The Wrestling Weekend: Blog Writers Predict The Weekend Shows

WWE has four huge weekend shows, and a few of us have gathered to offer some thoughts and predictions about them! The schedule has Smackdown in Arena CDMX followed by Night One of TripleMania 34 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, Night Two of TripleMania 34 in Arena CDMX on Sunday, and Raw from Arena CDMX on Monday. Let’s dig in!

Joining us today: Our Friend Phred, Kat Bourne, Thomas Hall, and yours truly.

Smackdown:

WWE Championship: CM Punk (c) vs. Sami Zayn

Phred: I cannot imagine a world in which Punk doesn’t retain here, but I imagine we get some more chicanery from all parties to continue setting up the chaotic main-event scene. Maybe it’s Finn’s turn to screw some folks over.

Kat: We’re going in one of two directions, either setting up Punk vs someone at Worlds Collide or just continuing the story of Cody / Sami / Randy / etc. I don’t think we’ll get a clean finish but it’ll be a good match.

Tommy: They have done a great job of making the title feel like the most important thing in the world and the challengers are lining up to come after it. At the same time, it makes sense for Zayn to go after the title as he has been the agent of chaos who has been shaking the whole thing up. That makes for an interesting situation, as there is at least a chance that he could pull off the big title win (again). That being said, I just can’t imagine WWE pulls the trigger here, even with Crown Jewel coming up. I’ll go with Punk retaining, but it is going to be in one of the screwiest fashions that WWE can think of. Zayn is going to need some muscle and it wouldn’t shock me to see him get that here, perhaps beating Punk down in the process. I’m not sure who it would be, though Priest could be an interesting option if he smashes through R-Truth earlier in the night.

Niz: Sami has ruined three Smackdown main events IN A ROW and pissed off GUNTHER, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, and Punk something fierce. I expect a major mess at the end of this one and Punk keeps the title through all of it.

Women’s Championship: Chelsea Green (c) vs. Nia Jax

Phred: Chelsea Green is not somebody who is going to hold the title for long, I imagine, but I have to think she’ll get at least one defense, and Nia Jax losing in a banana peel fashion seems appropriate.

Kat: The easy story is “can Chelsea overcome the odds” and the easy answer is yes, she does. Nia will look good in doing it because she’s a lot better nowadays than some will want to admit.

Tommy: Here we have a rather basic wrestling story, as Green is one of the most popular stars on all of Smackdown and it could be fascinating to see what she has planned for the Mexico City audience. The idea is that Green has all of the odds against her, including her injury, and that should set up a heck of a moment. It’s Green’s first title defense after the injury and now we get to see her actually defend the thing. There is a grand total of zero reason for Green to lose the title and while I think there is a real chance Jax could win, I’ll go with Green to retain here. She deserves a title defense and it’s not like Jax losing is going to hurt her in any real well. Go with the right idea here and let Green take a beating before stealing a win to retain and give the fans another feel good moment.

Niz: I can make a case for Nia here, because Tiffany Stratton has been getting her ass handed to her regularly by Nia and Lash Legend on behalf of the Hot Mess and might be a little fed up with it. That being said, I suspect Green wins and her and Stratton sort things out soon after.

AAA Cruiserweight Championship: Rey Fenix (c) vs. Ricky Starks

Phred: Ricky Starks is more of a tomato can than a case of San Marzano’s. Rey wins.

Kat: Hear me out. Starks wins. They want to do something with him and giving him something to do in AAA until his time comes back around in a midcard title scene isn’t the worst idea.

Tommy: To put it mildly, I’m not big on having yet another title floating around on one of the main roster shows. There are already enough belts on either Raw or Smackdown and even though WWE owns AAA, this really isn’t something necessary. Throw in Finn Balor, Sami Zayn and CM Punk being in the main event scene and why are we bothering with a cruiserweight title? I cannot imagine WWE would be insane enough to change the title here as there is pretty much no reason to even entertaining the idea. Fenix is going to be incredibly over in Mexico City and Starks is just a warm body coming after the title. Go with Fenix retaining here and then stop having the title featured, as it’s just a thing that is cluttering up the shows even more. That’s not needed now that Smackdown is (thank goodness) two hours again.

Niz: I would be fully shocked if Starks wins here, but he is one of three people who have pinned Oba Femi cleanly since he became the RULER and so I suppose you can never rule him out. Fenix has been on a solid run with this title, is wildly over in Mexico as the champ, and has a raft of actual luchador challengers lined up in the coming months, so I think he retains.

AAA Tag Team Championship: War Raiders (c) vs. R-Truth & Damian Priest

Phred: The Raiders stomp Priest and Truth and Priest goes berserk on Truth.

Kat: Some sort of wacky miscommunication happens and the War Raiders win before Damian destroys R-Truth, getting rid of that one little thing keeping him from being the cool badass heel in AAA (and maybe also moving to Raw with Lola).

Tommy: There is a concept in wrestling of reaching your expiration date. Sometimes an act just needs to move on as there is nothing left for the wrestlers involved to do and more time just makes it worse. That is the case with R-Truth and Priest, who just have nothing left to do as a team. They never felt like a long term team and they had a rather nice reign with the titles. It’s time to move on. In case you’re a bit slow this time, the Raiders have no reason to lose the titles here so I’ll go with them retaining. The Raiders are feeling like a couple of stars in AAA and it would be nice to see them get a win here. If nothing else, there is a chance that Priest beats the living daylights out of R-Truth after another loss, as a ticked off Priest could be a good change of pace (as his good guy run might have hit its expiration date as well).

Niz: Damian Priest wants to be a solo act again but Truth can’t quit him, so we get to see them one last time. The Raiders win fairly decisively and Priest destroys Truth on the way out to cement his heel turn and probable move to Raw. (Please don’t let him rejoin Judgement Day)

AAA TripleMania Night One – Las Vegas:

Rey Mysterio vs. Omos – If Omos wins, his AAA suspension is lifted; if Rey wins, Omos is permanently banned from AAA.

Phred: I can’t imagine you’d want to restrict your options by blocking Omos from AAA, Rey does a job in Vegas to lay the groundwork for EGA being overmatched.

Kat: Big Omos is winning this one! Rey is getting laid out on his own show.

Niz: So the story here is that Omos is part of the El Ojo faction that is helmed by Dorian Roldan, the fail-son of Marisela Peña (the on-screen and real life owner of AAA – Dorian is the CEO in real life). Omos was the heater being used for the now-injured El Hijo del Vikingo, and now is in that role for AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio. Rey Mysterio is the on-screen GM for AAA and has been dealing with Omos’s general disregard for rules and his authority until it reached a crescendo and Rey suspended Omos indefinitely. The idea here is that Rey has a chance to send Omos from the promotion permanently if he wins, but if Omos wins, he’s reinstated and presumably will be heavily involved in the Night Two Mega Championship match where Dom is defending against El Grande Americano. I fully expect Omos to win here to set up that scenario.

AAA Latin American Championship – La Parka (c) vs. Laredo Kid vs. Mr. Iguana

Phred: La Parka just won the title and he seems like an act that the company is fond of, this match will be chaotic, high energy, and Parka retains and then dances with a kid in a Parka outfit.

Niz: This should be a fascinating triple-threat in that La Parka and Mr. Iguana are both highly skilled technicos and storyline best friends, while Laredo has a long history with both and recently captured half of the Mixed Tag Team championship from Iguana. I expect La Parka to retain here, but this one will more than likely be entertaining as hell.

AAA World Trios Championship – Psycho Circus (c) vs. Los Perros del Mal

Phred: Hrm, the team that never shows up with any belts and the brand new hot heel stable that just happens to have three members in the same division? Gee, I don’t know. Yeah, PDM takes this.

Niz: I would think that Los Perros capture the titles here mostly because the Clowns are about to probably be plunged into a different storyline with El Carnicero, who we’ll get to shortly. Los Perros del Mal are a famous rudo stable and are currently being lead by Daga, who, if you haven’t seen him in awhile, is still REALLY GOOD at professional wrestling. The other two people that will be with him as partners in this match should be familiar to any WWE fans – it’s Los Garza.

No. 1 Contender’s Match — AAA Reina de Reinas Championship – Roxanne Perez vs. Nattie vs. Faby Apache vs. La Hiedra

Phred: Considering the only other woman that matters in the division is La Hiedra, I think she’s winning. Interesting to see how Roxanne works in a lucha situation, but ugh, more Nattie?

Niz: I suspect that La Hiedra is winning this, but the booking and finish here might be telling for the Sunday night show’s Reina de Reinas title match. Hiedra is part of the Las Toxicas ruda stable with longtime champ Flammer, and was recently one of the last two competitors in a gauntlet match to determine Flammer’s challenger for Sunday night’s title match along with La Catalina. Flammer was at ringside and was SHOCKED that Hiedra had thrown her name in the mix to possibly challenge Flammer. I think Nattie and Roxanne are here to make up the numbers, and hopefully Roxanne gets some shine. Faby Apache is a solid veteran hand, much like Nattie, and probably would be the second choice here, but this is Hiedra’s match to lose in my opinion.

Four-Way Elimination Tag Team Match – LWO vs. Los Americanos vs. Tokyo Bad Boys vs. Fraxiom

Phred: Those…certainly are four teams…I’ll go with Los Americanos cause god forbid an actual pushed AAA team get some shine.

Niz: I legit have no idea who might win this, but the two technico teams here are probably a good bet considering the War Raiders are the current rudo Tag Team champions and could use some challengers. I’ll go with Fraxiom in an upset because they could run that match on Smackdown if they wanted to, along with possibly sending Frazer and Axiom to a Mexican venue.

Relevos Australianos Match – Jack Cartwheel, Lady Shani & Mini Abismo Negro vs. Mini Vikingo, Adelicious & Mascarita Sagrada

Phred: Okay this is going to be quite silly, I’ll take Mini Vikingo’s team however.

Niz: There’s no real storyline here to tell you all about, so I would suspect that Mini Vikingo’s team will be going over mostly because they have the more popular folks on that team. If you’ve never seen Jack Cartwheel, you will be amazed at a guy with the stature of Rockstar Spud who can go like young Ricochet. Sagrada is better known to WWE folks as El Torito and has recently been a Mini-Danhausen on a few occasions (he can still go, too!)

AAA TripleMania Night Two – Mexico City

AAA Mega Championship – Dominik Mysterio (c) vs. El Grande Americano

Phred: If EGA doesn’t win I uh…oh boy, heads will roll. I think we’ll get an overwrought main-event with the reinstated Omos showing up and then Pimpi and a ton of the AAA technicos fighting off all the nonsense. Will Liv Morgan appear? Probably. Will JD take a bump through something? Hopefully (and without talking either, eesh). Now my spiciest bet is that Finn shows up to even the odds and screws over Dom once again in honor of his Mexican heritage (via marriage).

Kat: It is time to crown EGA. Dom is the most easily reheated man on the entire roster and he can go on a tour of revenge or actually focus on something that isn’t losing to Joe Hendry on Raw. I think it is time to move him into the MITB spot and some main roster contention again.

Niz: EGA is having a Wrestler of the Year type of campaign in 2026. He won the Rey de Reyes tournament to get this shot, he triumphed over the original EGA in violent and bloody mask vs mask luchas de apuestas match, and has been embraced by the Mexican fans in a way that I never would have expected when this started with Chad Gable’s injury. Dom is obviously very familiar to WWE fans, and has held the Mega title for 365 days as of Saturday. I expect EGA to win this title after an incredibly over-booked affair and copious amounts of folks showing up to either help or interfere. As mentioned above, Omos more than likely will play into this heavily, along with EGA’s storyline friends Los Americanos and Pimpinela Escarlata. This will be WILD.

AAA Reina de Reinas Championship – Flammer (c) vs. La Catalina

Phred: I’m shocked La Catalina hasn’t won already. It’s the play, it’s the time, give her the belt, I’ve never been too impressed with her (upvotes and downvotes be darned) but this is her time and c’mon, what is Flammer doing with the belt?

Kat: They’re big on Catalina. She is winning.

Niz: Flammer has held this title with a Roman Reigns-like vice grip for over 1100 days now, and it feels like Catalina has all the momentum. Catalina is very popular with the AAA audiences and has recently tagged with Charlotte Flair and Tatum Paxley on the current tour. I suspect she’ll have an immediate challenger from Las Toxicas in the form of La Hiedra, and Flammer will be due a rematch should she lose, so they won’t make it easy for Catalina in the short term should she emerge triumphant here.

AAA World Cruiserweight Championship — Fatal 4-Way – Rey Fenix (c) vs. Nathan Frazer vs. Jack Cartwheel vs. Mini Vikingo

Phred: I uh, didn’t like the triple threat version of this match, but yet again, I have to imagine Fenix retains here, no reason to do anything crazy with the belt since it’s lucha and Fenix is continuing to get the title displayed in places that Jack Cartwheel is never going to go.

Niz: THERE WILL BE FLIPS. There’s not a lot of story to give background on here – the three challengers held a number one contenders match that went to a time limit draw, so Fenix charged out and said he’d fight all of them at TripleMania. Fenix gets this belt on any show WWE wants to put on, so I think he retains here. The only possible other person I could see winning is Mini-Vikingo because of his incredible popularity in Mexico, but he’s not getting this belt on Raw or Smackdown so you can do that math.

Mexican Street Fight – Psycho Clown vs. El Carnicero

Phred: Psycho is obviously a MASSIVE star in AAA and El Carnicero is…well I’ve recently heard he’s got a little Latino in him but he doesn’t even have a wikipedia page. That said…Carnicero is the new big scary heel monster who literally did a spot in his debut match where he ripped a mask off and Psycho has his big comeback routine be based around ripping his mask off to reveal the degloved face beneath. Also we’ve been sitting on this Pagano business for a year. I’ll take Carnicero after Pagano hits Psycho in the nuts and reveals that the butcher from Baton Rouge is working against Psycho. Actually think this one could be pretty solid as Clown’s brawling instincts are top-tier in my experience.

Niz: There’s a lot to unpack here that’s been unfolding very slowly over time, so I’ll try to sum up. The Psycho Circus is a group of clowns (Dave, Murder, Panic, Psycho, and Pagano) and they’ve been getting systematically attacked by someone. Psycho accused Pagano of being behind it eventually, but then Pagano got attacked and bloodied. Suddenly, this enormous monster from the Cajun swamps emerged and has apparently been behind all of this (he’s known to WWE audiences as Drake Morreaux but is now doing this). El Carnicero translates to “the Butcher” in Spanish, so you get the idea. This feels like it will be more of an angle than a match, but Psycho is a terrific worker and if they are going to work something a bit longer, he will make this guy look like a million bucks. There’s going to be a big thing happening out of this, I expect, whether it’s during or after the match.

AAA World Tag Team Championship Open Challenge – War Raiders (c) vs. TBA

Phred: War Raiders are rudos, so unless this is the debut of Los Golpeadores or La Dinastia Wagner decide to go for the belts, I can’t imagine they’re going to put titles on Otis and Tozawa or whomever. TBA is always more exciting than it seems so unless it’s Jimmy and Jey Uso (which, TBF, has a 10% chance of happening) I’m taking the Raiders.

Niz: I suspect that we’re getting Galeno and El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr as the challengers here since neither of them are on the card otherwise, and they should be. However, no matter who the challengers are, I think the Raiders are keeping the titles through nefarious means to set up a program.

Copa Bardahl – 14-Man Cibernético Match

Phred: A shocking and upsetting lack of the Wagners on this show, so I’ll take my favorite big man in the biz (okay not really but I like him) and say this is Galeno’s thing to win…and he’ll eliminate Omos to do it. Yes, that’s my moonshot right there.

Kat: This was entertaining as hell last year and it will be this year too.

Niz: If you’ve never seen one of these, it’s run like a Royal Rumble with timed entrances, but people can be pinned or submitted along with being tossed over the top rope in terms of eliminations. If the Wagners aren’t the challengers for the War Raiders, they’d be among the heavy favorites in this match. A name to keep an eye on: Noisy Boy, who’s been getting some shine and praise from the American announcing team lately.

Raw:

World Heavyweight Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Penta

Phred: ROMANWINSLOL, should be a cracking match at least but yeah, let’s be serious here.

Kat: A big time match and the first time Roman has competed on the show since the Netflix debut which is a big deal on its own. I think they nail the presentation here with an epic entrance for Penta. I don’t know if they tie the Bloodline / Keys & friends things into the actual match, I think Roman wins cleanly after a grand battle, but I think there is some post-match stuff.

Tommy: This is an interesting one as Penta will have the entire country of Mexico behind him (yes including the Vice President, the high school baseball star and the 48 year old butcher in Tijuana who hasn’t watched wrestling since 1987). That should be a reason to consider a title change, but taking the title off of Reigns should be a gigantic moment…and that might be what we’re seeing here. But no it won’t happen as Reigns will retain, likely thanks to Royce Keys and OTM costing Reigns the match. Penta will get in a great near fall or two but ultimately, even after he kicks out of a spear and Sacrifices Reigns’ arm, he isn’t going to win the title. As much as I’d love to see it, I just can’t picture it happening. Reigns is going to lose in a huge moment, but it won’t be this Monday in Mexico City.

Niz: My initial thought is that Roman isn’t losing this title until 2027 at some point. That being said, there are factors that can come into play. One is that Penta has made enemies of Los Perros del Mal, who he was once a member of but recently turned down the invite when asked to return. The second factor is the 946 group that is currently menacing the Bloodline on Raw. I don’t know how much overbooking will happen here but I suspect that a lot of folks could get involved. I’ll say Roman retains but nothing will shock me in terms of what happens, truthfully.

Intercontinental championship: Chad Gable (c) vs. Dragon Lee

Phred: Y’know I’ll zag and say that Dragon Lee wins the title in CDMX. You can always put it back on Gable if you need to.

Kat: I appreciate Dragon Lee. I don’t have any expectations that they’re moving him out of the “little buddy that can’t win the big ones” spot. It’ll be a good match though.

Tommy: Gable is one of the most fascinating stories in wrestling this year, as he has gone from a joke to crazy over in Mexico for all of one night to his biggest run ever in the United States. Who in the world could have seen that coming? It’s not like Gable has been talented, reliable, good in the ring/on the mic for years and….yeah they made him Shorty G for a year. He deserves this success. I’m going with Gable to retain here, likely with a very entertaining match where the two of them go back and forth with a bunch of impressive spots. It will likely result in a big display of respect after the match, with the fans accepting Gable after all of the months of disrespecting him. Either way, this has quite the potential and it should be a fun one, which only makes me think Gable could have been a bigger deal for a VERY long time.

Niz: I think Gable retains here. He became a bit of a folk hero in the aftermath of mask vs mask and I expect him to get a warm welcome in CDMX. They’ll make each other look like a million bucks, for sure.

Money in the Bank Qualifier: Je’Von Evans vs Austin Theory vs Big Cass

Phred: Evans in a walk I’d think. Just like Sol, why have Evans and not use him in a ladder cluster match?

Kat: This match bothers me because the easy answer is throw Je’Von into MITB and let him do crazy shit, but they’re also the impending idea of putting Theory or Cass in the match and let them be the least interesting person in the match. I’m going with Je’Von.

Niz: The most fun outcome here for the MITB match would be Je’von Evans winning, because he’s fearless and kind of stupid regarding what he’ll do for the HEAT. I think you can make storyline cases for both Cass and Theory, but I’ll go with Evans winning here and having a wonderful ladder match before eating it on an attempted 900 splash from 30 feet in the air off the tallest ladder in recorded history.

Money in the Bank Qualifier: Lola Vice vs Kelani Jordan vs Raquel Rodriguez

Phred: Lola is debuting, can’t imagine she’s taking a loss here but I’m curious if we get shenanigans to heat up NXT with Kelani.

Kat: This is such an interesting match for me. Lola’s Raw debut is this? Kelani is here? I’m happy for both, but I don’t think you let Lola lose her Raw debut unless somebody is laying her out thanks to our no DQ triple threat rule. I don’t think Rox and Raquel are both in MITB, so I pick Lola.

Niz: This is a wild grouping here, honestly. This is Lola’s debut match after being called up from NXT, and throwing her right into a triple threat on a big show in CDMX would normally be something I’d call out, but she’s wrestled numerous times for AAA while in NXT, so she should be okay nerves-wise. Kelani is the current NXT women’s champion and I suspect this is kind of a final exam for her to see how she handles something like this. Raquel is kind of awesome but doesn’t really strike me as a ladder match type of wrestler, but if she wins there could be Judgement Day implications so we’ll see what happens. Gun to head, I’ll go with Lola in her debut.