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We’ve not heard definitively from any source on why WWE opted to go with Brock Lesnar as Universal champion instead of having Braun Strowman win the belt at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia last Friday (Nov. 2). But with a lot of people asking the question, a number of different possible or partial answers are making the rounds.
Add this one to speculation Strowman might be injured, or simply that Lesnar is a bigger star that Vince McMahon offered a whole lot of money to to stick around a bit longer after he learned Roman Reigns would be leaving... Braun might have backstage heat.
The item comes from Mike Johnson on a recent PWInsider Elite audio broadcast, via WrestlingNews.co:
“One of the things that I heard from multiple people – we’re talking 4 different people. There are times where Strowman is negligent when it comes to showing up on time... He has a reputation at times for leaving a little early and sometimes he makes mistakes in terms of etiquette in the backstage in the locker room. Sometimes, as one person put it, he’s his own worst enemy and his worst advocate. They would be high on him and just when he gets to the point where you would think the next step is putting him into the centerpiece position for the company [then] something happens and he makes some sort of misstep backstage and people within management kind of cool on him and they take a step back.”
Insider doesn’t say this is why Brock is champ again, or point to any specific examples where Braun’s alleged breaches of locker room etiquette have affected his booking or push at all. But the timing of this talk - WrestlingNews.co says Johnson’s heard these stories in “the last few days” - is interesting.
We’ll see if how Strowman is handled over the coming weeks and months gives us any more clues, as well as share any other news or rumors we hear. For now, take this with a Rumor Roundup-sized grain of salt, and factor it into your speculation as you see fit.