Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal “The Lost Boys”
WrestleMania 35 is just days away as everyone travels to New York at Met Life stadium to perform on the “grandest stage of them all.” For six straight years, WWE has included the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Mania. This match not only pays homage to the biggest man in pro wrestling but also allows several extra spots on the show for talents that were not in main storylines. After all, everybody wants to work WrestleMania, the grandest spectacle in sports entertainment. So that leads me into my next point or my next question if you will. Why are there some key names missing from this list? Why are some of the top talents not booked in any match at Mania?
While there are some bigger names in this lineup, we also have many that have been used as “Enhancement Talent.” We also see several name talents not included in this list, such as Bray Wyatt, Harper, Dean Ambrose, and Dolph Ziggler. Perhaps Bray and Harper are not ready to make a return, or perhaps WWE does not want to debut a new character/gimmick in the Battle Royal. Perhaps a couple of these guys, like Dean and Dolph, are leaving WWE and they do not wish to waste a spot on outgoing talent.
Where is Kevin Owens and Elias? Maybe they will be late additions, or maybe WWE has other plans for them at Mania that have not been unveiled yet. Did you notice that Big E and Xavier Woods were not on the list? No New Day at Mania? I doubt that, maybe it is because New Day is set to turn on Kofi kingston in his match against Daniel Bryan. Too far fetched to be true, the fans would lose their minds, right? That is just the type of thing Vince McMahon absolutely loves.
No WWE legends like John Cena or The Undertaker have appeared on this card (Not in the Battle Royal just on the card). Could either of them have some type of impact? Could The Undertaker actually show up unannounced and with no promotion to take out somebody like Elias? Why is Cena not giving Angle his last match? After all, Cena kicked off his illustrious career against Kurt. No Nakamura or Rusev? No Cesaro or Shemus? The Revival, the RAW Tag Team Champions, do not even get a spot. There are so many questions, both directly involving the Battle Royal and indirectly involving it and its competitors or lack thereof. I do not have all the answers nor will I pretend to, but they need to be asked. Below is a list of “confirmed” talents in the Battle Royal. Take a look, and you too will see names missing that you would have expected to be there. Take a look, and you too will have questions left un-answered.
• Braun Strowman
• Colin Jost & Michael Che of SNL
• Andrade
• Apollo Crews
• Titus O’Neil
• Tyler Breeze
• Jinder Mahal
• No Way Jose
• Bobby Roode
• Chad Gable
• Kalisto
• Gran Metalik
• Lince Dorado
• Bo Dallas
• Curtis Axel
• Heath Slater
• Rhyno
• Viktor
• Konnor
• Ali
• Shelton Benjamin
• Luke Gallows
• Karl Anderson
• Matt Hardy
• Jeff Hardy
• Otis
• Tucker
• EC3
We are days away from WrestleMania, and perhaps just days away from answers to these questions and to the many questions that I did not even throw out there, but you might be asking yourself.
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Check out my previous WWE articles as we head towards the grandest night of them all.
