Bray Wyatt, the Man to Replace the Undertaker?

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A couple of weeks ago at Hell in a Cell we saw the return of one of the most mysterious characters in the history of wrestling.

Bray Wyatt dropped himself well and truly back into the upper echelons of WWE with his attack on Dean Ambrose, which saw Seth Rollins gain the win in the grudge match between the two former Shield members.

The enigmatic Wyatt is one of the most intriguing members of the current WWE roster, and he could teach a few of his colleagues a thing or two about making the best from a less than appealing situation.

What we now see of Wyatt is a far cry from his time as a member of the original NXT series, then The Nexus, under the Husky Harris name. When that faction ran its course and was disbanded he returned to then developmental territory FCW.

The majority of 2011-12 was spent wrestling under that same name, but the change to what we now know as NXT, saw the debut of a brand new gimmick, the man we now know as Bray Wyatt took hold of the territory from the start.

Seeing himself as more of a cult leader, with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan as his “sons”, The Wyatt Family was born.

They set about a reign of terror amongst the NXT roster, beating the majority of foes set against them.

Shooting early promos in the swamps, it took a little time for Vince McMahon to spot the undoubted talents of the group. But once he did it took a matter of weeks for vignettes for them to feature on RAW.

It’s not very often that a wrestler goes away, comes back with his own gimmick, and then makes a success of it on the biggest stage. But that is exactly what has happened here!!

The eerie vignettes, shot in the back woods, were something so different to what had been seen before. The sight of Bray, sat rocking back and forth in his chair, flanked by a lamb mask wearing Rowan and a menacing looking Harper, were enough to strike fear into anyone.

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The move to the main roster gave them an even bigger audience to seemingly terrorise.

Between their debut and the current day, the family (and latterly Wyatt alone) have faced the majority of the roster, and quickly become one of the highlights of WWE programming.

Wyatt portrays the evangelical, cult style character perfectly, this is one of those gimmicks you cannot fail to be impressed by. Seeing the crowd reaction to him over the last couple of years has been nothing short of amazing.

After setting Rowan and Harper free he’s been off the scene for a few weeks, but when the lights went out during the main event of Hell in a Cell, you knew exactly what was about to happen.

The eerie theme music hit, the arena filled up with the usual lights, and Wyatts lantern appeared in the centre of the ring. The smoke and hologram that followed completely sucked in Ambrose, before the returning Wyatt burst through the smoke and laid out Ambrose.

Since that night Bray has hinted that he knows a secret from Ambrose’s past, whatever that is will come out in time. Calling him “a monster like me” on the Halloween edition of Smackdown that secret could be something sinister from his past.

It’s yet to be seen where the angle will take the two men, but it’s surely an angle that is going to carry both men towards WrestleMania.

There have been rumours that current NXT stars the Ascension, the team of Konnor and Viktor, were set to be his new “sons” but that has yet to come to fruition.

It’s a long way from his portrayal of Husky Harris. There’s only one man to thank for that and that’s the man himself. Putting in the work in the developmental territory to make the character what it is today.

Wyatt is probably the best gimmick happening in wrestling right now. The coming year will see him firmly cement himself in the main event picture and take over the space left by the Undertaker, in the eerie, spooky, dead man style.

The future looks bright at the top of the company for many years to come!

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