Interview: Braun Strowman

You’ve said that the time leading up to WrestleMania was the “craziest 24 hours” of your life. Can you talk us through it?

“I have some land up in Wisconsin, I have 80 acres out in the middle of nowhere, I think there are 400 people in the whole town. I thought ‘if I’m going to be on lock down, I’d rather it was out in the middle of nowhere’ so I loaded up my things in my car and drove 21 hours to Wisconsin. I got 1 hour away from my property in Wisconsin and I got a phone call from the Chairman of WWE saying there has been some last-minute changes… we need you; we’re sending a jet, it lands at 9pm. So, I made it to Wisconsin long enough to grab a quick bite of dinner… and headed to the regional county airport and jumped on a four-seater jet. It reminded that you have to be on 24-hours a day because – you never know. Kudos to our team for making it happen and getting me back to Florida, then returned back in a 24-hour period with minimal contact with other human beings. Kudos to the company for getting me down there and making it happen.”

What can we expect from Braun Strowman, Universal Champion?

“I’m bringing the [Universal] Title home to Friday nights. It’s going to be a resident there… I’m going to be a fighting champion. You guys know how I work, you know my work ethic. If I could work 8-days-a-week, if they threw an extra day in the week, I’d do it because I love it. I want to make sure our fans, our people, are getting their money’s worth.”

Alongside you becoming Universal Champion at WrestleMania, the whole world is talking about the Boneyard and Firefly Funhouse matches. What did you think of them?

“They were cinematic pieces of art. It was literally sports entertainment at its pinnacle. It was mind blowing watching the cinematics… the fights scenes, just the whole presence of it all… I’ve got goosebumps thinking about it right now. When I watch wrestling I don’t watch it as an analytical wrestler trying to break it down and nitpick everything, I watch wrestling like I did when I was a teenager, when I was a child, I watch it to be entertained… and, dammit, it entertained me.”

If you could have a similar match in a location outside the ring – who would it be with?

“As much as I hate it for him, because he isn’t going to want to get these hands, it’s my mentor, it’s the man that made the monster, the man that turned into The Fiend, the one and only Bray Wyatt. His mind, his abilities, there is nothing else like it.”

Netflix and WWE Studio just released ‘The Main Event’ worldwide, and we’ve previously seen you star in ‘Holmes & Watson’ on the big screen – is Hollywood a future ambition for you?

“It is but I’m not jumping ship anytime soon. I’m very focused on my career as a WWE Superstar. I just recently last year re-signed 4 more years with the company and 99.9% of my eggs are going in that basket for right now. He hates his name being said but Vince McMahon has given me an opportunity at life for myself, for my family, my loved ones, that I would never have even imagined being able to have. I’m very grateful for that and I’ve told him this is my home, you guys made me, you gave me this life, and I want to show you that I’m appreciative of it and I’m thankful and I’m going to return the favor for what you have done.”

Tyson Fury and Drew McIntyre have been back and forth on Twitter recently about a possible future match - as someone who has faced both in the ring, who would you back as a winner?

“Well [Tyson] better learn how to do more than punch, I can tell you that. He got lucky with the one he caught me with when I was standing outside the ropes. Drew McIntyre, like myself, is a completely different trained animal than Tyson Fury has ever stepped in the ring with… he might be in for a world of awakening. I’ve been hit with the Claymore kick probably more than anybody and I know what it’s capable of, so, the best of luck if he wants to get in there and get his head kicked off. Go ahead and give it a try and see what happens.”