Braun Strowman rules!
While the company has done well to give Kevin Owens his mojo back, it has been equally sound in booking the former member of the Wyatt Family as the biggest and badest man on the planet. No disrespect to Brock Lesnar, Goldberg or Samoa Joe, but the beast who has taken down everyone in his path since moving to singles competition after the Draft has proven he could very well be a main event contender.
On Monday Night Raw, Braun Strowman and Big Show gave fans a better than expected main event where Strowman once again proved he was the toughest bully on the school yard.
Vince McMahon took over WWF in the early 1980s with the belief bigger was better. Super-human athletes with great skills and most of all – power. Hulk Hogan, King Kong Bundy, Sycho Sid, Vader and Bam Bam Bigelow. All created memories of mayhem and destruction. Even Mark Henry and Big Show were dominant forces in their primes and Lesnar can still beat up the best.
None of them compare to the “raw athleticism” of Braun Strowman, as announcer Michael Cole explained Monday night.
After disposing of Big Show, he had no problem turning away the attack of Roman Reigns who he faces at Fastlane in two weeks.
WWE’s Achilles heel in recent years has been the inability to write programs that work with big men. Lesnar sells himself. Goldberg’s legend is dynamic. Samoa Joe will be an enforcer in Triple H’s new stable. But other big men have come and gone with little fanfare and little regard by the McMahons, almost a concept of keep doing it until they get it right.
Strowman’s dominance is right for the times and proves the old school concept of behemoth wrestler is alive and well. If anything, Strowman is a throwback to the likes of Crusher Blackwell, Bundy, Haystacks Calhoun and Big John Studd. WWE’s biggest worry now is how to keep his momentum going. Reigns is a nice stepping stone toward the top of the food chain. But what happens afterward? Does Lesnar (with the Universal Heavyweight Title) fall in line after WrestleMania 33? Will Goldberg beat Kevin Owens and Lesnar and pick the big man as his next victim? There are plenty of ways to book Strowman – one being a trade to SmackDown Live and a confrontation with his former mentor, Wyatt.
In the old NWA, the process of success dictated that the meanest, badest, most hated villain on the planet faced off against Dusty Rhodes, who would save wrestling and take down the giant. There are no set guidelines anymore. Heroes and villains walk a skewed path. Strowman has a chance, with Joe and Owens, of being the most hated of all heels to come along in some time. While a Strowman-Owens or a Strowman-Joe confrontation is highly unlikely, it’s a real boon for this company that the neophyte is quickly moving toward the main event scene.
There are no concrete plans for Braun Strowman moving to WrestleMania 33. I figure it will be part of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. From there, it is anyone’s guess. But as long as he remains white-hot, WWE must cash in on his value – before they create the same sins with him as they have done with other big men who weren’t given the push to be a major success.
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