Besides the occasional fatal four way, since Bray Wyatt’s first arrival in the WWE July 2013 he has had very little to do with any of the major WWE championships. Yet during that time he has had feuds with a who’s who of WWE champions such as John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Undertaker, Kane, Dean Ambrose, Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns and currently Randy Orton. It seems Bray Wyatt is a main event player, but not a main event champion. He is the go to wrestler for other main event and upper card wrestlers when they are currently not in a title contention. It is Bray’s strength at developing a feud and the delivering of promos that is in-fact his downfall in not being placed in major WWE title matches. This has placed him on a dangerous path where he may be remembered along the lines of Jake The Snake Roberts, and other such as Rowdy Roddy Piper and King Kong Bundy as a major WWE superstar never to win a major WWE title.
If we briefly look at Jake The Snake’s WWE career for example, he would have a stellar WWE career, but would never hold any WWE (WWF) titles, even though Jake The Snake Robert had major feuds with all the major WWE main event wrestlers in the 80’s era. Jake The Snake had major feuds against champions such as Macho Man Randy Savage, Andre The Giant, The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase, The Undertaker, Rick Rude and The Ultimate Warrior. In fact so good was Jake The Snake Roberts in developing feuds and fan reaction, it is rumoured Hulk Hogan refused a feud with Roberts as he feared the crowd favouring Jake more than him, costing Jake his shot at the World Heavyweight title.
See http://(https://bostongardenbalcony.wordpress.com/2013/09/07/recent-reports-explain-why-hulk-hogan-nixed-a-feud-with-jake-the-snake-roberts/)
Like Bray, Roberts greatest strength in providing chilling promos, and delivering intense situations meant he was a great go to for main event superstars currently not in the title picture. The best example of this was his feud with Macho Man, and even over 30 years later the image of Jake the Snake Roberts holding a king Cobra while it bit on Macho Man still is a highlight for me in my fandom of wrestling and the WWE. Whether it was as a heel manipulating the Ultimate Warrior, or defending his wife’s honour against Rick Rude, Jake The Snake Roberts rarely failed to delivery in a rivalry.
Fast forward to today, and Bray Wyatt is somewhat mirroring Jake’s career. Both are seen as creditable opponents for the main event wrestlers, both bring intense promos and situations to develop the feud, and both can hold their own in the ring against a variety of opponents. The other strength and therefore a weakness in the placing into championships for Bray (and was the same with Jake The Snake), is a loss in a match or feud does not hurt his standing. Bray has come out on top of several feuds, but in feuds against major WWE players (John Cena, The Undertaker, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar) he has always come up short. This has not hurt his current standing in the WWE. This means if a main event wrestler needs a push, or to regain lost momentum (as with Randy Orton) Bray Wyatt is the man the WWE rely on to perform this task.
Feud Result
Kane Won
Daniel Bryan Won
John Cena Lost
Chris Jericho Won
Dean Ambrose Won
Undertaker Lost
Ryback Won
Roman Reigns Lost
Kane/ Undertaker Lost
Brock Lesnar Lost
The New Day Unfinished drafted to Smackdown
Randy Orton Current
The Brand split may be just what Bray Wyatt has needed. After the feud with Randy Orton is finished, there is not a lot of options for Bray Wyatt on the Smackdown brand. John Cena, and Dean Ambrose have both already had their battles with Bray, so returning to those will not do any of the 3 any benefits in careers. This leaves current WWE World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styls as a possible option, and with both claiming to be the face of Smackdown, this could produce some great promos and in-ring work from the pair, with hopefully Bray Wyatt ending up finally holding the major Championship he rightly deserves.
Hooroo and see you next time
Craig Higham
http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Telling-Its-Fake-Wrestling/dp/1489585508
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