The vignettes made your skin crawl. With the exception of the Undertaker, their ring entrance was more eerie than anything a WWE audience had seen before. The in-ring dominance was hard to ignore. Promos that would have Jake "The Snake" Roberts shaking his head in approval. The Wyatts were taking over the WWE Universe. In a time when unique acts are few and far between, the Wyatts gave the fans something different.
When Husky Harris was part of the Nexus, he was near unlikeable. His character was a heel alright, but probably not in the way the WWE would have liked. The repackaging was underway. Harris disappeared, only to re-emerge as Bray Wyatt, the manipulative voice of what would become the Wyatt family. Along with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, Wyatt took the WWE by storm in the Spring of 2013. The trio made easy work of Kane and turned their sights on recruiting fan favorite, and Kane's former Hell No teammate, Daniel Bryan. While the storyline had potential, it was brought to a seemingly abrupt halt. WWE had different plans for the group and Bryan. Bryan's fate was higher profile (a date with destiny at Wrestlemania), but the Wyatts got the next best options: feuds with John Cena and The Shield.
The Wyatts/Shield matches were outstanding. It may be a rivalry that didn't have enough shelf life to be one of the all-time greats, but it was fun to watch. Great chemistry between the two groups. But the WWE was ready to move on to Cena and Bray. And it was a good decision, at first. The two had some solid matchups, exchanging victories. But as time moved on, you knew Cena would ultimately win and Wyatt would get that traditional step back for the hot new talents. It's a common move by the WWE. Build them up strong, knock them back a bit.
Bray moved onto a progam with the part-timer, but always a legend, Chris Jericho. "Disappointing" might not be the right word, but this feud left much to be desired when you look back at it in it's totallity. I think everyone expected amazing promos back and forth. Maybe it was Jericho's fault. Maybe people expected that old Jericho cockiness in his promos to blend well with the haunting retorts by Wyatt. Just didn't reach my expectations.
At this point, Bray had already engaged in feuds with the biggest faces in the company. There was a sense that a face turn could be on the horizon, especially after he 'set free' both Harper and Rowan. That sense dissolved when Wyatt took out Ambrose, out of the blue, during his cage match with Seth Rollins for the title. Again, another feud that seemed to start off well, but didn't carry the same intensity as the Cena feud. It almost felt forced, but the matches were
solid. The storyline though, could have been better. After awhile the promos sounded like a broken record. Talking in circles? I thought so.
Moving on, Harper took the heel path, while Rowan was thrust into a strange situation as a member of John Cena's team at the Survivor Series. The match was a memorable one, and though both Harper and Rowan left their mark, it just didn't feel the same. Harper went on to being a big man with a ton of in-ring ability who never won. Rowan never got over with the crowd as a face. There were some nights where you can argue that you can hear, and I hate cliches, a pin drop during his entrance.
After what some would classify as an underwhelming match with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania, the WWE had really no direction for Wyatt. So it began, after fans seemingly hinted at the idea of bringing the group back together, it looked like the WWE was going to appease the fans. Rowan rejoined Harper. It was only a matter of time, right? Wrong! The worst case scenario, Rowan suffered an injury that would leave him out for an extended period of time.
So what was the WWE to do? Well, during the mist of a Reigns/Wyatt feud that started off slowly and was treading on the side of dull, Harper emerged at the side of Wyatt once again. But it wasn't the same. This wasn't the Wyatts we were used to. The speculation was rampant. Who becomes the third Wyatt? Is it Leo Kruger, cause he seems backwoodsy? No. Is it someone on the NXT roster? Not necessarily.... Does Ambrose turn on Reigns and join the Wyatts? Well...that's what I thought... so were we going to just continue on with this storyline that was getting repetitive? Then the lights went out. When they came back on, it was a vision that made you stare at the television, wondering what you were watching. Braun Strowman, similar in look to Bray although much more size and strength (renowned Strongman Competitor), dawning the black sheep mask, came into the ring and dismantled Reigns and Ambrose with the greatest of ease. It gave the Wyatt family a new dimension, power that couldn't be matched by either Harper or Rowan. It made the Wyatts fresh again. And there's the sense that there's more to come....
Does Sister Abigail make her first appearance? You'd have to think it would be a female who we haven't seen much of, if at all. Maybe someone straight from the Performance Center, similar to the way Strowman was brought in. Could it possibly be Mika Rotunda, Bray's real life sister? Does Rowan also rejoin the faction? We know he's not going anywhere as a face unless they come up with a new gimmick that catches on (please no Brodus Clay type ideas). So many questions, which makes the Wyatts become must watch once again, cause you never know when they will be answered. Stay tuned....
-Steve
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