From the WWE Rumor mill: The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal appears to be a go for WrestleMania 34
What's the story?
Just two days after Bryan Alvarez said on Wrestling Observer Radio that there wouldn't be an Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34, he has reversed course and stated that there will be one.
In case you didn't know...
The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal became a WrestleMania tradition at WrestleMania XXX in New Orleans when Cesaro was the first winner in 2014.
Since then the match has appeared at WrestleMania every year with The Big Show, Baron Corbin, and Mojo Rawley winning those matches.
The heart of the matter...
On the most recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Alvarez stated that there is expected to be a men's and women's battle royal at WrestleMania now.
After rumors that there would be a Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal for the women, Alvarez believed that there wouldn't be an Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
Considering there is going to be a major HBO documentary on the life of Andre The Giant just two days after WrestleMania, it didn't make sense for there not to be the men's battle royal at WrestleMania, and that is probably part of the reason why Alvarez changed direction.
Alvarez stated that he expected one of the matches to be on the Kickoff Show and one of the matches to be on the main card.
What's next?
The last pay per view before WrestleMania is a week from Sunday when WWE Fastlane takes place from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
The main event will see the WWE Champion, AJ Styles, defend his title in a six-pack challenge against Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, and John Cena.
Author's take...
For the past few weeks on my Lost In The Midcard podcast, myself and my co-host Matt Black have been saying we expect the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal to be on the main card for the first time because of the documentary.
Needless to say when I saw the rumors that there wouldn't be one I didn't believe them, and it didn't take long for those rumors to change.