Strowman Is Something Special

BRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!

Is there really any other way to start anything when talking about Braun Strowman? And don’t lie, you know you read that in your version of a Braun Strowman scream.

Over the last 12 months, Strowman has made the WWE Universe scream a lot – and not in disgust as was originally expected. The former professional strongman competitor came on to the scene and quickly became the next monster with no real talent that WWE would try to shove down our throats.

Things don’t always finish the way they start though.

Strowman signed with WWE in 2013 and was sent to the Performance Center, as is the norm. What wasn’t the norm, though, is that aside from a match here and there, mostly non-televised, Strowman never really had a presence in NXT, which made his 2015 main roster debut that much more shocking/confusing. Who was this giant of a man??

The sight of this man just made your jaw drop, he was enormous! He was instantly a sight to see. His in-ring work, however, was not. After becoming the newest member of The Wyatt Family, it quickly became apparent that Strowman
was still too green to be anything more than just the monster that can barely move around and can only pull off a slam and a punch.

Think The Great Khali with a beard.

He didn’t really need to be too much of a ring general at first though. Being the new guy in The Wyatt Family meant that he wouldn’t really have to do too much of the heavy lifting, but it would be a great opportunity. Stables are meant to create new stars. The Nation of Domination gave us The Rock, Triple H came out of DX and Evolution produced both Batista and Randy Orton.

Luke Harper and Erik Rowan came up from NXT with Bray Wyatt but neither had really set their mark as a potential star. Harper had a quick run with the Intercontinental Championship but between the two that was it. Strowman had the chance to be that rising star, and the Draft last summer provided that opportunity.

Prior to the draft though, Stroman had a hard time getting over with the crowd as a real in-ring threat. WWE didn’t help with those worries either. The biggest reason that Roman Reigns is booed out of the building every week is because of how has been booked, the same goes for John Cena. In no way am I saying that Strowman this time last year was at that level, but writing mistakes were made that stuck with the character seemingly forever.

This mistake was almost made with Strowman. A lot of reliable sources were saying that Strowman was in line for a match at WrestleMania 32…against The Undertaker. No! No way was he ready for something like that. Hearing that gave the WWE Universe flashbacks to The Dead Man’s WrestleMania match with Giant Gonzales at WrestleMania 9 – a match where not even Taker could get the big man over.

Luckily that idea was scrapped and Strowman was given the additional time he needed to work on his ability.

As a result of the aforementioned Draft, Strowman was sent to Raw while the rest of The Wyatt Family were sent to SmackDown Live. Strowman was thrown in the deep end now without a life jacket around him. To start, we got what we get
whenever they need to make someone look like a monster, months of squash matches. The most entertaining part of these were that we were introduced to James Ellsworth (I’ll take a quick pause here so you can realize that I’m being sarcastic..).

His first legit program came against Sami Zayn which was perfect for Strowman. Zayn is great in the ring and was able to get the absolute best out of Strowman. From there, and ever since, we have had Strowman vs Roman Reigns. How amazing has this feud been? Strowman has become a legit star during this program. The match the two had at Fastlane and the backstage brawl we saw this past Monday were amazing! Several times we were led to believe that Strowman was done with Roman. But, alas, “I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET ROMAN!” Strowman knocked Roman’s stretcher over, rolled the stretcher off a loading dock, and tipped over the ambulance that Reigns was placed in.

… … …

I HAVE to type that again…TIPPED OVER THE AMBULANCE THAT REIGNS WAS PLACED IN!

OK, obviously he didn’t literally tip it over himself, there was some sort of hydraulic lift involved off-camera. But still, TIPPED OVER THE AMBULANCE THAT REIGNS WAS PLACED IN!!!!!

Battling The Big Dog wasn’t all that he has done in 2017 though. A few weeks ago Braun was booked in the main event of Raw against Big Show. In this era of Cross-Fit athleticism like Seth Rollins and Finn Balor, the WWE Universe cringed at the thought of the flagship show ending with two giants. Much to everyone’s surprise, the two ended up having a Match of the Week candidate!

Then came March 6 – the Raw after Fastlane. Strowman came out in the last segment of the night to call out Roman after Reigns beat him the night before. What he got instead though, was The Undertaker. The face to face showdown between had every excited of the potential of a Braun Strowman vs Undertaker
match at WrestleMania.

Do you realize what I just said? One year after each and every member of the WWE Universe was praying every night to whatever higher being they believe in that Strowman and Taker would NOT happen at WrestleMania, everyone was HOPING for it! There is no better gauge of the leaps and bounds that Strowman has made in the last 12 months than the hope that he would be in the ring opposite the greatest competitor in WrestleMania history!

From the reports that are coming out, this is just the start. It sounds like Strowman is in line for a match against current Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, as was teased on the Raw after WrestleMania. From there, who knows – a run with the Intercontinental Championship? Dominating other Raw top stars like Seth Rollins, Chris Jericho and/or Samoa Joe?

One thing is for sure; we are witnessing the best start of a “giant’s” career since Big Show debuted for WCW in 1995 (sans dry-humping Hulk Hogan with a Yeti/Mummy of course). Whether or not he can reach the same level that Show has reached is way too far away to tell at this point.

Though, from what I have been seeing, it is a very strong possibility.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? HAVE YOU BEEN IMPRESSED WITH BRAUN STROWMAN? WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE SOMETHING DIFFERENT WITH HIM? WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HIM IN THE RING WITH? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @FROM_THETOPROPE AND LIKE US ON FACEBOOK AND LET US KNOW!