He’s here.
Bray Wyatt, after years of stagnating on the main roster has finally gotten a chance to shine bright as his fireflies as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
I fell away from the WWE for what seemed like 10 years, but when WrestleMania came to California three years ago, my inner-child told me I had to go. So, not to be uninformed when I went to the event, I watched up on the story lines that were occurring at the time.
While it wasn’t hard to get engaged with The Undertaker’s feud, due to him being one of my all-time favorites, I was almost entranced by his opponent, Wyatt. I watched promo after promo of a character who had a certain aura around him. He used his linguistic ability and almost serenaded you as he delivered what seemed to be the best promo night in and night out.
His vignettes became something I had to see and the sound of the low bass along with that snare of his theme song prepared me for his arrival. With his cult-like charm and his continuous advancement of character, he’s one of the few wrestlers in WWE that could have held his own against the likes of The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in the ’90s.
Since I followed Bray Wyatt’s career these past few years, he’s repeatedly out-shined his counterparts on promos, but it seemed like every time the Wyatts built up some steam, they’d lose a member to injury, whether it be Bray himself, Luke Harper or Erick Rowan.
It was almost unfair to the stable, but due to the limitations that came with having only two of the three main cogs healthy the Wyatts were forced to fall into the shadows and wait their turn.
Then, Wyatt was paired with Randy Orton. Orton, who always had his own venomous way of playing tricks on the roster, pledged his allegiance to the Wyatt family.
This resulted in Wyatt getting his first taste of gold as he and Orton earned the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, before dropping them to American Alpha. In my opinion, the two could have held onto the belts longer, but WWE had bigger plans.
Orton won the Royal Rumble to make him the No. 1 contender to the highest championship and Bray Wyatt was thrown into the title conversation as well as one of six wrestlers in the Elimination Chamber.
Almost everyone saw the direction this was heading and it was almost guaranteed that Wyatt would win the belt at the pay per view, but it still didn’t seem real. The one who had been brushed aside and buried had finally solidified his place atop SD Live.
Wyatt, along with Styles, would have to be the top talkers on SD and on Tuesday, the two would share the ring with John Cena to set up a triple-threat match for the title. Instantly, I thought Wyatt would pin Styles, but he didn’t. He pinned the man that had embarrassed him — and Harper and Rowan — at WrestleMania four years prior.
This had to be a surreal feeling for the “husky” star that has been using his eloquent southern drawl to bespell the audience weekly. Chants of “you deserve it” may be corny, but it is the closest thing to the truth when it comes to Bray Wyatt. He’s got the whole world in his hands and the Era of Wyatt has begun.
*Pictured: Topps Now WWE Card #58, released 2/12/17