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When Braun Strowman was released from WWE in June of 2021, he made a bold declaration to the professional wrestling world, as passed along by Wrestling Inc:
I've said it time and time again: the day I take my wrestling boots off for WWE is the day I stop wrestling. I will not wrestle for anyone else. I've been given an opportunity from Vince McMahon and from WWE at life that I would have never gotten (anywhere else). I told him a long time ago, the day I take my boots off from you, I'm done. And I mean that.
Unfortunately for Strowman, that ultimately didn't happen; after losing a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship to Bobby Lashley at WrestleMania Backlash, Strowman wrestled eight matches on the indies under his given name Adam Scherr. He took part in the second-ever Free The Narrative show, defeating EC3 in the first of their seven show Control Your Narrative partnership, and even wrestled a match in Washington, Pennsylvania, for IWC as part of their Wrestling At The Ballpark show.
Had Vince McMahon stayed in power as the head of WWE Creative, Strowman likely would have continued on this path, as CYN had an expansive tour booked for venues across the country that is now a bit up in the air, but when Triple H came into power, his desire to “get the band back together” won out. Braun was back, on both RAW and SmackDown for good measure, and he was ready to put in work for the biggest name in the pro-graps game.
So naturally, when Strowman made the basically mandatory stop at Corey Graves' podcast, After The Bell, to discuss his return to the WWE Universe, it was going to be a must-listen-to affair if for no other reason than to see how he would address the situation. Fortunately, Strowman did not disappoint.
Given a chance to address his “WWE-or-bust” philosophy, Strowman re-worked his declaration every so slightly, as transcribed by Fightful:
We talked to everybody, people reached out about stuff and I kind of played around with the ideas. I always said in interviews, and people thought I was stupid for it, I said I would never put on a pair of boots for anybody besides WWE and I stuck to my word. I never put on another pair of boots, I went out and started my own thing, worked for myself, gave young talent a place to come and work, make a living, hone their craft inside CYN. Like I said, I stuck to my guns, I will never wrestle for anyone other than myself or WWE and here we are, the monster is home.
Now, to be fair to Strowman, there were rumblings that Strowman drew interest from multiple other organizations, with the “Beast Among Men” reportedly meeting with Scott D'Amore of Impact back in November of 2021. Strowman also appeared at Ring of Honor Final Battle in December of 2021 after EC3's big match with Team Foundation versus Rocky Romero and VLNCE UNLTD, heavily implying that CYN could have done business with ROH depending on how the company was reformatted in the future.
But in the end, Strowman ended up back where he never wanted to leave in the first place, as he again detailed to Graves. Though he wasn't released of his own volition, he was happy to take some time to himself, as after nine years of burning the candle at both ends, he needed a break:
I honestly needed a break. Nine years with the company at that point basically in the driver's seat of a Ferrari doing 200 miles an hour for nine years straight, everything's just blowing by you, tunnel vision. Now, I have this opportunity to step outside the bubble of the business and go ‘holy s**t, I have done a lot of stuff.' In five and a half years, I've literally beaten everyone there is to beat in WWE, I've won every title except the US Championship, I've main event'ed every pay-per-view, I've sold out every building on this Earth, you name them, I've been in the ring with them.
In the end, isn't that all that really matters? Strowman may have been a tad perplexing in his “anyone but me or WWE” statement, and non-fans will hold that against him for the foreseeable future, WWE's train enthusiast is back where he wanted to be, where he can go back to doing what he loves to do best; a full circle moment if there has ever been one.
