2 reasons why Braun Strowman lost his Universal title shot on Raw

#1 Another defeat to Lesnar would ruin his main event credibility

Strowman has been badly mishandled recently.

When Braun Strowman was scheduled to challenge Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble, the match seemed uninspiring and boring. We have already seen it a couple of times and it has disappointed on both those occasions.

However, the match was an intriguing one. We did not know if Strowman would win or lose. He probably wouldn't have won, but it is realistic to believe that he could topple the Beast. It turns out that he was likely going to lose, with Finn Balor now getting the match with Lesnar. The Monster dodged a possible bullet here.

Another defeat to Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship would have ended Strowman's credibility as a main eventer in WWE. He has been mistreated pretty badly. The only title he has won was for a one-night joke, as he and Nicholas vacated the titles on the Raw after WrestleMania.

Strowman was Mr Money in the Bank but would fail his cash-in. He wins a lot, but loses when it matters. Another loss in a big match would have damaged him to no ends. If Strowman is cleared, possibly a run in the Royal Rumble match would benefit him more, after the rough treatment he has had to endure in the second half of 2018 and carrying into the new year.