‘Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal’ Participants Revealed

With Wrestlemania 33 coming around, all the matches on the card have been announced. There will be a mixed tag team match, and a triple-threat ladder match between Cesaro & Sheamus, Enzo & Cass, and Gallows & Anderson for the Raw Tag Team Championships. Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, Charlotte, and Bayley will compete in a fatal four-way elimination match for the Raw Women’s Championship. Roman Reigns will face the Undertaker, and Brock Lesnar will fight Goldberg for the WWE Universal Championship. For the first time since 2013, the Intercontinental Championship will be defended in a singles match when Baron Corbin takes on Dean Ambrose. Kevin Owens faces off against his former best friend Chris Jericho in a match for the United States Championship, and Seth Rollins will find himself against Triple H in an unsanctioned match.

There is also a pre-show. On the pre-show, the women of Smackdown will all compete for Alexa Bliss’s Women’s Championship, and the Cruiserweight Champion Neville will defend his title against Austin Aries. There will also be the 4th annual “Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal”, and most of its participants have been revealed.

From the Raw brand, Golden Truth members Goldust and R-Truth will be participating, as will former Social Outcasts Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas. Jinder Mahal, Primo, and Epico, will also be in the match. Two big names from Raw, Sami Zayn and Braun Strowman, will also be in the battle royal. Big Show, winner of the second “Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal”, will be hoping to win it for a second time.

Several Smackdown superstars have also thrown their hats into the ring. Mojo Rawley was the first to announce his participation in the match. Apollo Crews and Curt Hawkins also revealed that they would be joining the match. Tyler Breeze and Fandango, who are a tag-team called Breezango, will also be in the battle royal. Heath Slater, Rhyno, and Dolph Ziggler will be competing. Jason Jordan, Chad Gable, and Jimmy and Jey Uso will also be in the match. This means that the Smackdown Tag Team Championships will not be defended at Wrestlemania 33, as the Smackdown Tag Team Champions, Jimmy and Jey Uso, will be in the battle royal.

Rusev is not expected to be part of the match, as he is recovering from shoulder surgery. Big Show was initially thought to have been competing against Shaquille O’Neil, but those plans fell through.

Right now, it is still not entirely sure who will be winning the match. Some favorites to win are Braun Strowman, Mojo Rawley, and Sami Zayn. Rawley’s tag team partner, Zack Ryder, is currently injured, and Rawley talked about having a “Wrestlemania moment,” one that he could possibly dedicate to his injured tag team partner.

Sami Zayn is a fan favorite and one of the more over performers on Raw. Many are hoping that WWE has big plans for Zayn, who has not done much of note since winning against Kevin Owens at Battleground last year.

However, many are expecting Braun Strowman to win. The former powerlifter has been on a roll since being split from the Wyatt Family in last year’s draft. He was placed in several high profile roles on Raw, having defeated many enhancement talents. He was a part of Team Raw on Survivor Series, and was eliminated by count-out after he was prevented from entering the ring. He eliminated seven people before being eliminated by Baron Corbin. He suffered his first ever pinfall loss against Roman Reigns at the much maligned Fastlane. With the way WWE has been pushing Strowman as a unstoppable monster and a “mountain of a man,” it is more than entirely plausible that Strowman walks away from this match as the winner.

Barring Big Show, the two men who won the “Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal,” Cesaro and Baron Corbin, were both heavily pushed after winning. Hopefully whoever wins the match uses the momentum to catapult themselves into big things.

[Featured Image by WWE]