The entire Bray Wyatt character was the brainchild of Dusty Rhodes, Dave Meltzer reveals in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Rhodes also came up with the idea to put Rusev and Lana together, in addition to taking Roman Reigns under his wing as a personal project. That just goes to show how important Dusty Rhodes was to the WWE, even in very recent history. He had a massive hand in making Reigns what he is today, the next franchise star of the entire company. His idea to put Rusev and Lana together was also a stroke of genius, as they went on to be one of the biggest acts of latter 2014 and early 2015. But it was his creation of Bray Wyatt that really marks out Rhodes' brain for the business. That character is one of the most fleshed out creations on the entire WWE roster. As for Roman Reigns, Dusty is credited with giving him the confidence to perform. Reigns was unable to cut a promo when he came to Dusty, but eventually ended up able to cut an old school improv promo to the highest standard. That sort of influence on the current top stars is going to be near impossible for WWE to replace. Dusty had the rare ability of being a teacher and a friend, all at the same time.
