Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

What seemed to start as a way to get a whole bunch of guys without matches onto the Wrestlemania card whilst at the same time honouring a legend of the squared circle and the first ever WWE Hall of Fame inductee has become a staple of the Wrestlemania card in a very short time.

Dave Meltzer has criticised the match as having not meant anything so far. A similar criticism could perhaps have been levelled at the first few Royal Rumble matches before the winner was given a title shot.

Being given the honour of winning the match should be a boost to the wrestler's career but so far the winners perhaps haven't taken full advantage of that. Let's look at the three events to date and have a think about who might be a possible winner this year.

Wrestlemania 30
6 April 2014
Winner: Cesaro
Last eliminated: The Big Show

With the Big Show and Sheamus the only wrestlers who got their own entrance - everyone else being in the ring already when they entered - it seems obvious that they will be within the last few entrants and both of them are in the final four.

The match is just a mass of bodies for a good while. With 30 guys in the ring it is difficult to really see anything happening and for anyone to hit any big moves. It isn't until the number reaches single digits that the action picks up.

Fandango has a nice moment when he eliminates Big E and then dances around the side of the ring. It's amazing to see how over he is with the crowd when he is currently reduced to being a tag team jobber on Smackdown Live.

Kofi Kingston has a Kofi Kingston moment after being backdropped out of the ring but landing with his feet on the steps, allowing him to get back into the match.

When the match reaches the last few competitors, the excitement levels increase and the crowd go wild when Cesaro actually manages to lift the Big Show to throw him out of the ring.

At the time, Cesaro was part of the Real Americans tag team and this gave him a bit of a boost as a singles competitor, however as yet he hasn't managed to make an impact on the title scene having only held the tag team championships since his victory.

Rating: 6/10

Wrestlemania 31
29 March 2015
Winner: The Big Show
Last eliminated: Damien Mizdow

The event was relegated to the pre-show and takes place in bright daylight in the outside.

This match is better orchestrated with moments throughout the match that stand out from the crowd
of bodies fighting in the ring. Curtis Axel has a Hulk Hogan moment right at the start before everyone teams up on him to lift him and throw him out. Miz and Mizdow have a moment when they team up on Alex Riley. Bo Dallas celebrates when he eliminates someone and seems to eliminate himself. Excitement lasts throughout the match this year.

Mizdow is the crowd favourite with chants for him a few times during the match. His character as The Miz's stunt double was really over and when he turns on the Miz, they crowd really lap it up. It was a shame that his push fizzled out shortly after.

Cesaro gets another big pop for lifting up and eliminating Kane in the same way that he eliminated The Big Show to win the previous year. He gets another big cheer when it looks like he is going to do the same to Show but he doesn't quite manage it and The Big Show puts him out.

The commentators sell the fact that The Big Show has never won a battle royale and that he is a target because of his size. There's a moment when he hangs on outside impressively.

The Big Show has been largely absent since his victory. He really hasn't capitalised on it in any way. Whilst he has been a solid worker for the company for coming up to 20 years he is far from the main event scene at the moment. He is in incredible shape right now although his rumoured bout against Shaq at Wrestlemania 33 looks like it won't materialise and so I'd expect him to be thrown into this match again instead.

Rating: 7/10

Wrestlemania 32
3 April 2016
Winner: Baron Corbin
Last eliminated: Kane

Last year's match was pretty poor. Shaquille O'Neill is a surprise entrant and he comes out and faces off against Big Show. The two of them end up clearing the ring (but with everyone going under the bottom rope) and facing off with a series of choke holds. Eventually everyone else comes back in and eliminates them both.

Aside from this, there really aren't too many moments of note aside from The Social Outcasts looking pretty pleased that all four of them have made it into the final 8 before running into Kane and Baron Corbin.

The moment that Corbin puts out Kane to win is very quick but also a little shocking as it is his first night in the big leagues. The crowd start an NXT chant and what looked like a token victory for Kane becomes something that really elevates Corbin to the next level (no pun intended).

In the year since his victory, he has main evented Smackdown Live, been involved in the main event at Elimination Chamber for the WWE Championship and has looks likely to take the Intercontinental Championship at this year's Wrestlemania. He has had great promos on Talking Smack and comes across as really quite damn cool and has a couple of really impressive looking signature moves. He has definitely taken the momentum he got from this victory to catapult himself into main event contention. If it weren't for this, this match would have scored lower.

Rating: 5/10

Wrestlemania 33
2 April 2017

Following the trend of a powerful competitor winning each of the previous events, you have to think that someone strong will win this year. If we rule out anyone who already has a match on the main card, this leaves a few contenders.

Braun Strowman (1/8) is a clear favourite and undergoing a serious push at the moment. He has only suffered one defeat at the hands of the overly protected Roman Reigns and he really fits the profile of a winner of this match. As well as his strength, he is seriously athletic and constantly improving in the ring. He deserves some reward and completely dominating in this match would make him look like an absolute monster. I will be surprised if anyone other than him is stood next to the trophy next Sunday.

The Big Show (7/1) is in great shape but there can really be no argument for giving him another victory. It would just be a token gesture and not help his career which looks like it is coming to a close.

Samoa Joe (7/1) has been on the main roster for a couple of months but doesn't need a victory here to cement his status. He has been around for a long time and everyone knows what a destroyer he is.

Luke Harper (14/1) would be a good outside bet. He's been receiving a push as a singles wrestler with the break up of the Wyatt family and with Wyatt and Orton in the main event is stuck without anything to do. He is vastly underrated and a win here would help to make him seem like a credible threat to whoever wins the WWE Championship bout.

Mark Henry (20/1) always pops up for these sorts of events but will never win anything. There's no point giving it to someone who will disappear for another year.

Apollo Crews (25/1) would be the guy I'd give the victory to if I was in WWE Creative. He's a talent that has been vastly underutilised since his main roster call up, with only a short lived feud against The Miz and a crappy part in Dolph Ziggler's heel turn really sticking in the memory.

Big E (25/1) doesn't need a push. The only way that he should be winning is if he does so by turning on the rest of the New Day. They're still really hot at the moment and there's no reason to split them up yet. As they're also hosting the show, I can imagine that they might be involved in this but possibly only so that Kofi Kingston can do something cool.