From the WWE Rumor Mill: Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal is happening at WrestleMania 34

What's the story?

According to Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE still plans to go ahead with the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at this year's WrestleMania 34.

In case you didn’t know…

WWE first announced the 30-man battle royal in memory of WWE legend Andre the Giant, for WrestleMania XXX in 2014. Cesaro became the first ever winner, after last eliminating the Big Show. Since then, the marquee match has been a part of all three subsequent WrestleManias.

The heart of the matter

When it was first announced, it seemed like a huge deal. None other than Hulk Hogan introduced the match, and the bout itself was an exciting watch, with Cesaro picking up the Giant and throwing him over the top rope to pick up the win, reminiscent of Hulk Hogan picking up Andre the Giant for a body slam.

It looked like the match would be used to elevate a talented wrestler at the 'grandest stage of them all' every year but instead, the match has now become a place to dump any wrestler who is not able to find a place on the WM card.

The first ever match was won by Cesaro, followed by Big Show next year, and then Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 32 and finally Mojo Rawley last year. Except the spotlight of being the winners of the match, these Superstars' careers were not significantly affected by the win in any way. In fact, the match did not even get a spot on the main card last year and was moved to the pre-show.

Because of these reasons, and after the announcement of a new Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal for Women at New Orleans this year, it was thought that WWE might give up on the idea of ATGMBR. WOR has now reported that this is not so and that WWE is planning to have the Battle Royal this year as well.

What's next?

If it is true that WWE is going ahead with the match, it will be announced in the weeks to come. Hopefully, creative will put more thought into the bout this year, and actually use it to elevate an up-and-coming talent, maybe even someone from NXT.

Author's take

Last year's Battle Royal ended up being a mess, with WWE using NFL's Rob Gronkowski just to garner some mainstream media attention. Hopefully, WWE does a better job this time around.