12 Ups And 15 Downs For WWE In 2017 (2nd Opinion)

2. Braaauuuuunnn!

The Miz Braun Strowman
WWE.com

OK, here’s one guy who had a bigger 2017 without capturing any titles.

Braun Strowman could have become another generic big guy in WWE, a lumbering lunk who looked intimidating but moved like a tank. Instead, Strowman showed over the course of the year that he was learning and expanding his moveset almost weekly, disproving many critics and winning over fans as he went along.

His ongoing feud with Roman Reigns – highlighted by a truly memorable night when he tossed a stretcher-bound Roman off a loading dock and then flipped over an ambulance he was in – turned Braun into an instant cult hero.

Some believe WWE should have pulled the trigger on Strowman against Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship, and while that might be true, it feels more like a matter of time before Braun is holding gold, not a question of “if.”

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.