Braun Strowman suffered his first loss in WWE since returning to the company under Triple H's regime. Many fans believe that 39-year-old was punished for recent controversial comments.
Strowman took on Ricochet in the semi-finals of the SmackDown World Cup tournament. While the Monster of All Monsters had the match in his grasp, Imperium came out to cause a distraction which led to Ricochet picking up the victory via roll-up.
Braun's defeat against the former United States Champion came a few days after he made controversial remarks about high-flying, acrobatic wrestlers, calling them "flippy floppers."
The WWE Universe took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the huge upset. Many shared the sentiment that the former Universal Champion's loss against a high-flyer like Ricochet was a clear message to him from the company's head of the creative department.
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However, Braun and Ricochet buried the hatchet after the match as the latter assisted the Monster of All Monsters in a post-match brawl against Imperium.
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WWE legend would have loved to see Triple H take on Braun Strowman
Kurt Angle believes WWE missed the boat by not capitalizing on ending the Survivor Series 2017, which saw Braun Strowman lay out Triple H with a Powerslam.
The Olympic gold medalist was the leader of Team RAW at Survivor Series in the traditional 5-on-5 elimination match. Towards the end of the competition, The Game delivered a pedigree to Angle before laying out Shane McMahon of team SmackDown with another pedigree.
In the end, Strowman and Hunter were the final survivors of the Red brand. However, the former Universal Champion attacked Triple H after the match.
In a recent episode on The Kurt Angle Show, the Hall of Famer stated that WWE wasted an excellent opportunity of a feud between Hunter and Strowman as the two would have had some amazing matches together.
"Screw me over; that made sense, but the thing with Braun Strowman just made him look like an idiot. I think that if they would've had a program together, it would've been great, and I think that Triple H and Braun Strowman would have had some five-star matches," Angle said.
Triple H is no longer an active performer, as he announced his retirement from pro wrestling at WrestleMania earlier this year. He took over the reins of the company's creative department from Vince McMahon after the latter retired.