Will You Turn On Braun Strowman?

Braun Strowman is a captivating giant of a man. His size, charisma, and believability are everything Vince McMahon positively salivates over, all but ensuring the trajectory of his career is pointed in but one direction: up.

Braun Strowman also has the WWE Universe in the palms of those grizzly paws he calls hands. He is universally loved, our boundless adoration growing with each flipped semi truck, each complete obliteration of whomever WWE pits against him, each short and sweet “GET THESE HANDS!” style promo.

Sports Entertainment Détente?

“The Monster Among Men” is everything the fans want in “the man”. With it becoming increasingly rare the times when both Vince McMahon and the IWC agree on a “top guy”, one can only assume this will be a glorious “time of peace”, one that will directly coincide with a substantive push of Strowman’s character. Right? Sadly, probably not…

With Braun now all but guaranteed a run at the top of WWE, the question is not how long before he’s wearing championship gold, but rather, how long before you all turn on him the way you’ve turned on so many other wrestlers you once cheered?

How long before the very thing you love about Braun becomes the thing you openly mock on Twitter, all in the name of “likes” and “retweets”?

How long before Braun becomes a “one trick pony”, a “terrible promo”, a “guy who does the same thing every match”?

How long before Braun becomes the latest wrestler Vince is “shoving down your throat”?

You’re nothing if not predictable

Make no mistake about it, you will turn against Braun, because you’ve done it so many times before. Once upon a time, you loved John Cena. Don’t deny it because you know you did. When Cena was spewing those corny bars and chasing gold, you loved him. Then he won gold and went on to become the biggest name in wrestling since “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Cena hasn’t been able to do anything right in the eyes of the almighty Twitterverse since.

Roman Reigns is currently suffering a similar fate to that of Cena. When he was a member of The Shield, murking dudes like Undertaker and squaring off against a reformed Evolution, Roman was just fine by you. Sure, he didn’t have the “indie charm” of Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, but he was intense as hell, hard-working, and what he lacked in experience he more than made up for in charisma. Vince heard those cheers, saw those merchandise sales numbers, stared deeply into The Big Dog’s smoldering eyes (dude, don’t say shit to me about this, you know his eyes smolder like a mutha), and attached the rocket to him. And then, you booed.

Point of fact: nothing about the work ethic or desire of John or Roman has changed since those early days. What changed was your attitude towards them being rewarded for their efforts.

You love these guys on the way up the ladder, then complain about them once they finally reach the top rung.

“They’re overexposed!”

Fine, then what about when a top guy isn’t overexposed? What about when he goes away for a long stretch? Is he welcomed back with open arms by the tweeting masses? Ask Dave Batista about that. Better still, ask Dwayne Johnson.

People, you booed The Rock when he came back. The effin’ Rock! The only dude capable of claiming to have been as hot as Steve Austin during your beloved Attitude Era. That dude is rich beyond any of our wildest dreams, had absolutely nothing to gain from coming back to WWE, and still set aside large swaths of time over the course of two years to entertain us. Why? Because he loves pro wrestling. But there many of you were, chiding him for having a few bullet points scribbled on his arm for a pivotal promo in an angle designed to entertain you. Well done, Internet.

If you’re an “overexposed” main event wrestler, you’re getting booed. If you’re a “part-timer” coming back, you’re “taking ‘the spot’ of someone more deserving”. These men and women of extreme achievement cannot win with most of you, which makes all the more sense why they put very little stock in your opinions. But, please, by all means, carry on screaming into the void.

Is Braun different?

When does “the monster among men” get his turn in your grinder? When does all the hard work he puts in, all the town-to-town travel, all the late nights and early mornings, no longer mean anything to you? Does he have another week before you turn against him? Another month? Maybe he needs to become WWE’s new marketing hood ornament before your vitriol washes over social media? Perhaps he’ll make it to the Road to WrestleMania before your daggers come out en masse?

You see, gentle reader, it is not a question of “if”, it’s a question of “when”. When will you, once again, show yourself to be short-sighted, small-minded, and petty? When will you take yet another thing designed to be fun, and piss all over it?

Or, is Braun Strowman really “the one”.