5 People who Vince McMahon touted as future WWE stars (and what happened next)
Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff and Triple H are currently in charge of overseeing the creative direction of Raw, SmackDown Live and NXT, but Vince McMahon is the one person who has the final say on WWE’s biggest storyline decisions.
As we have seen with dozens of Superstars over the last five years, somebody can be the most popular character in Triple H’s NXT but it counts for little when they make their way onto Raw and SmackDown Live, where people have to prove themselves all over again to McMahon.
In some cases, however, the WWE chairman has seen lots of potential in somebody early on in their career and he has even gone as far as name-checking them as potential stars of the future.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at five people from WWE past and present who McMahon thought could go on to become major players for his company.
#5 Bray Wyatt
What did Vince McMahon say about Bray Wyatt?
Speaking to Steve Austin on the first edition of the ‘Stone Cold Podcast’ on the WWE Network in December 2014, Vince McMahon said Bray Wyatt was one of four Superstars who was “chomping at the bit” to become the first person since John Cena to reach for the imaginary WWE “brass ring”.
What happened next to Bray Wyatt?
At the time of McMahon’s comments, Wyatt had already faced Cena in a marquee match at WrestleMania 30. He went on to appear in high-profile encounters against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 31 and Randy Orton at WrestleMania 33 before his career began to stagnate in 2017 and 2018.
What does the future hold for Bray Wyatt?
The ‘Firefly Fun House’ segments recently ended on Raw, which means the rejuvenated Wyatt looks set to return to in-ring action for the first time in almost a year. The future looks very bright for the former Wyatt Family leader, who has become one of WWE’s most popular stars again over the last few weeks.