WWE 2K19 Predicts: WrestleMania 35

WrestleMania 35 is just around the corner, and with 15 matches on the card it looks set to be the biggest WrestleMania ever. Here at RealSport we can't wait for the show to start so we are getting an early look at the matchups WrestleMania has on offer thanks to the excellent WWE 2K19 game. With its massive roster of wrestlers and long list of match types we can simulate every match on the card to gauge who will walk away with the championships and while match might just steal the show come Sunday.

How to set up WrestleMania 35

WWE 2K19 does not have a pre-made arena for WrestleMania 35, however the creation suite does have all the tools you need to make one if you are so inclined and have a spare 20 hours or so. There are some good versions you can download from the community creations section, but we have gone with the WrestleMania 33 arena as it is outdoors and gives you a choice between day, evening, and night time for your matches.

With the arena set we need to make sure the titles are all in the right place. This means going across to the "My WWE" tab in the main menu and selecting "Title Management".

Here you can get your titles on the correct wrestlers to give your WrestleMania simulation a real kick-start. Brock Lesnar needs to be assigned the Universal Championship, the WWE Championship needs to be put on Daniel Bryan, Bobby Lashley is the Intercontinental Champion and Samoa Joe is the US Champion. You also need to put the SmackDown tag titles on The Usos and then vacate the SmackDown and Raw Women's Championships. This is frustratingly the only way to make the big main event match a double championship one. It means the belts will be missing from the entrances, but it does mean that the winner will be lifting both aloft afterwards.

Once you've got your championships correctly assigned you are good to go, all you need are the actual matches. Let's take a look at the card.

WrestleMania 35 card

Brock Lesnar (C) Vs. Seth Rollins - Universal Championship

Let's start with the big title match. Brock Lesnar claimed the vacant title in November by beating Braun Strowman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to begin his second reign. Seth Rollins won the Royal Rumble in January and immediately challenged Brock for the Universal title.

This won't be the first time the two have met, with Rollins cashing in his Money In The Bank briefcase during Brock's title defense at WrestleMania 31 and then again with Seth defending his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Brock at Battleground 2015. Neither match ended with one pinning the other, so this should be the first time we get a result between the two. With Rollins' ascent to the top star of WWE's weekly content we can expect him to find a way past The Beast Incarnate, but can he do it in WWE 2K19?

Unfortunately, there is no fairytale here. Brock Lesnar is very OP in WWE 2K19 and he made short work of Rollins despite hitting some high-impact moves. One F5 was all Brock needed to retain his title.

Buddy Murphy (C) Vs. Tony Nese - Cruiserweight Championship

The Cruiserweight Championship match is likely to be on the pre-show, but it should also be a very good match. Buddy Murphy beat Cedric Alexander for the title in October at the Super Show-Down in Australia. He has been an impressive champion, and to find a challenger for him WWE held an 8-man tournament on 205 Live which was won by Tony Nese. Unfortunately Buddy Murphy is not in WWE 2K19 so we simply can't simulate this match.

Triple H Vs. Batista - No Holds Barred Match

The annual Triple H match has been booked, and this time it is against his old Evolution partner and Marvel star Batista. The seeds of the match were planted during SmackDown 1000 in October, and took root in February when Batista attacked Ric Flair to get Triple H's attention. The move worked and Triple H agreed to a No Holds Barred match, but with his own in-ring career also on the line.

Batista did manage to hit a Batista Bomb on Triple H that could have ended the match, but Stephanie McMahon was there to distract the referee and save the match. In the end that save swayed the match in Triple H's favor and he was able to beat the movie star and save his career.

Kurt Angle Vs. Baron Corbin

Kurt Angle's long and storied wrestling career will come to an end at WrestleMania 35. He returned to WWE as general manager of Raw after WrestleMania 33, where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. During his final stint in WWE he tagged with Ronda Rousey during her in-ring debut and filled in for Roman Reigns during a Shield match, but Angle's biggest story line recently has been his battle for control of Raw against Baron Corbin which has led to the final match of Angle's farewell tour being this bout at WrestleMania. It has disappointed some fans, who had hoped to see Angle renew his rivalry with someone like John Cena. WWE 2K19 only has '01 and '06 versions of Angle, so we are using the '06 version since he too is bald.

The match was a back-and-forth affair with Corbin using some dirty tricks to get an edge, but in the end Kurt's smarts were too much. A few german suplexes and an Olympic Slam were enough for Kurt to get the 1-2-3 and ride off into the sunset victorious.

Shane McMahon Vs. The Miz - Falls Count Anywhere Match

Shane & Miz's relationship has been a curious one. Shane replaced an injured Miz in the WWE World Cup only to end up winning the tournament and the two then formed a tag team and won the SmackDown tag titles at the Royal Rumble. They lost the the belts at Elimination Chamber and their rematch at Fastlane, with Miz being pinned in both cases. This was enough for Shane to turn heel on Miz and set up this match at WrestleMania.

In this simulation Shane McMahon upended his 86 OVR to 81 OVR deficit and pinned The Miz outside the ring. There were no flying elbows through tables, which we can certainly expect on Sunday, but there was a coast-to-coast dropkick in this bout. It was a hard-fought battle that saw Shane kick out of a Skull-Crushing Finale before picking up the win.

AJ Styles Vs. Randy Orton

Ever since AJ Styles lost his WWE Championship to Daniel Bryan in November The Phenomenal One has been at a loose end. Enter Randy Orton. An RKO to eliminate Styles during the title match at Elimination Chamber was responded to with a surprise Phenomenal Forearm at Fastlane. Orton took offense to Styles referring to SmackDown as "The house that AJ Styles built" since he started his career on SmackDown back in 2002. After some needling about Styles' roots on the independent scene the match was made for WrestleMania.

This match was fantastic on WWE 2K19, and looks like it will be Match of the Night given the quality of the competitors involved. It had everything you could want, with back-and-forth action, kickouts from and RKO and a Styles Clash and then a super-charged avalanche RKO for Randy Orton to pick up the win.

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

The annual battle royal should see everyone that is not booked in a main card match compete. The most you can get in the ring at one time in WWE 2K19 is 8, so that is the match we are using here, an 8-man battle royal. To fill out the field we used the "random" selection, using it again if it gave us a Roman Reigns or Randy Orton, or a retired wrestler like Kevin Nash. In the end our match was between Jinder Mahal, Bray Wyatt, Titus O'Neill, Mike Kanellis, Bobby Roode, Tyler Breeze, Kassius Ohno, and Lio Rush.

The match was dominated by Lio Rush, who eliminated Wyatt, Ohno, Roode, and O'Neill. This left him alone with the much bigger Jinder Mahal who went one set further than in 2017 and won the Battle Royal.

Samoa Joe (C) Vs. Rey Mysterio - United States Championship

Samoa Joe claimed his first main roster championship in March, winning the US title in a fatal four-way from R-Truth. He defended it in another fatal four-way at Fastlane, making the legendary Rey Mysterio pass out. However, the following week Mysterio would pin Joe in a tag match to earn this shot. Mysterio has picked up an ankle injury since then and this match's place on the card is still up in the air, but that doesn't mean we can't simulate it to see who will win!

This was an excellent match. Rey's speed kept him out of range of Joe's powerful attacks for the most part, but like a horror movie villain, Samoa Joe just kept coming. Mysterio twice hit the 619 but had his Frog Splash attempts countered. Joe locked in a Coquina Clutch only for Mysterio to counter into a pin attempt, but eventually Joe was able to drag Rey down, trap his body, and tap out legend to retain the United States title.

Bobby Lashley (C) Vs. Finn Balor - Intercontinental Championship

Bobby Lashley won the Intercontinental title from Dean Ambrose in a triple threat match, but lost it not long after to Finn Balor at Elimination Chamber in a 2-on-1 handicap match when Balor pinned Lio Rush. Lashley would regain the title a month later with the help of Rush. Another handicap match was booked but with Jinder Mahal replacing an injured Lio Rush. Balor won and warned Lashley that The Demon would be making an appearance at WrestleMania. To set this match up make sure you add Lio Rush as a manager for Bobby Lashley and select The Demon version of Finn Balor.

The Demon doesn't lose. Balor had to battle through the bigger, stronger, Lashley and use his speed and high-impact counters to stay on the front foot and hit Lashley with a Coup de Grace to reclaim the Intercontinental Championship.

Roman Reigns Vs. Drew McIntyre

Roman Reigns was forced to vacate his hard-won Universal title in October as he underwent treatment for Leukemia. No one expected to see him back in the ring soon, but by late February he was cleared for action and had a last hurrah with The Shield which included giving Drew McIntyre a triple powerbomb through the announce table at Fastlane. The next night McIntyre attacked Reigns from behind and goaded him into accepting this match at WrestleMania. When setting up this match be sure to remove Dolph Ziggler as a manager for Drew McIntyre.

This was a battle between two big men. Both kicked out of the others finisher, but eventually it was Reigns who had his hand raised in victory, crushing McIntyre with a spear to get his road to the Universal Championship started.

Bayley & Sasha Banks (C) Vs. Beth Phoenix & Natalya Vs. Billie Kay & Peyton Royce Vs. Nia Jax & Tamina - Women's Tag Team Championship

Bayley and Sasha were crowned as the inaugural holders of the Women's Tag Team Championship at Elimination Chamber and accepted challenges from all comers. At Fastlane they beat Nia Jax & Tamina but lost a non-title match to Billie Kay & Peyton Royce. Beth Phoenix then announced she was coming out of retirement to team up with Natalya and so this fatal four-way tag team title match was added to WrestleMania. The only way to do this match unfortunately is without the titles and in a four-way tornado tag, which makes everyone legal.

As a result of the tornado tag team rules this match was tough to follow as chaos took over and the action spilled all over the ringside area. Eventually Beth Phoenix got Billie Kay in the torture rack and made her tap out to win the titles.

Daniel Bryan (C) Vs. Kofi Kingston - WWE Championship

Bryan's return to the ring this time last year was a landmark moment for WWE and their most popular superstar, but never one to rest on his laurels, Bryan captured the WWE Championship for the fourth time in November and soon became an obnoxious eco-warrior, turning against the fans. After Rollins chose to face Lesnar at WrestleMania, the search for an opponent for Bryan began. Kofi Kingston entered the story as a late injury-replacement in the Elimination Chamber title match. He pinned Bryan during a gauntlet match to determine who would enter the Elimination Chamber last, only for Bryan to return the favor at Elimination Chamber when it was down to those two. Kingston picked up another pinfall on Bryan in a tag team match and was going to face him at Fastlane when Vince McMahon stepped in and gave Kevin Owens the match. Kofi faced barrier after barrier but with the support of the fans and his New Day brothers he cleared them all and was awarded this title shot at WrestleMania in a story that echoed Bryan's own in the run-up to WrestleMania 30.

5 years after his own fairytale ending, Daniel Bryan makes way for Kofi Kingston's rightful ascent. A back-and-forth match ended without Bryan hitting most of his signature moves as Kofi's countering ability and smooth athleticism gave him the edge for most of the match. A trouble in paradise later and Kofi was finally crowned WWE Champion.

WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal

After it was added to WrestleMania for the first time last year, the Women's Battle Royal is back for WrestleMania 35. As with the men's we are doing an 8-person Battle Royal to determine this years winner with a randomized set of competitors. They 8 selected were Lacey Evans, Naomi, Alicia Fox, Carmella, Asuka, Shayna Baszler, Sonya Deville, and Sarah Logan.

Alicia Fox and Carmella were early casualties before the match settled down. It soon became obvious that the dominant forces were Asuka and Shayna Baszler though, and they cleared the competition fairly easily to leave the two of them in a dream-match scenario. Eventually it was Asuka who came out on top though.

Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso (C) Vs. Ricochet & Aleister Black Vs. Sheamus & Cesaro Vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev - Fatal four-way for SmackDown Tag Team Championship

This was the last match added to the WrestleMania 35. Part of Kofi Kingston getting his title shot involved The Usos forfeiting their part of a tag team gauntlet match against Big E and Xavier Woods. As punishment for that act they were forced into defending their titles against rivals The Bar (Sheamus & Cesaro), Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev, and newly promoted from NXT pair Ricochet & Aleister Black.

Much like the women's match this was a mess and won't be near the quality that we will see at WrestleMania. The result was something of a surprise, with Jimmy Uso tapping out Rusev with a single leg boston crab. I don't think we can expect that to be the finish of the actual match given some of the spectacular wrestlers that are involved here.

Ronda Rousey (C) Vs. Charlotte Flair (C) Vs. Becky Lynch - Winner Takes All

The main event of the show has been building since November, when SmackDown invaded Raw ahead of Survivor Series and set everyone salivating at the thought of Becky Lynch Vs. Ronda Rousey. Since that time Becky has won the Royal Rumble and SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair has been added to the mix. This history-making triple threat match will be the first time women have main-evented a WrestleMania and should be a true contender for Match of the Night.

This is the most convoluted match to setup, requiring both Women's Championships to be vacated and selecting a double championship match. It does hurt the aesthetic of the entrances to not have the belts around the waste of Charlotte Flair & Ronda Rousey, but the ability to see the winner lift both at the end more than makes up for it.

Triple threats are not as smooth as you'd like them to be in WWE 2K19, but that doesn't mean the match was a mess. Plenty of armbars and Figure 8's were locked in only for the third person to break it up, and some risks were taken by Becky Lynch as you can see. In the end Becky set the fans home happy as she tapped out Charlotte to lift both titles.