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When Braun Strowman debuted on RAW on August 24th, 2015, he only had a few matches under his belt and was green as grass. He didn't even make NXT television and yet the giant WWE Performance Center recruit debuted on the main roster right away as a member of The Wyatt Family.
Strowman would then go on to have a run as The Black Sheep of the Wyatt Family for almost a year before getting split up during the 2016 draft and going over to RAW. The WWE Universe was sceptical about Strowman, stating that his push was only due to his size and WWE's obsession with pushing big men.
However, starting with the first RAW post-draft, things began to change. For a few months, Strowman was crushing jobbers and was also part of the Survivor Series RAW team in what turned out to be an instant classic.
As Strowman was progressing in his feuds against Sami Zayn, Roman Reigns, and eventually Brock Lesnar, people began to change their minds about The Monster Among Men. He started to get better reactions, more praise and if you look at it now, he's among the most cheered superstars on the roster.
With his recent babyface turn at TLC, here's why WWE should stop the Roman Reigns experiment and go with Braun Strowman as the face of the company instead.
#5 He's over
Speaking of garnering a following, the amount of reluctance about Strowman's push early on in his career was immense. His physique wasn't as good as it is today, but last year he shed a lot of that weight.
By the simple formula of squashing jobbers on a weekly basis, fans began to enjoy Strowman even more. Even in his feud with Roman Reigns, Strowman was the clear favourite. One could argue that Roman Reigns helped build Strowman this year with their feuds.
Together they've had some great matches, like in Payback and Great Balls Of Fire. Throughout their feud, Strowman was treated by the fans as the clear babyface and even from the storytelling, Strowman did come across as the clear babyface(barring the superstar shake-up episode when Strowman almost killed Reigns).
Strowman's no-nonsense character led him to getting a bigger fan following and his feud with Roman did wonders in helping him get over. Today if you see, Strowman gets among the best reactions of anyone on the WWE roster.
After his loss to Brock Lesnar at No Mercy, many thought it would've killed his momentum, but he's gotten the crowd behind him again in no time.
Just look at the reactions he got when he returned in June and more recently in October.
#4 He always demands competition
Back from the start of his run as a singles competitor, Braun would go on a wrecking spree, constantly demanding competition from then-RAW GM Mick Foley. This was a storyline for quite a while and Strowman would go all out until he got what he wanted.
However, when you think about it, what's bad about demanding competition? While most heels would prefer to evade competition altogether, Strowman is outright demanding it. In my books, wanting competition is a very babyface thing.
Yes, one could argue that the means by which he got what he wanted wasn't exactly ethical, but they can't deny that it was a lot of fun watching Braun Strowman throw the likes of Sin Cara onto a bunch of gift boxes.
Competition is something that Strowman has thankfully been getting in the past many months.
#3 His path of destruction is money
Remember in the Attitude Era when Stone Cold Steve Austin would just pop out of nowhere, give stunners, wreck some havoc, drink beer and walk away? That was chaotic and that was money!
While WWE's PG rules may not allow them to do the same things that Stone Cold did then, there's no denying that watching Braun Strowman lay waste to people is absolute entertainment gold.
Think about when he sent James Ellsworth through a table at Survivor Series or when he destroyed Sin Cara on RAW or his murder attempt on Roman Reigns. All of the moments sent the live audience and everyone watching at home into ecstasy.
Perhaps his latest return when he took out The Miz & The Miztourage was one of his best moments to date. The reaction he got was absolutely priceless.
#2 Unconventional heel-face dynamic
Braun Strowman's dynamic with Roman Reigns was similar to every heel facing Roman Reigns. Anyone facing Roman Reigns by default gets cheered, but it goes beyond that.
In today's WWE, the whole heel-face dynamic has been blurred in a big way. For example, Brock Lesnar doesn't have a defined heel or face character, and in his feuds against Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman, there was no indication whatsoever as to who the good guy and bad guy were.
Even when it comes to the supposed top babyface, Roman Reigns, he acted more like a heel post-WrestleMania 33 than he did babyface. It's clear that WWE has begun to emphasise a lot less on who the babyfaces and heels are, and you can't blame them because, in the day and age where kayfabe is dead, fans tend to cheer heels a lot more often.
#1 His improvement in such little time is unparalleled
We mentioned that when Strowman debuted, he hardly had a few matches under his belt. When he was part of the Wyatt family, he was protected well and it was easier to hide how green he was.
However, as a singles competitor, Braun exceeded fan expectations by showing massive levels of improvement in all departments: in-ring, on the mic and character work.
His rapid improvement in such little time is what's helped garner so many fans. Quite a few WWE legends such as Goldberg, Kane and Big Show have praised Strowman for his work. Big Show and Kane were supposedly the ones who helped him backstage, and it's safe to say that they did a great job, because he's knocked the ball out of the park every time that he's been given the opportunity.
If WWE were to get behind Strowman like they did Roman Reigns, they could make a lot more money in the long run!
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