Braun Strowman Is ‘Looking Right Now’ at a Return to Wrestling

But to talk with the TV veterans around the USA Network series is to learn that Scherr is a legit foodie with a serious palate (or at least, as he humbly puts it, “a huge tongue”). Scherr just requires a lot more foodie than most.

The latest and physically largest WWE-to-mainstream-media crossover star now has his Hollywood look together, complete with an earring that dangles low enough for even normal-sized people to see (Scherr’s beard hangs even lower). But Scherr is not just on-camera talent these days, he’s also putting in the work behind it. As The Hollywood Reporter first reported in March, Scherr and his business manager/best friend Nick Antonicelli have launched production banner Meat Castle Media in partnership with Beachfront Bargain Hunt studio Magilla Entertainment. (“Meat Castle” is one of Strowman’s nicknames — the man is a fortress of protein. As was his softball superstar dad — check out these Rick “The Crusher” Scherr highlights.)

Getting Everything on the Menu cooking was no simple task, Scherr says, even with Versant’s president of entertainment, Val Boreland, in his corner. While shooting season one, Strowman was still an active wrestler on the WWE roster. WWE was on a European tour at the time, which required transatlantic flights in-between each ride he doled out on the Strowman Express.

“I was flying to Europe to wrestle, flying back to the states to film Everything on the Menu, flying back to Europe to wrestle, flying back to the states… for four weeks I was back and forth,” Scherr tells THR.

Scherr, who was released by WWE but not forgotten — the pro-wrestling league is a producer on Everything on the Menu — was looking forward to a more chill season two schedule. He didn’t get it. The encore season filmed at 24 restaurants in 12 cities over seven and a half weeks. Amazingly, Scherr lost weight during the ordeal, though not for a lack of good eating.

“[My weight is] diving right now because I got a couple other projects later this year that I gotta take my clothes off for, so, you know, I got to look the part,” Scherr said. “I actually dropped about 10 pounds throughout [season two production] and around 9 percent body fat. It was a frickin’ chore.”

The 42-year-old’s frickin’ chore chart included a full 24-hour fast the day prior to shooting, followed by an hour of cardio first thing in the morning, a massive on-camera meal, some digestion time, another hour of cardio, and a second mega-calorie shoot at a second location. I need a nap just picturing the schedule, but Scherr’s not exactly the food coma type.

“Then I’d stay up until two in the morning having cocktails on the town,” he said. “People want to see the Monster when he’s out.”

And the Monster wants to see people. Though Scherr broke into WWE as a scary, silent member of the original Wyatt Family on WWE TV, he’s a real ham outside of the squared circle. One that eats a shitload of ham.

“At the end of the day, man, I’m a fucking goofball,” Scherr said.

This season, fans can see Scherr goofing off in blooper reels rolling with each episode’s end credits — Scherr’s idea. With a revamped format that includes celebrity dinner guests in each episode, far more footage ends up on the cutting room floor this season than last. If he had his way, episodes should be one hour, not 30 minutes, Scherr says.

He may get his wish (and what are you airing at 11:30 p.m. on a Friday night anyway, Val?) Everything on the Menu season one ranked as the top show in its time slot across all of cable entertainment in the 18-49 demographic. Season one aired at 10 p.m.

As for his other job, Scherr never quite left his boots behind on the apron, the universal pro-wrestling signal for retirement (unless you’re Brock Lesnar, apparently).

“There’s a number with enough zeros behind it that there’s about anything I’ll do, is the reality of it,” Scherr says when I ask about a return to the ring. “I’m looking right now, because I feel great. My biggest thing has been fixing all the injuries.”

Outside of his left leg still being “about an inch and a half or two inches” shorter than his right leg due to a spinal injury, Scherr, at 340 lbs. and 12-13 percent body fat, says he’s “in the best shape I’ve ever been.”

For now, Scherr is perfectly happy being more Tony Bourdain than Tony Atlas, who, like the strongman Strowman, was a powerlifter before becoming a WWE/E Superstar.

Bourdain is one of Scherr’s idols, he offers up.

“The way he brought community together,” Scherr said, “it made you feel like you were sitting at that table with him while he was eating.”

As quick as Scherr is to point out he’ll “never be Anthony Bourdain,” he points to a lull in fresh, new breakout food-TV personalities. Why not his big ass, he asks rhetorically.

Strowman/Scherr is sort of entering his “Dwayne Johnson” era. I ask which name we’ll know best in the next handful of years. Though Scherr says he “kind of transitioning” to Adam Scherr, “in the reality of it,” he adds, “I’m always going to be Braun Strowman, and I’m grateful for that.”

“You call me Braun, you call me Adam — just don’t call me late for dinner,” Scherr says.

Dinner time tonight is 11 p.m. ET/PT, when season two of Everything on the Menu With Braun Strowman premieres on USA Network.