Braun Strowman was released by the WWE on Wednesday as part of the latest round of talent cuts. “The Monster Among Men” was the biggest surprise of the bunch, given he’s the only former world champion to be let go so far this year and was just in a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania Backlash less than a month ago. So why was the big man let go despite being such a big part of WWE’s main event scene? According to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp it came down to the terms of his contract.
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Sapp reports that Strowman signed a deal in 2019 that would keep him locked in until 2023 that reportedly paid him more than one million dollars annually. Strowman took to Twitter shortly after the news broke to react to the news.
What a chapter in life. Thank you!!!!!
— Braun Strowman (@BraunStrowman) June 2, 2021
Strowman previously explained in an interview with Lilian Garcia in October 2020 that if he ever left WWE he would retire from pro wrestling. Only time will tell if he follows through with that claim.
“I’ve said it time and time again: the day I take my wrestling boots off for WWE is the day I stop wrestling,” Strowman said. “I will not wrestle for anyone else. I’ve been given an opportunity from Vince McMahon and from WWE at life that I would have never gotten [anywhere else]. I told him a long time ago, the day I take my boots off from you, I’m done. And I mean that.”
In that same interview, Strowman described what it was like beating Goldberg at WrestleMania 36 for the Universal Championship. That marked the only time Strowman ever held a world title in the company.
“It was nuts. I mean, Bill Goldberg, a guy when I was younger, I idolized. Bill and I have kindled a good relationship over the years [since] I’ve been here,” Strowman recalled. “We’re both meatheads. We both like to go to the gym. He’s also a car guy, too. So, we have a lot in common.
“[This] whole aspect was neat because I became friends with a guy I idolized as a teenager, to now sharing the squared circle with him and beating him for the Universal Championship,” he continued. “It was just, it’s still kind of like, I’m waiting for someone to wake me up.”
