WWE fans, I hope you weren't eagerly counting down the days until Control Your Narrative comes to a town near you, as you might just be having your ticket refunded in the not-too-distant future. Why? Well, because after watching Karrion Kross jump ship from CYN to WWE to become an ever-present thorn in the side of Drew McIntyre, Braun Strownman has followed suit, showing up on RAW after reportedly being in talks to return to the company over the past few weeks.

It all started off innocently enough, with a four-way, cross-promotional tag team match to decide on the number one contender for the WWE Tag Team Championships currently held by The Usos. New Day, Alpha Academy, Los Lotharios, and Street Profits all made their way to Kansas City for a chance to compete for the cross-brand belts, and it looked like a ton of fun would be in store for fans looking to be entertained by some sports adjacent in-ring work.

Both members of the New Day were tagged in, which led to a very fun spot where Xavier Woods dropped to the floor to allow himself to be pinned by Kofi Kingston so their team could collectively win the belts and things only broke down further from there, with the New Day duo hitting stereo Topé con Hilos and Angelo Dawkins running wild on any performer who got in his way.

But then, the music of a certain former superstar hit the PA, and suddenly, the assembled audience went wild for something very interesting indeed.

Strowman ran wild on the assembled performers, destroying everyone from Chad Gable to Otis before spending the entire commercial break running wild on every security guard, policeman, and personal assistant who dared to get in his way. This was a commanding return the likes of which WWE rarely affords non-legacy performers and all but confirms that letting Strowman go for “budget cuts” was a poor allocation of resources indeed, as the “Monster Among Men” can still draw with the best of them when booked correctly.

Braun Strowman's return is good for WWE's business.

When Strowman was given the bad news that his time in the WWE Universe was done, it clearly came as a surprise for the former Univeral Champion.

Sure, his booking wasn't amazing before he was handed his papers, with his biggest moment post-championship run probably being his feud with Shane McMahon over being dumb, but still, after being hand-assembled as the near-perfect representation of Mr. McMahon's ideal monstrous heel – minus a few inches of height – allowing Strowman to test the market and potentially leave the company for good in favor of AEW, NJPW, or even his own company, CYN, felt like a pretty gutsy call by Nick Khan.

To Strowman's credit, he too was surprised by the release, as he detailed on the Control Your Narrative YouTube page as transcribed by Wrestle Zone:

Everything happens for a reason. I have no hard feelings at all, everything that WWE allotted me in life, it was ups and downs and hard times, good times, bad times, fun, I mean fun, so much fun. I’m so ever indebted to that company and to Vince McMahon and stuff like that because he gave me a shot at life that I could have never imagined. He gave me an opportunity to meet [EC3 and JC.]

I would have never been able to travel the world, see the things that I’ve done, meet the people that I’ve done, fall in love with people that I’ve met through this business. And it’s something special and I’m so unbelievably humble for the experiences that I was able to experience with WWE.

I was forced to be done. I said I would never wrestle for another company when I took my boots off for WWE. I never took my boots off. I never had the opportunity to put them back on to come back to work. And I ain’t gonna lie, it sent me into a pretty bad place.

Well Strowman, it looks like you've got an opportunity to step back in the WWE ring and potentially leave your boots in the middle of it if that's how you see fit. But before that day comes, it looks like The Fed will afford you plenty of opportunities to test your mettle against the best of the best RAW has to offer and maybe even re-enter the championship picture after a year away. Considering how the other recently returned superstars have been greeted, it sure sounds like that could be a good thing.