10 Times WWE Booking Failed Braun Strowman
5. A S-S-Stupid S-S-Story With S-S-Shane McMahon
Story, because the WrestleMania match between the two had its moments. Well, moment - Braun Strowman ripping the side of a steel cage in order to drag Shane McMahon through it and back into the ring was a real flash of inspiration from the 2016/17 playbook.
It fused the power of a man once considered a monster with the comedic value a feud that had attempted - with significant futility - to trade in it for the first half of 2021.
McMahon had that specific type of beating coming for the way in which he'd mocked Strowman for supposedly being stupid. In truth, the creative team did too - big Braun was hung out to dry by the scripting way too often, falling for so much sh*t that 'The Money's words started to ring true.
The whole thing bottomed out when McMahon dumped green slime on Strowman's head. If you think that's lacking in context, try actually watching thing. No explanation was ever given for why Shane chose this specific indignity, nor where he sourced it, nor why Strowman seemingly couldn't function properly afterwards.
If this were a mere mistep, this entry could end where it started and we could get back to toasting the cage match again. But here as with most modern WWE programmes, the destination almost never justifies the journey.