10 Times WWE Wrestlers Escaped Booking Hell

6. Bray Wyatt

The Rock transformation
WWE.com

Windham Rotunda, a third-generation superstar and one of the most creative minds to turn their attention to the squared circle, began his WWE career steeped in genericism. He debuted on the reality show incarnation of NXT under the name Husky Harris. As a member of both The Nexus and The New Nexus, Rotunda gained exposure but was often overshadowed. A Randy Orton punt kick wrote him off TV, and the dregs of this period live on as Huskus Pig.

He re-emerged as the menacing backwater cult leader Bray Wyatt. Whether giving poetic and esoteric sermons on the mic or beating down opponents displaying a misplaced giddy joy, Wyatt commanded attention. He reached World Champion heights, but his time with the belt was repeatedly fleeting and his character was dulled by losses at crucial points in his career.

After time off-screen, he returned as a new Bray Wyatt. In one of the most surreal but affective gimmick tweaks, he debuted as a split personality – a child-friendly TV host who becomes the demonic entity ‘The Fiend’. As we wait for Wyatt to return from the flames, debate is still out as to whether this new gimmick is following the same old path.

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An English Lit. MA Grad trying to validate my student debt by writing literary fiction and alternative non-fiction.