Bray Oh Bray. The Bray Wyatt Issue

Bray Wyatt, without any hesitation, should be this generation’s Undertaker. When the man himself finally arrived on Monday Night Raw in the summer of 2013, expectations were extremely high; following an exciting run in NXT, that didn’t expose the character, the onus was on WWE to get the placement and presentation of Bray spot on. For the first few months into Bray’s WWE run, things were going smoothly, an entertaining, albeit messy first feud with veteran Kane, put the man over in a strong way. Bray would find himself in a captivating feud with top babyface Daniel Bryan, which would allow Bray to work an angle with the most overt face in the company, meaning everything Bray did was eaten up, by even the most casual of fans. The feud with Bryan culminated in a match at the infamous Royal Rumble in Pittsburgh, which saw Bray pin Bryan clean in his best match to date. On the surface this sounds like the perfect foundations for a debuting NXT talent; what happened next however, was unfortunately the beginning of his decline.

A feud with John Cena was on the horizon. Clearly a massive opportunity to make a star, even if Bray would consequently lose the two follow up matches, everyone would always remember that Bray Wyatt pinned John Cena at WrestleMania 30. So why didn’t they do this? It’s unclear; reports at the time indicated that Bray was going to go over Cena at the PPV. Sadly, after a back and forth affair, Cena won clean. Bray would never be the same, Bray would win the follow up match in a clunky, overcomplicated Cage match at the Extreme Rules PPV in New Jersey. However, Bray would lose the final match in the trilogy; an impressive Last Man Standing match in Chicago.

When a heel promises to do certain things in a promo, then fails, some may argue that it’s justified as they are in-fact a heel. However, when this heel does this time and time again, their credibility dies. WWE when they write Bray’s promos may feel they are being ‘edgy’ or ‘ground-breaking,’ with these cryptic promos that no normal fan could possibly understand, however, that logic is unjust. If Bray simply claimed he was going to win in order to serve a greater purpose, that would simply be enough. The intrigue is there (what is the greater purpose) and the logical basis of the promo is there (a wrestler wants to win *something every casual fan can understand*).

Coming out of the Cena feud, Chris Jericho would put over Bray at the SummerSlam event and in a cage match on a proceeding RAW, unfortunately it did little for Bray, as his credibility was already damaged in the eyes of the casual fan. For the rest of 2014, Bray would be placed in a never-ending feud with hot babyface Dean Ambrose, which involved the two main-eventing the TLC PPV that December, with Bray going over. Once again, the feud did little for Bray. The feud was also where Bray’s nonsensical promos seemed to fill his segments week in week out.

In January 2015, reports surfaced that The Undertaker would be facing Bray at WrestleMania 31; with the catch being that The Undertaker would be absent from the build, meaning Bray had to do the entire build: did he deliver? Yes. Bray took seven weeks of programming and managed to maintain the use of promo work to effectively build interest in the match. Then what happened? He lost in a dull affair. A massive missed opportunity was in the way WWE handled the streak ending the previous year; if Vince just held out for one year and had Bray be the one who ended the streak, it is a possibility this article would never be published.

Following the Taker feud, Bray’s in-ring work would be highlighted with a feud with Roman Reigns, leading to a sleeper Hell in a Cell match in October. Sadly, Bray lost the feud and his character and future was in a state of flux, due to ongoing injury issues and henceforth his placement at WrestleMania 32 was in doubt. WWE’s grand idea for the event was to have Bray and the rest of the Wyatt’s interrupt The Rock, resulting in The Rock & Cena laying waste to them. The highlight of the segment was a throwaway line that The Rock uttered concerning Bray’s popularity; which the crowd in Dallas ate up, but sadly 30 seconds later it was forgotten. Two weeks later, a perceived face turn took place as Bray teamed with Roman Reigns against the League of Nations on RAW; which included a fantastic signaling of the spear finish. Sadly, this would fail to go anywhere as Bray once again was hurt, upon his return he was placed into a feud alongside The Wyatt’s with The New Day, whilst albeit full of potential was unmemorable and was quickly forgotten about as the impending brand lurked.

Fast forward to late 2016. The draft had taken place and SmackDown was presenting its best product since late 2002; Bray Wyatt was Tag Team Champion with Randy Orton, who seemed happy and motivated with the role. Then at the Elimination Chamber PPV, it happened, Bray Wyatt won the WWE Title. All the messy, complicated booking was finally worth it, Bray was WWE Champion and was going to face Randy Orton at WrestleMania. Clearly, you don’t need to be a wrestling expert to know that Bray needed to go over in the match, but no. Sadly, despite having the match gimmicked with weird protectionary effects, Bray lost clean in the worst match on the show. A six week title run had ended at its first PPV hurdle and Bray was back to square one. We would later find out, that this occurred due to Vince wanting to push Jinder Mahal and expand the Indian market, which would ultimately become a monumental failure.

Following WrestleMania, Bray would have a feud with Seth Rollins that nobody remembers, then a horrendous feud with Finn Balor, that never seemed to end and even involved Bray Wyatt threatening to show up to a PPV match in drag. Luckily, he got sick.

Years of wasted potential. What do you do with an incredible talent who is possibly beyond repair? You turn him babyface as a last resort. Maybe an anti-authority Bray v Triple H angle may lead to fans taking him seriously again. The sad part is WWE has nobody to blame other than itself, something that is a trend with a modern-day performers.

What Fans Say:

If you ask fans what truly ended Bray’s credibility. Here’s what some folks on Twitter have to say:

@trevor_radman: Repetitive same boring promos. They were interesting and unique at first. However, now I just completely zone out whenever he's talking and even wrestling at this point. Losing to Orton at mania completely ruined him to the point of no fixture imo.

@jmanchanese: Imo, Bray was one of hottest things in WWE before he lost to Cena. He and his Family beat The Shield in the PPV prior to the one where he lost to Cena. Once he actually lost to Cena, he started doing pointless filler feuds and it’s been downhill ever since.

@LFCJosh23: Far too repetitive. Same thing every feud: Starts with random attack on babyface, ‘creepy’ promo’s saying how said babyface is “just a man” and Bray is “a god,” this continues until next PPV and then Bray just gets pinned clean. Rinse and repeat.

@WWE__Matthew: I think the nature of his character is too complex. The writing of his promos is too abstract as well and it’s very repetitive. Think of how good Elias’ character is. At the core, it’s just a guy with a guitar. It’s simple yet so effective. Wyatt’s promos are just incoherent.

@MarkForRasslin: Pointless/Rambling promos. Not winning feuds (BIGGEST Problem). He isn't credible. Any matches he wins now is either through a distraction or someone does the work for him and he pins them.

@ExtremistYTDzn: Mania 30=Lost to Cena. Mania 31=Lost to Taker. Mania 32=Beat down by an injured Cena and Rock. Mania 33=Lost to Orton and never got a rematch. He could never generate any momentum and when he did, he got flattened in almost comical fashion.