10 Clean Wins Over Top WWE Stars That Were Totally Wasted
6. Bray Wyatt D. Daniel Bryan (Royal Rumble 2014)
Daniel Bryan's exclusion from the 2014 Royal Rumble ensures the event will forever live on in pro-wrestling infamy, and immediately eclipsed his loss to Bray Wyatt earlier in the evening. Having spent months courting DB's services, 'The Eater Of Worlds' finally recruited Bryan to his Family in December, but his new subject turned on him a month later, leading to a singles match at the January event.
Wyatt defeated Bryan as clean as a whistle, but while The "Yes!" Movement would send Daniel's career stratospheric soon after, the night brought no tangible benefits for Bray. Him, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan engaged in a fantastic rivalry with The Shield afterwards, but Wyatt's next singles feud was against John Cena, and it ended disastrously.
Cena effectively crushed the entire Wyatt Family in one night, and Bray's credibility was dealt a blow he has never truly recovered from. It could be argued that the Bryan victory allowed him to progress to John, an unquestionably bigger opponent, but he benefited little in the long run. The next few years saw his inability to "win the big one" become a meme, and while he held the WWE Title for a brief period earlier this year, Bray has been largely directionless for well over three years now.