Braun Strowman's had a remarkable 12 months.
Going into 2020's WrestleMania 36, Strowman wasn't booked for pro wrestling's premiere annual event. So, he was on his way to property he owns when he gets a phone call saying Roman Reigns is relinquishing the Universal Championship and WWE wanted him to face Goldberg for the vacant belt.
Strowman didn't hesistate. He accepted the offer and made his way back to Florida and beat Goldberg to capture his first-ever heavyweight championship.
Fast forward one year later, and the 37-year-old is in another marquee match at "The Show of Shows" on night one of WrestleMania 37 on Saturday, when he takes on the son of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, Shane, in a steel cage match from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
Days before the big matchup, Strowman talks with DAZN News about his journey to win the belt, quieting the critics, and what it means to be facing McMahon at WrestleMania.
(Editor's note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
DAZN: I want to look at what happened last year and its circumstances to where it led you to winning the belt from Goldberg at last year's Wrestlemania, and you look at where you're going to be coming up on Saturday against Shane McMahon. How would you characterize the last 12 months?
Braun Strowman: Crazy. I feel like everybody can throw that word into their vocabulary of how to describe their last 12 months, learning and adapting as we go not knowing what the future might hold, and try to continue to be the best Braun that I can be for everybody. It's tough to get into the gym for a little while and toilet paper shortages because I got to wipe my mascara off (laughs). But just learning along the way as everybody else.
Last year was chaotic with WrestleMania. I wasn't originally booked on the show. Things are starting to lockdown. I left Florida, and I was 20 hours into a 21-hour drive to my property in Wisconsin to get away and got the phone call, rush flew back on a jet that night, wrestle Goldberg, beat Goldberg for the Universal championship and the next morning, flew back up and disappeared for a couple of weeks and then got rocking and rolling in the PC and then the Thunderdome came about. So now here we are. A year later and fans are coming back. The WWE Universe is going to be back in the building.
DAZN: I talked to Drew McIntyre earlier this week, and I want to pose the same question to you because you both had big moments last year. I don't want to say the word devastating because you accomplished your dream. You became the world champion. But was there a little bit of you that was a little bit disappointed in the fact that you weren't able to do it in front of 80,000 fans?
BS: Absolutely. At the end of the day, I wish I could do it in front of 10 million people. But that being said, I felt honored at the time that my number that I was needed, that the company put their faith in me to get us through the doors at the beginning of this pandemic. To not knowing how the show's going to be run, what we're allowed to do, if we're even allowed to have shows but then having faith in me and putting the driver's wheel in my hands to drive the bus was a really good feeling to me not only as Braun but as Adam, as a real man, a real person knowing that you're dependent on at your job, that you have worth, that you have value. That was something that I'm not only that I need physically, but mentally, that's something that I didn't realize I needed as much as I did is that satisfaction of knowing like, 'Hey, I'm important'. There's times man, this job's crazy. You're all over the place. You're doing all this stuff. You get caught up in the hustle and bustle, and you read all the negative stuff that people want to throw at you on the internet and all on your own. All of a sudden, you're like, 'What the hell?'
DAZN: You look at people saying, 'He's never going to win the big one. He's never going to be what he's been pushed to be. How did it feel to quiet the critics everything they said and that you could accomplish your dream and become the WWE Universal champion and lead the company for over four months?
Braun Strowman: It's cool. That all plays into what's going down Saturday with this story with Shane McMahon. I opened up about and talking about different things here, but a lot of people know I grew up with a reading disability. I was picked on for it and called stupid. I had teachers tell me that I was stupid and I was never going to amount to nothing. At a younger age, I got to the point I was so sick of hearing that crap. But it was nothing like physically wise nobody bullied me. Nobody's ever physically bullied me. But at the end of the day, like you can't just go in public when somebody says something to you, hurt your feelings and bash their heads in. I had to figure out a way to get over this. I started using these negative comments, this negative energy that would come from the knowledge from random people that I don't even know or never even will know that want to throw negative and hate toward me. All that does is fire me up to be better and prove to everyone that they are wrong. I've been doing it my whole damn life.
Everything I've done in my life, people told me I was never going to do. In 2011, I was North America's Strongest Man. In 2012, I won the Arnold Amateur World Championships. In 2013, I signed with the WWE. Then in 2015, I ruptured my L-5 and S-1 in my back and paralyzed my left leg. I shouldn't be able to walk. I had surgery. I overcame that. I overcame suicidal thoughts and depression. All this is correlating to what I'm going to do to Shane McMahon this Saturday and show the entire world that anybody that's ever been bullied, picked on, called stupid, and told they weren't good enough, this is for you guys. This shows you that if you stand up for yourself and you can do whatever you want to if you put your mind to it.
DAZN: Shane McMahon has faced everybody at WrestleMania, from The Undertaker to AJ Styles. He just doesn't wrestle just for anybody. It's always a special attraction. What does it mean to you personally to be able to go from facing an icon like Bill Goldberg to now facing Shane McMahon?
BS: It's a lot to try and wrap my head around. I was talking to one of my friends on the way down here, and he texts me and goes, 'Man, do you even realize what you're doing this weekend?' I was like, 'Yeah, I'm going WrestleMania. I'm going to work'. He goes, 'Dude, you're wrestling Shane McMahon at WrestleMania. You beat Goldberg at WrestleMania last year, you've wrestled The Undertaker, you've wrestled The Rock and wrestled John Cena, and you drank beers in the center of the ring at Madison Square Garden with "Stone Cold" (Steve Austin)'. He's like, you've been doing this for five years, and you've already got a Hall of Fame career. I'm trying to wrap my head around that. I'm a country boy from the middle of nowhere in North Carolina. I graduated with 85 people. I don't know how to describe it. It's awesome. I'm just a blessed man. I hit the lottery in life.
DAZN: What can fans expect this coming weekend in the big steel cage match with you and Shane McMahon?
BS: Expect to see these hands do terrible things to that man. I'm going to show you what it means to throw a human being around like a rag doll. I'm looking forward to this. I know Shane McMahon is as well. He thinks he's got something up his sleeve. He thinks he's got my number. He's fought many iconic legends over the time at WrestleMania, but I know he's never been in the ring with anything like me.