It wouldn't be that harsh to suggest that the continued mid-level success of Braun Strowman stands as WWE's biggest creative blunder this decade. It's one thing for Braun to be over, but quite another not to be the biggest star in the entire industry.
A late-2016 shove in the right direction on Raw morphed into a 2017 surge as 'The Monster Among Men' continued to reflect the perfect marriage between the audience tastes and Vince McMahon takes, but even a behemoth like Braun couldn't politically compete with the need to push Roman Reigns and placate another notable 'Beast'.
The last 12 months exposed a limited Strowman persona to the art failure, and worse, acceptance of it. The monster became a man, and men (particularly most of those marooned on Monday Night Raw) contributed to some of the worst content this year. No longer immune to bad booking, his indestructibility was exposed as the injuries mounted up.
There was of course one person that could have turned it all around for him...
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
