While appearing on WWE’s The Bump, Braun Strowman talked about how the match with Bill Goldberg came to be after Roman Reigns pulled out of Wrestlemania 36 at the last minute:
“Oh my god. Literally, thinking about it right now, it’s probably the craziest 24 hours of my life. I loaded up last week when everything was starting to lock down in Florida, I was like, ‘I wanna go get in the country.’ I got some land up here in Wisconsin. I came up here to see my family and get away. I drove twenty-one hours and was an hour away from home. And I got a phone call, ‘There’s been some last-minute changes. We need you. It’s an emergency. We’re sending a jet to get you. You leave at 9:00 p.m.’ So I literally got into Wisconsin for three hours, went back, jumped on a jet, flew back to Orlando, landed at 1:30 in the morning. I got up, hit the ground running and lo and behold, came out of the back end the new Universal Champion.”
“You know, it’s surreal. It really is. I mean, since I started doing this, I’ve had naysayers and haters would say that I would never, never hold that title. That that wasn’t a title for a guy like me, the way I look, the way I wrestle, the way I carry myself. You know, it’s a great feeling being able to make people like that eat crow and then and show the world that even when people doubt you and say that you can’t accomplish something, that if you’re willing to work and you know put everything you have in your being and power to the mindset of achieving something in life that you can do it. I mean, from the day I started with WWE, I knew that I was going to hold that title. I knew I was going to hold the most prestigious award that this company has to give out, and I am beyond honored to know that I am representing WWE holding the Universal championship right now.”
Strowman also commented on his journey to the title:
“Just literally, seven years ago, I was bouncing around on people’s couches, sleeping here and there, trying to make a living, doing whatever I could to survive and got an opportunity, got a developmental contract with WWE, packed up everything that I own in a KIA Soul and $150 to my name and went down to try and learn this and figure this craft out. You know, it’s been such an unbelievable journey just because I’ve been told I wasn’t supposed to do this. I’ve been naysayed that the only reason I’m here is because of my size and things like that, but that drives me to work harder to show the world what I’m capable of, my personality, what I bring to the table, the entertainment, the excitement. Everything that’s involved with Braun Strowman man, it has just been — I don’t even how to take it in. It’s overwhelming, and it’s just cool. It’s so unbelievable, like the fans, my fans, the WWE Universe, the response that I’ve gotten for this, just literally millions and millions of tweets an DMs and posts and tags — it’s just holy cow. Like, it’s humbling to know that I have that much of an influence on people’s lives that are sharing in this moment and this victory with me because end of fact, without them, there is no Braun Strowman. So, we did it together, like, thank you guys.”
