One of the best moments at WrestleMania 2 in 1986 was Andre the Giant winning a battle royal that featured WWE superstars against players from the National Football League. That battle royal win was just one of many victories for Andre in the over-the-top-rope style match throughout his career, and Hulk Hogan announced on this week's edition of Monday Night RAW that the WWE will hold an "Over the Top Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal" at WrestleMania XXX.
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Hogan, who will host WrestleMania XXX on April 6 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, revealed that there will be a 30-man battle royal at the pay-per-view event and that the winner of the match will receive an Andre the Giant memorial trophy.
The WWE has revealed some of the participants in the match, and the list so far includes Ryback, Curtis Axel, Big E, Kofi Kingston, Damien Sandow and Dolph Ziggler. 24 names are still to be released before the event goes live from New Orleans in less than four weeks.
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Andre the Giant, whose real name was Andre Roussimoff was a huge special attraction wrestler throughout the 80's and 90's in WWE as well as other wrestling industries. Andre left his footprint on WrestleMania, most notably at WrestleMania III in 1987 when he battled in a losing effort against Hogan for the WWE Championship in a match that is regarded to this day as the most important main event in WrestleMania history and put the WWE on the map.
Andre's heel turn leading into WrestleMania III would eventually lead to a short and controversial title win for him over Hogan in February 1988 where he won the belt and quickly "sold it' to "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase, leading to the title being vacated and a 14-man tournament for WrestleMania IV to crown a new champion.
Andre's final WrestleMania match was at WrestleMania VI in 1990 when he and his tag team partner Haku lost to Demolition for the Tag Team Championships, which eventually led to Andre's face turn and final run with the company that ended with a brief appearance at the following year's WrestleMania VII.
Andre died of congestive heart failure in January of 1993 and subsequently was the inaugural inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1993.
Now, the WWE will honor him at the 30th installment of their biggest event of the year with the battle royal dedicated to his memory.
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