How much has WWE‘s Braun Strowman, real name Adam Scherr, already crossed over into Hollywood? On Saturday, March 14, Scherr, the star of USA Network’s first food show Everything on the Menu, hosted a brunch on the red carpet at the Oscars. Even for a 6’8″ 385 lb. “meat castle,” that’s quite an entrance.
Yes, the “Monster Among Men” is here, and in a big way. Hit Strowman’s music; Hollywood Blvd. is his entrance ramp. Scherr is currently collaborating on a scripted TV series with Michael Eisner’s Tornante and will next growl as a voice in animated film Pierre The Pigeon-Hawk. And although it is a sin in professional wrestling, these days, Scherr is going into business for himself.
As The Hollywood Reporter first reported last week, Scherr and his manager/business partner Nick Antonicelli of Allied Sports are launching a joint venture production company, Meat Castle Media, with Magilla Entertainment (Beachfront Bargain Hunt). The wrestler and former strongman (he’s still a strong man) will run the creative with Antonicelli.
In a Zoom with THR, Scherr says he chose Magilla and its chief development officer Kevin Duncan for good reason.
“For me, the big eye-opening thing was not having my hands tied. They’ve allowed me to be me, whereas I’ve had my hands were tied creatively for the last 12 years (in WWE),” Scherr said. “And while that’s not a bad thing — I was very blessed with what I got to do — but at the end of the day, I was playing a character on a show, and sometimes the script sucked. I mean, no offense, I hated it, but I had to go in there and make the best of it because that was my job. Well, now with this opportunity… my creative input is welcomed, it’s not dismissed.”
Scherr’s creative input comes at you lightning-fast. Scherr says he has ADHD “on a whole different level,” and adds, “maybe I do have a little CTE from getting hit in the head for a decade.” The result is Antonicelli regularly fielding idea-filled phone calls at 2 a.m.
“My brain is crazy. I think outside the box, I’m moving 10 steps ahead of where I’m at in life, always, which is good and bad. But having this team behind me… to help with my vision— my brain’s kind of like a disco ball with a light shined on it. There’s beams just going everywhere,” Scherr said. “With this team, they’re able to dial me in and steer me in the right direction while still allowing my creative liberties and my freedoms to be.”
His old creative team was a bit more restrictive, but if there are any hard feelings toward WWE, Scherr swallows them like he does his unappetizing 7,300-calorie daily diet.
“It’s all grilled chicken, fish or beef, plain rice, vegetables, olive oil, cottage cheese,” Scherr says. “I eat around six pounds of meat a day, about 16 cups of rice, a dozen eggs, a bag of spinach, about five tablespoons of olive oil, a container of cottage cheese, a half a container of Greek yogurt, two gallons of water…”
No wonder this dude goes HAM at the fancy restaurants on his cable TV show. If my groceries cost $190 a day, I’d order Everything on the Menu too when USA is picking up the tab.
Hulk Hogan battled Sylvester Stallone in 1982’s ‘Rocky III.’
United Artists/MGM / Courtesy: Everett Collection
WWE didn’t just Scherr fame and a platform — it gave him a production partner. WWE produces Everything on the Menu, which is why Scherr can still go by “Braun Strowman” on the show. (WWE retains the trademarks on its character names.)
Oh, and WWE gave Scherr one more thing: the skills. WWE’s media training and famed promo school has been creating Hollywood’s stars of tomorrow for a while now. It is no longer an anomaly for a WWE Superstar to successfully transition into a second career: acting. The obvious examples are Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena and Dave Bautista (Batista in WWE), and the upcoming Street Fighter movie has two top current WWE stars, Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, in key roles. This isn’t just Thunderlips gigs (Hulk Hogan in Rocky III) we’re talking about.
Scherr says he “admires” all of those guys (well, we didn’t discuss Hogan), but he’s not trying to follow in anyone’s footsteps — the boots probably wouldn’t fit anyway.
“I’ve never been really one that, like, idolizes anybody’s career. All through the wrestling stuff, I never tried to be any other wrestler. I never wanted to be the next Undertaker or the next Big Show. I wanted to be the first Braun Strowman,” Scherr said. “It’s very inspiring, but… I don’t want to be the next Rock, I don’t want to be the next Batista. I want to be the first Adam Scherr — and I am.”
