Why Braun Strowman should not be a monster heel in WWE

Still a long way to go for the BlacksheepRecently, 'Creative Control' wrote an article providing us with reasons as to why Braun Strowman should be WWE's next 'monster heel'.Now truly, the WWE has in the past been 'a land of giants.' Greats such as Andre the Giant, Kane, Big Show, Yokozuna, Giant Baba, (yes, him too!) and Giant Gonzalez (okay, that last one was sarcastic). The point is that size matters in WWE as shown by memorable performers such as Luther Reigns (sarcasm strikes again). For every Umaga or Yokozuna, there is a Giant Gonzalez or Great Khali. I will present a counter-argument or rebuttal, and talk about why Braun Strowman should not be pushed as a monster heel.Braun Strowman is not exactly the talk of the town. His contributions thus far have been limited to occasionally screaming "RUN" at the end of a cryptic Wyatt promo or a couple of lines here and there. Thus far he hasn't shown any charisma. His in ring work is also laughable. A bearhug is not a credible finisher anymore and he looks mechanical at best.

#1 WWE does not know how to book big men

From an athletic giant to a wasted mess - Big Show is one of the examples

Despite Vince McMahon claiming he would show WCW how to book giants when he signed Paul Wight(Big Show) from them, it is quite clear he has failed in his task.

The Big Show has been a story of wasted potential. A man who did moonsaults in WCW was left crying in the middle of the ring on a multitude of occasions, even turning heel and face on many occasions (boy was that annoying).

Now, Braun has a look about him, but I have no doubt that he will struggle with the 50-50 booking that is prevalent in WWE. Kane destroyed people and was feared, but poor booking lead to him becoming the corporate jobber that he was.

There are only so many times the return of masked Kane will excite me..

The reason Yokozuna was successful was because he was protected. He defeated whoever challenged him and was made to look dominant while doing it. Obviously, he would get his comeuppance, but such booking requires patience.

WWE today hasn’t quite grasped this concept and Braun will likely be turned into another Vladimir Kozlov. So, in conclusion, WWE cannot have a monster heel in the current climate.

#2 The \'Monster Heel\' character is very limited

Like the Foreign heel, the monster heel has been a favorite story in professional wrestling for ages.

From Vader in WCW to Abyss in TNA, the influence of the monster heel is far reaching. The problem with that is that everyone knows how the story goes. Superstar x (here Strowman) goes on a dominant run; destroying jobbers, lower card wrestlers and mid-carders working his way up.

X is built up as a guy with an undefeated streak and may pick up an occasional mid-card title (Rusev winning the US title, for example), defends the said title for a fair bit of time before he has a confrontation with courageous babyface (usually, a John Cena).

This story is what sustained WWE in the early days of Hulkamania because Hogan would be challenged by the likes of Earthquake, King Kong Bundy and Andre the Giant - bigger men who he would ‘persevere and overcome’ because he ate his vitamins and said his prayers, brother.

This story doesn’t work anymore. It is lazy, bored and tired. oh no! That means it's probably going to happen.

#3 Braun really isn\'t that good

Strowman is quite dependant on Bray and is very green in all aspects

Braun Strowman has thus far showed zero charisma or promise aside from his size. His few lines in the Wyatt Family promos have been awkward and not nearly as convincing as Bray’s or even Luke Harper’s (he is really underrated).

It also hurts the eyes to see Braun pull out that annoying ‘angry face’ with the maniacal smile, which is quite cringe-inducing. Then, there is his horrible in ring work. The Bearhug or weird choke thing he does just doesn’t work as a finisher anymore, and even aside from that Braun looks sluggish and mechanical.

He is frankly very green and a stint down in NXT will do him a world of good if he were to return to the main roster afterwards.

#4 WWE is moving on

WWE seemed to be moving on from muscleheads and giants who cannot wrestle.

Signing talents like Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, Prince Devitt (Balor) and KENTA (Hideo Itami) showed a clear sign of intent - the WWE wanted to improve their product from an in ring perspective.

Sure, there is still the odd Ryback on the roster, but the likes of Tyson Kidd and Lucha Dragons have shown that WWE is clearly not as obsessed with size as they used to be.

Unless Strowman can improve his in-ring work which seems very unlikely, he will be heckled by crowds (like Reigns was) and that is never fun to watch. Squash matches also have no place on tv anymore as WWE has 7 hours of main event programming to fill every week.

Thus, to keep crowds hooked, the atheletes’ work in the ring and their promos have become more important, both of which expose the major flaws with Braun Strowman.

#5 There are others who deserve the spotlight more

Braun may look intimidating, but in my opinion, the only role he can hope to be successful in is as an enforcer, either for the authority or like a bodyguard.

There are many others on the roster that are far more deserving of the opportunity and deserve to have time invested in them. The likes of Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Neville and even possible NXT promotions - Finn Balor, Hideo Itami and Samoa Joe are far better at all facets of professional wrestling.

These superstars deserve to have WWE invest time and money in them because, in the long run, it is them that will help WWE turn a profit.

I strongly believe that the whole concept of the monster heel is well past its sell date, but if WWE really wants one on their roster, they should build up Samoa Joe like he was built up in TNA as the Samoan Submission Machine.

Or, WWE could use Kevin Owens. WWE should replace their resident giants (the Big Show/Kane) with resident a** kickers that both Joe and Owens have the potential to be.