WWE Wrestlemania

Braun Strowman will have his shot to meet "Weekend Update" hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che inside a WWE ring.

Alexa Bliss, the host of WrestleMania 35, announced Monday night that Jost and Che will compete in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania on April 7.

WWE was clearly teasing some sort of confrontation between Strowman and the pair of Saturday Night Live cast members.

During the March 4 edition of Raw, Strowman took exception to a question from Jost about whether wrestling was real.

A week later, Strowman destroyed a car that was given to him as a gift.

Wrapping up this story in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal is probably the best route. Theoretically, it should allow Strowman to have a comedy spot with Jost and Che while still looking strong against actual wrestlers.

Having said that, the Battle Royal has done next to nothing for the winners since it debuted at WrestleMania XXX in 2014. The fact that Strowman doesn't have a match of his own is also a somewhat damning indictment as to how far he has fallen down the pecking order.

At Hell in a Cell in September, he challenged Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship. He got another crack at the title at Crown Jewel in November.

Now, he's effectively an afterthought at the biggest show of the year.

WWE confirmed Monday the Triple Threat match between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair will main-event WrestleMania 35 on April 7. Rousey offered her thoughts on the announcement in an interview on her personal website.

She said Paul Heyman informed her of the move because she had coincidentally gone to him with an idea for a promo in which she'd reference wrestling in the headline match:

"And the reason I found out is I sent him this long text, basically saying: 'Hey, Paul, let's do an April Fool's Day joke on April Fool's Day on RAW, saying that I'm pregnant and that the women are no longer the main event in WrestleMania, because I'm out.' Then at the end of the show, we can say, 'April Fool's!' Then he called me back immediately, and he said, 'Yeah, great idea and all, but they're going to announce to all major outlets and everything that the women are actually going to main event, this Monday. So we can't do your April Fool's Day joke. They're making that official, official.'"

Rousey's proposed joke referenced the rumor she intends to take an extended break following WrestleMania. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer reported in January that Rousey will step away from WWE in order to start a family with her husband, UFC fighter Travis Browne.

Rousey made her in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34, teaming with Kurt Angle to defeat Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. 

She said Monday that wrestling in a headlining match at WrestleMania wasn't necessarily a dream of hers growing up because women's wrestling was nowhere near as popular as it is today. And even upon joining WWE, Rousey added she expected to be around long enough to get positioned for the main event of the company's biggest show.

An all-women's WrestleMania main event was inevitable given how much WWE has committed to its women's division in recent years. Rousey's arrival probably hastened the move since she has the kind of crossover appeal the company loves to utilize for major pay-per-views.

In general, some fans have felt underwhelmed by the general build to Rousey vs. Lynch vs. Flair.

What originally looked to be a singles bout between Rousey and Lynch got muddied a bit with the addition of Flair. Then came Lynch's storyline suspension and Rousey flouting wrestling kayfabe.

All of those issues will be largely forgotten when the gravity of the Triple Threat match sinks in. The WWE Universe will be witnessing history as WrestleMania 35 draws to a close.

WWE announced Monday The Hart Foundation, a tag team featuring Bret "Hit Man" Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, will be inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame as part of its 2019 class. 

The Hart Foundation were three-time Tag Team champions and their induction will make Hart a two-time Hall of Fame entrant, joining Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and Booker T in that rare distinction.

This year's Hall of Fame ceremony will take place the night before WrestleMania 35 on April 6 at the Barclays Center in New York City.

Neidhart died in August 2018 and Hart, his real-life brother-in-law, spoke with Anthony Sulla-Heffinger of Yahoo Sports about Monday's announcement:

"It was very emotional for me. It really means a lot to me and I think it would mean a lot to my late tag partner, who would be really honored to be in the Hall of Fame. I think we both were really proud of our work as a team. I had hoped for years that we would get inducted together and get to go on stage together, but that's not going to happen now. Emotionally, I feel really proud and I'm glad to get a chance to speak for Jim and I know he'll be listening."

Hart, who's considered one of the greatest technical wrestlers in history, told Yahoo putting him with a larger-than-life character like the 6'2", 281-pound Neidhart made them a perfect team.

"Jim and I brought a different mental thinking to wrestling, we were one big guy, one smaller guy," he said. "We were very versatile in the sense that we could wrestle any team. Word of mouth is kind of what got Jim and I recognized as a team that would work."

Their numerous feuds across an initial seven-year run together starting in 1985, including memorable clashes with the British Bulldogs and the Nasty Boys, helped grow the tag division.

In November 2016, Neidhart appeared on the Talk is Jericho podcast (via Prityush Haldar of SportsKeeda) and discussed the chemistry that made their success possible.

"Bret was a really, really great partner," he said. "I got along really well with Bret. In fact, we still are proud of this little thing, where no matter what happened out there, we never got in an argument and we never disagreed about anything."

Sounds like a Hall of Fame partnership if there ever was one.

Over the course of 34 years, WWE has saved some of its most exciting and unexpected swerves for its annual Showcase of the Immortals, WrestleMania.

Since the event's inception in 1985, it has been home to unforgettable returns, shocking defeats and twists even the most impassioned fans never saw coming.

Some had long-lasting effects on the WWE product, others were just fleeting moments dedicated to popping the audience and delivering a jolt of excitement. Whatever the case may be, they have helped lend to the spectacle that is The Granddaddy of Them All.

In anticipation of WrestleMania 35 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on April 7, and what has the potential to feature a twist or turn in its own right, these are the most exciting swerves in the long and illustrious history of sports entertainment's most prestigious extravaganza.

An Ultimate Return

Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice may have headlined WrestleMania VIII in 1992, but it was the return of The Ultimate Warrior in the closing moments of the event that remains one of the most unexpected moments in the early years of the spectacle.

As Justice and the evil Papa Shango beat down Hogan, whose future with WWE was in question amid retirement rumors, Warrior's music played and the former world champion sprinted to the ring.

The future Hall of Famer joined The Hulkster in clearing the heels from the ring and then stood tall with him to close out the show.

Warrior's return was wholly unexpected and served as the first truly explosive conclusion to a WrestleMania.

After all, this was the same Warrior who "held up" Vince McMahon for more money just before going to the ring at SummerSlam 1991 for the night's main event, as described in the 2005 WWE Home Video release, The Self Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior. 

The idea of him returning to the company so shortly thereafter was absurd, making his heroic save of Hogan that much more stunning.

The return would set the bar for the unpredictable, a bar that would be surpassed more than once over the years.

Hulk Hogan Leaves WrestleMania IX with the WWE Championship

There is something to be said about the ego of a high-profile performer. At WrestleMania IX, Hogan was never supposed to compete for the WWE Championship.

Instead, he was slated for a tag team title match in which he and partner Brutus Beefcake would challenge Money Inc.

They would lose the match via disqualification but still sent the fans home happy with the trademark Hogan posing after the match. Or so we thought.

Moments after Yokozuna underhandedly defeated Bret Hart to capture the WWE Championship, The Hulkster accepted a challenge between the massive new champion and an impromptu match ensued.

And in true Hogan fashion, the so-called Immortal One dropped the leg and left with the title, leaving fans scratching their heads over the turn of events that had just taken place.

To this day, it is the one major swerve in WrestleMania history that is most reflective of one man's king-sized ego.

Brock Lesnar is the One in 21-1

For 21 years, an Undertaker victory at WrestleMania was the surest thing in professional wrestling. Many iconic Superstars had risen to the challenge, but none were able to conquer The Phenom in his playground.

Until Brock Lesnar stepped up to The Deadman.

At WrestleMania XXX in 2014, the unimaginable happened as The Beast Incarnate delivered a third F-5 and pinned Undertaker's shoulders to the mat. Fans sat in stunned silence as the reality of the moment set in. Mouths agape, they stared at the ring in utter disbelief at the outcome.

It was a swerve that no one saw coming. Lesnar was supposed to enter New Orleans as the baddest Superstar on the block and the latest to challenge The Phenom's coveted streak, only to fall in defeat and move on to his next major program.

Instead, he did the unfathomable and earned mainstream-media headlines for the company in the process.

Seth Rollins Cashes In Money in the Bank

Roman Reigns vs. Lesnar was the announced main event of WrestleMania 31, but a mid-match cash-in of Money in the Bank by Seth Rollins helped create one of the greatest swerves in wrestling history.

Everyone was certain Reigns would defeat The Beast, capturing the WWE Championship and establishing himself as the face of the company in his first WrestleMania main event. The fans in Santa Clara, California, were already prepared to boo mercilessly if and when that took place.

Then, from out of nowhere, Rollins marched to the ring and handed over his guaranteed title opportunity, opting to challenge for the WWE Championship with both Superstars down.

One Stomp later and The Architect was holding the top prize in sports entertainment, emotion painting his face as he closed out WrestleMania, leaving fans stunned by the unexpected development.

Ronda Rousey has blurred the lines between reality and kayfabe during her rivalry with Becky Lynch in the buildup to WrestleMania 35. Daniel Cormier decided to take the same approach with Brock Lesnar.

The two famously faced off in the Octagon at UFC 226 last July after Cormier defeated Stipe Miocic. In an interview on ESPN, Cormier said he hasn't finalized an agreement to fight Lesnar and joked he may interfere in Lesnar's WWE Universal Championship match at WrestleMania 35 to goad the former heavyweight champion back to UFC.

"I don't have a fight exactly scheduled yet, but I got my eyes on Brock Lesnar," Cormier said (via Wrestling Inc's Joshua Gagnon). "I might go to WWE's WrestleMania and I may go cost him his title over there, so he can hurry up and get to the UFC, so I can beat him here."

Considering how popular the two fighters are, many fans expect Cormier vs. Lesnar to happen at some point. Lesnar's yearlong suspension following a positive drug test after UFC 200 expired in January, though MMA Fighting's Shaun Al-Shatti reported at the time he had yet to pay his $250,000 fine to the Nevada Athletic Commission.

UFC President Dana White told reporters during his post-UFC 235 press conference that Cormier "wants that fight" and is "gonna get it" in reference to a date with Lesnar but couldn't confirm when the bout might happen.