Braun Strowman has made his triumphant return to the ring after this week's WWE SmackDown went off the air.

This week's edition of Friday Night SmackDown emanated from Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The card was stacked with some huge first-round matches of King & Queen of The Ring and it built towards the highly-anticipated namesake PLE in Saudi Arabia later this month. After the show concluded, 'The Monster of All Monsters' faced Shinsuke Nakamura in a dark match and emerged victorious in a short match-up.



After the match, the former WWE Universal Champion took to his Instagram account and posted:

"Damn, it felt good to be back out there!!!! #ThankYou #WilkesBarre #Wwe #TheMonstersBack"



This marked his first in-ring performance after being on the sidelines for over a year due to neck issues.
Braun Strowman's battle with injury

In June last year, Braun Strowman underwent neck fusion surgery and was on the shelf while recuperating from it. It certainly took a mental and physical toll on the heavyweight wrestler and he was candid about the same.

In December, Strowman said that he wouldn't rule out his return at WWE Royal Rumble 2024 but that did not happen. It wasn't until April this year that the powerhouse made his return. He made his return after the surgery during the opening night of the 2024 WWE Draft where he was drafted to the Raw.

He came to the aid of Jey Uso, who was getting brutally attacked by Finn Balor and the United States Champion Logan Paul. Strowman also had a brief confrontation with Patrick Mahomes and his teammates before Jey Uso calmed him down.