12 Ups And 16 Downs For WWE In 2018
4. Braun Derailed Again
WWE is really testing the seven lives theory with Braun Strowman.
A wrestler who got white-hot in 2017 and then inexplicably was de-pushed, Strowman got himself back over in 2018, only to partner with a 10-year-old boy at WrestleMania to win the Raw Tag Team Championships (whoops, forgot that debacle in the earlier tag team item), going from a monster to a smiling babyface.
He then won the Greatest Royal Rumble and captured the Money in the Bank briefcase, which seemed to finally set the stage for him. Braun was poised to cash in at SummerSlam, only to be used as a plot device instead. He failed to win the title at Hell in a Cell, the abruptly turned heel.
Then, with Roman out due to illness, Strowman once again failed to win the Universal Championship, this time with Brock Lesnar squashing him at Crown Jewel. From there, Braun turned face again after two months and landed on the shelf with an injured elbow.
Despite all of this, Strowman remains popular with fans, but that popularity is going to wane if WWE continues to stifle him at every opportunity. It’s maddening how wasted 2018 was for Braun.