The fifth annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35 has concluded and the winner was Braun Strowman. Strowman eliminated Michael Che and Colin Jost of Saturday Night Live fame to win the trophy.
The finish to the match began when Jost and Che came out from the under the ring - they went under when the bell rang - and tried to help The Hardy Boyz eliminate Strowman. After Braun took out Matt and Jeff, he set his eyes on the SNL guys.
Jost gets on the mic and says "there are other solutions. Not everything has to end in violence." He invites his therapist into the ring to work through some of this anger. Strowman then begins to destroy the therapist and throws him out.
Michael Che tries to eliminate himself, but Strowman grabs him and takes him out first. Jost almost eliminates Strowman after evading a shoulder, but Braun eventually gets the upperhand and tosses Colin onto the outside for the win.
While there were 27 other competitors in the ring, the only story going into this match was the one between Jost, Che and Strowman.
The story of Che and Jost joining the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal began in March when both men were invited to the March 5 episode of Monday Night RAW by Stephanie McMahon. She announced on the show that both men would be special correspondents for WrestleMania 35, however, Jost would rub Braun Strowman the wrong way when he asked The Monster Among Men if wrestling was fake.
A few weeks after, Jost would send Strowman a sports car to make up for what happened before. However, Strowman felt insulted by Jost's gesture and destroyed the car.
On another episode of Monday Night RAW, Che and Jost joined A Moment of Bliss via satellite to make amends with Strowman. Jost, again, insulted Strowman and the monstrous WWE superstar told Jost to enter the Andre and their feud would be squashed. Che volunteered his friend, but Jost wrangled Michael into the match as well.
Here were the confirmed participants of the battle royal.
- Andrade
- Apollo Crews
- Titus O'Neil
- Tyler Breeze
- Jinder Mahal
- No Way Jose
- Bobby Roode
- Chad Gable
- Kalisto
- Gran Metalik
- Lince Dorado
- Bo Dallas
- Curtis Axel
- Heath Slater
- Rhyno
- Viktor
- Konnor
- Ali
- Shelton Benjamin
- Luke Gallows
- Karl Anderson
- Matt Hardy
- Jeff Hardy
- Otis
- Tucker
- EC3
What do you think of Braun Strowman winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal? Who would you have seen win instead? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Phillip Martinez is a game and culture reporter for Newsweek. Prior to joining Newsweek in 2018, he was a reporter ... Read more
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