Many WWE fans believed that Braun Strowman was going to be a World Champion much earlier in his career.
Breaking away from The Wyatt Family in 2016, Strowman would embark on a solo career and transition into his Monsters Among Men persona. Beginning with multiple squash matches, Strowman would eventually work his way up the card and entertain fans with his destructive behaviour and impressive feats of strength. Strowman would then be pushed into the main event scene when he was involved in a feud with Roman Reigns. As this was a time when WWE fans heavily rejected Reigns as the babyface, the reaction to Strowman grew louder and louder.
The Monster would be placed in multiple title matches, singles and multi-man, but WWE would never pull the trigger. In August 2018, Reigns would vacate the Universal Championship as he was battling leukaemia. With Raw in need of a top champion, Strowman and Brock Lesnar faced off at Crown Jewel with the vacant title on the line. Once again, Strowman did not win despite many thinking this was his time.
Strowman would finally get his crowning moment at WrestleMania 36 as a last-minute substitution. With an immunocompromised Reigns not comfortable competing in the Performance Center during the pandemic, Strowman would defeat champion Goldberg to win his first World Championship. Never celebrating in front of fans, Strowman would lose the title to Bray Wyatt at SummerSlam and would not win another world championship before being released in June 2021.
Can Braun Strowman Be A Top Guy In WWE Again?
Returning to WWE in September 2022, Strowman did not receive another opportunity at a World Title before being sidelined with a neck injury. According to WWE Hall of Famer Road Dogg, there is still potential for the Monster Among Men.
Speaking on the Oh… You Didn’t Know podcast, Road Dogg believes that judging on previous crowd reactions, Strowman can climb to the top of the division for a second time:
“I think, and look, this is just me thinking about how old he is and thinking about, yes, the short answer is yes, he can still be a top guy because I’ve seen him recently go out there and be the most over guy out there in his match and rip that shirt off and people go nuts.”
When considering what might be holding the former Universal Champion back, Road Dogg declared that Strowman is not the best on promos at the moment, but with work could be great at representing the company:
“When he came back, he has been presenting himself differently and looked at I believe differently, and so yeah, he definitely has some upside still to him and could he be the top guy? Yeah. The only thing that made me pause at all was the promo. I think he just needs to work on his promo still, but he hasn’t had a chance to do a lot of sit down interviews where you hear Braun Strowman, like, where you get to know Braun Strowman. The idea of the monster Braun Strowman turning over a rental bus or whatever is more marketable than hearing the guy talk about his back pain and his reality. You know what I mean.
But I think, look, here’s my test. Here’s my test: will he put a three piece suit on and go on the Today Show and sell my company for me, and that’s not my company. I’m just talking like the big guy, and go on and represent and shill my wares in a way that’s positive and promotable, and so I think he could do that. I think he’d probably look great in a friggin suit to tell you the truth and I think he could totally do that. I just think the promo game is the only thing I think would give me pause.”
During the same episode, Road Dogg revealed why he provided guest announce duties on a recent episode of WWE SmackDown.
Braun Strowman will also star in an upcoming WWE documentary set for release on December 15th.
H/t to Wrestling News.co