WWE WrestleMania 33: Assessing The Potential Of All 14 Matches

14. Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal

The first iteration of the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal was a fantastic midcard attraction, predicated as it was on the emergence of crowd favourite Cesaro.

Cesaro entered a bravura performance, sliding under the ropes to avoid elimination at the hands of Goldust's big boot when both were stranded on the apron. He then uppercutted a springboarding Rey Mysterio out of the fray before emulating the main event of WrestleMania III in a great finishing sequence. It wasn't quite a one man show; the near-elimination of Kofi Kingston was quietly better than anything he managed in his more famous Royal Rumble moments. Cesaro launched Kingston clear out of the ring over the turnbuckle, only for him to catch the ring steps with his tip toes.

Without Kingston there to provide a "Holy Sh*t!" moment, or a Cesaro to anchor the action with his jaw-dropping offence, this year's match seems fated to follow the filler footsteps of WrestleManias 31 and 32 - matches positioned, respectively, in the pre-show and death spots. Fans have been conditioned to receive it as meaningless, given that no winner - even Cesaro - used it to do anything of note. Braun Strowman vs. the SmackDown tag team division is not that appealing a prospect.

If, as rumoured, WrestleMania 33's exists to reheat Strowman, it will strip the match of its one redeeming feature: unpredictability.