‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt stole the show when he first emerged as part of the build to SummerSlam last year. The aura generated from his debut entrance instantly eradicated the effects of the awful booking Bray Wyatt has suffered with for the best part of his time in WWE, and kick-started a new chapter for his still young career. Wyatt steamrolled over some of WWE’s biggest stars: Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan — Bray has never as dominant as he has been since donning ‘The Fiend’ persona.
Naturally, the most over star in the company was finally rewarded with the WWE Universal Championship; a title run fans believed was a long time in the making. ‘The Fiend’ was poised to enter WrestleMania 36 as a potential headliner against Roman Reigns, yet that wasn’t to be, as Wyatt came face-to-face with the ever-dominant Goldberg at WWE Super ShowDown.
As per Goldberg’s usual MO, he obliterated his opponent with his typical arsenal of several spears and a couple of shoddy jackhammers. Goldberg walked away a two-time Universal Champ, and ‘The Fiend’ was left to dwell on what could have been as we inch closer towards Tampa.
Since Wyatt’s controversial loss, WWE have decided to take him in the direction of a feud with the returning John Cena. Even though this is in no way a step down for the ‘Eater of Worlds’, this is certainly not the scenario Fiend fans had in mind. ‘The Fiend’ was unearthed on the latest episode of SmackDown Live shortly after Cena’s homecoming promo, where he announced that he didn’t intend to compete on the ‘Mania card, but after a mysteriously calm ‘Fiend’ appeared on stage to fill his quota of obligatory WrestleMania sign pointing, Cena quickly changed his mind and the match was set.
Again, facing a modern-day legend like John Cena is in no way a step down from the original WrestleMania plans for ‘The Fiend’, in fact it might even be considered an improvement from a potential defeat at the hands of ‘The Big Dog’. Wyatt may have become one of WWE’s top merch pushers, but this didn’t quite persuade the corporate side of WWE that he was a flag-bearer in any sense of the word.
‘The Fiend’ would never fit the mould of the typical WWE Champion coming out of WrestleMania. He’s in no way a babyface nor is he someone that can appear at press events or visit sick children for Make A Wish. It just doesn’t fit WWE’s standard. Goldberg, Roman Reigns and John Cena, on the other hand, certainly do. As much as it pains for us to admit, ‘The Fiend’ was a means to an end from the start, he was simply the latest in line of ‘big baddies’ to feed to the poster boy heroes, even if he was infinitely more popular than any of the current headliners.
So what exactly can WWE to help recollect some of the momentum Wyatt had prior to ‘Berg?
Well to put it simply, after ‘The Fiend’ manhandles John Cena at WrestleMania, he needs to vanish into the darkness from whence he came. The Firefly Funhouse has been a lot of fun, but perhaps we’ve seen a little too much of it for it to continue being a hot act. The beauty of ‘The Fiend’ was that fans originally had no idea when or where Wyatt would be featured on a show. The Funhouse vignettes would literally just appear on-screen in the middle of a show, with no consistency or build.
Likewise, ‘The Fiend’ would randomly select his victims as the weeks went on, occasionally showing up to lay waste to a superstar or two in the middle of a match, or profess his intentions at the end of a big pay-per-view main event to help build some hype for the next show.
Bray needs to take stock after WrestleMania, go dark for a month or two and wait for the right time to bring back the Firefly Funhouse to start building towards his return. There’s still plenty of opponents for ‘The Fiend’ to face on SmackDown Live, but now that he’s won and lost the Universal Championship, maybe there are greener pastures on Monday Night RAW?
Even though the Superstar Shake-Up isn’t for a while after WrestleMania, there’d be no harm in allowing ‘The Fiend’ to switch brands outside of the usual transfer window. Acting as a soft reboot for Bray after the absolute disaster of Super ShowDown would do nothing but favours for ‘The Fiend’s’ ring-presence. Wyatt’s gimmick relied heavily upon him being unbeatable, now that aspect has been spoiled by an ageing veteran, there leaves little for Wyatt to help keep his act believable on the blue brand.
Not only that, but the potential for Wyatt to sink his teeth into some truly spectacular feuds is a lot stronger on Monday Night RAW. ‘The Fiend’ could start to tangle with the likes of Brock Lesnar, Aleister Black and Drew McIntyre to help rebuild his credibility. There’s absolutely still enough talent for Bray Wyatt to manipulate and exploit on SmackDown, but eventually fans would get tired of the same old ‘spooky’ shtick when there’s not an inevitable title reign on the horizon.
Giving ‘The Fiend’ a new pinnacle to aspire to is the only way to revive Wyatt’s status as a big deal on the WWE roster. Granted, fans will never forget just how over he managed to make himself thanks to his latest character rejuvenation, but there’s only so many disappointments WWE fans can take before they give up on a gimmick. ‘The Fiend’ could easily drift into Vince McMahon joke character territory, which is something no wrestler should ever hope to find themselves becoming.
How would you save ‘The Fiend’? Let us know your booking scenarios in the comments below.
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