Releases are a terrible but necessary part of the wrestling business. It’s important to cycle in new characters. In order to give those new characters opportunities, there needs to be available screentime and space on the main roster. That means moving on from some people. I don’t always agree with which wrestlers WWE decides to move on from, but in most cases, I at least get where Triple H and company are coming from. This Braun Strowman release, however, still has me scratching my head.
Look: I really like some of the other people who got let go, and some of them, I think, had a lot of unrealized potential. I don’t have time to go down the whole list, but Dakota Kai was capable in the ring and really strong on the mic when given a chance. I think the Party Girls, Kayden and Katana, were really fun in a tag team specialists Rockers sorta way. Shayna Baszler had a bunch of strong main roster moments. These are not necessarily the choices I would have made, but even so, I understand them. There’s a recurring theme.
since he returned following his first WWE release. Crowds were super hot for the big man. Every time he ran around the ring or ripped his shift off, he got a very big pop. His two most prominent feuds, the one against Bronson Reed and the one against Jacob Fatu, were very well received and helped get those two performers over. In other words, he did the exact job he was asked to do, and he did it very well, all while getting a reaction from the crowd. To me, that’s the point of the wrestling business.
Clearly, Braun Strowman’s best days are behind him. The athleticism of big men in the wrestling industry never lasts forever, and you could tell based on the way he was moving around that his body was betraying him. He didn’t have the spring or the mobility he used to, but what he did have was the crowd in his corner. They cared when he was in the ring, and unfortunately, that’s not something most performers can say. It’s not something anyone else who was released could say.
That’s why I’m so confused by Strowman’s release. Obviously, I don’t know about the conversations happening behind the scenes. Maybe Strowman is in worse shape than we think, and WWE didn’t feel comfortable letting him wrestle anymore. Maybe he made too much money. Maybe there were problems with other performers or he couldn’t get along with management. I’m not there and don’t know what really happened, but from a fan perspective, his release is not like the others. He was over. He was capable of getting fans out of their seats and reminding them why they paid to come.
I don’t know what’s next for Braun Strowman. I have no idea if he’ll even keep wrestling, but wherever he shows up again, people will care because he’s over and always will be over. He’s got the aura, and at a time when not everyone on WWE’s roster can say the same, he’ll be missed.