The Damning Legacy Of Braun Strowman

Strowman was effectively killed dead when Brock Lesnar gave up on working him, much less making him look halfway respectable in defeat, at No Mercy. At one crucial point, at which the match fell apart, Strowman cut a lamentable presence. He became a gurning mascot subsequent to that night, and even before that, it had become clear that Roman was a blockade. Strowman met an even more abject fate at Crown Jewel 2018, at which there was no pretence of competition. He was resoundingly squashed by Lesnar in Riyadh.

In a continuation of the bullsh*t Vince thing that Vince always does, McMahon became delighted at the possibilities of juxtaposition. You see, Strowman was very large. So large in fact that it was funny to see Strowman stood next to Nicholas and Alexa Bliss. You see, they are each very short!

Strowman's aura was all but gone after this pseudo-comedy arc. He had decent timing, too. A non-canon goof-off in which he parodied Will Ferrell's Elf wasn't ideal, but he still pulled it off. He probably shouldn't have.

Vince's awful value system further undermined Strowman deep into 2018, for a large portion of which he was programmed with Kevin Owens. He played the babyface on paper, but he was a bully figure who needlessly applied the exclamation mark on an opponent who had already been handily defeated.

Strowman was not built to last. He peaked as a performer early into his career. His thrilling, improbable explosiveness had dulled by 2018, likely because WWE was dumb enough to make him run around the ring in every match, and the limitations of his style were exposed time and time again when he ate the ring post in every last match. The Monster Among Men had become the Magnet Among Men, as all the while, his once super-over catchphrases only faintly echoed across arenas.

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