How Did Braun Strowman Come Up With His Ring Name? The Funny Baseball Moment That Changed Adam Scherr Forever
WWE had turned down every name he pitched. The deadline was closing in. Then a baseball broadcast changed everything. Adam Scherr became Braun Strowman because of two players he saw on SportsCenter in the same segment.
Adam Joseph Scherr was born on September 6, 1983, in Sherrills Ford, North Carolina. His father Rick Scherr is widely regarded as one of the greatest slow-pitch softball players in history. Before professional wrestling, Scherr spent years as one of the top strongman competitors in America, winning the NAS Amateur National Championships in 2011 and the Arnold Amateur Strongman Championships in 2012. When WWE signed him in 2013, they had a 6-foot-8, 335-pound human being with a legitimate strength background and no ring name.
That became a problem.
The Two Baseball Players Who Made a Monster
Scherr had submitted name ideas to WWE creative, and the response to every single one of them was no. The deadline for him to debut under a name was approaching. Then, sitting with his cousin watching a baseball broadcast, the answer arrived from the least expected direction.
"They're talking about Ryan Braun, and I'm like, Braun, Braun, I'm kind of brawny," Scherr recalled in an interview with the 10,000 Nos podcast. "And then literally they transition right after that and they start talking about Marcus Stroman, the baseball player."
Ryan Braun was the Milwaukee Brewers outfielder and former MVP. Marcus Stroman was a Toronto Blue Jays pitcher. Neither had any connection to professional wrestling. The combination of their names, assembled in real time while a baseball broadcast rolled in the background, gave the Monster Among Men his identity.
Scherr took Braun from Braun, decided he was kind of brawny, and took Strowman as a variation of Stroman, altering the spelling to make it his own. The name went through one more adjustment early in his career, appearing as Braun Stowman before the R was added to form Strowman when he debuted on the main roster in 2015.
He told the story at a Milwaukee Brewers event as well, adding that he had wanted to meet Ryan Braun at the game because the name had already been on his mind during the name search with WWE.
The Career That Followed
Scherr debuted on the main roster as part of the Wyatt Family in August 2015 and spent a decade becoming one of WWE's most recognisable performers, winning the Universal Championship, two Intercontinental Championship reigns, and the Money in the Bank briefcase in 2018. He departed WWE in 2025 and has since moved into television and media work.
The name that launched all of it came from a baseball broadcast, a time crunch, and a cousin sitting on a couch in North Carolina.