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Ever since the 2016 WWE draft, Braun Strowman has risen higher and higher up the Raw ranks and he is now one of the very best Superstars that the red brand has to offer.
If WWE still did Slammy Awards, his feud throughout 2017 with Roman Reigns would probably win Rivalry of the Year, while he’d also be a top contender to win the Superstar of the Year prize.
However, Braun hasn’t always been portrayed as the “Monster Among Men” that we view him as now. Back in July of last year, he was Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley’s 28th pick to be on Raw, and he was chosen 48th overall if you include the selections that SmackDown Live made.
In this article, just to show how far the number one contender for Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship has come in such a short amount of time, we take a look at 10 Superstars who were chosen ahead of Strowman in the 2016 brand split.
#10 The Golden Truth
While Braun Strowman was chosen 48th overall, his fellow Raw roster members Goldust and R-Truth were relatively highly placed in 31st position.
Even though Strowman had only been on the main roster for one year, it’s still crazy to think that the veteran duo, who broke up earlier in 2017, were considered better picks at the time than the former Wyatt Family member.
#9 Titus O’Neil
Titus O’Neil was picked 15 places ahead of Braun Strowman in the brand split and has since gone on to manage the careers of Akira Tozawa and Apollo Crews, to varying degrees of success, while he has recently added Dana Brooke to his Titus Worldwide franchise.
As prosperous and lucrative as a spot in Titus’ stable may be, we’re pretty sure Strowman has surpassed the level that the former Prime Time Player was at when the draft was made on 19 July 2016.
#8 Darren Young
When Darren Young was picked 36th in the draft, it didn’t seem like such a strange move. He had just acquired the services of Bob Backlund as his manager and he was involved in a feud with The Miz over the Intercontinental Championship.
However, he went on to have just seven more matches on Raw before the end of 2016, while a serious elbow injury that he sustained in January ruled him out for several months leading up to his release in October.
#7 Sin Cara
Braun Strowman’s first storyline as a singles performer after the brand split saw him take on local talents week after week (remember that James Ellsworth guy?!) and defeat them in dominant fashion.
His first Raw victory over a main-roster opponent didn’t come until two months after the draft, when he defeated Sin Cara, picked 10 places ahead of him, via count-out.
#6 Naomi
Of all the names in this list, Naomi has probably had the most success since she was chosen to represent SmackDown Live. Drafted as the 39th overall pick, she has become a two-time Women’s champion and, for a short time, even had a personalised title.
It’s still surprising to see that she was picked ahead of Braun Strowman, who had spent months leading up to the draft scaring Xavier Woods half to death in the battles between The New Day and The Wyatt Family.
#5 Jack Swagger
The only former World Heavyweight champion on this list, Jack Swagger was Raw’s 24th pick and the 40th pick overall in the 2016 draft.
It wasn’t long before he moved to SmackDown Live, for reasons that were never really revealed, and he has since left WWE to pursue a career in MMA after asking for his release in March.
#4 The Ascension
The fact that former NXT champions The Ascension were picked seven places ahead of Braun Strowman is, quite frankly, astonishing.
Konnor and Viktor were hardly in any meaningful storylines on the main roster following their debut in December 2014 and, despite being picked eight places above “The Monster Among Men”, they haven’t done much since on SmackDown Live.
#3 Zack Ryder
It wasn’t all that surprising when Zack Ryder was chosen as the 43rd pick – five places ahead of Braun Strowman – when he was drafted to SmackDown Live in 2016.
He had his big ‘WrestleMania moment’ four months earlier, winning the Intercontinental Championship in a seven-man ladder match, and he had several more years of experience in WWE than Strowman.
#2 Summer Rae
With the greatest of respect to Summer Rae, how on earth was she picked ahead of Braun Strowman?! He was relatively new to the main roster but he was still involved in segments with Brock Lesnar, The Rock, John Cena and The Undertaker and was clearly a big part of WWE’s plans for the future.
Summer, on the other hand, had barely been on television in the months prior to the draft but was still picked four places ahead of Strowman. She was released by WWE in October.
#1 Apollo Crews
For anybody wondering who almost finished ahead of Braun Strowman, he was one place above Breezango, two places above Bo Dallas and, would you believe it, only three places above Eva Marie.
He wasn’t above Apollo Crews, though. The former NXT star was still new to the main roster and had a much higher reputation than he does now (sorry, Apollo fans), so it wasn’t too much of a shock at the time that he was selected three spots higher than Strowman.
