4 reasons why Braun Strowman should win the Elimination Chamber

The final WWE Raw pay-per-view before WrestleMania is a little over a week away. In its aftermath, most of the red brand's WrestleMania card will shape up, most importantly, its main event. For over a year now, that's been slated to be a WrestleMania 31 rematch between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship.

Ever since Kevin Owens dropped that title to Goldberg a year ago at Fastlane, the WrestleMania 34 main event has been the worst-kept secret in wrestling. Already set to meet Brock Lesnar at last year's Show of Shows, Goldberg would drop the title to The Beast, who would hold on to it until April 8th, 2018, to drop it to Roman Reigns.

Vince's mindset regarding Reigns isn't hard to read by this point. His dream for years has been The Big Dog's triumph over The Beast, probably ever since the latter's infamous squash of John Cena at SummerSlam 2014. The story was obvious - the transition from one "top guy" to the next. That story would finally conclude after a long pause over the course of 2017-18.

But during these last 12 months, a monstrous wrinkle in that story has formed. The rise of Braun Strowman has been as entertaining as it's been meteoric. As a result, it's not only unclear whether Roman Reigns should be in this year's main event, but whether he should even be considered the next "guy."

On the contrary, everything in the past 12 months has pointed to Braun Strowman's triumph over Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania being the correct decision. He deserves to win the Elimination Chamber next Sunday and here's why.

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#1 Roman Reigns hasn't changed

Roman Reigns has improved tremendously since his first match with Brock Lesnar, there's no question about that. At WrestleMania 31, it was painfully clear that he wasn't ready for the top role Vince McMahon had in mind for him. His ring work was limited and his promos were some of the worst ever.

Thankfully, since then, the attempts at making him the second coming of John Cena have stopped. As a result, his promos have automatically improved. His ring work has improved even more and now he consistently puts out some of the most engaging matches of the night.

Despite this, though, something still feels like it's missing. Roman Reigns hasn't changed much over the course of the past year. He feels no different today than he did when he defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33.

Other acts have passed him by and are more interesting and entertaining. He stands in stark contrast to the exponential growth Braun Strowman has shown over the past year.

#2 Roman Reigns has no momentum

The last time Roman Reigns had a truly major moment was when he defeated John Cena at No Mercy. That was almost five months ago, and even then, the whole thing felt forced.

Since then, he hasn't done much. His Intercontinental Championship win felt like an accolade for the sake of giving him an accolade and his reign felt like filler until The Miz got back. Even his interactions with Brock Lesnar over the past year are few.

He sought The Beast at SummerSlam, but Braun Strowman was the star of that famous match, and Roman Reigns was the one who took the pin.

It's easy to see why WWE wanted Roman Reigns to stay under the radar for all these months, but they've done such a good job with it that he doesn't feel like the biggest star on Raw. No long-term story has been told for Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. The only thing that's been told has been the newfound potency of the F5 so that it will be a "shock" when Roman Reigns kicks out of it.

Roman Reigns' Elimination Chamber victory will feel as random as it feels inescapable, like going through the motions without knowing the reason why. His path to the title has been unremarkable and without much hype.

#3 Braun Strowman is on fire

In stark contrast, Braun Strowman's path to a title win has been red hot for the past year. His feud with Roman Reigns was the best of 2017. He then went red hot into the explosive SummerSlam main event where he was the star of the match.

His clash in Brooklyn with Brock Lesnar became an instant legend. It was evident then and there that Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar should be the WrestleMania 34 main event.

Since then, the monster has been a thorn in the side of the beast. He pummeled Brock Lesnar on a weekly basis until No Mercy, where he came up just short. He would do so again at the Royal Rumble, where Kane took the pin. Strowman furiously shouted that Brock Lesnar hadn't beaten him at the January spectacular.

His failure to capture the title and his dull feud with Kane have thus far not hampered him in any way. Braun Strowman has actually gotten hotter after the Royal Rumble than he was before it with his consistent show-stealing performances.

He's red hot and has a long history with Brock Lesnar over the past year to build on. Why shouldn't he win the Elimination Chamber and move on to WrestleMania for a huge rematch?

#4 Braun Strowman has proven himself "the guy"

This was easily the best segment of 2018 so far. I invite anyone that disagrees to find an alternate candidate. Should any alternatives pop up, I'd wager that Braun Strowman was part of most of them.

Braun Strowman is everything a promoter could want in a top star. He's funny, charismatic, and does things no one else can do. He's not the best in the ring, but his matches are still fun to watch. The fans adore him. He has a look that's impossible to ignore.

Quite simply, he's a larger than life character in a time where that quality is ultra-rare. What more could anyone possibly want in "the guy?"

Could Roman Reigns have pulled off that segment? The answer is no.

While he's worse in the ring, Braun Strowman is more entertaining and memorable than Roman Reigns, and over the course of the past year, the fans have made it abundantly clear which of the two they prefer. Braun Strowman also does better YouTube numbers than Roman Reigns, proving that this isn't just due to a few "smarks" in the audience.

Braun Strowman should win the Elimination Chamber and seize the throne from Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania to become WWE's new monster and top star. It won't happen though, and it will be the biggest mistake WWE has made in the past decade.

They've been looking for their next megastar for years and now they have him, but Vince McMahon's obsession with Roman Reigns is causing him to miss the answer that's impossible to ignore for everyone but him.

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