Braun Strowman Looks Back On His WWE Journey
WWE Universal Champion Braun Strowman took to Instagram this week to mark 7 years since he began his pro wrestling journey.
The Monster Among Men recalled how he drove down to Florida with just $150 to his name. Strowman noted that he started with WWE shortly after training to become a pro wrestler, and suffered several injuries during those first few years. The former Strongman signed with WWE in early 2013 and would make his first appearance in 2014 as a member of the "Rosebuds" group led by Adam Rose. He made his in-ring debut for the WWE NXT brand on December 19, 2014, defeating Chad Gable. He was called to the main roster in the summer of 2015.
He wrote the following on the past 7 years:
"So it dawned on me just now. This selfie I took was 7 years ago this past weekend when I my life forever changed. You see in this pic this was my tiny @kiamotorsusa #Soul that I packed with everything I owned to head to Florida with 150$ to my name. For the 8 months prior to that I was pretty much homeless. I would stay at friends houses and sleep where I could because I was job less minus some part time security work here and there. I had put every ounce of my being into strongman for many years. I moved to fl in 2012 and things didn't turn out as planned. I tried everything I could to make a living and still compete at the highest level in strongman and there just wasn't enough money in the sport at the time to live and do it and at that level. There was no time for a full time job because training and traveling was so demanding. But walking away from a sport I loved so much was very hard to do. I devoted my life to training and trying to be one of the strongest men to walk the earth.
"Now looking back it was the best decision of my life. I took a chance I had no idea what I was getting into when I started with @wwe 7 days into learning to be a wrestler I had two broken ribs. For pretty much two years when I was in developmental I was injured from ribs to torn pcl to rupturing my L5S1 disk and paralyzing my left leg that required emergency surgery to allow me to walk again ( thus why my left calf pretty much doesn't exist to this day because of the atrophy) I refused to let any of that stop me because I fell in love with the Busniess that is sports entertainment and I knew deep down inside that God put me on this earth to be one and I am beyond blessed to look back now and see what I had to go through to get to where I am now. And the moral of this whole long sappy post is if you refuse to give up on yourself the world won't give up on you!!!!! And don't let anyone ever tell you hard work doesn't pay off!!!!!! #DontGiveUpOnYourSelf #YouCanDoIt #HardWorkPaysOff #ChooseYourOwnPath"
Strowman is set to face Bray Wyatt in a non-title Wyatt Swamp Fight at WWE's "The Horror Show at Extreme Rules" pay-per-view on July 19.
You can see Strowman's full post below: