WrestleMania is on its way – an event where anything can happen and where new stars can be made and reputations confirmed. WWE badly need wrestlers who can breathe a bit of fresh air into the upper reaches of the card.
Could they use the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania to do that?
After all the fuss they made of the match which pays tribute to the legendary WWE Hall of Famer, it’s struggled to even make it onto the main card. 2014 saw Cesaro win the inaugural Battle Royal, for no apparent reason at all. The Big Show was victorious in 2015 and last year Baron Corbin made an immediate impact on the main roster by being the last man in the ring.
WWE didn’t quite turn Cesaro into the quality talent that we know he should be. He’s worth far more than a tag team reign with Sheamus, that is for sure. Forget Big Show. He didn’t need the push and it’s just amazing that he went through the match without a change of attitude. Baron Corbin has shown in recent weeks just how good he can be and an Intercontinental title run or even a Smackdown World title reign wouldn’t come as a shock.
So just who might WWE decide should win this year’s Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal? Winning this isn’t as important as being victorious in a Royal Rumble or winning a Money in the Bank match, but it does show some faith in your ability and hopefully bigger matches in the future. There are always great odds available at 888sport and you’ll find that the current favorite is Braun Strowman at 2/1 He was rumored to win last year’s Battle Royal. but that never materialized. He’s been getting a massive push on Raw in recent weeks and sooner or later will be put into Universal Title contention. A win at WrestleMania would add plenty more momentum to his growing reputation.
Last year Baron Corbin went from rising NXT prospect to Battle Royal winner. Could the same happen this year with Samoa Joe finally making it to the main roster? It wouldn’t be a surprise if he showed up in the Royal Rumble to see what kind of reaction the crowd would give to the former ROH and TNA World Champion. A positive reaction could just convince Vince McMahon to take another Indie star and push him into a prominent position in the company.
Other likely winners? A lot depends on the progress of The New Day in the coming weeks. A split could well be on the cards and if that does happen, Big E. is the most likely to be a success in the singles division. Having him win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal would certainly go a long way to relaunching him in the singles division and if causing conflict, say with Kofi Kingston, there’s a ready-made feud for the Summer.
Big Cass (there are far too many ‘Big’ wrestlers in WWE) is another candidate to use a WrestleMania moment (even a pre-show one), to take his career to another level. It’s probably a bit early for him though and there’s plenty of mileage in his partnership with Enzo Amore. If WWE want to get sentimental, then perhaps victory could go to Mark Henry who’d most likely be appearing in his last WrestleMania, or perhaps Kane whose in-ring career is also reaching its conclusion.
It’s only a Battle Royal but it could well prove to be the most important moment of someone’s career. It might not even be on the main card, but there are plenty of reasons to pay plenty of attention to this match.
