Last year, the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal did not take place at WrestleMania 36. It would have been impossible due to COVID-19 restrictions, which were much more stringent at that time.
For WrestleMania 37, though, while the pandemic is still raging, those blockades are not quite the same. After all, fans will be in attendance and WWE has already done several battle royals (and the Royal Rumbles).
So far, the return of the match has not yet been announced. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t be. In the past, WWE has given only the absolute bare minimum attention to this, announcing it at the last minute and just tossing people in there who have nothing else to do.
Very little spotlight or effort is put into the ATGMBR, but I still think it’s worth spending a few minutes thinking about and should be capitalized on to give someone a WrestleMania moment.
As such, I’d like to toss out some of the names I think would be great candidates to win the match, if it does in fact take place this year.
Honorable Mentions and a Note on the Card
Since several other matches still haven’t been announced, but have been hinted at, it’s hard to tell who WWE will leave open for this kind of match.
For instance, I’m assuming Matt Riddle will defend the United States Championship against Sheamus, so I won’t be counting them as options. The same goes for Keith Lee, who would be my #1 pick here, but I think he’s either out injured or will be inserted in that US title match.
Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro, Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn, Big E vs. Apollo Crews, a Fatal 4-Way for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship between The Mysterios, The Street Profits, Alpha Academy and Dirty Dawgs, etc are all going to be people I disqualify from the running for this list.
I’m also not counting Damian Priest, as he’ll be at least ringside for The Miz vs. Bad Bunny.
All Possible Options
Here is the actual list I’m working with who I think would take part in this match, for reference:
- Akira Tozawa
- Aleister Black (highly unlikely)
- Angel Garza
- Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin
- Dabba-Kato
- Drew Gulak
- Elias and Jaxson Ryker
- Erik
- Humberto Carrillo
- Jeff Hardy
- Kalisto
- King Corbin
- Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado)
- Murphy
- Mustafa Ali
- RETRIBUTION (Mace, Slapjack and T-Bar)
- R-Truth
- Ricochet
- Riddick Moss
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Tucker Knight
- Wesley Blake
- plus the ability to bring people in from NXT
Let’s start breaking down the top picks, starting with the honorable mentions…
