Braun Strowman became the WWE Universal Champion for the first time on the first night of WrestleMania 36 when he defeated WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg in less than 3 minutes. Now, Braun is describing the unique circumstances surrounding his crowning achievement.
Speaking on the April 5 episode of WWE The Bump, Braun Strowman revealed that he wasn't even going to stay in Florida. Following the mandated stay-at-home order, Braun decided to back up and head to Wisconsin where he has some family and a piece of land. However, never say never in WWE Braun wouldn't have much time to stay in Wisconsin before they needed him to come back to Florida. Originally, Roman Reigns was supposed to challenge Bill Goldberg, but backed out of the event due to health concerns.
“I loaded up last week when everything was starting to lock down in Florida, I was like, I got some land up here in Wisconsin. I came up here to see my family [and] get away. I drove twenty-one hours and was an hour away from home. And I've got a phone call. 'There's been some last-minute changes. We need you. It's an emergency. We're sending a jet to get you. You leave at 9 p.m.' So I literally got into Wisconsin for three hours, went back, jumped on a jet, flew back to Orlando, landed at 1:30 in the morning. I got up, hit the ground running and lo and behold, came out of the back end and the Universal Champion,” Strowman began. “It's surreal. It really is. I mean, since I started doing this, I've had naysayers and haters say that I would never, never hold that title. That wasn't a title for a guy like me, the way I look, the way I wrestle, the way I carry myself. You know, it's a great feeling being able to make people eat crow and then and show the world that even when people doubt you and say that you can't accomplish something, that if you're willing to work and, you know, put everything you have and then you're being in power and the mindset of achieving something in life that you can do it. I mean, from the day I started with WWE, I knew that I was going to hold that title. I knew I was going to hold the most prestigious award that this company has to give out.”
Furthermore, Strowman would show great respect to Goldberg and would remain very humble about defeating the WCW legend for the championship, even revealing that he was a fan of Goldberg as a young man.
“I mean, it is exactly what you just said. I mean, it's Bill freaking Goldberg. I mean, it's Bill Goldberg, for crying out loud. I mean, I watched him as a late teenager and, you know, I just was head over heels because he would go out there and he would tell you he was going to stomp your butt and he would go out there and he did it, man. And it's just Goldberg is iconic and I can't thank him enough for, you know, even giving me the opportunity or wanting to work me per se or however this happened. I mean, it-- literally, it's mind-blowing. Just thinking about it, I still am having a hard time trying to wrap my head around all this,” he would say.
Now, all the focus is on Night 2 WrestleMania 36 we're Drew McIntyre will try to have his own moment just like Braun Strowman did when he challenges Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship.
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