Opinion: WWE Big Men are allowed to have fun too
If you missed this past Friday's SmackDown, you missed out on the Monster Among Men busting a move with the New Day. After Braun Strowman secured a win for himself, Kofi Kingston and Big E over Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn, and Cesaro, the big man showed off another side of himself. It took some coaxing from his teammates, but soon Strowman pushed his companions aside and started shaking his hips in front of a packed house in Detroit.
This moment, while hilarious, has drawn criticism from many members of the WWE Universe on social media. It seems there is a large portion of the fan base that believes because Strowman is billed as a monster, he shouldn't be doing these kinds of things in a wrestling ring.
Well I'm here to say, get down if you want to big man! Show me the rule that says big men aren't allowed to have fun at a wrestling show. If I can respond to one of the fine gentlemen above; you mean to tell me if Strowman picked a fight with you, you wouldn't be scared because you saw him dance one time? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Strowman would be scary as hell to go up against. He's an extremely large man. He's an extremely athletic man. He's an extremely large athletic man. He could beat anyone on the WWE roster, including Brock Lesnar, and no one would question the legitimacy of the victory. If you want to talk about his booking over the last couple of years, that's a whole different conversation. Strowman showing a comedic side to character does nothing to tarnish his brand. After all, we're talking about a guy who used to be a Rosebud.
I'm genuinely confused as to why some fans think having multiple facets to a character is a bad thing. What do you want? Strowman to come down to the ring every week, destroy his opponent inside of a few minutes and scream "get these hands"? That would sure get old quick wouldn't it? As a matter of fact, it did! Why is Bray Wyatt allowed to be funny and scary at the same time? Did WWE ruin Kane by putting him in Team Hell No? Hell no they didn't and those two had a number of fun comedic story lines.
Just because you are part of a comedy segment, it doesn't mean you're a comedy act. You can be funny without being a joke. Look at The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Mick Foley. All three could make you laugh and then thrown down with the best of them. Strowman is more than just his muscles. He has a personality too. I'm perfectly fine if he wants to show more of it to the world, and based off this Tweet I think that's exactly what we'll see.
One final note. To those people who are saying Braun is the new Big Show as if that's somehow a bad thing; I wish Braun was the new Big Show. Let's not pretend like Show isn't going to be in the Hall of Fame one day. I know the guy has had to do some questionable things for the WWE, but he's got one heck of a resume too:
- WWE Champion
- World Heavyweight Champion
- ECW World Champion
- WCW Champion
- WWE Tag Team Champion
- WWE Hardcore Champion
- United States Champion
- Intercontinental Champion
- 2015 Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner
The man is freaking Grand Slam Champion for crying out loud. Can we show Big Show some freaking respect? Braun Strowman can only hope to have that kind of resume when he's near the end of his wrestling career. On top of that, when Big Show was the man WWE used in order to give Braun a huge amount of credibility, everybody loved it, and believed that destroying Big Show was huge for Strowman's career. You can't have it both way, friends.
So far the WWE's current Monster has yet to win a singles title, but that could change in the near future. Strowman just pinned the Intercontinental Champion on SmackDown. A title match is very likely in his future, probably at the Royal Rumble in January. Let's wait before we decide he's some sort of weird amalgum of The Big Show and The Funkasaurus. He danced once. It's not time to lose our minds.