For the past year, we have been lead to believe that Braun Stroman is a force of nature that no man can stop. Anytime he enters the ring opponents second guess themselves and their choice to take on the Monster Among Men. Any time he loses, which is few and far between, it’s under exceptional conditions. Always in the realm of the main event picture, Stroman has been built to be a major player for years to come. But for all of that, it seemed that there wasn’t a clear plan for him only weeks before the biggest show of them all was about to roll around. Wrestlemania 34. How were they going to get one of their biggest names in a storyline for The Showcase of the Immortals? Let’s feed him the Tag Team division.
On the March 12th edition of RAW Stroman won a Battle Royal for the right to challenge The Bar for their Tag Titles at ‘Mania– by himself. Raw GM Kurt Angle informed Stroman he would be allowed to challenge The Bar for their titles, as long as he gets himself a partner. As of March 26th, we still don’t know who it is. So I am going to take advantage of that and wax poetic on who it may be. Here are six people who I think could (or it would be fun to) be Braun Stroman’s Tag Team partner at Wrestlemania.
Bray Wyatt
As we saw on the March 19th edition of Raw, Woken Matt Hardy completed the deletion of Bray Wyatt in the Ultimate Deletion. In the closing moments of the Ultimate Deletion, the Woken Warrior pushed The Eater of Worlds into the Lake of Reincarnation at the Hardy Compound and disappeared. When Senior Benjamin checked the lake no body was found, only Wyatt’s lantern. Both in the story and out, this could be good for Wyatt.
Personally, I have been a huge fan of his but he has not been booked to his full potential. Now he can come back “reincarnated” into a new version of his character, repackaged and ready to go. Why not make that with former Wyatt family member Braun Stroman? When Stroman first came up he was a member of Wyatt’s cult-like family stable. Why not return the favor by giving the former leader a rub? We already know Wyatt can be gold on the mic, partner that with Stroman’s unstoppable strength? That could be a pretty fun duo to watch work together.
Big Cass
A lot has happened since Big Cass went down with an ACL injury during a match with former Tag Team partner Enzo Amore. At the time his newly minted heel run against his former friend wasn’t going as smooth as some wanted to. It wasn’t terrible but wasn’t great. Since leaving to take care of his injury, Amore has been released due to a sexual assault investigation. A great way to bring him in and get him back on track would be to pair him with Stroman. The tag division was where Cass thrived and he can thrive again.
How fun would it be to watch the two biggest guys on the roster run rough shot on the Raw tag division? Big Cass would be the nice giant and Stroman being the mean giant. All leading to the two breaking up and having a titanic blow off rivalry.
Neville
Things have been up in the air for the Man Gravity Forgot since he walked out on WWE in October. After a run as the Cruiserweight Champion, his frustrations with the company came to a head and the former King of the Cruiserweights and NXT Champion walked out on the company at a Raw taping. Since then Neville’s future has been uncertain. How great would it be if he came out at Wrestlemania?
Heel Neville was great and having these two guys who have such a chip on their shoulders together would work great. Also, the difference in style would be a joy to watch. With the small, high flying, high octane offense of Neville and the straightforward crushing force of Stroman the possibilities for combinations between the two are countless. I’d be in for it.
Pete Dunne
This one is unlikely, but I think would be great. The WWE seemingly had something great with UK Tournament but ever since its conclusion the UK Championship Title has been a little out to sea. Yes, the match where Pete Dunne beat inaugural Champion Tyler Bate at NXT Takeover: Chicago won NXT Match of the Year in 2017 and saw Dunne win the title–but how much have we really seen of it and him since? We’ve had a couple of appearances from the Bruiserweight and he has retained his title twice but we could be seeing so much more of him. What better way then putting him in short title run with Stroman? You get eyes on Dunne, you get eyes on the UK Championship, and you give a great performer screen time. I don’t see a downside, it’s not like it’s going to cut into his time for title defenses…
Samoa Joe
This would just be cool. Reports are Joe is ready to come back and currently, it doesn’t look like he has a clear story. Let’s see two of the strongest heels in the company wreck the competition for a bit before turning on each other. Since there is a strong chance Big Cass comes back as a face the potential follow up rivalry between these two would be a totally different Clash of the Titans. This would be just a slobber knocker of two heels kicking the crap out of the tag division before turning those fists on each other. Sounds fun to me.
The Revival
Ok, hear me out. I know the Revival is a tag team and there is little to no chance something like this would happen–but why not? If you made them a tag team with Stroman a la the Freebird Rule they would seem unstoppable. They would be the perfect antithesis to the Freebird Style team on SmackDown Live, The New Day. The New Day are an athletic, high energy, fun loving group. Perfect for SmackDown Live. The Revival’s saying is ‘No flips, just fists’ and who fits that better than The Monster Among Men? It would be perfect for Raw. Have Stroman come into the ring during each match and have Dash and Dawson rock, paper, scissors to see who will be his partner with him for said match. The three would be a hard-hitting machine. Then when Stroman returns to singles competition The Revival then go into a story to prove they never needed Stroman for the titles. After a monster burial on RAW25, The Revival deserve a push to show why they are former Match of the Year winners. And this could be it.
Regardless of who it ends up being, I hope that it benefits the division rather than hurts it. Honestly, it’s the best it’s been in years. Let’s not bury a whole lot of great superstars for the benefit of one.