10 Times WWE Superstar Braun Strowman Caused Ridiculous Destruction

1.

Braun Strowman likes to break things, as messily and theatrically as possible. And in the weird, wonderful world of professional wrestling, this tendency makes him one of the most popular wrestlers in WWE.

The modern conundrum with pro wrestling is its presentation. Yes, it’s all predetermined and choreographed, and no, it's not "legitimate" in the conventional sense of the word. In the old days, every wrestler kept kayfabe. But these days, the performers have to decide, for themselves, the degree to which they acknowledge the reality of the situation. Do they play it entirely straight, and try to make everything look as realistic as possible? Do they openly acknowledge that what they're doing is scripted, and turn the show into an inside joke?

Braun Strowman has managed to split the difference. He rarely breaks character or winks at the audience to let us know he's only pretending to be angry. And he also has the kayfabe strength of one hundred men. He flips over trucks and cars by himself. He gets crushed by a garbage truck, and emerges from one days later, unscathed. And this juxtaposition, between straight-faced sincerity and ridiculous feats of strength, makes for great comedy. His opponents are more than game to sell, which they do by throwing themselves into walls and flopping around like fish. Strowman is a comic book character come to life.

Is he a babyface? Or is he a heel? Strowman’s sort of neither; he's a massive indiscriminate force of nature that destroys everything in his path. Here are 10 Times WWE superstar Braun Strowman caused ridiculous destruction. Most WWE Superstars are very GIF-able, but Strowman has an exceptional highlight reel, even by that lofty standard.

2.The Smelliest Hiding Spot

Strowman doesn't care much for Kevin Owens. He tossed him off a ladder at Money in the Bank. He regularly shoulder rams Owens so hard that he bounces off the barrier that separates the audience from the performers. And their testy relationship came to a head when Owens locked himself inside a port-o-potty for protection. Braun responded by duct taping the door shut, dragging it out on an entrance ramp like a massive sled, and then tackling it off the stage. The unfortunate image of Owens, now the chemical blue color of toilet water, closed the show.

3.Tearing Down the Set

At this year's Royal Rumble, Brock Lesnar defeated both Braun Strowman and Kane in a triple threat match to retain the Universal Championship. But at the time, there was speculation that Braun could walk away with the title, because the buildup to the event showed him physically dominating his future opponents. This sequence, where Braun pulled down the production set onto Kane and Brock's limp bodies, is a great example of booking monster performers properly; they must break everything, indiscriminately.

4.An Impromptu Concert

Elias' gimmick is that he's an irritating, guitar-playing singer-songwriter. And Braun, in a brilliant, singularly funny moment, took the piss out of him by sitting opposite him, strumming an upright string bass like a guitar. Once the bass broke, he shrugged and sang his lyrics acapella (Braun has a surprisingly decent voice). The segment concluded with Braun slamming the bass across Elias' back, where it exploded into splinters.

5.Security Team Beatdown

One might be tempted to ask the following, reasonable question: "If he's creating an unsafe, toxic workplace and frightens all his co-workers, why not fire the guy?"

Kurt Angle tried that earlier this year, and Braun did not take the news well. He single handedly destroyed the security team tasked with throwing him out of the building, and then he went on a frightening rampage. Eventually, he ended up in the WWE production trailer, where he threatened the crew and then tipped over the truck that pulls it around. Braun was promptly rehired by the end of the night.

6.A Weakness for Chocolate

Right in the middle of his post-firing rampage, Braun entered the venue's catering hall. He destroyed the food-laden tables, slamming poor Curt Hawkins through one of them.

The only respite to the chaos came in the form of chocolate cake. Strowman considered it for a second. Then he grabbed a slice, took a chomp out of it, and stomped off, Godzilla-style. The caterer looked like he was ready to wet himself.

7.Teaming With Nicholas

At WrestleMania 34, Braun Strowman broke the tag team division. Rather than getting a legitimate partner to fight Raw Tag Team champions Sheamus and Cesaro, Braun pulled a "random" kid from the crowd (it was actually a referee's son) named Nicholas to be his partner. Braun then defeated both Cesaro and Sheamus single handedly, while Nicholas stood on the apron. It was a great, memorable photo opportunity. It also did the Raw tag team division zero favors; the best team in the division was beat by a single man. No matter how big the man is, that's not a good look.

8.Instant Apple Sauce

This past summer, Finn Balor formed an uneasy partnership with Strowman. The two men had good team chemistry; Braun even used Finn as an impromptu weapon, by slamming him onto a different opponent. But there was a limit to how friendly Strowman could be. And Finn got this message loud and clear when Braun crushed an apple with one hand to make a point.

9.The Ring Collapses

This was a callback to a famous match in 2003 where Brock Lesnar suplexed The Big Show from the top rope and "broke" the ring. In this iteration, Braun played the role of Brock, and the crowd roared its approval. One of the great things about Braun Strowman is that he picks things up quickly, and he learns from every opponent he fights. And from Big Show, Braun learned how to work like a big man and be selfish in the ring when the occasion called for it.

10.Strapped To a Stretcher

It was two weeks after WrestleMania 33. Roman Reigns had defeated the Undertaker and was speculated to have permanently retired him. It made him almost universally hated. And when Braun tackled Reigns backstage and began throwing him against walls, the crowd loved it.

It felt cathartic, in a way. The fans wanted some type of karmic justice to be visited upon Reigns, as punishment for ending part of their childhoods. What better messenger than a massive monster with a bushy beard and a chip on his shoulder?

This beating happened in three acts. The first act was a standard backstage beatdown, which included ramming a cart against Roman as he lay against a wall and power slamming him. Reigns was then stretchered by the EMTs. This led to the second act, in which Braun grabbed the stretcher away and sent it flying over the arena's loading dock.

11."I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!"

Strowman wasn't done. After the EMTs repositioned Reigns in the stretcher, they rolled him into a waiting ambulance. And that's when Braun ran in, bellowing from off-camera, "I'm not finished with you!"

Strowman punched Reigns repeatedly, slammed the back doors, and then proceeded to tip over the ambulance.

WWE's YouTube video of the beatdown has close to 23 million views at the moment. The sequence is the right amount of serious and funny; where we know that what we're seeing is ridiculous and impossible, but we're so invested that we don't care.