10 Quick WWE Fixes To Save Bray Wyatt

9. Stop Laughing

Bray Wyatt Finn Balor
WWE.com

At this point, when Bray Wyatt laughs, it's as if he's laughing at his own jokes. Considering that he is a joke, it doesn't translate as threatening. It is literally laughable.

The tics associated with Wyatt have stigmatised him as a loser, which he reinforces through tedious repetition. There's an equivalency to his mannerisms and his positioning now, which explains why has descended into full self-parody. The whisper/shout cadence also needs to go, for the same reason. Drop the word "man" from his vocabulary. It paints him as a joke because it is synonymous with his time as a joke. It used to make sense. The inhuman Wyatt used it to mock his more human enemies. Now, he's lower down on the food chain than any of them. "Predator becomes prey," he once said in another incoherent, meaningless promo. Prey Wyatt isn't just a pun.

It might seem like a nothing shortcut leading to nowhere - but the finer points of presentation matter. Triple H was rinsed for his inflection upon transitioning to 'The Game". The last word of every sentence he uttered ended in "uh!". It was ripe for parody - and The Rock parodied him in legendary fashion at the peak of his powers. "Tonight-uh, I am the Game-uh, and in this very ring-uh, for the next twenty minutes-uh, I'm going to be talking-uh, and saying absolutely nothing-uh!"

Those parallels are as eerie as Wyatt gets-uh. Triple H soon received the message. Wyatt should too.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!