3 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (April 9)

3. The Battle Royal

WWE Andre The Giant Battle Royal 2021
WWE.com

Again being honest, WWE should just run the André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal on free TV every year. It's hardly the most appealing WrestleMania add-on anyway, and it's a flimsy way of squeezing as many names onto the 'Mania card as possible. Nobody would really miss it, put it that way.

Commercial breaks didn't help make the match feel cohesive either. There were too many points when the action stopped so WWE could go to ads, and everyone knew it was going to come down to the three men it did anyway; 'King' Corbin, Shinsuke Nakamura and Jey Uso were the biggest stars in there.

Uso winning is fine, but nobody should kid on it'll mean anything for his career.

There was a time when Battle Royals worked, and they are still passable if there's something meaningful up for grabs (a title shot, for example). Here though, the field of 20-ish workers failed to put over what winning that trophy would mean.

Even Michael Cole and Corey Graves sounded bored.

Advertisement
Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.