Braun Strowman made the internet mad

Many of us have too much time on our hands these days, and with social interaction one of the things we’re sacrificing to fight the spread of the coronavirus, more folks are turning to social media.

That can be good. But it can also not.

Over the last several days, Braun Strowman’s given us examples of the latter.

First, he responded to a fan who said his character should be presented the way AEW is rolling out Lance Archer. Braun more or less called the 20 year veteran a knock-off version of him, despite the fact Archer’s has been working variations on his current gimmick on-and-off since he left TNA in 2009. At least The Monster Among Men took it in stride when The Murderhawk Monster shot back...

Strowman didn’t just take a shot at Archer. He also fell into the frequent WWE Superstar trap of responding to criticism by insulting fans. And unlike Baron Corbin, he’s a face, so this can’t be written off as ‘Reality’ Era heel work. I get that it must be exhausting to read about how you or your character suck, but also maybe just don’t respond?

The real heat came when Braun commented on an Instagram post featuring tweets and retweets like these from another AEW wrestler, Evil Uno, where the Dark Order lieutenant asked fans to think about support of independent wrestlers facing months without work due to the pandemic.

Strowman’s unsympathetic responses have since been deleted, but screenshots are forever.

There are lots of counterpoints to the arguments Adam Scherr (Braun’s real name) is making here, and they’ve all been pointed out by people on Twitter. Strowman was signed to WWE when he drove his economy SUV to Orlando, so it wasn’t as risky as he makes it sound. He probably didn’t completely burn the bridge to his old profession - Strongman competitions - either, so he had a couple different safety nets.

Even without that, there’s a difference between his situation and someone who decided to chase their dream only to have the game changed by a natural disaster that prohibits them from working.

Braun tempers his argument a bit in responding to retorts like those, but he’s still mostly saying struggling indie wrestlers should go look for non-wrestling work if they can’t pay the bills right now. Which I can see as far as an alternative to gofundme campaigns, but if they’re selling merchandise or charging for a podcast or personal recording... isn’t that still entertainment work?

Strowman also reports he’s not getting paid at all right now, which is probably kind of true since he’s an independent contractor who hasn’t been booked since WWE moved to the Performance Center - but also doesn’t account for his downside guarantee, percentage of merch revenue, etc.

He does deserves some credit for not attacking the people arguing with him on this topic. Everyone is on edge these days, and Strowman tries to keep this more serious discussion more civil than his exchanges about Archer.

Some are looking to pillory Braun for his take. While I personally don’t agree with it, I think this is more a case of Twitter being a horrible outlet for any kind of nuanced discussion. It’s very difficult to change people’s minds, and next to impossible with a character limit in an echo chamber. That goes for Strowman and those arguing with him.

Overall though, The Monster Among Men should probably just follow CM Punk’s advice fo Seth Rollins.

Us too, Braun. Us too.

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