Former WWE writer on when Braun Strowman was booked to win the Universal Championship

Braun Strowman was originally scheduled to defeat Brock Lesnar for the vacant WWE Universal Title at the Crown Jewel 2018 event in Saudi Arabia.

Crown Jewel 2018 saw Lesnar defeat Strowman for the vacant Universal Title in a match that lasted under 4 minutes. Then-RAW General Manager King Baron Corbin attacked Strowman before the match. The title had been declared vacant by Roman Reigns due to his battle with leukemia.

Former WWE writer Kazeem Famuyide recently discussed show re-writes on his “Say Less with Kaz, Lowkey and Rosy” podcast and revealed that Strowman was originally scheduled to defeat Lesnar for the vacant title. WWE creative had an entire RAW planned with Strowman as champion, but Lesnar ended up winning the match and the following RAW had to be re-written.

“There was one time where we all thought a match was going — this was — man, f*ck it, I’m not working there anymore,” Kazeem said. “It was in Saudi [Crown Jewel 2018] and Braun [Strowman] was supposed to beat Brock [Lesnar]. This is right after Roman [Reigns] announced he had cancer, right? So, Brock and Braun was supposed to fight for the world title and we had a whole Monday Night Raw written with Braun Strowman as champion and then sike, Brock Lesnar wins and then as soon as Brock wins, we all had to go back into the office, rewrite the whole show.

“I just thought it was some sh*t where it’s just like oh, they’re just kind of keeping us on the D.L. [down low], whatever but I didn’t know they could change like [that].”

Strowman would eventually win the Universal Title at WrestleMania 36 in 2020, by defeating WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg. He is scheduled to face Drew McIntyre and WWE Champion Bobby Lashley in a Triple Threat at the WrestleMania Backlash pay-per-view on May 16.

(H/T to POST Wrestling for the quote)