Adam Scherr's Career Has Been Stellar: What's Next for the Wrestling Superstar?
Adam Scherr, known as Braun Strowman during his successful run with the WWE, is among the most coveted free agents in the world of professional wrestling.
PWInsider reported on Sunday afternoon that Scherr met with Impact Wrestling executive Scott D’Amore while he was in Michigan over the weekend for Motor City Comic Con, which took place in Novi, Mich.
Scherr was released from his WWE contract this past June, with budget cuts being the reason explained for his release.
SI All Lions had the opportunity to speak with the 6-foot-8, 345-pound superstar about his current projects, meeting fans, potential new opportunities and why mental health has also become so important in his life.
*Questions and interview were edited for length and clarity
I always enjoy any opportunity to be able to talk to somebody in the world of professional wrestling. Adam, welcome to Detroit. It's great to have you.
Adam Scherr: Thanks for having me, Detroit. It has been an awesome turnout here at Comic Con. It's nice seeing people getting out and about, living their life and stuff. It's really cool seeing everybody dressing up, having fun out here today.
I'm always curious when wrestlers come to town and visit Detroit. What's been your experience in the past when you've visited and performed here in front of great wrestling fans?
Scherr: Oh, it's been unbelievable. The fans that have come out to meet me here today. Like, it reminded me of some of the really cool times that I've had and matches that I did with WWE in town and stuff. So, yeah, it's just been fun. The energy is unbelievable. I did a thing with the Detroit Lions a couple of years ago. In 2019, I came with WWE and flew out, went there (Ford Field) on Thanksgiving, presented a title to them and stuff like that. Yeah, the city's always been very welcoming, accommodating for me when I come into town to work.
© Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
© Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
What have you been doing since your time away from the WWE?
Scherr: Well, I'm enjoying having some time down, you know. Running hard for eight years, being on the road for six years with WWE was an unbelievable opportunity and unbelievable experiences I got to see in life.
But, I also missed out on a lot of things in life in normal day-to-day stuff, with seeing my family, people getting married, births and you know, unfortunate funerals and stuff like that. I've been catching up on some of the day-to-day life.
But, I worked on a project with a fellow WWE superstar, EC3, who wrestles for Ring of Honor now. We produced, all ourselves, a series called "Free the Narrative," but it's free. It's on FITE TV.
There's one out already, "Free the Narrative 1," where EC3 wrestles Matt Cardona and I'm in "Free the Narrative 2."
It's 90 minutes of cinematic-style wrestling. It's more than wrestling. It's a movie where wrestling is small, but we narrate over the top of it and we tell stories of what the talent, what the wrestlers have gone through in life, trials and tribulations and how they've overcome it.
It's really based around mental health. I'm a very big advocate for mental health, and this was something for me to be able to express myself and get rid of some of the burdens and some problems that I was carrying inside of me and being able to talk and let it out.
But, there are so many other people. There are so many other faces you recognize in it. Former WWE superstar Wesley Blake, who is Weston Blake now, wrestled Skyler, who was an Impact Wrestling star. So, there's a lot of faces in that, but it's basically a lot of day-to-day life, of controlling your narrative, controlling what you can control in your life, and then learning how to deal with the things that you can't control, coping with things and then being able to overcome these mental obstacles.
Also, I've been working on a mental health app that I have coming out called "Diskuss." One of my business partners, John Paul DeJoria, who is one of the founders of Paul Mitchell and used to own Patron, he's one of the backers of it. It's something that is very, very important to me that will be launching very, very soon.
It's an app subscription on your phone that gives you licensed, certified mental health professionals in the palm of your hand. You can FaceTime, you can phone call, you can text message for those days when you don't have someone to reach out to. When you're having a bad day, you're on the ledge and you need somebody to talk to. It gives people an opportunity to have someone to talk to so they don't do the irrational things. It's such a stigma in the world.
I think with everything that's happened with the pandemic, it's opened a lot of people's eyes to being more observant about mental health and caring more about it. I had an unbelievable opportunity with WWE, and to be able to now have this platform and this voice to be able to help other people around the world is very near and dear to me. And, that's one of the things I'm working on, first and foremost, the most right now before I decide who, where, what or when I put my wrestling boots back on.
How has it been transitioning away from professional wrestling and being away from such a prominent wrestling promotion?
Scherr: You know, the first little bit, it was scary, because that's all I knew for the last eight years of my life. That's all I knew.
But, it's slowly now starting to get where -- I'm four months, I guess it is right at four months post-WWE and stuff. It's nice kind of transitioning back into not being so stressed out about stuff. Not having to worry about memorizing scripts, traveling, flying all over.
In 2018 or 2019, I wrestled in 198 matches. I flew right at 700,00 miles, and was just gone all the time. A big shout-out to Marriott. I love your hotels. You all don't pay me, but you should. I checked my Marriott app, and in five years, I slept in a Marriott 765 nights.
So, living out of a suitcase for five years, to now having a chance to kind of step back into normal life. I'm spending time with my family and my loved ones, my girlfriend, my friends, getting to work on my house that I've been building in Wisconsin and just doing day-to-day stuff that I missed out on. I'm having time to take a step back and reflect on how unbelievable that opportunity was and the career that I had with WWE, all the things that I was afforded to do there, the world that I got to see, to travel around the world.
I've wrestled on every continent on this Earth. In five years, I stamped four passports full of VISA's. I've won the WWE Universal championship. I was two-time Raw Tag Team champion. I was a Money in the Bank winner, Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner, Greatest Royal Rumble winner, Intercontinental Champion.
It's just, doing all that in such a short amount of time and now having the opportunity to take a step back to go, 'Wow, holy cow. That's incredible.' And now, here having an opportunity to sit down, talk and do meet-and-greet with the fans and stuff and sharing experiences -- knowing how much people lean on my character and stuff like that.
I met a young lady earlier today, and I actually teared up talking to her, because she talked about how I've got her through so many things in life. And, she said seeing my strength, through my character, helped her get through her day-to-day stuff in life.
That, at the end of the day, that's what this is all about. I have so much respect for WWE. I can't thank them enough for giving me such an unbelievable opportunity and a slingshot headboard into life, to be able to help so many people around the world. I'm looking to continue doing that heading on out.
Have you had a chance to sit back, in terms of looking at All Elite Wrestling, the hot new promotion that's coming up, and look at all the hot matches they're hosting?
Scherr: Yeah, we've sat down, and discussed stuff like that with my agent and things like that.
We're just trying to find a fit now, where everything kind of will work together, since now, there's so many things that I'm working on in my personal life. I don't have as much time to devote to the full-time schedule to wrestle now.
So, it's trying to find somewhere where I'll be able to land in there to show up, have fun and entertain the people, but still be able to work on my side projects along the way.
I've always wanted to ask about an individual being able to win a title with a wrestling company. What's that moment like when you get recognized and you have that match and know you are going to walk away with a prestigious title?
Scherr: Yeah, it's a great honor, you know? It's representing the company, representing the brand and them showing that they have belief in you and what you do. That you're going to represent their company to the fullest of what they want their company, what they want their superstars, what they want their champions to be portrayed as.
So, any time I had an opportunity to hold a title with WWE, I was truly honored, because there's not many people in the world who get to say they've done it. I mean, there's been seven or eight Universal Champions in history and me being one of them. Being able to knock off the iconic Goldberg, a WWE Hall of Famer. I mean, there's not too many people that can say they've done that.
Where can people find out more about you and your projects moving forward?
Scherr: A lot of the stuff is on my social media. Follow me @adamscherr99. You can check out www.freethenarrative.com. "Free the Narrative 2" is available on FITE TV right now and then, stay tuned.
We'll be launching the "Diskuss" app very soon here, in the next week or so hopefully. Then, I have some more projects coming down the line.
So, just keep following me on social media. I just started a TikTok. I think it's the exact same @adamscherr99. I'm trying to learn how to do that. I'm not very tech savvy, but that's where I keep most of the stuff up to date. Anybody who wants to follow along and take the journey with me, I welcome you to come on.
