WWE NXT Wrestler To Enter WrestleMania 31 Battle Royal

It was announced on WWE.com on Friday that there will be a NXT tournament to determine one spot in the Andre the Giant memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania. The tournament will be held this Thursday at WrestleMania Axxess. The whole matches likely won't be filmed, but WWE will probably film it for Youtube or their website at the very least. Perhaps highlights could be shown on Smackdown too. While the matchups haven't been announced yet, four names have been confirmed: Finn Balor, Tyler Breeze, Adrian Neville and Hideo Itami. For Balor and Itami, it will be their first time working for WWE during a WrestleMania weekend while Neville and Breeze have been there before. It's a good move by WWE to allow one of their talented NXT stars to wrestle on the grandest stage of them all. At this point we don't know if it's going to be a four man tournament or if there will be eight or perhaps 16 people in it. Here are some brief thoughts on the chances the four men pictured above and the possibilities of them winning. Finn Balor - Even though he's still relatively new in NXT after debuting last fall, he's clearly got big star potential and belongs on the big stage. He could definitely win. Tyler Breeze - Breeze is the young guy in the group that doesn't have a decade of experience like the other three although he's been with WWE since December 2010. It would be a surprise if he won. His future is very bright, though. Adrian Neville - He's probably the favorite just because he's a former NXT Champion (none of the others are) and he's been under WWE contract for nearly three years now. Putting him over in this tournament makes a lot of sense because it can springboard him to a more permanent main roster spot. Hideo Itami - The Japanese sensation has a shot to win it because he's an amazing wrestler and WWE may want to put him in a match at WrestleMania to please their Japanese fans. If they included him it could increase interest in Japan because he's a huge name over there. Neville is probably the biggest favorite, but it wouldn't be a surprise if Balor or Itami were chosen. Two men who likely aren't involved are the current NXT Champion Kevin Owens and the former NXT Champion Sami Zayn. Owens is out of action for 4-6 weeks after knee surgery, but he should be fine for the next NXT Takeover event that is expected in late May. Zayn has been out of action for over a month with a shoulder injury. It didn't require surgery, so it's probably just one of those injuries that requires rest. Will this NXT representative win the battle royal at WrestleMania? Probably not. The favorites are guys like Sheamus (if he's in it), Ryback or maybe even Damien Sandow. A good showing by the NXT representative would be a welcome sight while also encouraging the casual viewers to check out the show. It would be nice if WWE had a NXT match on the pre-show considering it's two hours long. Doing a tag match for 10 minutes would be enough. Just give them a chance. There's nothing to lose by doing it. Perhaps it could happen, but at this point nothing has been announced. If you're heading to WrestleMania weekend and you're going to Axxess on Thursday, go check out the ring they have set up because you'll see some awesome NXT action up close.