When Bray Wyatt moved up from NXT to the main roster, it felt like the second coming of The Undertaker. (Well, for me it did.) He had a spooky/cool entrance and an aura built into his character that every new wrestlers hopes for. He was a preacher, a doomsayer, and a harbinger of destruction. During his SummerSlam debut in 2013 against Kane, it felt like there was a new "big bad" in the WWE. It's been a bumpy road since then; feuds against Chris Jericho and John Cena and the like that were intended to increase his star power ended up backfiring in weird ways, and eventually the crowd started reacting not out of fear, but out of admiration for the self-proclaimed Eater of Worlds.
Many times on his podcast, Jim Ross has made an argument for Bray becoming what he calls a "character babyface". It does make sense. Wyatt is good on the mic and fans really seem to dig the whole "firefly" gimmick. It is pretty staggering to see all those iPhones light up when his music hits. Flanked by various iterations of his family, Bray is designed to be a bad guy. They can intervene on his behalf, help him escape danger, or even act as a wall against babyfaces like Roman Reigns. But his role as a "heel" doesn't seem to want to take. Maybe his persona and his sermons appeal to our lesser urges? Maybe it's a counter-culture thing.
As of last Tuesday night, Bray has been pitted against the recently Brock-battered Randy Orton. While I like the idea of these two mixing it up, this seems like a recipe for disaster for two reasons. The first is inconsistency, which the 'E is no stranger to when booking matches and angles. It seemed like Bray was set to turn on his acolyte Eric Rowan after walking out on him during a match the previous week. They seem to have let that loose end remain loose in a manner reminiscent of Chris Claremont's X-Men. Is he going to play the spoiler during a Wyatt/Orton match. Maybe, but I doubt it. Cynical little "smark" that I am, I fully expect the WWE to leave this hanging and hope we forget about it.
Reason number two: this might actually hurt both performers. Not physically, like a Seth Rollins powerbomb onto the apron, but it will hurt their perceived characters. Fans want to interact with Bray in the form of fireflies and they want to cheer Orton as well because of the sheer awesomeness of the whole "RKO outta nowhere!" bit. Babyface versus babyface matches can work under certain cricumstances, but here it's not the intention. WWE wants Bray Wyatt to play the villain, but he's too cool. He's too "alt".
In this wrestling fan's opinion (and I have it on good authority that Vince McMahon checks this blog every day), Bray should do away with the cool entrance. Or any kind of entrance at all. Bray should just appear, call out the people for being sheep and avoid Orton or any other opponent like the plague. A good heel should never do anything to appease the vox populi. He should taunt, sneer, laugh, and run like hell. He should slip out of the RKO nine out of ten times.
Bray Wyatt shouldn't care about the conventions of WWE's televised product. It bugs me that he and his former "family" even adhered to the recent brand split at all. (I though they would be pretty interesting as outliers anyway.) He should regain his villain status by doing everything possible to make you hate him. We don't need another beloved heel running around--we already have that in Kevin Owens. In short: less "kewl", more nasty.
Bray probably has a bright future ahead of him in the WWE. His character is gradually evolving over time and he seems to be able to retain some fan interest, even when he isn't in a big feud or booked on a pay-per-view. We've yet to see the ceiling for his potential. His offense is savage, his mannerisms are strange, and his promos are just on the cusp of being truly great. I just don't want to see him become the next Kane or Big Show, flip-flopping between heel and babyface roles with no clear direction. And that's not a knock on those men either, it's all about the booking.
Or just listen to Jim Ross. He seems to know a thing or two about rasslin'.
Thanks for reading! As always, you can find me on Twitter (@ChrisBComics) or on the Facebooks (chris.bearden.98). I also like to let my geek flag fly in a number of other places, including (but not limited to) Back Issue Diving and Gotham Animated.
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