Tracing the Steps of How WWE Struck Gold with Braun Strowman

WWE has been a masterful composer as it has crafted the symphony of Braun Strowman.

Treating the Raw Superstar as extraordinary has been key to building one of its most promising monsters in years. WWE has worked hard to portray him a cut above the competition, an immortal tangling with mortal men. 

Add a steady commitment to elevating a new talent and use of an old-school method of introduction, and WWE has found a winning formula for a bruiser built like a Mack Truck.

In less than two years on the main roster, Strowman has become one of Raw's focal points. He teems with potential. Audiences watch intently to see what he will destroy next.

The process of an unknown talent taking over as one of WWE's apex predators is a reminder of how varied the path to squared-circle success is.

Strowman didn't toil on the independent circuit like Dean Ambrose or Kevin Owens. He didn't first make his name in Japan like Finn Balor or Shinsuke Nakamura. He didn't even take the standard route through the NXT system.

WWE first plucked Strowman from the world of strongman competitions.

In the early 2010s, the North Carolina native powered his way to first-place finishes, hoisting 300-pound logs over his head and deadlifting small cars. It's not hard to imagine what WWE scouts saw in the 6'8", 385-pound hoss.

After signing with the company in 2013, Strowman spent the early part of the transition from strongman contests to the squared circle out of the public eye. WWE built its monster at its performance center.

His growth happened out of sight, unlike some of the talent we see trying to find their footing on NXT.

Beginnings of a Beast

In recent years, the standard pattern sees prospects first train at the WWE Performance Center, move to appearing on NXT TV and eventually earn a spot on the main roster.

Strowman instead showed up on Raw in a black sheep mask in August 2015 as the newest member of The Wyatt Family having barely appeared for the development brand beforehand. Aside from a few uncredited cameos as one of Adam Rose's Rosebuds, fans hadn't yet seen this behemoth.

An air of mystique hovered over Strowman when Bray Wyatt welcomed him into his flock as a result.

Here was a man bigger than anyone on this crew of unsettling bruisers. Here was a snarling animal of an unfamiliar species.

Going that route also left the audience without a connection to him. Tye Dillinger got a chance to win over the crowd on NXT before sliding up to SmackDown. Enzo Amore and Big Cass already had a following when they debuted on Raw, and the fans knew their catchphrases word for word from day one.

Strowman, on the other hand, had no such advantage.

WWE slowly introduced him. He began as the mostly silent enforcer for The Wyatt Family. He was a background player, an ominous presence.

During his run with The Wyatt Family, WWE presented him as nearly invulnerable. No man brought him down. He never suffered a pinfall when the faction lost.

He rarely even fell to a knee.

This approach was surely a way to let the rookie learn and for his limited workload to help him hide his flaws. Fans only saw flashes of his destructive power.

Those flashes slowly became more frequent, though.

Credit: WWE.com

At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2015, Strowman was key to The Wyatt Famly's win over The Dudley Boyz, Tommy Dreamer and Rhyno. He battered the ECW originals with a trash can. He bowled over his foes. Kendo stick shots only seemed to anger him. 

The 2016 Royal Rumble proved to be his next major showcase.

Strowman made a lasting mark that night. The 30-man Battle Royal became his welcoming party as he ousted the likes of Brock Lesnar, Big Show and Mark Henry.

In total, he tallied five eliminations as ESPN.com noted:

"

17 days until the Royal Rumble. Last year, @BraunStrowman made his Rumble debut, coming in 17th and making 5 eliminations pic.twitter.com/jtzK3lb7r6

— WWE on ESPN (@WWEonESPN) January 12, 2017"

Among the band of monsters, Strowman was treated as the most dangerous. Luke Harper and Erick Rowan were mortal men, subject to defeat and failure. WWE did its best to paint Strowman as something bigger.

A Monster Alone

Strowman's career arc began to noticeably change when he traveled away from The Wyatt Family. The brand split in July 2016 sent him to Raw while SmackDown drafted his patriarch, Wyatt.

Now sporting a more severe haircut and walking in to his own hammering metal entrance music, Strowman was suddenly his own man. 

The Monster Among Men gobbled up jobber after jobber. The no-name foes rarely lasted more than a minute or two. They stood shivering in the ring before the bell rang.

And Strowman went on a winning streak, notching 12 straight victories in one-on-one matches, per CageMatch.net.

Building a star via the conquering of enhancement talent was a throwback to the days of territorial wrestling, to a behemoth storming into a town and chewing up low-ranking wrestlers to show the crowd how fearsome he is. WWE went further than normal, though. It pitted him against two, three or four opponents at a time.

There was no shortage of lasting images along the way.

Strowman stacked two men atop each other one night. He ripped off a wrestler's mask and held it up like Orc from Lord of the Rings showing off his kill. He hurled Sin Cara through a Christmas tree.

Brandon Stroud of Uproxx was among those impressed by what they saw:

The leviathan began to tire of the tomato cans. He demanded stiffer competition, threatening then-Raw general manager Mick Foley that havoc was on its way if he didn't get it.

Eventually, Sami Zayn stood up to him.

Strowman dominated their rivalry. He defeated him by referee stoppage in their first battle. In their final bout, Zayn fell to the grizzly in a Last Man Standing match. WWE presented the matchup as so one-sided that it booked a contest at Roadblock: End of the Line, where Zayn only had to survive for 10 minutes.

The company was continuing to treat Strowman as otherworldly.

No amount of heart could offset his power. A former NXT champ wasn't an underdog against him; he had no chance against the monster. 

Bigger Foes, Bigger Moments

Stiffer opposition arrived at the close of 2016.

Strowman twice went toe-to-toe with former WWE champ Seth Rollins. He soon battled Big Show and Roman Reigns. And until Fastlane 2017, the company was careful not to pin a definitive loss to his record. 

In Battle Royals, WWE made sure to remind us how special Strowman was.

He dominated the 2017 Royal Rumble for a stretch, clearing the ring again and again. He ended up with seven eliminations to his name, more than anyone else that night, per WWE.com. And in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33, it took nearly the entire field to send him over the top rope.

His feud wth Reigns restarted after WrestleMania. Strowman cut an interview short by throttling him backstage.

A backstage beatdown is commonplace in WWE; what happened next is not.

Strowman attacked Reigns even after medical staff strapped him to a stretcher and even after they loaded him in the ambulance. Like some horror-movie monster, he pursued him relentlessly, with bloodlust in his heart.

The Monster Among Men then overturned the ambulance in a feat previously unseen in the long history of Raw.

A week later, Strowman prowled the halls, depositing Kalisto into a dumpster and frightening grown men. He and Big Show collided until the ring collapsed underneath them.

These moments increased the buzz crackling around Strowman. They made him the talk of the show. They presented him again as a gladiator on a tier of his own.

It worked.

As Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful noted, the YouTube clips of Strowman's wreckage did quite well:

This only promises to continue.

Strowman has emerged as a cornerstone of the Raw brand. He has gone from green project to a big man the company can build around. WWE has clearly recognized what it had in the strongman for a long time, and the audience is now catching on.

Obviously, the Strowman formula can't work for everyone as everyone isn't a physical freak like him, but a lesson from his rise can be applied to others. 

WWE believed in him from moment one. The company kept telling the audience he was a star until the crowd started to see it for itself. That's a powerful asset that not enough Superstars have. 

Should it fully back talent more often, some of them are bound to hit, too.