Every WWE star is looking for their breakout moment. Occasionally that happens when momentum builds with the support of fan involvement, a spoken line in a segment catches fire, or the visual of an instance transcends the moment to become an iconic image. But sometimes, it’s simply serendipity, where suddenly everything connects in ways that even the superstars don’t anticipate.
For Bronson Reed, attacking Seth Rollins wasn’t enough of a statement just two months ago. The 300-pound Aussie dropped Tsunami after Tsunami on The Visionary as the audience roared and social media was set ablaze. Eventually, Reed left Rollins laid out in the middle of the ring after landing six Tsunamis. That moment was a turning point for Reed as he transcends to the main event of Monday Night Raw with hopes of claiming an elusive world title.
“The Austin 3:16 promo is one of those pivotal moments that, unfortunately, not everyone has that one moment in their career where things sort of change,” Reed tells Uproxx Sports. “I feel like the six Tsunamis is that for me. Since then it has been different, and I’m going in the right direction that I want to be. Hopefully I can keep that momentum up and we will look back at the six Tsunamis as that turning point. But now it’s making sure that I deliver in the match (at Crown Jewel). We’ve had all the attacks and everything with Seth and now it’s about actually delivering an in-ring match that’s worthy of a (PLE).”
As Becky Lynch once told me, these moments are when preparation meets opportunity. The pressure has built for Reed over the last two months after his crushing beatdown of Rollins. He’s continued to be a highlight of weekly episodic television with viral moments, whether he’s smashing Braun Strowman on a car or forcing a table to explode five feet into the air.
As Reed prepares for arguably the biggest match of his career on Saturday against Rollins at Crown Jewel, he isn’t getting caught up in the pressure that comes with rising up the card though. He understands the path to the top, and he’s built confidence in his in-ring abilities over the span of about half of his life at this point.
“I think a lot of people, when they have these moments, they want the trajectory just to go straight up,” Reed says. “But in our business, it’s definitely more of a roller coaster. You’re always going to have those highs and lows, but it’s just trying to make sure whenever you have those highs that you deliver. Those things start adding up and it’s not just this one pivotal moment. It’s all these things building up together. So that’s what I’m trying to do is have a body of work where you can go, ‘Oh, look at everything that he did in the year.’”
The journey to Saturday’s showdown has been one with plenty of bumps along the way. After being released from WWE in 2021, Reed spent just a year away before his return. During his time away, Reed says it was one of those moments that reaffirmed his love of wrestling.
“I think it’s a good thing to learn that you still have passion for the business that you love. I’ve always been a huge wrestling fan and I’ve loved it since I was a kid. And I feel like something like this could crush certain people and they might not ever wrestle again or they might do something else,” Reed says. “But it was one of those moments where I’m like, ‘I love this. I’m not going to change what I do.’ But it was reassuring to me that I can do this elsewhere, that I can be a commodity elsewhere. So in the hands of WWE, I should be an even bigger commodity. And I kept that in my mind coming back.”
Continuing to build his confidence in and outside of WWE has helped Reed reach the next level. In his return, he needed to be patient before his time to step into the spotlight would come. He says it was good that he wasn’t propelled right away into a prominent position, rather it was a slow burn where he was able find his feet, understand who he is, and turn the volume on his character all the way up.
He’s not overthinking things. He’s simply creating chaos.
“I’ve realized that in the moment, just to go with what I think will work and generally that’s been working for me,” Reed says. “But also I feel like the Bronson Reed character, you can have more fun with it because I’m a big, indestructible sort of guy that just goes out there and destroys things, almost a Godzilla-like figure. And I remember seeing a quote from an artist, I don’t remember who, and they said ‘I don’t create art, I create chaos.’ And that’s what I think of every time when I step through the curtain is Bronson Reed isn’t here to create five-star wrestling matches, he is here to create chaos.”
Following in the footsteps of pro wrestling’s great big men, Reed is moved by comparisons to the likes of Bam Bam Bigelow and Big Van Vader, who he says he’s drawn inspiration from. While WWE has historically been the land of giants, the amount of monster big men who move the way Reed does reaching the top of the mountain are few and far between. For Reed, that’s the long-term goal, breaking the mold and claiming WWE’s top crown.
“These guys were never the champion. You look back at history, Vader never became WWE champion, Bam Bigelow never reached those heights. Those people in the same sort of body type that I am, even a Dusty Rhodes was not a WWF champion at the time,” Reed says.
“So I want to break that mold and eventually, I’ve told people, I want to be world heavyweight champion. I want to be WWE champion. I remember speaking to Mark Henry and he was telling me obviously he had a great career, he became champion and he said, ‘This doesn’t happen for guys like us all the time, so make sure you keep doing what you’re doing, give it a hundred percent and you’ll be that next big man.’”