Final Picks and Predictions for Entire WWE Evolution 2018 Match Card Final Picks and Predictions for Entire WWE Evolution 2018 Match Card0 o...
Final Picks and Predictions for Entire WWE Evolution 2018 Match Card0 of 7
It's almost time for Evolution 2018, kicking off with a pre-show scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on the WWE Network.
No matter what happens later tonight, the sheer fact this all-women's event is even happening to begin with is already fantastic, so there is plenty of goodwill to go around.
Some of that hype can be attributed to surefire classics to come, like Toni Storm vs. Io Shirai in the Mae Young Classic final and Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair capping off their rivalry in a Last Woman Standing match.
However, not everything is pure sunshine, as WWE has been focused on so many other things lately that the creati ve team dropped the ball with some of the matches on this card.
The Riott Squad vs. Bayley, Sasha Banks and Natalya leaves much to be desired, and the booking for the Battle Royal was about as lazy as could come.
It's anybody's guess how things will turn out on a grand scale, but with some educated guesswork, we can at least try to predict who will walk out of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum victorious.
Before the bell rings, let's gaze into our crystal balls and give one final round of picks for the matches set to take place at Evolution 2018.
As Hall of Famers, Trish Stratus and Lita fall into that category of legends who are perpetually protected from looking too weak.
With matches like t he Royal Rumble, they can take a loss and it doesn't stand out as hurtful to their legacies, but in a tag team match like this one against Alicia Fox and Mickie James, winning feels like a certainty.
There was at least a chance they could have lost if Alexa Bliss had remained in this match, as WWE could have booked this as a means to give The Goddess a win over a legend to cement her career even more.
But now that she's out of the match due to an injury, that is no longer a factor.
Fox and James won't be given the same special treatment, as they weren't even able to get the best of Lita and Stratus when they blindsided them with an attack on Raw.
This started with the intention of seeing Bliss vs. Stratus, and without Bliss in the picture, it's downgraded to merely being a showcase of how great Stratus and Lita are.
Somewhere down the line, Stratus and Bliss will be able to step in the ring and face each other, but in the meanti me, it will remain another "what if?"
Final Pick: Trish Stratus and Lita are victorious.
The key to picking a winner for the 2018 Mae Young Classic tournament may not be in which two women are competing in the final, but one woman who isn't: Tegan Nox.
It must be taken with a grain of salt, but ever since Nox suffered her leg injury, it became easy to speculate that she could have gone further in the tournament instead of being eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Had she not gotten injured, she very well could have defeated Rhea Ripley and Io Shirai, which would have set her up for this match, but that didn't come to pass.
In a world where Nox was the plan, it means Shirai never was supposed to get this far, so the idea of her winning the tournament seems less likely than for it to have gone to Toni Storm, who would have made it to the end of her side of the bracket regardless.
That analysis is as good as any in picking a winner, but in fairness, it's still a stretch and a case could be made that even if plans changed, WWE could have decided to go with the flow and give Shirai the win.
This is especially true because Shirai has already been positioned as Kairi Sane's best friend and a clash between the two could happen at TakeOver: WarGames with the Mae Young Classic win earning Shirai a shot at Sane's NXT Women's Championship.
This is one of the harder choices to make on this card, which makes it all that much more interesting to see unfold.
Final Pick: Toni Storm wins the tournament.
The most recent round of NXT tapings featured absolutely no hints as to what will happen with the NXT Women's Championship come TakeOver: WarGames, which keeps the mystery of who will win between Kairi Sane and Shayna Baszler in the dark.
That is great, as any announcement of Sane or Baszler defending the title in November or something of the sort would spoil this outcome, but it also means there isn't much to go on as far as a solid prediction.
Last year, the Mae Young Classic winner, Sane, earned a title shot at TakeOver: WarGames for her tournament victory, so if history repeats itself, we could see any of the four possible outcomes.
Sane vs. Shirai has the best friends angle. Sane vs. Storm would be a great match, as would either of the Mae Young Classic finalists against Baszler, especially since The Queen of Spades and Storm have already worked well in the past.
There's also the matter of whether Baszler is ready to move up to the main roster. If she is, she won't be winning the title back.
But if WWE is holding off on that, it seems reasonable she'd become the first-ever two-time NXT women's champion in order to build more momentum.
When in doubt, the champion has the advantage to keep the title and Sane also has two wins over Baszler's one victory, as well as the undefeated Bianca Belair ready to become the top heel for the brand, so The Pirate Princess may have a slight edge.
Final Pick: Kairi Sane retains the championship.
The Battle Royal at Evolution is a ne cessary monster that exists primarily to get as many women onto the card as possible, rather than to truly be a game-changer for storylines.
The good news is that it has stakes with a future women's title shot on the line to the winner, but the bad news is that everyone has been thrown in with little to no rhyme or reason.
It's a safe call to eliminate the legends like Ivory, Molly Holly, Torrie Wilson and so on, as it's tough to imagine they'd stick around long enough to build to a match at Survivor Series or TLC.
There are also some women who just don't have the momentum to realistically propel them to a title match, like Dana Brooke, Lana, Tamina Snuka, Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose and The IIconics.
Carmella was just a champion and had already feuded with Becky Lynch, Nia Jax had her shot at Ronda Rousey and it's doubtful Ember Moon would be positioned to fight Rousey at this stage in her career.
Barring some major surprise like an NXT star using it for a shot at the NXT Women's Championship or NXT UK women's title, Nikki Cross coming up to the main roster in one fell swoop, or an outside legend like AJ Lee shocking the world, the field is pretty much narrowed down to Naomi and Asuka.
Both could face Lynch for her title if she retains it, and then it's a matter of deciphering what WWE may do at WrestleMania with the SmackDown Women's Championship.
Asuka vs. Lynch is a bigger deal than Naomi vs. Lynch, so if The Lass Kicker holds onto the belt until WrestleMania, she'll likely face The Empress of Tomorrow there.
This means Naomi could be the perfect choice to win this Battle Royal, earn a shot at Lynch for Survivor Series and be the next to fail to dethrone the champion.
Final Pick: Naomi wins.
The least important match on the card, by far, is the six-woman tag team match between The Riott Squad and Bayley, Sasha Banks and Natalya.
This is about as meaningless of an exhibition as it goes and with no stakes involved, nothing on the line, no story to dictate a necessary outcome or likely any repercussions to come out of it, the winning team might as well be chosen with the flip of a coin.
WWE has a track record of making someone look strong on the go-home shows before they lose on a pay-per-view, so since Ruby Riott stole a win over Banks on Raw, the smart bet is to lean toward the babyfaces for this encounter.
After all, this event is going to heavily revolve around positive vibes and having the heels win would be a downer.
By all means, The Riott Squad should win to offset their loss at Super Show-Down and give them more credibility, as w ell as make this an event where it's not all babyface wins, but it's hard to imagine WWE going in that direction.
In the end, it doesn't really matter, as this will be a filler match, so since WWE knows it's inconsequential, they'll probably book it so the crowd can cheer some more instead of boo.
Final Pick: Bayley, Banks and Natalya win.
The feud between Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair has been an interesting one in that WWE continues to push them in a narrative the fans just do not want to accept.
Try as they might, by having the commentators chastise her constantly and booking her like a heel, Lynch just does not get booed by the audience like intended. They like he r too much and it throws the dynamic of this program out the window.
That makes it hard to tell where WWE is going, because if this were a regular feud, the obvious outcome would be Flair reclaiming her title, teaching Lynch a lesson and standing tall as the babyface champion the crowd adores.
Putting the belt on Flair again will likely result in more boos, though, so WWE may decide to keep it on The Scarlet Spitfire and go with the flow of the WWE Universe.
Since this is a Last Woman Standing, there exists any number of ways to get around having Flair lose without making her look weak.
Past matches have seen people lose because they were duct-taped, chained up and held down by equipment, so Lynch could incapacitate Flair on a technicality and walk out with the title in that way to preserve Flair's credibility.
Final Pick: Becky Lynch retains the championship.
The Raw Women's Championship feud has revolved mostly around the idea that Nikki Bella used politics and the entertainment side of WWE to get to the top, whereas Ronda Rousey is a no-nonsense fighter who backs up her words with her fists.
From an outsider's perspective, there's no argument against saying Rousey is the more legitimate fighter here. Her UFC career is proof of her utter dominance. But within the context of WWE, suspension of disbelief allows considerable flexibility for this to be a more even contest.
The Bella Twins are wildly popular, so instead of being squashed, they'll be protected.
However, even though Bella was the longest-reigning Divas champion, her ch aracter has never been made out to be an unstoppable combat specialist, especially when she's been a heel. Even from their debut, The Bella Twins trademark has been cheating, rather than steamrolling through the competition.
In this match, WWE will seek to balance showing Bella as a strong competitor with a fighting spirit Rousey underestimated, with making sure she's still the heel and not the underdog to root for.
She'll get the edge here and there, particularly with Brie ringside for some distractions just to illustrate how she's the villain, but she'll ultimately fail to capture the title as Rousey proves she's still The Baddest Woman on the Planet.
Keeping the championship maximizes Rousey's potential for media coverage and goes with the logical flow of her being the top priority and something new, as well as the more active regular roster member.
This isn't primarily about making Bella look like a master between t he ropes. It's about two of the most popular names in the women's division being on the marquee.
At the end of this, Rousey's credibility will remain in tact as champion, Bella will still look fine even in her loss, and they'll have a newfound respect for each other that will lead to them hugging it out to send everyone home happy to conclude the show.
Final Pick: Ronda Rousey retains the championship.
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.
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