WWE drops the ball with Bray Wyatt
Once again, I have to vent my frustrations about WWE backing out from doing the right thing. Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family have been one of the best things that happened in the WWE this year. After a great feud with Daniel Bryan, Wyatt was then inserted in a program with John Cena; a John Cena who talked about putting over the young blood. The same John Cena who wanted the next generation of superstars to step up and take his place.
When I heard Cena saying those words, I believed for the first time that Cena will be jobbing to Bray Wyatt clean – the kind of ‘rub’ that would elevate Bray Wyatt to superstardom. John Cena did not need wins against Bray Wyatt, as he was already the face of the company, and has been that for nearly a decade.
The outcome of the feud should’ve ideally been Cena putting Wyatt over, and then getting into another feud. Losing to Wyatt wouldn’t have hurt Cena, but losing to Cena would greatly hurt Wyatt. That was the general consensus before WWE rolled into Chicago for the Payback PPV. And as I feared, John Cena defeated Bray Wyatt, which once again put Cena over as the unstoppable force in the WWE. While Cena will now get into the main event scene and challenge for the WWE World Heavyweight championship, we have to question what will happen to Bray Wyatt. Will he be the same menacing force he was a couple of months ago? The answer is a simple no.
I wouldn’t have had a problem had Cena single handedly defeated Bray Wyatt. Instead, Cena fought against the entire Wyatt family (albeit The Usos also interfered), and came out on top. That isn’t the kind of angle you should put someone into whom you consider as a monster. Had Kane lost to The Undertaker right after he debuted, and that too in a convincing fashion, would you take him to be a ‘monster’? No, he would have been just another guy on the roster. The Wyatts made their debut as the single most destructive faction in the WWE, and all of that amounted to zilch this past Sunday night as John Cena literally buried Bray Wyatt.
To understand my frustrations, let’s look at how things panned out. At WrestleMania, the showcase of the immortals, Cena defeated Bray Wyatt clean, which should’ve raised an alarm. During the next PPV, Cena once again fought all the three members of the Wyatt Family, and in the end, he fell short as Bray Wyatt picked up the victory. This wasn’t a clean win mind you, but due to the distraction caused by a little kid. Even then, WWE had the opportunity to turn this angle into something big – Make Cena believe that the entire WWE Universe has turned on him. Let Bray Wyatt play some mind games, leading to something interesting and different. Let Cena be a different character than what he has been for the past 9 years.
In the end, Cena was the same superstar who got booed out of the building at Madison Square Garden. Cena was the same character that has been facing ridicule, the ever so loud “Cena sucks” chants at every show. John Cena had the option of putting Bray Wyatt over, giving him the rub of his life and making him into something much bigger. But the WWE machine, which only cares about John Cena being marketed to the young kids, and his merchandise getting sold out in every arena had other ideas.
If WWE only cares about John Cena, then there was no reason to put Bray Wyatt in this feud. After all, every feud is important, especially if you’re on a hot streak. Ryback was in the midst of the biggest push of his life, and one bad feud with CM Punk threw him downthe ladder, and look how the mighty had fallen!
If WWE weren’t going to put Bray Wyatt over Cena, they shouldn’t have bothered with the feud. If Wyatt only had to job to Cena at WrestleMania and Payback, then I believe this feud was never about putting Bray Wyatt over as the next big superstar climbing up the ranks. How seriously would you take a guy who couldn’t beat his opponent, even with the help of his two henchmen? Cena’s credibility wouldn’t have taken a beating had he lost to Wyatt, but Bray Wyatt’s credibility took a huge dive when he lost to Cena twice in three PPVs. In the end, all the evidence points to the fact that WWE would rather drop the ball with Bray Wyatt, than let John Cena put him over.