Analyzing WWE's Booking of Braun Strowman, Wyatt Family Since Bray Wyatt Injury

The way that WWE has all but discarded Braun Strowman and Erick Rowan since Bray Wyatt went down with injury is damning. It's a clear statement that the company has little faith in those members of The Wyatt Family.

Even with all the spotlight that Strowman received after his debut, it looks as if WWE doesn't see him or Rowan as stars. They are muscle. They are goons. They are parts of a unit, not entities that can survive on their own.

Where injuries sometimes swing doors open, they instead caused the roof to collapse in this case.

The Wyatt Family was already one man short when Wyatt got hurt. Luke Harper blew out his knee in March. WWE has yet to acknowledge the injury, but PWInsider's Mike Johnson reported, "The word making the rounds backstage at the WWE Madison Square Garden event is that Luke Harper's knee injury is worse than originally feared and he is now expected out for five to six months."

Then it was The Eater of Worlds' turn. As WWE announced, Wyatt suffered a calf injury in April during the company's tour of Europe.

Credit: WWE.com

That left Rowan and Strowman alone to represent The Wyatt Family name. Rather than make them a formidable tag team or have Strowman go on a roll in singles action, the company chose to push the two bruisers aside, relegating them to house show duty.

Strowman has wrestled in 12 matches since the injury, per CageMatch.net, but only one of them has been on TV. That came on an edition of Main Event, the big bruiser teaming with Rowan against Kane and Big Show.

The Wyatt Family hasn't appeared on Raw or SmackDown. There have been no vignettes, no interviews, no mention of them unless you count a promo for Edge and Christian's comedy show on the WWE Network promo.

Fandango has had more TV time in the last few weeks than Strowman and Rowan combined. That speaks volumes.

By contrast, when Kalisto's partner got hurt last December, WWE pushed him into the United States Championship picture. When a concussion took Enzo Amore out of action at Payback, the company chose to showcase Colin Cassady rather than shelve him.

Big Cass was featured in the opening and closing segments of Monday's Raw, standing opposite Chris Jericho in a major moment for the newcomer.

The Internet buzzed afterward about Cassady's potential and what WWE thought of him. Mike Mooneyham of the Post and Courier was among those who assumed Vince McMahon was a fan of Cassady's:

Just a few months ago, many were saying that same thing about Strowman.

It seemed inevitable that a major push was on the way for him. WWE protectively booked him, having him avoid taking pinfalls. He tore through his opponents. The announcers talked up his dominance.

According to PWInsider Elite (h/t Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc.), the company had plans for him to face Undertaker at WrestleMania, but after nixing those, it started discussing Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.

If that was still in the works, Wyatt's injury would have been the perfect time to start building up Strowman. But instead of elevating him as expected, WWE has purposefully neglected him. 

Strowman and company are relegated to teasing their returns via Twitter:

"

#TheReturn

— Braun Strowman (@BraunStrowman) May 5, 2016"

The fact that Strowman had to refer to his and his family's next appearance as a return says a lot about Wyatt's place in that group. With The New Face of Fear on the disabled list, WWE chose to pause The Wyatt Family's story. This did not end up being a case of the underlings showing what they could do with the boss gone.

WWE doesn't seem to value The Wyatt Family without its patriarch. 

Goldango, Curtis Axel and Zack Ryder taking one's spot on the stage is a bad sign. Strowman's stock looked to be skyrocketing until this point. How WWE has handled him since April, though, suggests that it only sees him as Wyatt's wing man.