Braun Strowman Reveals WWE Locker Room Hated Him Over Fast-Tracked Main Roster Debut

Braun Strowman isn’t shy about how rocky his WWE start really was — and he says some of the locker room straight-up hated him for it.

The Monster Among Monsters sat down for a conversation on Something’s Burning, where he opened up about how his sudden rise to the main roster in 2015 rubbed a lot of people in WWE the wrong way. He revealed that when he made his Monday Night Raw debut on August 24, 2015, he had virtually no in-ring experience.

“I’d had four wrestling matches my entire career, and then they debuted me on Monday Night Raw. Four matches — my entire life.”

According to Braun, the leap from developmental to live TV wasn’t gradual — it was instant. And unlike most new talents who grind through NXT, Strowman bypassed that path completely.

“So I did one dark match in NXT, and then I did three house shows with NXT… We were the only four that skipped NXT — the Club, Gallows, Anderson, and AJ Styles — when they came in.”

That fast-tracked promotion triggered serious resentment backstage. Many in the locker room saw Strowman as an outsider who hadn’t earned his spot, and they didn’t hide their feelings as they hated him.

“So we skipped NXT and kind of went straight to the main roster, which was really wild for me because, like I said, coming in, I wasn’t born into the business and I didn’t come through the indies. I was an outsider. I was hated. Everyone was like, ‘F*** this big guy,’ and all that stuff.”

But what most people didn’t see, Braun explained, was the grind he went through just to land an opportunity. While others saw a big man getting special treatment, he says the reality was anything but glamorous.

“There’s always that ‘he didn’t pay his dues’ thing. But people didn’t realize I was sleeping in my car, traveling around the world. I was North America’s Strongest Man in 2011. I wore the Arnold Amazon.”

Strowman’s story just shows that not every path to WWE looks the same — and sometimes the ones who look like they’ve got it easy are fighting the hardest battles behind the curtain.

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