Unlike Others, I’ll Be A Fighting Champion: Universal Champion Braun Strowman

One of WrestleMania 36’s last minute big changes was Braun Strowman replacing Roman Reigns as the No. 1 contender for the Universal Championship match against Goldberg. With Reigns requesting the WWE not to be part of the event because of his history of Leukemia, The Monster Among Men, who wasn’t originally supposed to be part of WrestleMania ended up becoming perhaps the biggest addition.

Having come closer to winning the Universal title a few times in the past, Strowman was finally able to grab the brass ring. He survived a total of four spears from Goldberg before planting the former WCW champion with three Running Powerslams to claim his first ever Universal championship.

But the build-up to his WrestleMania wasn’t as easy as it usually is. As per the guidelines of the WWE, those not performing in the current scenario are to remain in isolation, and Strowman reveals his original plan was to drive all the way to Wisconsin where he has a 100-acre property. The Monster Among Men loaded his stuff and got in his car for what would be a 21-hour-long drive to the city. However, just one hour away from his destination, Strowman received a phone call and everything changed.

“I got a call from the Chairman, Vince McMahon and he went like ‘Braun, we’ve got a few last-minute changes. We’ve got a couple of emergencies happening. We need you. We’re setting a jet, it lands at 9 PM, you begin at 9:15’. So I made it Wisconsin long enough to grab a quick bite at dinner and headed to the little regional country airport,” Strowman said.

“I landed on a four-seater jet which I’m terrified of playing on. It got me there timely, it took me like an hour and 30 minutes to fly from Wisconsin to Orlando. I reached at 1 in the night and the next morning it was rock and roll, emerging out of the Performance Center as the New Universal Champion.”

This is Strowman’s his third title on the main roster after winning the tag-team belts and the Intercontinental championship a month ago. More importantly, Strowman winning the tilt ensures that the title is defended more frequently. The Universal title was rarely defended during Brock Lesnar’s reign and was headed towards a similar fate around Goldberg’s waist. However, with Strowman around, Smackdown can have its own fighting champion.

“The biggest thing that I’ve said and I’m going to say again is that I’m bringing the title home to Friday nights,” Strowman said. “It’s going to be a resident there rather than dance around. I’m going to be a fighting champion. People know how I work and what my work ethic is. I want to perform and if I could go eight days a week, I’ll do it, because I love it. It’s a special moment because I have come closer to winning it so many times, and finally I grabbed the brass ring and ripped it off the ceiling.”

It did not take Strowman long to get targetted. Bray Wyatt, who morphs into this terrifying alter ego known as The Fiend, has already gotten into the mind of his ‘Black Sheep’ over the last two weeks, reminding him of how this monster came into existence in the first place all those years ago, when Strowman was part of The Wyatt family.

But even before Wyatt tried started playing his mind games, Strowman was prepared for a scenario where he and his former mentor would one day cross paths.

“As much as I’d hate it for him because he ain’t going to want to get these hands, it’s my mentor,” Strowman said about who he’d like to face. “The man that made the monster, the man that turned into The Fiend. The one and only Bray Wyatt. His mind, his abilities, there’s nothing else like it. Be prepared, it’s going to be a war.”

Strowman was one of the three new champions crowned at WrestleMania, the other big title change being Drew McIntyre becoming the WWE Champion by beating Lesnar in the main event. However, the Scottish Psychopath has since been engaged in a twitter war with boxer Tyson Fury, both athletes teasing a potential match between the two somewhere in the future.

Should a situation arise where McIntyre and Fury were to go one-on-one in a wrestling match, Strowman, who has been in the ring with both, when asked for his pick, went ahead with the newly-crowned WWE Champion.

“He better learn to throw more than just a punch because he was lucky with the one he caught me with,” Strowman said looking back at his loss to Fury at WWE Super Showdown. “Drew McIntyre, like myself, is a completely different trained animal than Tyson Fury has ever stepped in the ring with. The controlled circumstance of boxing and everything in between, he might be in for a world of awakening.

“I have been hit with the Claymore Kick probably more than anybody and I know what it’s capable of. Best of luck, if he wants to get in there and have his head kicked off, go ahead and give it a try and see what happens.”