How Braun Strowman's Injury Will Affect WWE Storylines

Brandon Gnetz

11/08/2017 03:42 pm EST

Thanks to the absence of one big Monster, WWE is having to rethink some of their biggest summer plans. As reported by Pro Wrestling Sheet yesterday, Braun Strowman has suffered an injury that will keep him out of action for possibly the next two months.

While WWE is playing the angle as if Braun has a torn rotator cuff, the Pro Wrestling Sheet report states Strowman will need to undergo a procedure to fix an injury to his elbow.

Monday night's angle with Roman Reigns brutalizing the big man was likely done to give Strowman a reason to be off WWE TV for the time being.

Unfortunately, Strowman's injury is forcing WWE creative to rewrite their plans for Extreme Rules and Great Balls of Fire. The Monster Among Men was likely going to be in the main event of both Raw brand pay per views; facing Roman Reigns at Extreme Rules and Brock Lesnar at Balls (sorry, I can't bring myself to type Great Balls of Fire every time).

With Strowman gone, two of Raw's biggest players are suddenly in need of new opponents. With every other marquee star currently involved in another storyline, the creative shift will not be easy.

However, last night's Raw may have given us some indication as to which direction the WWE will be going. Here are five possible backup plans for Strowman's absence that could be in place heading into the summer.

Bray Wyatt vs Roman Reigns at Extreme Rules

On last night's Raw, one of the hottest new angles in the company was suddenly dropped. Despite Bray costing Finn Balor a chance to become number one contender to the Intercontinental Championship, there was zero interaction between the two supernatural opposites on last night's show.

Balor finished his night early after defeating The Miz and didn't bother responding to last week's attack.

While this would normally just seem like an oversight by the WWE creative team, it's likely there was a bigger play involved. With Strowman almost certain to miss Extreme Rules, Roman will be in need of another marquee opponent.

Throwing Wyatt in the mix seems completely random, but Bray could use his allegiance with his former Family member to find a way into the match with Roman. This could also set up an interesting scenario when Strowman gets back where the Monster either chooses to once again align with Wyatt or to begin a feud with his former mentor.

It's likely whoever gets thrown into the Extreme Rules bout with Reigns would be thrust into the title picture with Brock Lesnar when he returns, which leads us to our next possibility ...

Bray Wyatt vs Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire

The world wants to see Strowman and Lesnar, but its likely that if they do pair off at Great Balls (I'm sorry, I have to type that), The Monster will be taking a loss as WWE wants to keep building Lesnar up to look as dominant as possible for his eventual WrestleMania 34 showdown with Roman Reigns.

Bray Wyatt could easily step into the bout and not only give Lesnar a credible opponent but also use some sort of weird voodoo, fire mumbo jumbo to justify the ridiculous name to the pay per view.

Would Wyatt taking a Universal Championship loss hurt his credibility? At this point, does it really matter? But the answer is no. A loss to Brock Lesnar doesn't really hurt anyone. The Beast is the most credible force in the WWE and he should win every match.

Plus, we've gotten so used to Bray Wyatt's stop and start push that another main event loss would feel pretty normal.

But here's a much more interesting way WWE could go with Lesnar's first title match.

Finn Balor vs Seth Rollins vs Brock Lesnar

Only three men have demanded Universal Championship matches with Brock Lesnar and one of them has his arm in a sling. The other two, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor, made a great case for why they deserve the first crack at the missing red belt.

Rollins has defeated Triple H and Samoa Joe in recent months. If he picks up another victory against the Destroyer at Extreme Rules, he will be more than deserving of a title shot.

Balor never lost the Universal Championship. In fact, the only match he's lost at all on the main roster was last week's triple threat to The Miz and Rollins.

WWE could garner huge fan interest in the Great Balls outcome if Balor and Rollins were to have a Triple Threat with Brock for the championship.

The Triple Threat format would also allow for the much smaller Balor to seem like a more credible opponent against the hulking Lesnar in the eyes of fans, and another dirty finish could propel each man into separate storylines coming out of the pay per view.

Or WWE could hot shot another big angle.

Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire

Yes, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar are the rumored main event plans for WrestleMania 34. WWE hopes to build Reigns up for another great 'Mania coronation, but they may be in the place where they really need to sell this Great Balls pay per view.

WWE is not above hot-shotting an angle to get immediate gratification.

Its easy to imagine a scenario where Roman and Brock would square off in a match that did not provide a clean finish. If Strowman is possibly returning in time for Great Balls, what better way to make an impact and carry on his feud with Roman than to cost Reigns his championship shot against Lesnar.

Could Great Balls finish with Strowman standing tall over both Lesnar and Reigns, thus opening up a possibility for The Monster to feud with either or heading into SummerSlam?

One other play that I would not put past WWE might actually be their best option.

Injured Braun Strowman vs Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar

We all know Strowman is hurt, but he's still Braun Strowman; the most imposing human ever created. When he was set to have a one-armed match with Kalisto, were you any less afraid for Kalisto?

Strowman competing in a body cast is still terrifying. If WWE chooses to wheel Strowman out in a hospital bed, I still like his chances against anyone else on the roster.

Could this risk further injury to the big man? I guess, but look, I'm not a doctor and we don't really know how serious his injury is.

We also don't know if Strowman has super healing powers like Wolverine. I'm not saying he does, but I'm also not saying I would be surprised if someone told me he did.

Hopefully, we won't have to be without the big man for too long because We're Not Through With Him Yet!!!!

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RAW Superstar Injured At Live Event / Why Brock Lesnar's Absence Is Best For Business / Rock Star Gets Slammed After Taking A Shot At Wrestling Twitter

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