2 Ups And 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE Talking Smack (Jan 17)
3. Down - Our Next Guest...
Now over three years into his tenure on the main roster, its unfortunately safe to say that most of the mystique behind the Bray Wyatt character has worn away.
Though a raft of indifferent in-ring displays did nothing to maintain his aura, Bray's attempt at fashioning a post-modern mythical gimmick has failed largely due to WWE's inability to protect the spine of the character in a live setting.
After previously appearing on Talking Smack using their appear/disappear act before the credits rolled, it seemed as though WWE had found the formula for using Wyatt in this medium, but the company again hung him out to dry as he was presented as a woefully ordinary talk show guest off to promote something else when he was finished with Renee and Shane.
Visually absurd, the sight of a well-behaved Bray taking his seat, Twitter handle-and-all, for a polite chinwag further normalised the 'New Face of Fear', despite a well-delivered promo explaining how next week's scrap between Luke Harper and Randy Orton will actually strengthen the family leading into the Royal Rumble.
The Wyatt act will never live up to its lofty expectations, but Bray's development as a character will consistently remain hamstrung by promotional misfires such as this.