WWE: The Battle to Turn Braun Strowman Heel and Make It Work

Braun Strowman’s recent heel turn on WWE Monday Night Raw was one of the most unexpected moments fans have seen in quite some time. The Monster Among Men has been chasing the red brand’s top championship nearly as long as Roman Reigns has but many believed that it was only a matter of time until Braun Strowman finally captured the gold.

But now that Braun is once again an antagonist, it seems that he is no closer to becoming Universal champion than he ever was before. So fans are surely struggling to understand why this change was made and where WWE goes from here. But even though it’s difficult to accept, the facf is that Braun is now a heel and WWE must find a way to make it work.

Strowman is a likable guy, which is going to make it tough for anyone to hate him. The super-heavyweight from North Carolina is really just a country boy at heart and outside of the ring, he appears to be a normal guy. 

Fans can relate to him, which means he’s easier to connect with. He may look like a larger-than-life character but that is purely for business. His rise in popularity was directly related to his rise in the company because the more he did, the more fans cheered him on for doing it.

But Braun Strowman is not some mindless big man. He’s smart, he’s talented and he gets it. He knows how the game is played. He’s come along faster than anyone likely dreamed possible and now he’s rubbing elbows with the elite of WWE. What’s not to like about him?

However Braun is not going to be that big lovable powerhouse anymore. He may not go back to performing his freakish feats of strength like he did before turning babyface but he will likely continue to throw his weight around. Of course now he has to do it against fan favorites that the crowd typically loves to cheer for. 

Gone are the days when Braun stared a Superstar in the eye and fought him like a man. This Braun Strowman will take what he wants when he wants and he will do whatever it takes to get it. This time, Strowman is probably not going to be the fearless machine that mowed over everyone standing in his way. This is the thinking man’s Braun Strowman, which makes him more dangerous than ever.

Strowman will indeed have to change now. If he were to continue doing exactly what he did before turning on Roman, then fans would have no reason to boo him. WWE wants the audience to forget how much they love Braun and then somehow learn to love Reigns. The latter is likely not going to happen but the former just might.

The turn will take time of course. This cannot be an overnight transition. Braun Strowman is not turning on the fans and betraying an entire wrestling company the way Hulk Hogan did when he joined the nWo. This situation is a little more nuanced which means Braun must approach it from a different angle. 

Strowman must find a way to lose every redeeming quality that made him a popular Superstar before. Somehow, Braun must rediscover his ferocity and animalistic tendencies yet temper them with the intelligence of a man that knows when and how to strike. Anything less and WWE fans will have no reason to hate him. 

But this is where The Shield comes in. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose are two of the most popular Superstars in Vince McMahon’s company. Separately they’re two of the top talents in WWE but together, they’re two top talents that cannot be stopped. Fans may still like Braun but when the moment comes to decide who is more popular, Rollins and Ambrose will likely win the day.

All Strowman has to do is blindside the two men and when he does, the crowd will turn on him. Braun may be fun to watch but Seth and Dean are fun from start to finish. They have a stronger bond with the crowd and anyone that touches them is surely going to hear the boos from the audience. 

But the Roman Reigns problem is a problem indeed. Unlike Rollins and Ambrose, Reigns will probably not be cheered against Braun Strowman. At this point, there are very few WWE Superstars that could baby out The Big Dog. This means that WWE should be prepared for the opposite crowd reaction when Reigns and Strowman face off at Hell in a Cell on September 16.

Of course the company is surely ready for that. Why wouldn’t they be? Everyone knows that Roman continues to struggle for total acceptance and that will definitely be the case at HIAC. Braun may be a heel once again but he has yet to wreak havoc throughout Monday Night Raw. Right now Strowman’s fans surely still love him. But even if they didn’t, it may not be enough to completely turn on him and side with Roman.

Eye for an eye, Roman. #MonsterPayback #HIAC #Raw

— Braun Strowman (@BraunStrowman) August 28, 2018

The fact is that this is not going to be an easy rivalry in terms of fan reaction. Roman is the protagonist but he will hear the boos from fans. Strowman is the antagonist yet he will hear the cheers with every move he makes. Fans will hijack this feud the way they hijack nearly every feud that Reigns has ever worked. So why continue down this road?

Why not stop now and redeliver Braun as a desperate man that made a mistake by siding with Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre? Very few fans are likely to hate Braun for his actions on Raw. So considering this heel turn seems to be too much to believe, maybe the company should just change gears and try something else.

But the problem here is that there is nothing else. WWE turned Braun Strowman heel because there is no viable top heel on Monday Night Raw. Roman Reigns is the top guy and the top babyface but he had no one to match him on the other side. Now he has. Braun is the perfect opponent for him and fans know that. A move had to be made to balance the power on Raw. What else could WWE do but turn Strowman heel?

The timing may be off and it’s not what many fans want but it’s happening all the same. Just how much more WWE can do with Braun as the unstoppable monster this time out is unknown. But if Strowman is going to continue to work at the main event level on Raw, then he must have an open door to the top. Roman Reigns is that open door. 

Braun may or may not be the next Universal champion but at least he’s riding high on the roster. Braun Strowman is now in a position to help carry the red brand from this point on. He’s no longer an afterthought and he’s no longer playing catch-up with anyone. This is Braun’s best chance to shine on Raw. There’s no doubt that he is certainly capable of doing just that.