Braun Strowman American Professional Wrestler Born in 1983

Early life

Adam Joseph Scherr, who wrestles as Braun Strowman, was born on 6 September 1983 in Sherrills Ford, North Carolina. He attended Bandys High School and grew about eight inches during his school years, from roughly 5 ft 8 in as a freshman to 6 ft 5 in by graduation in 2001. He enrolled at a community college in 2003. For four years he played semi-professional football for the Hickory Hornets and took work as a doorman and a mechanic. He attended the NFL Scouting Combine in 2007 but did not turn professional, and later took up amateur strongman contests.

Career

Strongman. Scherr won the NAS Amateur National Championships on 5 November 2011, which earned him a professional card, and the Arnold Amateur Strongman Championships on 4 March 2012. That second title brought an invitation to the 2013 Arnold Strongman Classic. At Giants Live Poland in 2012 he finished seventh and earned the nickname "The Straw Man", from which his ring surname derives. His first name comes from the baseball player Ryan Braun.

WWE, first stint. He signed with WWE in early 2013 and trained at the company's Performance Center in Orlando. He debuted at an NXT live event on 19 December 2014, beating Chad Gable. On the 24 August 2015 episode of Raw he joined the main roster as a villain, attacking Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns as a new member of The Wyatt Family, alongside Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. At the 2016 Royal Rumble he eliminated five opponents.

The 2016 WWE draft sent him to Raw without the other Wyatt Family members and began his singles run. He feuded with Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns, and at the 2017 Royal Rumble he eliminated seven wrestlers. At Elimination Chamber in February 2018 he set a record by eliminating five opponents in a single match.

His first WWE title came at WrestleMania 34 in April 2018, when he chose a young fan named Nicholas as his partner and the pair beat Cesaro and Sheamus for the Raw Tag Team Championship. They gave the titles up the next night. At the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah on 27 April 2018 he won the match with 13 eliminations, a record for a Royal Rumble, and in June he won the Money in the Bank ladder match. At WrestleMania 35 he won the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal with 14 eliminations, another record. In August 2019 he and Seth Rollins won the Raw Tag Team Championship, and the pair lost it a month later.

After moving to SmackDown in the 2019 draft, he beat Shinsuke Nakamura on 31 January 2020 for the Intercontinental Championship. At WrestleMania 36 on 4 April 2020 he defeated Goldberg, who had replaced Roman Reigns on the card, to win the Universal Championship for the first time. He held it for 141 days before losing it to Bray Wyatt at SummerSlam on 23 August 2020. In 2021 he beat Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 37 and later challenged for the WWE Championship. WWE released him on 2 June 2021.

Independent work. Billed under his real name, Scherr appeared for Control Your Narrative and at Ring of Honor's Final Battle in December 2021. In February 2022 he and EC3 announced their own promotion, Control Your Narrative.

WWE, return. He re-signed with WWE on 1 September 2022 and came back on Raw four days later. He beat Omos at Crown Jewel in November 2022, and lost an Intercontinental Championship match to Gunther in January 2023. In 2024 he feuded with Bronson Reed, ending in a Last Monster Standing match on 30 September. In early 2025 he feuded with Jacob Fatu, and his WrestleMania 41 match that year was his last as a full-time WWE performer. WWE told him on 3 May 2025 that his contract would end on 31 July.

Recognition

In WWE he has held the Universal Championship once, the Intercontinental Championship once and the Raw Tag Team Championship twice, with Nicholas and with Rollins. His other titles include the 2018 Money in the Bank contract, the 2019 André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, the Greatest Royal Rumble and the 2023 SmackDown Tag Team Championship #1 Contender Tournament with Ricochet. He received WWE's Male Superstar of the Year award for 2018. Pro Wrestling Illustrated placed him sixth in its 2018 PWI 500. As a strongman he also won the Monster of the Midland in 2010.

Public roles

Since October 2025, Scherr has hosted Everything on the Menu with Braun Strowman, a food travel series on USA Network. The network renewed the show for a second season in January 2026.

Personal life

Scherr supports the Green Bay Packers. He is the godfather of the son of Bray Wyatt and JoJo Offerman.