WWE Extreme Rules 2020: Cinematic Match Won't Help Braun Strowman's Title Reign

Braun Strowman should never have won the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 36. That he was not even heading toward a particularly interesting or meaningful match on the card before Roman Reigns pulled out reflects that.

Though WWE Creative has cleverly structured a rivalry with Bray Wyatt that wisely plays off established history between The Monster Among Men and Eater of Worlds, the cinematic Swamp Fight scheduled for Sunday's The Horror Show at Extreme Rules is hardly enough to salvage what has been 100-plus days of, well, meh.

Of course, this is not Strowman's fault.

Like him or not, he has been failed miserably by the writing team on more than one occasion. He has been built up and had pushes scaled back so frequently that any credibility he had as a main event attraction was erased for good the moment he chose the 10-year-old Nicholas to be his tag team partner for a title match at WrestleMania 34. 

Booking that and then relegating Strowman to the midcard for the better part of a year essentially erased all of the goodwill and legitimacy he had built for himself during his awesome run as a destructive heel in 2017 and early 2018.

Plucking him out of a midcard program with Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura and throwing him into the Universal Championship match at 'Mania with no storyline reason to do so did not help matters.

So why, in the midst of what should be a career-altering moment for Strowman, have we arrived at a point that his title reign is seemingly unsalvageable despite what is sure to be one of the more unique and interesting cinematic matches WWE has produced?

A Diminished Role

As the universal champion, one would expect Strowman to take on a prominent role with the blue brand. Instead, he has been downplayed, overshadowed and seen his presence on the show diminished with every passing week.

His most recent pay-per-view title defense came in a Handicap match against former tag team champions John Morrison and The Miz, neither of whom stood a chance in hell of beating him. Nor did anyone expect they would.

He has appeared infrequently and has not commanded the television time or the attention that you would expect from SmackDown's top champion.

In fact, AJ Styles' arrival and the consequent elevation of his Intercontinental Championship almost made Strowman the de facto No. 2 on the brand.

WWE Creative has never treated him as the top star on the brand, and thus fans have not perceived him to be. No big blue belt or pay-per-view title defense can make up for the total lack of believability surrounding a Superstar in any role.

Especially in a main event slot.

And then there is the man he will defend his title against in one of those main events Sunday at Extreme Rules: Bray Wyatt.

Everyone Knows Bray Wyatt Is Winning The Title

It may not happen Sunday night on WWE Network, but the endgame for Strowman's title reign is the re-emergence of The Fiend and Wyatt's return to the top of the card as universal champion.

Therefore, it is difficult to invest in Strowman and his reign when it is so apparent to everyone that his story ends with someone else holding the title.

This is not some coming-of-age story for a champion still finding his feet in the role. It is about Wyatt reasserting his psychological dominance over the SmackDown roster, beginning with Strowman. Whether he completes his mission in the aforementioned Swamp Fight or he waits until SummerSlam when he reintroduces the horror of The Fiend to the WWE Universe, the blue belt is heading to the third-generation Superstar.

That means Strowman won the title because Roman Reigns backed out of his match with Goldberg, a consolation prize of sorts. But since he finally accomplished his career-long dream of becoming the top dog, he has been overshadowed by others and the setup for the latest chapter in Wyatt's story.

There is no cinematic match or hugely edited production that will change the fact that Strowman is a placeholder champion who lucked into his spot and has not had the opportunity to develop in the role.

And he likely will not get it, either.

Once this chapter of Strowman's career wraps up and he no longer carries the burden of a title he was never meant to win, WWE must step back and reassess how it sees The Monster Among Men. Is he a legitimate main event star? Is he a talented big man who can be trusted to bring a moderate amount of star power to the midcard? Is he this generation's Big Show, destined to walk that fine line between the top of the card and the middle?

Until management and the creative team figure out what he is and what purpose he serves, he will continue to find himself in this pattern of heating up and cooling down, with no real emphasis put on developing him once he finally achieves his goals.