New WWE Universal champion Braun Strowman appeared on WWE’s The Bump to discuss his huge title victory over Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg on night one of WrestleMania 36. The Monster Among Men would reveal the moment he found out he would be replacing Roman Reigns in the match, who dropped out of working the “Showcase of the Immortals” due to concerns of COVID-19.
I loaded up last week when everything was starting to lock down in Florida, I was like, 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’ve 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 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 and the Universal Champion,” Strowman began. “It’s surreal. It really is. I mean, since I started doing this, I’ve had naysayers and haters say that I would never, never hold that title. 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 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 and then you’re being in power and 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.
Strowman would go on to praise the legendary Goldberg by calling him iconic. He later claims he still can’t believe that he finally captured WWE’s top prize.
I mean, it is exactly what you just said. I mean, it’s Bill freaking Goldberg. I mean, it’s Bill Goldberg, for crying out loud. I mean, I watched him as a late teenager and, you know, I just was head over heels because he would go out there and he would tell you he was going to stomp your butt and he would go out there and he did it, man. And it’s just Goldberg is iconic and I can’t thank him enough for, you know, even giving me the opportunity or wanting to work me per se or however this happened. I mean, it– literally, it’s mind-blowing. Just thinking about it, I still am having a hard time trying to wrap my head around all this.
Check out the full episode of The Bump below. (H/T and transcribed by Fightful
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