WWE: Braun Strowman Should Be Getting Daniel Bryan-like Support

Nobody can deny that Daniel Bryan owned the year in WWE leading into WrestleMania 30.  The groundswell of support for him caused him to be added to the main event of that event.  With Braun Strowman owning the year leading into WrestleMania 34 and not being in the main event, where exactly is HIS groundswell?

Professional wrestling is about the creation of moments.  Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant did not exactly put on a catch-as-catch-can clinic at WrestleMania 3, but they provided one of the most polarizing moments in WWE history when Hulk slammed Andre.  Hulk did it again at WrestleMania 18 when he and The Rock shared the same ring for a once in a lifetime image far beyond Hulk’s prime.

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin will never tell you that he was an offensive phenom in the the ring, but he was involved in some of the biggest moments during the most profitable era in the history of the business.  Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Undertaker, John Cena… all have a career full of moments, and it was those moments that led them and the aforementioned wrestlers to the main event of WrestleMania.

Nobody in the past year has had more moments this past year than Braun Strowman.  In the landscape of a Monday Night Raw that was mostly absent of a viewable Universal Champion or legitimate contenders, Strowman treated the Raw production like his own personal amusement park.

His whimsical brand of destruction allowed him to become both a monster and the top babyface of this show in an era of wrestling where the in-ring performance seems to take precedence over gimmicks or storyline.  Strowman’s rise was completely organic (thanks in large part to him constantly claiming the chosen one, Roman Reigns, as his victim), making him the first one to organically rise to the spot of top babyface since Daniel Bryan did it in 2014.

This all begs the question: Why is Braun Strowman not getting Daniel Bryan-like support creatively?

It is no secret that Vince McMahon has had Roman Reigns slotted in the WWE Universal Championship match for this year’s WrestleMania for quite some time. Last year, he took his first step towards the new face of the WWE when beating The Undertaker in the main event of the show The Phenom has owned for over two decades.  This year seems set to be his official knighting.

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The lack of flexibility going into Reigns’s match with Brock Lesnar is reminiscent of the plan Vince had of having Batista face Randy Orton in the main event of WrestleMania 30.  However, it became apparent that Daniel Bryan had owned the year going into the event. This caused WWE creative to alter their plans, and Bryan would leave New Orleans as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

This year, the stage is the same.  WrestleMania is back in New Orleans. The long-term, inflexible plan is about to culminate, and another babyface many fans are hesitant to get behind is in the main event.  The only difference is that the wrestler who not only owned the previous year, but spent much of it decimating Lesnar’s opponent, is not in the Monday Night Raw main event.

I don’t mean to sully the spot Roman Reigns is in. I’m also not suggesting that Strowman’s year compares to Bryan’s “Yes! Movement”.  To me, Daniel Bryan’s placement in the main event of WrestleMania 30 was an indicator that someone of prominence backstage was listening to the people and was willing to break from the script. That may not be the case this time around with Strowman.

Next: 5 Possible Partners for Braun Strowman at WWE WrestleMania 34

Over the past year or so, Braun Strowman has gone from the Wyatt Family muscle to being the biggest spectacle the WWE produces outside of an AJ Styles match.  The people clamor for him – while not exactly giving Reigns the same reaction.  Roman Reigns’s spot at or near the top may be solidified, but Strowman deserves to have a moment that represents his seizing of a top spot.  After the year he has had, WrestleMania 34 should have provided that moment.