How Braun Strowman Became WWE's Best Modern Day Monster
Separation from Bray Wyatt is ordinarily as successful for a performer's career as the original association is cursed. Only Erick Rowan is yet to prove his worth as a lone star away from the 'Eater Of Worlds', with Luke Harper's unjustly brief tastes of main roster supremacy rapidly kowtowed by a return to the family fold, and Randy Orton sleepwalking his way to yet another WWE Title within weeks of literally burning Bray's house to the ground.
That said, it was no golden ticket for the newly-christened 'Mountain Of A Man' when he first broke away from Wyatt's clutch as result of 2016's reintroduced roster split. Truthfully, his aforementioned inexperience hampered what should have been a more prosperous spot as an actual threat alongside Wyatt in contrast to Bray's usual gang of idiots. Bursting on to the scene in August 2015, Strowman annihilated Roman Reigns, memorably tossing 'The Big Dog' across the ring with relative ease in an act of violence not previously perpetuated on the former 'Shield' star pupil.
In real life, he had been a prolifically successful Strongman in contests across the globe - launching performer's even Roman's size was merely grunt work. His background most likely contributed to what felt at the time a teeth-gnashingly literal moniker. But like Dolph Ziggler, Big E and Triple H before him, WWE's fierce repetition normalised the nomenclature, and set to following a winning formula by having him briefly dominate the chasing pack in his maiden Royal Rumble appearance less than six months after his debut.
Unfortunately, his aura was quickly stripped back thanks to WWE's paradoxical over-reliance on workrate up and down the card. Completely at odds with how the company used to be able to build a giant in a matter of weeks, Braun was thrust into multi-man matches with his 'Family' in which dazzling and dynamic team attacks were the norm. The grand quest for moves above all else made him look inefficient and inexperienced, uncharacteristically shining a spotlight on his limitations rather than some overwhelming plus points buried within. Constant Wyatt losses didn't help. Contributing to Bray's various failures wasn't exactly striking fear into the heart of his peers, and a maiden WrestleMania appearance taking an verbal and physical thrashing from The Rock and John Cena in a comedy segment didn't leave much of a platform for the 'inbred duck dynasty b*tch' to build from...