WWE Must Give Validity to Andre the Giant Battle Royal Winner at WrestleMania 31

Above all the highlights and individual triumphs at WrestleMania 30 last year, one struck a chord more than the rest.

As exhilarating and phenomenal as Daniel Bryan's double-duty was that night, Cesaro's victory in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal brought perhaps the most unexpected roar of the entire evening.

For a few months prior to that, it seemed as if Cesaro was on a steady road toward success—but his win at WrestleMania 30 suggested that WWE were finally going to give him that long-awaited push.

Bestowing such an honor on Cesaro seemed to make it inevitable he would ascend to the main event scene—yet fast forward nearly 12 months, and it's played out nothing like that.

A likely run as one half of the tag team champions is certainly not disastrous—but that's the level Cesaro was at before this proposed push last year.

Simply put, the WWE haven't given the winner of this high-profile event the prestige he deserves—and this year, they have to ensure they get it right.

On Raw the night after Cesaro's win, Hulk Hogan seemed to give him the biggest approval of all with Paul Heyman by his side, which suggested that he was heading for the top. At that time, the babyface push still looked like it could have worked. However, it simply didn't transpire that way.

It all starts with picking the right winner at WWE WrestleMania 31—not that Cesaro wasn't the right one last year, of course. He clearly was a worthy winner, not least because he was a talent that the fans seemed to buy into.

But this year's winner has to be backed by a legitimate and major push. In some ways, it's a shame that the WWE merged their two major titles together, because the winner of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal would have been a great fit for a shot at one of those belts.

That would have given the match the validity and prestige it deserves, and it would have ensured that whoever won it would be cemented in the main event scene for at least a few months.

Without that opportunity there anymore, the WWE have to think outside the box. In recent months, we've seen that there can be significant and sustained rivalries without a title involved—Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins was a perfect example of that.

But you could even throw in the possibility of the winner of this year's match having the opportunity to pick a midcard title to take a shot at. It would give some substance to the match and add value to winning it.

There are a number of guys backstage who could realistically be the WWE's next breakout star. For instance, should Stardust revert back to his Cody Rhodes character after WWE Fastlane, a win for him in that match could be a brilliant springboard for a return to the singles scene.

With the right booking plans in place, we could find the next big star emerging through the field to win this year's battle royal. It could even be an existing star who is already popular with the fans—but with most of them tied up in other feuds, the WWE may decide to take a punt on an up-and-coming star.

But the same mistakes can't be made again. The WWE had a certified star on their hands last year when they gave Cesaro his push. They messed that opportunity up—they cannot afford to do it again.