Late last week, WWE announced that NXT stars Adrian Neville, Finn Balor, Hideo Itami, and Tyler Breeze would be competing in a tournament at WrestleMania Axxess , with the winner earning a spot in this year’s Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
Last year’s inaugural Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal was one of the highlights of WrestleMania 30 , as Cesaro body slammed the Big Show over the top rope to win it. Unfortunately, WWE was unable to capitalize on Cesaro’s momentum, but they’re hoping that they can create a new star in this year’s Battle Royal, as the winner of the NXT tournament will likely win the Battle Royal.
As of right now, Adrian Neville is the favorite to win the NXT tournament, and make his official main roster debut on the post- WrestleMania RAW . When the tournament was originally announced, most WWE fans predicted that Finn Balor would be the winner, and that he would be making his main roster debut on the post- WrestleMania RAW . But, it appears that WWE is reserving that spot for Adrian Neville.
Neville is the longest reigning NXT Champion of all-time, holding the title from February 27, 2014 to December 11, 2014. As of right now, there are no plans for Neville to get another run with the title, as WWE feels that he’s accomplished everything their is to accomplish in NXT, and that it’s time for him to get his shot on WWE’s main roster.
WWE loves to have debuts and returns take place on the post- WrestleMania RAW, as the most hardcore fans will be in attendance at the show, and will almost always give a big reaction to a returning or debuting WWE superstar. The two best examples of this are Paige’s WWE debut last year, and Brock Lesnar’s WWE return in 2012, as both got huge reactions from the live crowd.
There have been rumors of WWE giving Adrian Neville a “Mighty Mouse” gimmick when he gets called up to the main roster, but according to the Wrestling Observer , there are no plans to have Neville be WWE’s version of “Mighty Mouse.”
The NXT tournament to determine who gets the spot in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal takes place this coming Thursday, and unfortunately it will not be shown on the WWE Network.
[Image via WWE]
