5 Biggest Winners & Losers From WWE Raw (August 1)

4. Winner: Braun Strowman

Squash matches are the perfect vehicle to get a guy like Braun Strowman over.

While it’s unlikely that he’ll ever develop the athletic chops to go toe-to-toe with a Seth Rollins or Finn Balor for 20-30 minutes, these matches enhance his strengths and mask his weaknesses. Strowman’s a big, strong orc of a man who knows how to throw a smaller opponent around, and these matches give him the chance to do that without exposing his glaring weaknesses.

Last night, Strowman destroyed his latest victim in little over a minute. WWE wouldn’t have separated him from his Wyatt Family brothers if they didn’t have something big planned for him, and this is the best way to build him up. Braun’s not ready for 50/50 matches with the company’s best wrestlers yet, squash matches are a sound way to establish him as a monstrous presence and make him look dominant.

There are a couple of misgivings, of course. WWE can only go down this route for so long before it becomes repetitive and fans grow sick of Strowman’s act. The big question when they reach that point is whether or not Braun will be ready to move on to bigger and better things, but for now, he’s exactly where he needs to be.