Braun Strowman

Strongman career

Scherr earned his Strongman Corporation (ASC) Professional Card by winning the NAS US Amateur National Championships on November 5, 2011. He won the 2012 Arnold Amateur Strongman Championships on March 4, 2012, which took place during the Arnold Sports Festival alongside the 2012 Arnold Strongman Classic. This victory earned Scherr an invite to the 2013 Arnold Strongman Classic. He competed in the SCL North American Championships on July 8, 2012, finishing in 5th place overall, as well as competing in the Giants Live Poland event on July 21, 2012, finishing in 7th place overall.

Training (2013–2015)

On May 12, 2013 it was reported that Scherr had signed with WWE, and he was later assigned to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, where he adopted the ring name Braun Stowman. He made his wrestling debut at an NXT live event in Jacksonville, Florida on December 19, 2014, defeating Chad Gable. On June 2, 2015, Stowman appeared at a Main Event taping in a dark match, where he defeated an unidentified wrestler. Scherr also made appearances as one of Adam Rose's Rosebuds in his Exotic Express gimmick.

The Wyatt Family (2015–2016)

On August 24, 2015 episode of Raw, Scherr, under the tweaked ring name Braun Strowman, made his main roster debut by attacking Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns and establishing himself as the newest member of the Wyatt Family alongside Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. Strowman had his first televised singles match on the August 31 episode of Raw, when he defeated Ambrose via disqualification. Strowman wrestled in his first pay-per-view event match at Night of Champions on September 20, where The Wyatt Family defeated Ambrose, Reigns and Chris Jericho in a six-man tag team match after Jericho passed out to Strowman's lifting arm triangle choke. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 13, The Wyatt Family defeated The ECW Originals (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley (collectively known as The Dudley Boyz), Rhyno and Tommy Dreamer) in a eight-man tag team elimination tables match.

Strowman appeared in the 2016 Royal Rumble match on January 24, 2016 and scored among the most eliminations in the match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, eliminating five opponents before being eliminated by Brock Lesnar, only to return to the match and helping his fellow Wyatt Family members to eliminate Lesnar. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer wrote that Strowman was "put over as a monster" in the match. At Fastlane on February 21, The Wyatt Family lost to the team of Big Show, Kane and Ryback, but they got their win back the next night on Raw in a rematch. Strowman appeared at WrestleMania 32 on April 3 during The Rock and John Cena's confrontation with The Wyatt Family. At Payback on May 1, The Wyatt Family were originally scheduled to face The League of Nations at the event, but the match was cancelled after Wyatt suffered a legitimate injury. In July, The Wyatt Family began a feud with the WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day, which saw them defeating The New Day in a six-man tag team match at Battleground on July 24.

Undefeated streak (2016–2017)

As part of the 2016 WWE draft, Strowman was drafted to the Raw brand while Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan were drafted to SmackDown instead, separating Strowman from The Wyatt Family and beginning his singles career. On the following weeks on Raw, Strowman, with a modified appearance, defeated James Ellsworth and several other local wrestlers who put up no challenge. On the September 5 episode of Raw, Sin Cara challenged Strowman due to him disrespecting luchadores, but lost by countout and by pinfall in the following weeks. On the October 17 episode of Raw, after easily defeating three local competitors in a 1-on-3 handicap match, Strowman was confronted by Sami Zayn. Strowman was scheduled to compete against Zayn the following week on Raw, but the match never started as both men attacked each other before the bell rang. On the October 31 episode of Raw, Strowman won a battle royal by last eliminating Zayn for a spot on Team Raw for the traditional Survivor Series 5-on-5 elimination match. At the event on November 20, after eliminating Dean Ambrose, Strowman was the first man to be eliminated from Team Raw after he was counted out due to interference by James Ellsworth, who was put through a table after being chased up the entrance ramp by Strowman. Team Raw later lost the match. On the December 13 episode of Raw, Raw General Manager Mick Foley announced a match between Strowman and Zayn for Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, being announced as a ten-minute time limit match in which Strowman had ten minutes to defeat Zayn, which Strowman was unable to do. The following night on Raw, Strowman demanded a match against Zayn, but Foley had given Zayn the night off which prompted Strowman to attacked Sin Cara and Titus O'Neil during their match and later attacked Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins during their match against Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens. Strowman defeated Zayn in a Last Man Standing match on the January 2, 2017 episode of Raw.

At the 2017 Royal Rumble event during Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns' title match, Strowman interfered helping Owens retain the WWE Universal Championship. Later that night, Strowman would enter the Royal Rumble match at number seven, eliminating Mojo Rawley, Big Cass, Kalisto, Mark Henry, Big Show, James Ellsworth and Tye Dillinger before being eliminated by Baron Corbin. On the January 30 episode of Raw, Strowman challenged for his first world championship when he took on Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship, as he was granted the match by Foley after video proof of Owens promising Strowman a title match, which Strowman would go on to win by disqualification after Reigns interfered and attacked him. Strowman then continued to demand better competition, easily defeating four local competitors and then being granted a match with Reigns at Fastlane, while also attacked him in his match against Samoa Joe, causing Joe to win.On the February 20 episode of Raw, Strowman defeated Big Show in the main event. A week later Strowman and Reigns had a contract signing for their match at Fastlane in which Strowman threw Reigns into the turnbuckle, causing the ring to break. At the pay-per-view, Strowman faced Reigns in a losing effort, marking his first loss by pinfall.

Feud with Roman Reigns (2017–present)

On the March 6 episode of Raw Strowman would challenge Reigns to a re-match only for The Undertaker to show up instead. A week later, after WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels warned Strowman's rival Roman Reigns of the power that the Undertaker possessed, Strowman would brutally attack Reigns while he was leaving the ring. This led to a match on the March 20 episode of Raw, which ended in a no-contest after The Undertaker appeared and attacked both men. On the final Raw before WrestleMania 33, Strowman announced his participation in the 2017 Andre the Giant memorial battle royal but failed to win the match despite eliminating half a dozen competitors. On the April 3 episode of Raw, Strowman challenged Universal Champion Brock Lesnar to a future championship match.

On the April 10 episode of Raw, while Michael Cole was interviewing Roman Reigns, Strowman attacked Reigns in the backstage area. He continued the attack several times over, even to the point of overturning the ambulance Reigns was placed inside. Despite playing a heel, Strowman received a very positive fan response, partially due to the negative fan reaction of Reigns. The next week on Raw, Strowman attacked several superstars until facing Big Show later in the show in which one point Strowman performed a superplex on Show causing the ring to collapse and the match end in a no-contest. The following week, he faced Kalisto in a dumpster match in a losing effort, but would later proceed to attack Kalisto and throw him onto the side of the stage while he was trapped inside the dumpster. Strowman would later face Reigns at Payback in a winning effort. He would continue to get audible "Thank you, Strowman" chants following the match, as well as several tweets echoing this sentiment appearing on Raw Talk's live ticker.

After the May 8, 2017, Raw, WWE claimed that Strowman had a legitimate injury with a shattered elbow, and would therefore be sidelined for about six months. This also caused a change in the schedule, with the planned match between him and Brock Lesnar at the Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view having to be scrapped. Strowman underwent surgery three days later in May 11. However, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that while Strowman's elbow injury was indeed legitimate, it was minor, scheduled to sideline him for only two months, with WWE exaggerating it in order for him to make a surprise return "four months early". On the June 19 episode of Raw, Strowman returned from injury, attacking Roman Reigns after his match against Samoa Joe. Strowman then challenged Reigns to an ambulance match at Great Balls of Fire, in which he won at the event, but was subsequently attacked and locked inside by Reigns, who would drive it backwards into a production truck. A day later on Raw, it was revealed that Strowman was able to walk away from the crash and despite being dazed, he refused help from the medical staff. Strowman then cost Reigns a #1 contender's match with Joe, which ended in a no-contest after he attacked both men. On the July 24 episode of Raw, it was announced that Strowman, along with Joe and Reigns would face Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam in a fatal four way match for the Universal Championship. A week later, Reigns defeated Strowman and Joe in a triple threat match after pinning Joe. On the August 7th episode, Strowman defeated Reigns in a Last Man Standing Match after interference from Joe. Strowman would fail to capture the WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam, but gained an opportunity to challenge Lesnar at No Mercy. He lost by disqualification to John Cena on the September 11 episode of Raw after slamming Cena onto the steel ring steps.

Personal life

Scherr's father, Rick, is widely regarded as one of the greatest slow pitch softball players. Nicknamed the "Crusher", he is still the USSSA All Time World Series leader in home runs (101), hits (166) and RBIs (202), and in 1994, he was inducted into the USSSA Hall of Fame.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments