement The A-Lister's status as a true babyface to carry him into the rest of 2019.

If he were to lose to Shane-O-Mac, who isn't a regularly active competitor and is hamming up the gimmick that he doesn't deserve to be calling himself the best in the world, it would make The Miz look far too weak to be taken seriously as a contender going forward.

WWE would need to rehab that loss in that case, whereas a win here allows him to move to Raw in the Superstar Shake-up with some momentum on his side and a new season of his television show, Miz & Mrs, set to air.

Final Pick: The Miz wins with some help from his father.

Finn Balor adopting the Demon King gimmick pretty much spoils the end of this match, as he has only lost one time while donning the paint.

That was to Samoa Joe back in NXT, which is in many ways considered non canon to someone like CEO Vince McMahon, who doesn't keep track of those things and assumes—for the most part, correctly—that the average fan doesn't remember or care about.

Balor has already defeated Bobby Lashley numerous times without adopting his darker persona, so this one feels like an easy choice and likely one of the best matches to use as a bathroom break, as we have seen it all before enough times to not miss anything.

Final Pick: Finn Balor wins the title.

There are two ways Kurt Angle's farewell match can go down, and both end with him standing tall.

Either he defeats Baron Corbin and the arena chastises the segment for not being good enough to act as his in-ring farewell or an impromptu replacement like John Cena is brought into make his final match better.

The point of it all is largely still going to be that Angle doesn't go out staring up at the lights, as that would be disheartening, particularly if Corbin is his final opponent.

There's no way WWE does not have something better in store for this than something ludicrous like a Corbin victory that will make an entire stadium feel down about what would be a stain on an otherwise amazing career for the Hall of Famer.

Final Pick: Kurt Angle beats whomever he faces, be it Corbin or someone else.

The promos alone between Randy Orton and AJ Styles have made this feud worthy of sticking around after WrestleMania, and there's a strong chance they have a good-enough match that fans will want to see it again.

If that is true, and this program isn't ending at this event, neither man has to win this.

Orton can pull some sort of underhanded shenanigans that give him a slight edge for a victory rather than pinning Styles clean. That would give The Phenomenal One a reason to want a rematch to prove he is the better man.

Alternatively, Styles can do that by beating The Viper, only to be attacked by Orton out of frustration for his loss.

More than possibly any other match on the card, this one is a coin-flip and dependent on how WWE plans on balancing out heel and babyface victories on this card.

Since there are plenty of other fan favorites who are more likely to go over, there may be the narrowest margin in Orton's favor to come out of this match victorious.

Final Pick: Randy Orton wins.

The planned United States Championship match between Samoa Joe and Rey Mysterio may not even happen, as Mysterio suffered an injury the most recent episode of Raw that has put his in-ring status at risk.

If he is unable to be cleared to compete, WWE could well slot in a replacement such as Kevin Owens or the match could be scrapped.

That would be a shame, as it would be Joe's third year on the main roster without a WrestleMania match, so here's hoping Mysterio is able to step in the ring.

Assuming that's the case, there must be a reason Mysterio's son, Dominic, was featured in the build to this. He will get involved somehow, be it as a distraction to allow his father to win the title or as a sacrificial lamb Joe will target during the match.

This is such an unknown that it's pretty much impossible to predict with any real faith, as there's just as much of a chance someone other than these two wrestlers leaves WrestleMania as United States champion.

Even if Mysterio is able to perform, the injury may make WWE hold off on giving him a title reign, which means there are five ways Joe can retain the title: pinfall, submission, disqualification, count-out or forfeit, with the match possibly never happening.

Final Pick: Samoa Joe retains the title.

Four teams will be competing for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, but only two stand any chance of winning.

Neither The Bar nor Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura have any shot of winning the titles, as they are only in this match to get on the card and to be the heels to balance out the equation.

Meanwhile, Aleister Black and Ricochet have been turning heads on NXT and have done the same since joining the main roster, nearly winning the Raw tag titles on more than one occasion. It would make sense for them to capture these titles to make them official members of the SmackDown brand just before the Superstar Shake-up.

However, don't count out The Usos. They have just signed new five-year contracts with WWE, per Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet, meaning there's no immediate need to take the titles off them.

Even if Black and Ricochet are scheduled to hold these belts soon, they could win them on the SmackDown after WrestleMania or the night of the Superstar Shake-up rather than on Sunday.

Plus, it's unlikely every belt will change hands at WrestleMania, and since most of other title bouts seem to be on paths toward crowning a new champions, this contest could be one of the few exceptions.

Final Pick: The Usos retain the titles.

There is no way WWE will make Roman Reigns—the star the company has wanted to be the top guy for years—lose at WrestleMania to a guy who has been diminishing The Big Dog's fight with leukemia.

This is a done deal. No matter how hard of a fight it may be, Reigns will come out of this the victor.

The message that would be sent by having him lose would be that he's somehow weaker than he was when he wrestled at Fastlane and that he isn't the Superman WWE wants him to be viewed as.

He has been beaten down twice by Drew McIntyre to put him in the underdog position, so when he makes the comeback and wins, it will be something to pop the crowd now that the WWE Universe has finally gotten on board with embracing Reigns.

Final Pick: Roman Reigns wins.

The Women's Tag Team Championships match is one of the few cut-and-dried bouts on this card.

Sasha Banks and Bayley have already defeated Nia Jax and Tamina twice, so there's no reason the latter duo should even be in this match.

Likewise, The IIconics also lost at Elimination Chamber, and their win on SmackDown was manufactured purely to get them in this match, as they offer no real threat.

This boils down to a choice between two of the most popular women WWE has had in the years, who were chosen as the inaugural champions for a reason, or the team of a Hall of Famer, who may only be coming back for this short run, and her friend, who is sadly often pushed to the sidelines.

If Banks and Bayley were heels, their title reign would be in much more in danger, but having them lose here would be a mistake.

Neither heel team can do those titles the same justice, and since there's no indication Beth Phoenix will stick around past WrestleMania, she and Natalya aren't justifiable options as champions.

Bayley and Banks should be sitting pretty with a relatively comfortable win at WrestleMania.

Final Pick: The Boss 'n' Hug Connection retain the titles.

The entire reason Batista and Triple H are facing each other this year is because it was Batista's request for his final match, not the other way around.

The stipulation that Triple H will have to end his in-ring career if he loses was done to give more stakes to the fight, but it also casts serious doubt that anything can happen other a victory for The Game.

He may not compete as regularly as the younger talent on the roster, yet he still competes on the special shows like the events in Saudi Arabia, and those crowds will undoubtedly want to see him compete again.

Batista is playing the heel here, so he can lose and it will be something the fans will be happy about.

The Cerebral Assassin is not ending his in-ring career at WrestleMania 35.

Final Pick: Triple H wins.

There are so many more arguments for why Brock Lesnar will retain the Universal Championship at WrestleMania in comparison to any case that can be made for Seth Rollins winning this match.

A new champion has been desperately needed for two years, but since WWE consistently keeps the belt on Lesnar, there's no reason to believe Rollins will win on Sunday.

There have been a dozen or so times that would have been perfect to take the title off The Beast Incarnate, yet he always wins and then disappears for a few more months.

Rollins isn't even booked like someone with the right momentum to carry him to the gold.

Don't let it fool you that he got the upper hand on Lesnar on the latest Raw. In fact, if anything, that should point in the opposite direction, as WWE typically books the wrestlers who will lose on the pay-per-view to look strong heading into it.

Little effort has been put into this feud, which has consisted of nothing but rehashes of what we have seen before. Paul Heyman has copied and pasted the same promo he's cut time and again and Rollins has had the same response everyone else has had.

There's no difference in how Rollins has been booked than Balor at the Royal Rumble. Both are smaller underdogs who say they will end Lesnar's reign of terror and restore order to the Raw title scene.

Every time that happens, that person puts up a good enough fight for under 10 minutes until Lesnar hits them with one or two F-5s, pins them, calls it a day and leaves for another few months.

This shows no confidence in Rollins as a contender, meaning there's no confidence in him as champion.

With Roman Reigns healthy, it's doubtful WWE would have gone with Rollins as the challenger had he been able to come back earlier. For that matter, if he could have avoided dropping the belt to begin with, none of this would be happening.

There are too many other feelgood moments that can happen at this year's WrestleMania for WWE not to feel justified enough in disappointing people with this match. Having Lesnar win will upset fans, but the company will simply point to Kofi Kingston and Becky Lynch as reasons they shouldn't complain.

Essentially, there will be a mentality that we can't always get what we want, and we will all get over this disappointment by the end of the night if there are enough other things to be happy about.

If that happens and you're one of the people who is upset about Lesnar keeping the belt longer, it's up to you to voice that anger and not fall into the trap of letting it slide. Otherwise, WWE will feel even more confident doing it again when Lesnar pops up at SummerSlam.

Final Pick: Brock Lesnar retains the title.

Never mind who will win—the answer to the question of who should win is Kofi Kingston.

If WWE does not see this and in any way tries to book something other than Kingston winning the WWE Championship, it will be grounds to question the booking committee's intelligence.

There is far too much anticipation and positive energy built into KofiMania for this to all be a ruse that sees Daniel Bryan retain the title just to get heat.

Killing the buzz and putting such a sour taste in everyone's mouths will irreparably damage this event, and any match that follows will likely be hijacked by angry fans chanting their frustrations—not at the heels like Bryan but at WWE officials.

With Big E and Xavier Woods by his side to help counteract Rowan's influence, Kingston must win this match by pinfall and become the new WWE champion.

Final Pick: Kofi Kingston wins the title.

Much like the situation with the WWE Championship match, there is no ending to the main event that is acceptable at this point other than Becky Lynch holding both titles.

She wasn't WWE's first choice for this main event a year ago—that was obviously Charlotte Flair—but The Man got so over with the crowd the promotion could not keep her down.

There isn't a shady enough finish in the world that would allow Flair or Ronda Rousey to win this match in a way the WWE Universe would be OK with, and the promotion has to know that.

So much importance has been put on the historical significance of the first women's main event of WrestleMania that they cannot risk having the fans erupt in boos to finish the night. That would be the worst example of not listening to the audience and WWE shooting itself in the foot.

Ideally, Lynch will make Rousey tap out, as she's already beaten Flair enough times that the finish won't mean as much. But WWE may want to save Rousey from the loss by having The Queen submit or take the pinfall.

As long as Lynch is declared the winner, that is what matters and what needs to happen.

Final Pick: Becky Lynch stands tall as WrestleMania concludes.

Who do you think will win at WrestleMania 35? Tell us your predictions in the comments section below!

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.