15 HUGE WWE WrestleMania 39 Predictions You Need To Know

15. Austin Theory (c) Vs. John Cena

For the first time in just under 20 years, a John Cena match will open a WrestleMania.

There will perhaps be parallels drawn between Cena's WrestleMania XX clash with The Big Show and Austin Theory's big night here in 2023. Both featured stars on the rise taking on opponents that through literal or figurative stature seem too big for them to overcome. Both have to manage the pressure of setting the tone for the biggest event of the company's calendar. And both contests were fought over a United States Championship in a state of neither feast nor famine, ensuring that its prestige would be judged very specifically on the quality of the match.

There's one enormous and crucial difference.

When 'The Champ' was last jerking the curtain on the 'Grandest Stage', he was there to go over rather than get over. Theory needs both. Back then, Cena strolled into Madison Square Garden white-hot and very much 12 months away from climbing the next rung too. Theory seems some way short of that, but his experienced opponent will be trusted with ensuring he doesn't look it by the end.

It's a booking statement from Triple H that one of his biggest available former headliners is going on first. It'll be another one when the United States Champion bucks the 2004 comparisons and retains.

Winner - Austin Theory