Carmelo Hayes has won the 11th annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
The match was held Friday night on the go-home edition of Friday Night SmackDown. A jam-packed T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas watched on as Hayes outlasted Rey Fenix, Shinsuke Nakamura and Andrade to claim victory.
Nakamura was the first of the final four to be dumped over the top rope. One former United States Champion eliminated the other as Andrade tossed Shinsuke to cut it to three.
.@ShinsukeN is taking control of this match! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/sGt26l9fVf
— WWE (@WWE) April 19, 2025
Rey Fenix was surprisingly out of the match next. He was pulled off the top rope and eliminated by El Grande Americano, who appeared out of the crowd to take out his fellow Luchador. Suspiciously, this happened after Chad Gable was eliminated from the contest.
This left Hayes and Andrade to renew their 'best of' rivalry from 2024 and both men put on a show once again. Neither competitor could really gain the upper hand until Melo baited Andrade onto the ropes in an attempt to hit a Spanish Fly, but Hayes slipped out and dumped El Idolo to the outside to pick up the biggest victory of his main roster career to date.
CONGRATS CARMELO!!!@Carmelo_WWE is the 2025 Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal Winner! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/fCf7zPYXEI
— WWE (@WWE) April 19, 2025
The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal has become a staple of WrestleMania SmackDown in recent years.
Bronson Reed stood tall last year in Philadelphia, making him the 10th ever winner of the massive trophy depicting the WWE Hall of Famer.
The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal has taken place every WrestleMania weekend dating back to WrestleMania XXX in New Orleans. The only exception was WrestleMania 36, when the match didn't take place due the COVID-19 Pandemic.
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