10 Wrestling Feuds That Borrowed From Unlikely Inspirations
1. Braun Strowman Vs Roman Reigns (Mankind Vs The Undertaker)
Either by accident or careful design, Roman Reigns became 'The Big Dog' right as he was chasing the old one out of the yard.
The start of 2017 saw Reigns front up to his "mixed reactions" by eliminating The Undertaker from that year's Royal Rumble and accept the duty of trying to put him down and out at WrestleMania 33. All the while, he was reliving 'The Deadman's past for the benefit of Braun Strowman.
Like Mankind in 1996, Strowman was a freakish force on the scene, including his battles with the otherwise-unstoppable Reigns. He'd beat him up on television, then beat him too. In a company that's tried to get by on wins and losses not matter for a decade, the feud highlighted that they still did more than just about anything else.
Roman got one win - at Fastlane 2017 - in between a host of defeats and decimations, in much the same way the dominant Undertaker of the mid-90s just couldn't get the measure of Mick Foley's deranged creation. It got both men more over than they were before, establishing Strowman as 'Monster Among Men', and Roman as a fallible-yet-brave leader that did actually need to dig a little deeper once in a while.