How WWE Should Bring Back Bray Wyatt

Seth Rollins Bray Wyatt Hell In A Cell
WWE.com

Many considered this the case as early as the character's second televised match. WWE's inability to function simply as a proper wrestling organisation by 2019 has a moveable start date based on individual viewers' own discovery that the magic really had gone, but Hell In A Cell 2019 was an introspective moment for many Wyatt devotees buzzing at his otherwise-successful reinvention.

The disastrous titular main event was a multifarious catastrophe that reeked of the company's broken processes and myopic audience-of-one mentality. That it took place right as All Elite Wrestling was launching Dynamite instantly rendered any comparison between AEW and the main roster moot - one was a wrestling show, the other was whatever mutated monstrosity Vince McMahon wanted from his Sports Entertainment show that week.

And a mutated monstrosity is exactly what The Fiend was after such an unacceptably rotten display. Going to a stoppage with Universal Champion Seth Rollins because Vince McMahon insisted on rushing to an unwieldy title programme between the two, the feud's cheesiness on television was the least of anybody's concerns by the time Fiend was "saved" from further cartoon destruction by the referee waving the whole thing off.

A bad match with an even worse finish, the company's internal disagreement on what the Fiend gimmick even was - is he a human being with a high pain tolerance, or a sci-fi/horror movie amalgamation with magic powers? - hamstrung and handcuffed both Rollins as Champion and Wyatt as his indestructible challenger. Booking inconclusive finish in the stipulation designed to end everything was pathetic, as was the company's "Match Cannot Be Stopped For Any Reason" stipulation in the rematch as a make-good.

WWE's most patient observers (or simply Wyatt's biggest devotees) somehow gave promotion and performer more chances to get it right, and the organisation itself looked deep into Windham Rotunda's in-ring past to try and salvage Bray Wyatt's crumbling future...

CONT'D...

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett