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Did WWE just ruin Braun Strowman's career?
While it's probably not that bad, at least not yet anyway, WWE made the unfortunate choice of having a Kane versus Brock Lesnar confrontation in the main event and left Strowman out of the picture completely. WWE tried to dress up the occasion with the locker room emptying to break up the fight, but it was still confusing not to see Strowman out there.
Sure, most fans probably don't expect Braun Strowman to win The Universal Title at The Royal Rumble, especially since it would undo many of the rumoured plans WWE has for WrestleMania 34, but it was still peculiar not to see him involved in a confrontation that was meant to promote the match.
With that being said and the brief discussion Kane and Braun Strowman had backstage, WWE might have a brilliant move by keeping Strowman on the sideline. Whether they did or not depends on how the storyline plays out over the next couple of weeks, but having Strowman refuse to join Kane and staying out of the confrontation builds him as a babyface.
Strowman even told Kane that he could defeat the monster on his own and while it might sound absolutely delusional to Lesnar fans, it does give Strowman a little bit of nobility and can be used to get fans behind him in a way. In fact, WWE choosing not to have Strowman in the final confrontation could have been a way to get fans behind him even more.
Think about it: right now all anyone can talk about is how bad the main event was without Strowman in there. That might have initially been due to the fact that WWE was once again putting a veteran in a spot that a younger guy deserved, but if WWE did that on purpose to rile the fans up, it worked!
Furthermore, his decimation of Rhyno and Heath Slater in a two on one handicap match made him look absolutely unstoppable. Not only that, his pump handle slams to Ryno and Slater were some of the loudest reactions WWE had gotten all night and only showed how over he was with The WWE Universe.
In the end, what WWE is going to do is anyone's guess and could be very disappointing given the current WrestleMania rumours. Yes, it is a good thing that WWE is building up Strowman as amazing as they are, but he just doesn't seem to be pencilled in for the main event of WrestleMania 34 and that's going to hurt him a bit regardless of this match.
With that being said, WWE having him refuse to help Kane ambush Brock Lesnar was a brilliant way for WWE to him cement him as a babyface and simultaneously get fans riled up when he wasn't in Monday Night's main event. Where things go from here is anyone's guess, but Strowman does have one thing of value right now.
Massive fan support!
