How The Fiend Saved Bray Wyatt

Stepping outside the comfort zone has created WWE's best new character in years.

Six months ago, your writer filmed a video titled Bray Wyatt: What Went Wrong? for WhatCulture Wrestling's YouTube channel.

Based on this article by Michael Hamflett, it was a thorough, in-depth analysis of a character who'd gone from being touted as "the next Undertaker" in 2013 to a missing-in-action husk in 2019, and the factors causing his demise.

Wyatt had fallen apart long before our content was published. It began with a ghastly Ring of Fire match versus Kane at SummerSlam 2013. The ensuing years brought such horrors as the credibility-crushing John Cena feud, several pointless Wyatt Family splits/reunions, Kane and Big Show miserably dumping Bray over the top rope in the 2015 Royal Rumble, a WWE Championship reign years too late, the Randy Orton bug match, the House of Horrors, etc., etc., etc. The list goes on, and on, and on.

The character that left our screens for an extended hiatus in August 2018 was a babbling, broken joke, and a parody of his former self, despite a fun stint alongside Matt Hardy in the Deleters of Worlds. His situation was so dire that the average fan may have taken you for a troll had you told them that in a few months that Wyatt would be the hottest thing on WWE television by SummerSlam, and yet here we are.

It's August 2019, and Bray Wyatt has never been better.

CONT'd...

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.