WWE: 10 Ways Bray Wyatt Has Failed As A Heel

When third-generation wrestler Windham Rotunda (son of Mike Rotunda, grandson of Blackjack Mulligan, and nephew to Barry and Kendall Windham) debuted in June 2010 as Husky Harris on NXT, it was almost as if he was doomed to failure. Similar to Joe Hennig (song of Curt Hennig, grandson of Larry "The Ax" Hennig) being repackaged as Michael McGillicutty, denying the historic lineage of these competitors seemed ridiculous, as it denied them an obvious route to initially creating a connection with the WWE Universe. As "Husky Harris," Rotunda's run in WWE lasted just under six months, the brawler largely gaining a following among internet fans who found him to be surprisingly athletic for a man well weighing well over 300 pounds. However, just over three years later, Windham Rotunda is Bray Wyatt, and as one of WWE's most compelling characters developed in the past decade, may have the ability to be a more marketable professional wrestling name than his father, grandfather and uncles combined. An earnest boy turned poster child for Southern culture on the skids, Wyatt doesn't so much wrestle matches as much as he literally disrupts the entire flow of WWE's television programming in what can bet be described as tremendous acting performances. As if developed from literally out of nowhere, Wyatt (alongside Luke Harper and Erik Rowan) is on the cusp of not just being a bad guy or good guy, but THE guy that WWE can creatively build around for possibly the next 20-30 years. While yes, Wyatt has failed as a heel, he's succeeded at something else - captivating the hearts and souls of WWE fans worldwide. But, again, from both an in-ring, business of wrestling and basic wrestling psychology standpoint, he's an absolutely terrible heel. Here's why.

10. He Has Merchandise

The key to being an effective heel is to effectively take away everything that a wrestling fan could ever like about you. The best heels are best described as a black hole where cheers go to die. When getting heat, whether on the microphone or in the ring, they're effectively denying the crowd any semblance of joy whatsoever. In wrestling's classic era, the idea that a heel would sell merchandise to the marks would probably have gotten him on the first bus headed out of the territory. If a fan can wear your t-shirt, then the fan logically believes that they've contributed, in some way, to your success. That's not exactly a trait that a heel should have. In 2014, not just Wyatt, but EVERY heel has merchandise. However, for such a new, hot and important heel linchpin to WWE's creative progression, there's absolutely no need for Wyatt to have any connection to the crowd whatsoever. From the sheep masks, to the fedoras, to the butcher-style t-shirts, standees, and so forth, Wyatt - even tangentially - having a connection to the WWE Universe undercuts his ability to portray an effective villain for the purposes of babyfaces having opponents that can increase their credibility.
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Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.