The Damning Legacy Of Braun Strowman

WWE was never going to be the WWE that a lot of super-invested fans wanted it to be. It was naive to think otherwise, given what is so clearly true of its internal culture. In Braun Strowman, however, WWE had an opportunity to once more become the WWE that WWE wanted WWE to be: an outsized anti-wrasslin' spectacle built around an airport test valedictorian.

And what's more, fans were into it. It is no exaggeration to state that Braun Strowman was the solution to a labyrinthine puzzle in 2017. John Cena was a star, but he was loathed by half of a divided fanbase. The super-indie darlings were over, but were promoted with a seething reluctance. WWE was a wrestling promotion - promotion being the key word - that operated in almost complete reverse.

Strowman reconciled the gulf between the office and the audience. He was the first "Vince McMahon guy" that fans had actually connected with in years and years and years. His popularity was all the more impressive given that a performer of his proportions and style was so unfashionable.

Strowman's breakthrough arrived at Fastlane 2017. He was no longer the immobile goose sh*t-green hoss that shadowed the fading Wyatt Family. A powerhouse so spectacular that he elicited the old feelings every wrestling fan grew up on, his match against Roman Reigns was strictest-definition awesome. A propulsive bomb exchange that built its legit Holy Sh*t moments within a masterful layout, it was the night on which Strowman became a star.

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