Wrestlemania XXXIII - The Fourth Annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal

[Jack-Hammer]

With Mojo Rawley's comments on SmackDown Live, it's confirmed that the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal will return to WrestleMania for the 4th straight year.

Generally speaking, the battle royal is a primary means of making sure that mid and low card wrestlers share in the WrestleMania payday as winning it isn't necessarily some sort of huge career boost. It can be a fun bout for what it is, it's definitely something that belongs on the kickoff show in my opinion, and one has to think that Braun Strowman, if he's in it, will be one of the true favorites to come out with the victory.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

It should be fairly strong this year. That said it's still just a battle royal and you can see about half a dozen throughout the year and it's not like the previous three have been important.

 

[ISkye]

Cesaro winning was cool, but I think the overall atmosphere of Wrestlemania 30 really makes me remember it differently. Probably why I haven't re watched it nor want to. Anyway, out of all types of matches.. I just can't get into a Battle Royal. They're cool for the show they're on I guess, but man if they aren't done well they are beyond bad.

I guess if Braun is in it I'd like him to win, but at the same time I'd almost rather him just destroy someone on the pre-show or something. I remember Cesaro won it, and we all know the after booking of him following. Then Big show eliminated Damien Mizdow as near peak popularity to win the year after. Then Baron won it in his debut, and the Smackdown announcers still mention it like 10 months later. It's almost painful to hear, but it's more of a pet peeve.

I still like the general idea either way. Hope it's better than the last few. Don't care about the winner I guess.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

With so little care and interest for the ARMBAR, they have free reign to book it however they want, and that could end up being a huge plus for them this year. They don't have to protect anyone (other than Braun), they aren't hindered by having to book future stories within the match, you just have to throw people over the top rope until you have a winner. There's no reason why they can't make this all about Braun's dominance and have him eliminate 75% of the other men in this match. It's exactly what he needs to get right back on track after Fastlane.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I wouldn't be surprise if this is we're the big show ends up again this year and it's going to be build around strowman and show being dominant and eliminate everybody else between the 2 of them only for strowman to have the big spot at the end and lifting big show and eliminating him for the win.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Braun should just stay out of this and make an appearence on the MAIN show, destroying Shaq and Big Show after their match, if, it happens. If not, then he should destroy someone else on the main show.

Him being there means that he should definately win. So keep Braun out of it, in order to make it a little bit more interesting.

 

[Navi]

If Braun Strowman is entered in this and doesn't win then there is a problem. His booking up to the Reigns match was great, still shaking my head over that loss. Looking forward though, if he doesn't eliminate half or 3/4 of the roster in the match then I for one will be disappointed. Not that the winner gets anything though, but at least he will have won.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Braun should end it quickly by going outside and lifting the ring itself, spilling all the wrestlers out of the ring in a huge pile.

 

[ShinChan]

If Braun Strowman is entered in this and doesn't win then there is a problem. His booking up to the Reigns match was great, still shaking my head over that loss. Looking forward though, if he doesn't eliminate half or 3/4 of the roster in the match then I for one will be disappointed. Not that the winner gets anything though, but at least he will have won.

Braun Strowman losing to Roman Reigns was ridiculous booking. And even in their rematch, if Reigns wins again clean, that would be horrible as well.

If Braun Strowman enters this match, he must win this. The card is so stacked that there's no place for him in the main card. Only possibility could be a Triple Threat with Roman Reigns and The Undertaker but that's too unlikely.

Also, why not make ARMBAR something more than just a trophy? A world title shot or even a midcard title shot could be the prize for winning it but at least give something worthwhile.

 

[thebarber]

Braun wins, last eliminating Rowan and Harper. What a match, Breeze, Fandango, Rhyno, Slater, Crews, Rawley, Ziggler, Kalisto, Zayn maybe, Samoa Joe maybe, Victor, Connor, Elsworth, what other garbage is there. Big Show, Henry, Kane...maybe a surprise legend or two. Iusually love Battle Royals but this is not a Wrestlemania quality match

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I'm predicting Samoa Joe for the win. I don't even know if he is entered but no one else has predicted him to win (because I don't remember anyone picking him to win therefore no one has) and I want to be different cuz different is cool. Should be a match.

 

[BigDaddyKewl]

They should have Braun win with him eliminating Big Show last. Then have him destroy the Andre trophy and the announcers can put it over like Braun is disrespecting the legacy of Andre the Giant. That could set up a Big Show vs Strauman feud in the upcoming months having Big Show defend the legacy of Andre.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

Things could change, but once again this is advertised for the pre-show. If I remember correctly, the match was also advertised for the pre-show, but it was ultimately moved to the main card.

The reason last year was likely to give bigger spots to Baron Corbin and Shaq. Corbin winning his debut on the pre-show wouldn't have been a very big thing.

This year we have a list of 30 confirmed names. This could change, and nothing says that an NXT name couldn't be added though it seems unlikely, that A) they'll have two NXT debuts and wins in consecutive years, or B) have that person win or lose on the pre-show.

Where are Luke Harper, Finn Balor or Samoa Joe? Harper is most likely getting involved with Orton vs Wyatt, and Joe most likely involved with Rollins vs HHH. I'm not saying it's good, but that has to be the logic. Balor we see the Raw after Mania.

This is a battle of the jobbers, and the winner has three for three gone on to a fairly lacklustre path following their win of the Andre battle. Cesaro jobbed for months, Show laid down for Reigns then vanished, Corbin beat up Kalisto for a while and didn't do a whole lot else.

This year the winner seems pre-determined to be Braun Strowman, likely with Big Show being the last man. Show has been involved in every one of these matches and has won it once (he had to). Sami Zayn is the only other notable name in the match.

Strowman makes sense, but it seems like going through the motions. If Balor was to return here, or if Joe were involved, or even the loser of Nakamura vs Roode - this match wouldn't be on the pre-show.

They're going to go through the motions for Strowman or have Sami Zayn pull the old David routine. Whoever wins, they need to push the damn guy.

The Andre battle royal trophy has done little other to formalize the write off battle royal that WrestleMania was having almost every year anyway. Let's not hate on the fact that this match allows multiple guys the chance to perform at WrestleMania that might have been sitting in the back.

Corbin doing nothing was lame, though he did get time to build his character. Cesaro staying heel and jobbing out was lame, but we got Kidd/Cesaro from the fallout and that was pretty cool (rip Kidd's neck).

I don't think that this match has to be on the main card, but the win has to start to really mean something. If it's Strowman or Zayn - put a midcard title on them asap. Let them have a good long US title reign or maybe IC if they wind up on Smackdown. Otherwise this battle is just of seeming non-prestigious with the most prestigious name. Andre's name deserves better and the winners of this match deserve stronger booking.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Given that Strowman is the favorite to win, I have a feeling that he won't and that he'll wind up losing to a much smaller guy. As a result, if it's a returning Finn Balor, for instance, this could give Balor a pretty high profile first feud back. Of course, then WWE finds itself in a bit of a quandary as some will feel having Strowman job out to Balor so soon makes all the time they spent building him up feel wasted and Balor jobbing out to Strowman would feel like another case of a much more skilled wrestler being chumped out to someone because he has a look that Vince likes more.

Of course, at the end of the day, it's not like winning this thing ever really made any difference to anyone's career when you get right down to it. Cesaro's career didn't really get any sort of huge boost, Big Show's done nothing since winning. Baron Corbin's career has risen higher because of mostly solid booking, well worked matches, a semi-interesting character and the fact that he's had a lot of time to be built up. It hasn't had much to do with winning the battle royal.

As to whomever wins it this year, I don't really expect anything substantial either. For the most part, the battle royal is nothing more than a way of having lower card guys share in the WrestleMania payday. Still, I can't really fault WWE for that because being in this match will be the highlight of most of these guys' year so at least they're getting a little taste.

I think the kickoff show is the right place to have this match and I hope that it stays there this year.

 

[roipdh123]

Out of the participants announced I would hope to see a final four consisting of:Strowman, Zayn, Mojo Rawley and Dolph Ziggler. Have Ziggler and Zayn & Strowman and Rawley brawl, and let us have the final 4 feeling.
Zayn helluva kicks Rawley over the top rope out of the ring, and Strowman throws Ziggler over the top rope onto him.
Zayn and Strowman can battle for 2-3 minutes, Zayn almost wins, before Strowman counters and wins the match (ALA Big Show win 2015).

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

It seems like they might be building towards Sami winning, not that I would have a problem with that but considering the entire world was screaming about how they ruined Strowman at Fastlane, it doesn't seem like the smartest move to have him lose here too. Considering it looks like Joe isn't gonna be in this it's pretty obvious that it's coming down to one of the two previously mentioned, and if that's the case, because they're pretty big stars I don't think it's the best thing to have it on the pre-show. But I guess there isn't anything else they can replace it with (BECAUSE THEY JUST HAD TO PUT LADDERS IN THE TAG TITLE MATCH) so I won't complain too much. There's more people in it that I care about than usual so it's one of the more intriguing ones surely, but even then that's not really saying much at all.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Just want to say, the result really surprised me, I didn't think for one minute that they would give this match to mojo rawley. Now what does that win for mojo rawley means for ryder and the hype bros.

 

[showtyme27]

Mojo Rawley is NOT! A current and/or future star. I am very disappointed with the decision to put Him over such talents as Strowman(Who has been on fire and earned a Wrestlemania moment IMO), Big Show(What A way to end an HOF worthy career), Sami Zayn(The Big Brass at WWE must hate this Guy), Dolph Ziggler(Someone The WWE Brass hates more than Sami Zayn), ect... There are countless other Superstars in the match that I felt were more deserving. I do not see Mojo ever even reaching the top of The Mid-Card nevertheless The Main Event... Again I can not express how much of a waste of time it was to have Him win... I guess having famous friends can help You get an un-deserved win at Wrestlemania.