WWE: Braun Strowman title reign is deserved, but ill-timed

By Trace Johnson | Apr 12, 2020

WWE, Braun Strowman (Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images) /

It wasn’t long ago that Braun Strowman was arguably the hottest superstar in the entire WWE and seemed destined for major main event success sooner rather than later.

Braun Strowman was the most dominant force in the WWE for a while dating back to his rise to singles stardom in 2017 following his initial debut as a member of The Wyatt Family.

The Monster Among Men was wreaking all kinds of havoc and having memorable moments and matches with the likes of The Big Show, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, and others. It seemed like nothing would slow down Strowman’s momentum, until it did.

It seemed inevitable that Strowman would capture Raw’s top title at that time, the Universal Championship.

His first major shot at capturing the gold was at No Mercy 2017 when he challenged Lesnar for the title, however, Strowman lost in a short, less than 10-minute match where he wasn’t even able to kick out of one F5 from Lesnar. This halted Strowman’s momentum, but he still managed to remain relevant.

A few months later at Elimination Chamber 2018, Strowman was part of a number one contender elimination chamber match to determine Lesnar’s challenger at WrestleMania 34. But despite eliminating almost the entire field of competitors in the match, Strowman was defeated by Reigns, who went on to lose to Lesnar at WrestleMania with the Universal Championship on the line.

It seemed like he would certainly capture the Universal Championship after winning the 2018 men’s Money in the Bank ladder match. But after announcing he would cash-in at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view against Reigns, who defeated Lesnar at SummerSlam, Strowman’s quest to capture the title hit a roadblock once again. Despite competing in a Hell in a Cell match, the match ended in a no contest after Lesnar interfered, ruining Strowman’s cash-in.

And then there was the Crown Jewel 2018 match that saw Strowman get yet another shot at the Universal Championship, this time against Lesnar who won the title back after Reigns was forced to relinquish it. But thanks to the pre-match interference of Baron Corbin, Lesnar was able to defeat The Monster Among Men and retain his title yet again. The trend was noticeably bad and it all but killed the red-hot momentum Strowman once had.

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His 2019 campaign was filled with inconsistent booking and using him to get over celebrities. Strowman just didn’t feel like the unstoppable monster he once was and every time he got a shot at making real noise, fans knew not to become invested because the outcome was inevitable. He finally captured his first singles title by defeating Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship in the early stages of 2020, but that reign wouldn’t last.

After doing basically nothing with it, he lost the title to Sami Zayn at Elimination Chamber. It looked like there was a legitimate question whether or not Strowman would even make it on the WrestleMania 36 card, but unforeseen circumstances would open the door. The coronavirus pandemic has shaken the world to its core, causing the WWE to put on shows in its performance center in front of no live audience.

The threat of the coronavirus stopped the planned Universal Championship match between Goldberg and Reigns dead in its tracks. Reigns’ history with leukemia forced him to back out of the match with the threat of catching the coronavirus, and who else would replace Reigns in the match? None other than The Monster Among Men himself, despite not being on TV since losing at Elimination Chamber.

And after years of waiting, Strowman finally captured the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 36 by defeating Goldberg. It should have been a big moment for him, and while it was good to see him finally hold that title, you couldn’t help but think the WWE totally missed the mark on Strowman. Timing is everything in the pro wrestling industry and simply put, the WWE missed the timing with Strowman as badly as possible.

Not only did the powers that be wait at least two years too long to give him the title, but they gave him the title only because Goldberg had to drop the title and Reigns wasn’t part of the match anymore. Strowman hadn’t even been on TV in weeks since losing the Intercontinental Championship. Things just weren’t lined up the way they should have been.

This feels like the ultimate scenario of a transitional champion, and Strowman deserves more than that. It feels like he’s destined to lose the title early and once things get back to some type of normalcy, Reigns will win the title like he was supposed to do at WrestleMania. And if the most recent episode of SmackDown tells us anything, Strowman might not get past Bray Wyatt.

Strowman should have won the Universal Championship back at No Mercy 2017. Imagine what kind of impact him winning the title from Lesnar would have had on his career trajectory. The stars were aligned for The Monster Among Men to become a major main event star for years to come. Vince McMahon must have felt differently, however, and because of it, he hasn’t been the same.

And let’s be honest, does anybody think Strowman will remain in the Universal Championship picture once he loses the title? This current situation could do more to harm his career than help it and given how much of an impact he once made, that’s a real shame.

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Through no fault of his own, The Monster Among Men has been turned into a fill-in champion that should have been a top guy if handled more appropriately in the creative sense.