Braun Strowman is the monster WWE so badly needs

Braun Strowman has finally been given the ball and been allowed to run with it in WWE, now he’s set to become the real monster of the company.

If you’re a fan of WWE, and haven’t been hiding under a rock for the past week or so, you’ll have seen the ending to this past week’s episode of RAW. After spending the entire show destroying people and causing havoc, Braun Strowman went one-on-one with The Big Show, and the two destroyed the ring to close the show.

It’s a spot that we have seen a couple of times before, both times involving Big Show being on the receiving end of a superplex, once each from Brock Lesnar and Mark Henry. With those two spots happening in 2003 and 2011, it was a while since fans had seen what is an impressive sight. What made it more impressive this time is the bump that referee John Cone took to the outside of the ring.

In an age where WWE wants to make everyone look pretty even, in regards to wins and losses, it may be time for Braun Strowman to be the man who breaks that mold.

It’s less than two years ago that former strongman Strowman made his debut in WWE. Having spent a couple of years signed to the WWE Performance Center, Strowman totally avoided making an appearance in NXT and eventually made his presence felt as part of The Wyatt Family. With Erick Rowan out injured, Strowman took up his spot alongside Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. Strowman took the third spot in the group as part of multi-man tag matches opposing the likes of Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho, and the ECW Alumni team of The Dudley Boyz, Rhyno and Tommy Dreamer.

While he may not have looked like the most proficient of performers during those encounters, he filled the spot of the giant monster very well. The 2016 Royal Rumble saw him make his biggest impact in his then-fledgling career, eliminating five men, including fellow big men The Big Show and Kane, before being eliminated himself by Brock Lesnar. Strowman then helped his Wyatt Family brothers to eliminate Lesnar from the match. A further series of big tag matches followed before Strowman gained his big opportunity.

The 2016 WWE Draft saw Strowman picked as a member of the RAW roster, while the rest of the Wyatt Family ended up on SmackDown Live. Many people couldn’t see the logic behind it, but WWE had big plans for him.

Spending several weeks beating a slew of “local competitors”, including James Ellsworth who went on to find himself earning a full-time WWE contract, Strowman looked like a different man. He seemed to have learned a whole lot during his time alongside Bray Wyatt and the rest of the clan, but now he was afforded the chance to break out on his own and show how much of a monster he really was.

Throwing his opponents around at will, hitting big power moves at will, and finishing matches in quick fashion, Strowman demanded better competition. He went as far as interfering in several matches to get under the skin of then RAW General Manager Mick Foley, and help him get the matches he was demanding. A series of brutal wars with Sami Zayn, a tough scrap with Kevin Owens, a first big man match with The Big Show and several encounters with Roman Reigns would push Strowman to the forefront at the top of the card on RAW. 

While a lot of what Strowman has done has been great, his loss to Reigns at Fastlane was disappointing. At a time when Strowman was probably the most likely man to win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania, he was eliminated early in the match, a match that went on to be won by a Gronk-assisted Mojo Rawley. The booking of Strowman in the last few months has been very strange, to say the least.

Immediately following WrestleMania, Strowman challenged new WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar to a future title match, probably giving us a glimpse of what is set to come for the “Monster Among Men.” Picking up on their old rivalry, Strowman took the fight to Roman Reigns once more, attacking Reigns during a backstage interview, an attack that saw Reigns placed into an ambulance. That didn’t deter Strowman, though, as he called upon his strongman background to flip the emergency vehicle over with Reigns still inside, to the great joy of the crowd in attendance.

That all preceded the wrecking spree that was RAW. It started with current GM Kurt Angle giving Strowman the match he wanted with Reigns at Payback in a couple of weeks time. It ended with a destroyed ring and your new big monster standing tall as the show went off the air.

The only way I would personally have changed the ending to that match with the Big Show would have been to have them both go through the ring, rather than have it collapse. It was a spot made famous by Taz and Bam Bam Bigelow in ECW, circa 1999, but would have been something just as shocking as what actually happened. Having Strowman slam Big Show through the ring, then climb out of the hole and stand tall would have been much more appealing to me as a fan.

The whole of the past couple of years should go down as the first chapter in the Braun Strowman story. His immediate future should see him destroy Roman Reigns in the aforementioned match at Payback. There’s every possibility that there will be an added stipulation, with the beating of Reigns in previous weeks offering WWE the chance to make it some form of weapons match, to protect either man from a loss in the match.

Strowman needs to come out of that match looking very strong. He should in fact win, but with the way WWE loves Roman Reigns, Strowman may not be victorious on the night. Coming out of that match, Strowman should be on a collision course with Brock Lesnar. The whole decision to have Strowman destroy the Big Show points us in the direction of something big coming.

Brock Lesnar is the Universal Champion. Now that he has vanquished Goldberg — and if rumors are to be believed, it will be Lesnar vs Reigns at WrestleMania 34 — Lesnar is the undisputed beast of WWE and Strowman may be one of the only men who can match him. Lesnar can be the part-time champion, be beaten up by Strowman and come back still looking strong.

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Lesnar vs Strowman can be the main focus of WWE throughout the summer months. With SummerSlam set for late August, it’s probably going to be a little too much to expect their title showdown to be held off that long. With some sensible booking, and a little bit of patience, this could be a clash of two massive beasts, something totally different to what we have seen in the top spot of a pay-per-view for a while.

Braun Strowman can follow in the footsteps of the likes of Andre the Giant, The Big Show, Kane and Kevin Nash and hold the biggest titles in the entire company. The 33-year-old Strowman can be a massive part of the company for many years to come, 2017 can be the first step toward a Hall of Fame-worthy career.