Battle Royal Set for WWE Evolution 2018 Featuring Asuka, Nia Jax and More

The all-women's Evolution pay-per-view will include a No. 1 Contender Battle Royal, with the winner earning a shot at one of the two women's championships, WWE announced Monday.

WWE has yet to finalize the field but revealed the first group of entrants.

The fact WWE didn't announce the full list of stars for the Battle Royal raises the question of whether the company has a surprise or two in store. A number of returning legends were on hand for the first women's Royal Rumble match, and that may be the case again at Evolution.

Some will likely argue a number of the women involved should have received singles matches at Evolution rather than compete in a Battle Royal, where it's often hard for any one wrestler to shine. Ideally, the likes of Asuka, Nia Jax and Ember Moon would have ongoing storylines that pay off Oct. 28 in Uniondale, New York.

But less is often more when it comes to structuring pay-per-views. On numerous occasions, WWE has burned out its fans by putting 10 or more matches on one card. It shouldn't make the same mistake with Evolution.

With the addition of the Battle Royal, Evolution is at seven matches, which is just about the sweet spot for a three-hour PPV.

Not to mention, Evolution has three battles that have the potential to be truly great (Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair, Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler and Io Shirai vs. Toni Storm). Sacrificing another singles bout to give more time to those matchups is a fair trade-off.