Calling Spots: Final 2024-25 WWE Prediction Results
A final tally for this narrative-based, WWE PLE prediction experiment
Back in Summer 2024 when I was brainstorming ideas for this Substack, I knew I wanted to include a series about professional wrestling. WWE and WCW had been a part of my life throughout my childhood, and I’ve since made a comeback to this world within the past few years. I like to think professional wrestling (and also Fantasmic! at Disneyland) were the start of my love for live theater. But that’s another story for another day.
Professional wrestling is serialized storytelling. Two television shows every week (three if you count the developmental brand, NXT) where characters interact, argue, feud, and fight. The easiest, and most common, form of media to compare it to is the soap opera. Hours and hours of content each week with no conclusion. The story just continues. That means wrestling history is vast and deep.
All of these storylines eventually lead to monthly Premium Live Events (PLEs) — a big spectacle event where matches often result in massive story turns and character development. The biggest PLE of them all is Wrestlemania — now a two-night event with over a dozen matches held in enormous stadiums around the United States.
Now, I consider myself a narrative-based person. I watch a fair amount of television and movies, so I’d like to think I can spot the narrative bread crumbs left by the writing team in all of these storylines. That’s where Calling Spots was born. I watch the two WWE television shows each week, and make predictions on the PLE match outcomes based on the stories being told. Am I always successful? Hell no. But is it a fun exercise nonetheless? Yeet!
Let’s look back and see how our predictions fared at Wrestlemania 41 — Night 2.
Women’s World Championship Triple Threat Match
Iyo Sky (c) vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair
Prediction: Iyo proves herself and retains while slaying these two giants.
Result: ✅ Easily match of the night. Everyone looked fantastic, and Iyo comes out looking like the star she is.
Sin City Street Fight
Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre
Prediction: Drew McIntyre hits the jackpot against Priest.
Result: ✅ The table spot was cool. Drew finally gets to celebrate a Mania win!
Intercontinental Championship Fatal 4-Way Match
Bron Breakker (c) vs. Dominik Mysterio vs. Finn Bálor vs. Penta
Prediction: Dom betrays Finn and becomes the new Intercontinental champion.
Result: ✅ I did not anticipate being so ecstatic that Dom would win, but what a fun match!
Open Challenge
Randy Orton vs. Joe Hendry
Prediction: I will never bet against RKO, no matter who he is against.
Result: ✅ I believe! Perfect execution by everyone involved.
AJ Styles vs. Logan Paul
Prediction: They’re going to let Logan win aren’t they?
Result: ✅ They did.
Women’s Tag Team Championship Match
Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Lyra Valkyria & Becky Lynch
Prediction: Back when this was Bayley I had Liv and Raquel retaining easily. Now this complicates things. If it really is Becky, I think I still have to go with Liv and Raquel here. A heel Becky turn (and subsequently going after Lyra and the Intercontinental title) is more interesting to me right now than a face Becky going after Liv. But it’s hard to bet against Becky on her big return.
Result: ❌ I literally said, “it’s hard to bet against Becky”, and then I bet against Becky. Foolish. Half-points for predicting the Becky heel turn. I was just a day late.
Undisputed WWE Championship Match
Cody Rhodes (c) vs. John Cena
Prediction: His time is now. John Cena closes out his final Wrestlemania on top.
Result: ✅ What the hell was that Travis Scott garbage? A decent match that gets absolutely railroaded by weak interference that feels like a desperate reach for virality. Killer Kross was right.
Final Tally
6-for-7. Perfection was in our grasp before slipping away! But still less infuriating than The Rock not showing up.
After The Bell
So, there we have it. Fifty-seven matches over 10 Premium Live Events. This brings our final prediction record to 45-for-57. A whopping 79% success rate. Batting .789 for the season. Those are Freddie Freeman numbers!
So what did we learn from this season?
First, just because something is predictable doesn’t make it “predictable” in the pejorative sense. There’s a reason people come to the realization that many experiences in life are more about the journey and not the destination. Was the Seth “Freakin” Rollins victory easy to see coming? Sure, if you followed the story. But that didn’t make the inevitable Paul Heyman turn any less satisfying. Watching Seth play hurt and expose his back to Roman in order to lure him in, only to stand tall knowing the betrayal that was occurring behind him was incredibly delicious.
Second, I am a believer in the three rules of Not Sam Wrestling — and the number one rule is “watch the product”. Granted, six hours of wrestling television per week is a lot to follow. That’s not even counting the added two hours of NXT (where main roster storylines can, and do, bleed into the broadcast), post-shows like Raw Recap, post-PLE press conferences, podcast interviews, social media exclusives, etc. It’s exhausting, and damn near impossible to actually keep up.
Luckily, WWE is rather good at editing together video packages before each PLE match detailing the main story beats of each feud. Even if you watched zero hours of content leading up to each PLE, the video packages hammer home all the pertinent information you need to understand what is about to unfold. So, make sure you stay engaged with the video packages and not use that time to go to the bathroom. Hold it in!1
Finally, I’m slowly learning to give the WWE writing team more time to tell their stories. The unofficial rule #4 of Not Sam Wrestling is “let them cook”. I went back and looked at all of the predictions I got wrong over the past year, and the vast majority of them involved me getting too far ahead of the story. I felt I could see where the narrative was going, and I mistakenly flipped to the back of the book instead of to the next chapter. For God sakes, I’ve been predicting a Randy Orton heel turn at every damn PLE since the very start of Calling Spots, and it still hasn’t happened. Oh, it’s coming. But first John Cena needed to return for his retirement year, and then he needed to turn heel. Now this sets up an eventual heel John Cena versus a babyface Randy Orton, which is absolute MONEY. I was so ready to get to Cody versus Randy that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. That match is still in play, but not before Cena/Randy. Let. Them. Cook.
In the end, the main takeaway is professional wrestling is fun as hell. I love stories, and professional wrestling is unique in its approach to storytelling. It’s live theater, a stunt show, a soap opera, an athletic feat, an improv show, and a damn good time for all.
And that’s not a prediction. It’s a spoiler.
Jk, please don’t hold it in. That’s dangerous.