Fans wondered for years why WWE never made Braun Strowman its world champion. There are good reasons for this, but in 2020 at WrestleMania 36, Strowman finally got his chance to run with the title.

Three months later, Strowman is still a champion, but he isn't setting WWE on fire. With the Universal Championship on FOX, it seems that Strowman has to prove himself fast -- maybe as soon as Extreme Rules -- or his title run could end quickly.

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The truth is that Braun Strowman was never supposed to be the WWE Universal Champion. He was a substitution for the man who WWE planned to beat Bill Goldberg at WrestleMania 36. Roman Reigns was the man set up to beat Goldberg, becoming the top man in the company. This result would have meant that he'd have beaten Goldberg, Undertaker, and Brock Lesnar, and the Reigns' title reign would be a long one.

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, Roman Reigns went home. With leukemia making Reigns high risk and him having young children at home, he knew it was better for his family and future to go home and wait out the pandemic. That meant that Reigns was not going to beat Goldberg, so WWE decided to give Strowman his run with the title. However, with Strowman as a champion, the reason he didn't get an earlier run with the title became obvious.

brawun strowman goldberg wrestlemania

The Big Show had two runs with the WWE Championship, but only for a total of 78 days. He'd later have two more world title reigns for 73 days. Kane held the WWE Championship once for one day, and had one world title run for 154 days. The problem in both of these cases is that these are monster champions. They are men fans expect should be unbeatable. They are special attractions. These are not wrestlers meant to run with a world title -- or any title for that matter.

When you are the world champion — as a babyface — you have to make fans fear for you. You have to make people believe you can lose any title match so the fans can cheer for their babyface champion to win. Even guys that look unbeatable, like Hulk Hogan, went up against monsters like King Kong Bundy or Andre the Giant -- and fans feared for him. Name one person in WWE that fans can legitimately fear could beat Braun Strowman.

The best monster champions are scary heels, like Brock Lesnar, that fans want to see get beaten by beloved babyfaces. It's almost too tricky to try to get a monster babyface to work as a champion.

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So far in his title run, Braun Strowman faced off with Bray Wyatt. This wasn't The Fiend, but it was Wyatt trying to break down Strowman mentally. He couldn't do it, as Braun was able to take off the sheep mask and beat the head games. He defeated Wyatt clean. But let's be honest -- no one ever thought that Wyatt could win as himself.

After this, Strowman defended his title in a two-on-one handicap match, where he stood alone in taking on The Miz and John Morrison. If there were fans in that audience, no one would have believed that Strowman would lose. Now, Strowman gets a unique opportunity. He will face Wyatt in a cinematic match at Extreme Rules. Strowman is not putting his title on the line, making it look like the monster champion doesn't want to risk losing his belt to the scary Wyatt.

This match might be Strowman's last chance. The title is not on the line, but if Strowman can't tell a good story here that makes fans believe he can lose, he might be a failure as a champion at the top of WWE. If Strowman can't sell the match to fans and make them fear for him, he doesn't need to be champion. Next month is SummerSlam, and if Strowman fails to sell the storyline in this cinematic match, expect WWE to move on from him in August.

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