1,000 days of the WWE Universal Championship: 3 positives and 4 negatives

#2 Negative: Braun Strowman losses

After an 11-month spell with The Wyatt Family, Braun Strowman broke out on his own as a singles competitor following the 2016 WWE Draft and gradually established himself as one of the most prominent Superstars on Raw.

Throughout his time on the red brand, Strowman has been involved in six televised matches for the Universal Championship but he has been unable to win the title on every occasion: vs. Kevin Owens (Raw, January 2017), Fatal 4-Way (SummerSlam 2017), vs. Brock Lesnar (No Mercy 2017), vs. Lesnar and Kane (Royal Rumble 2018), vs. Roman Reigns (Hell In A Cell 2018), vs. Lesnar (Crown Jewel 2018).

“The Monster Among Men” had an unrivalled aura about him between mid-2016 and SummerSlam 2018. However, after another two Universal Championship failures at Hell In A Cell and Crown Jewel, it felt as though his character had been significantly damaged by the series of losses that he suffered in high-profile matches.

WWE’s decision-makers even opted to remove him from another Universal Championship match (vs. Lesnar at the 2019 Royal Rumble), presumably because yet another loss would have hurt his character even more.