WWE confirms Women’s Battle Royal for WrestleMania, entrants announced

The Women’s Battle Royal will return at WrestleMania 35, with 13 entrants initially announced.

At WrestleMania 34 a year ago, the WWE debuted the Women’s Battle Royal match. Twenty participants from Raw, SmackDown Live and NXT took part, with Naomi its eventual winner. And now the WWE is going to reprise the match at WrestleMania 35 on April 7.

The WWE confirmed as much on Friday, and also released what is likely just a partial list of entrants (battles royal are ripe grounds for surprise appearances). Like last year, the battle royal will feature women from all three of WWE’s major brands. However, only SmackDown and Raw Superstars are currently listed.

So far, the entrants confirmed are: Naomi, Carmella, Nikki Cross, Dana Brooke, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan, Lana, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Zelina Vega, Mickey James and Asuka. Asuka, of course, was until Tuesday WWE’s SmackDown Women’s Champion before being beaten for her title by Charlotte Flair. Rose, Deville, Naomi and Carmella were all supposed to have faced off on Tuesday for the right to face Asuka at WrestleMania; now, all four are instead headed to the Women’s Battle Royal.

Assuming that there are 20 competitors again this year, that leaves seven spots yet to be filled. Most should be rounded out by NXT’s women, such as Io Shirai, Kairi Sane, Bianca Belair and others. But returning legends cannot be ruled out as special one-night-only competitors, either.

Last year, Naomi’s prize was a trophy and nothing more. And, when the battle royal was announced for last fall’s all-woman Evolution pay-per-view, she revealed that she was never even given her trophy:

https://twitter.com/naomiwwe/status/1052237571718344704?lang=en

With both women’s belts in some way involved in the WrestleMania main event, which pits Raw champion Ronda Rousey against Becky Lynch and SmackDown champion Charlotte Flair, a title shot being the winner’s reward would be a smart stipulation for WWE to add to the battle royal. Further, the company is also planning a Superstar Shakeup for the week after WrestleMania, and having a new No. 1 contender for one of the women’s titles could make things more interesting.

Either way, there should be more on the line in this match than just a trophy (that the winner may or may not receive) and bragging rights. Battles royal are fun, and on a show like WrestleMania, a way to get as many wrestlers on the card as possible. But it’s a lot more fun when there are actual stakes and a real prize on the line.