After weeks of speculation, the time came at WrestleMania for Braun Strowman to pick his tag team partner to compete against Sheamus and Cesaro. Strowman earned the number one contender spot after winning a tag team battle royal on Raw, but did not come out with a partner. Strowman never revealed who his partner was going to be, but General Manager Kurt Anglemandated him to get one in order for the match to happen.
At WrestleMania, Strowman stated that his partner was going to be in the crowd, and started walking around to choose who he will be. He picked a kid, and placed him in the corner while he single-handedly defeated The Bar to win his first title in the WWE. The next night, however, he had to relinquish the titles due to Nicholas (later revealed to be the son of WWE referee John Cone) being only 10 years old and in the fourth grade.
Despite Nicholas receiving a positive ovation from a large portion of the live crowd, Steve Austin was not a fan of this segment, and felt that it did a disservice for Sheamus and Cesaro. Austin expressed his thoughts on a recent episode of The Steve Austin Show.
“Braun Strowman is over like rover, a lot of potential, a lot of momentum, a lot of great storylines for him,” said Austin. “But the fact that he goes out there in the crowd and picks some kid, it’s almost like a disservice to Cesaro and Sheamus who’ve been working their a**es off. Two physical specimens, have really gotten some chemistry together as a team. Not to be taken lightly. Braun’s a big guy, but you know, Cesaro’s one of the strongest guys in the locker room. Sheamus is a brute.
“They can’t monetize this person who was picked from the crowd. And, I don’t know, I wasn’t really down with it, and that’s with respect to a d**n good tag team like The Bar. And then Strowman picks someone [from the crowd], I just, man you’re walking a fine line with him, because you have this brute force killer who’s legitimately one of the biggest, strongest men in the world. It didn’t do much for me.”
As a result of Strowman and Nicholas relinquishing the titles, Kurt Angle put together a four-team tournament to determine the opponents for The Bar at the Greatest Royal Rumble WWE Network event on April 27. Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt advanced to the finals to face The Bar a week from this Friday.
If any portion of these quotes are used, please be sure to credit The Steve Austin Show via Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Steve Austin Show
