Braun Strowman Emerging as 1 of the Greatest Monsters in WWE History

Braun Strowman's near-perfect tear on the Raw roster continued as he defeated Roman Reigns at WWE Payback on Sunday.

Reigns was still feeling the effects of Strowman's memorable beatdown in mid-April. At the rate he's going, the former Wyatt Family member is well on his way to becoming one of the greatest monster heels in WWE history. 

Though Superstars like The Big Show, Kane and Mark Henry have shown longevity, history dictates that the shelf life for main event-level monsters is limited. Eventually, every monster either falls by the wayside or becomes a comedic, friendly giant, including all three aforementioned future Hall of Famers.

Strowman's physical gifts and his affinity for performing as a dangerous beast make him more Brock Lesnar and less Jon Heidenreich. With all the resources contributed to the various stunts designed to make him look unstoppable, WWE needs to do everything it can to make Strowman a long-term asset in a brand-extension era that yields limited star power.  

The promotion's commitment to Strowman is paying off, as there is undoubtedly immense interest in The Monster Among Men.

Despite being in the vaunted post-WrestleMania season, Strowman's main event push caused only a limited drop off for the April 17 Raw, which fell a mere 2.4 percent, per Showbuzz Daily (h/t Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc). And while this go-home Raw before Payback fell by an even more drastic amount, Braun's dumpster match against Kalisto made Raw's second hour the highest-viewed portion of the show, per Showbuzz Daily (h/t Middleton). 

With Reigns still selling his injuries, WWE will need to lean on Strowman, who seems destined for a no-brainer clash against Brock Lesnar. He has a comfortable lead as the next candidate in line to challenge Lesnar for the Universal Championship at the poorly named Great Balls of Fire event in July.

And while Lesnar vs. Reigns is penciled in for WrestleMania 34, per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Middleton), a lengthy run with the Universal Championship for Strowman would validate him as the best monster in the business, and a dominant full-time world champion would draw viewers to Raw to see just who can possibly stop him.

This was the case with Mark Henry's famed Hall of Pain run, which set records on SmackDown, per James Caldwell, writing for PWTorch. 

What makes Strowman connect so well as a big man in 2017 is the element of realism that wasn't always there with Kane—a supernatural demon—or Big Show—a legitimate 7'0" giant. Strowman, at 6'8", is just about the right height to not be classified as a giant per se, which adds to the fact he's real-life dangerous.

Strowman is a super heavyweight whose size, speed and athleticism could probably translate to a career in the UFC. He's like a nightclub bouncer who went rogue and now has nobody to answer to. Strowman has all the ingredients to eventually be on the pantheon of main event monsters. He has a ceiling similar to that of Lesnar. WWE simply needs to continue to feed its new and improved beast.

Alfred Konuwa is a Featured Columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report and Forbes. Like him on Facebook.