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At the start of 2020, it looked as though Braun Strowman would have to settle for a prolonged spell in the secondary title picture on WWE SmackDown after he won the Intercontinental Championship from Shinsuke Nakamura.
However, six weeks later, “The Monster Among Men” lost the title to Sami Zayn in a 3-on-1 handicap match at Elimination Chamber, which meant he was without a storyline or opponent heading into WrestleMania 36.
As he was not booked for the show, Braun Strowman decided to drive 21 hours to stay at one of his properties in Wisconsin. Then, due to Roman Reigns pulling out of WrestleMania 36, he received a phone call from Vince McMahon to let him know that he had been booked to face Goldberg at ‘Mania.
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Braun Strowman as Universal Champion
Braun Strowman went on to defeat Goldberg in a match lasting just three minutes, winning the Universal Championship in the process, and he has since retained the title against Shinsuke Nakamura (SmackDown), Bray Wyatt (Money in the Bank) and The Miz & John Morrison (Backlash).
With the former Wyatt Family member looking unbeatable on the blue brand right now, let’s take a look at five WWE Superstars who could realistically pin him to win the Universal Championship.
#5 Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns has not appeared on WWE television since March 2020 due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
The former Universal Champion recently told Fightful in a Cameo video that he is “sticking to a legit quarantine” and he is hopeful that he can “get back to normal soon”,
“I'm sure everybody's like, ‘Why won't he come back? When's he going to come back?' Then when I come back and destroy everybody, they're gonna be p****d. But it's all good because I'm the best. Yes sir!”
Reigns has had plenty of detractors throughout his WWE career, but nobody can deny that he helped launch Braun Strowman into the Superstar that he is today during their lengthy 2017 rivalry on RAW.
When “The Big Dog” returns, he should automatically be next in line for a Universal Championship opportunity. After all, he looked on course to win the title from Goldberg at WrestleMania 36 before he was replaced by Braun Strowman.
Moving forward, assuming Reigns is back sooner rather than later, it would not be at all surprising to see him go head-to-head with Braun Strowman in another Universal Championship storyline.
#4 Braun Strowman vs. Otis
Braun Strowman joined forces with Otis and Tucker to defeat Dolph Ziggler, The Miz and John Morrison on the final episode of WWE SmackDown before Backlash.
Unlike previous years, there is not a great deal of animosity between the current World Champion (Braun Strowman) and the Money in the Bank holder (Otis), which makes it difficult to predict when Otis will decide to cash in his contract.
Last year, for example, Bayley won the Money in the Bank contract and cashed it in on the same night to end Charlotte Flair’s SmackDown Women’s Championship reign in a matter of minutes. Similarly, Brock Lesnar cashed in the men’s contract on his long-term rival, Seth Rollins, at Extreme Rules to further their ongoing feud ahead of SummerSlam.
Realistically, is WWE going to book a one-on-one rivalry between Braun Strowman and Otis right now? Probably not, but it would be unwise to exclude the Heavy Machinery member from this list when he can have an impromptu match for the Universal Championship at a time of his choosing.
#3 Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar
Braun Strowman won the WWE Universal Championship by defeating Goldberg at WrestleMania 36, but let’s not forget that he repeatedly failed to win the title for over three years before he finally got his big moment.
Between January 2017 and September 2019, Braun Strowman unsuccessfully challenged for the Universal Championship on seven occasions on WWE television: versus Brock Lesnar (x4), versus Kevin Owens, versus Roman Reigns, and versus Seth Rollins.
The matches with Lesnar are particularly memorable because it genuinely looked as though Braun Strowman was going to win three of those four encounters. However, Lesnar ended up defeating his rival in one-on-one matches at No Mercy 2017 and Crown Jewel 2018, while “The Beast” pinned Reigns in a Fatal 4-Way at SummerSlam 2017 to retain his title.
Right now, Braun Strowman holds the most important men’s title on SmackDown, but it is difficult to view him as the top guy in WWE until he has conquered the one man who he has failed to beat over the last three years.
Lesnar, who is rumored to be returning in time for SummerSlam, is currently a RAW Superstar, but his brand status has not stopped him from appearing on different WWE shows in the past.
Maybe, just maybe, a renewal of this rivalry isn’t out of the question.
#2 Braun Strowman vs. Daniel Bryan
A quick look through the WWE head-to-head archives shows that Daniel Bryan and Braun Strowman have never faced each other in a televised match. The only previous meeting between the two Superstars came in the 50-man Greatest Royal Rumble, which Strowman won shortly after Bryan was eliminated by Big Cass.
If Bryan won the vacant Intercontinental Championship against AJ Styles last week, there is no way he would be in contention to challenge for the Universal Championship in the near future. Now, following Styles’ victory, is it too unrealistic to think that Bryan could pursue a different title by facing – and possibly defeating – Braun Strowman next?
After all, Braun Strowman and Shinsuke Nakamura took very similar routes earlier this year when they lost the Intercontinental Championship and suddenly found themselves in the Universal Championship picture.
Despite Roman Reigns’ absence, SmackDown still has plenty of strong babyface characters at the moment – The New Day, Jeff Hardy and Otis, to name a few – so a babyface vs. babyface rivalry between Daniel Bryan and Braun Strowman would not exactly leave the brand short of good guys in other storylines.
#1 Braun Strowman vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
The Money in the Bank pay-per-view saw Braun Strowman defeat “Firefly Fun House” Bray Wyatt after lulling his opponent into a false sense of security in the closing stages of the match.
Braun Strowman donned a black sheep’s mask – the same mask he wore as part of The Wyatt Family – and hugged Bray Wyatt in the middle of the ring. This led the former Universal Champion to believe that the two men were allies again, but “The Monster Among Men” then hit a running powerslam to retain his title.
Since then, Braun Strowman has been involved in a rivalry with The Miz and John Morrison, while Bray Wyatt has disappeared from WWE television altogether.
The closing scene of the Money in the Bank match ended with Bray Wyatt watching on with a sinister look on his face as Braun Strowman posed with the Universal Championship on the stage area.
Unless Braun Strowman receives a new challenger on Friday, it looks likely that “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt could return and face the Universal Champion at either Extreme Rules or SummerSlam.
