Summary

Braun Strowman says he was terrified when he made his WWE Raw debut in August 2015 as part of The Wyatt Family, largely because he was still almost completely new to wrestling.

While speaking on Rewind Recap Relive, Strowman said that appearance came in just the fourth match of his career. He said his focus that night was simply avoiding a mistake and making the most of a first impression on national television.

The comments add another layer to Strowman's recent stories about that period of his career, including his tribute tattoo for Bray Wyatt.

Quote from Braun Strowman

"Oh, one I was just fucking terrified. Like don't fall, don't do something stupid. You get one chance to make a first impression and things like that. Some people know and not a whole lot of people know that was my fourth time I'd ever wrestled in my entire life. So I debuted on Monday Night Raw after SummerSlam in 2015, that was the fourth wrestling match I'd ever had in my career. So yeah, a little nervous and things like that because I didn't know the difference between a headlock and my hole in my ass at the time. But Vince saw something in me and was like, 'We're going to learn as we go.' [He] took me to the deep end of the pool, kicked me in the ass and doggy paddled for a decade."

What Strowman's Raw debut says about WWE's Wyatt Family gamble

Strowman's account makes it clear WWE fast-tracked him into a high-visibility role before he had much ring experience at all. Putting him straight onto Raw with Bray Wyatt and The Wyatt Family meant the company was betting on his presence and upside first, then trusting him to grow in public.

It also helps explain why Strowman still talks about that debut as a turning point. If his fourth match came on Raw, then almost everything fans later saw from his early WWE rise was happening while he was still learning on the job.

Sources

As reported by Fightful