Opinion: The downfall of Braun Strowman continues
WWE has no intention of deviating from their plan to misuse Braun Strowman and keep him stuck in the middle of the card.
With Strowman being such a popular superstar and one of the best big men wrestlers in recent memory, many expected the Monster Among Men to have something worthwhile to do at WrestleMania 35.
Instead, the WWE have brought Strowman back to square one by having him participate in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal - the same match he participated in when his singles career began to take off in 2017.
The continued misuse of Strowman is tantamount to criminal negligence at this point with the number of opportunities the company has passed to make him a bigger star.
He's had a lot of opportunities for the Universal Championship, but was always put on the back burner for Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns's sake.
I wrote a column back in January detailing how the company has been misusing Strowman since his first world title opportunity two years ago. I ended that piece saying Strowman had potential to be a main eventer but was being relegated to Big Show status.
Two months later and I feel I have to apologize for making that comparison. Because if I'm being frank, Big Show was treated with much more respect when he was in his prime.
The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal has been a joke since 2014 when Cesaro won the match with an impressive performance, only to lose nearly every match he participated in for the remainder of the year.
Many WWE Superstars have won the battle royal since its introduction at WrestleMania 30, but none of them have ever gone on to do anything after their victory aside from wrestle for the United States or Tag Team Championships - titles most of the battle royal winners were already pursuing.
In Strowman's case, he's been an occasional challenger for the world title for two years, but his participation in the Andre the Giant match marks the downfall of a wrestler fans wanted to accomplish so much more than he has currently.
There's probably going to be some wacky interaction between Strowman and the Saturday Night Live stars at WrestleMania in addition to his participation in the battle royal, but both of these scenarios are underwhelming considering what he could be doing.
With WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle wrestling Baron Corbin in his retirement match (which is hopefully a swerve), clearly there are more options for Strowman for WrestleMania than a pre-show match.