Bray Wyatt vs. Undertaker Will Mean Nothing at WrestleMania 31

Since the Royal Rumble, Bray Wyatt has been partaking in his unique brand of eerily cryptic promos to point towards an undetermined goal. He discusses fearing no man living or dead, about already living hell on earth, and hammering nails into a structure, potentially a coffin. With the creepy nature of his gimmick and that he has no feud in place on the Road to WrestleMania, many are presuming that Bray Wyatt will compete against the Undertaker on the Grandest Stage of Them All.

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In the past decade, this has been a supreme honor for a superstar to be offered such a bout. The Undertaker practically embodied WrestleMania, and being placed against him on the card meant that you were in one of the show’s biggest matches. That was partly due to the sheer presence and legendary status of the Phenom, as well as his outstanding entrances and attires. However, the undoubted appeal surrounded the Streak. This was the undefeated run of the Undertaker at the PPV, stretching back to his first appearance at WrestleMania 7 against Jimmy Snuka. This gave not only an easy angle to work off of, but added immediate intrigue into whether a superstar could overcome the seemingly impossible.

However, since last year’s event that appeal has disappeared. Brock Lesnar shocked the world by defeating the Undertaker at WrestleMania 30. In one of the most surreal scenes in the history of professional wrestling, the most celebrated streak in history was broken at the hands of the Beast Incarnate and current WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Whilst Lesnar was undoubtedly a worthy winner, and an athlete that would believably end such a prominent run, it does leave all future WrestleMania cards without the appeal of that streak.

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So, if Wyatt was to be the next challenger for the Undertaker at WrestleMania, it cannot take place without a tinge of sadness in my eyes. Though Lesnar was a worthy winner, he was already a main event attraction under his part-time schedule, and certainly did not need the boost that the Streak’s conquering provided. In fact, one cannot but be immensely disappointed at not only the poor quality of the match between Undertaker and Lesnar, but also how Lesnar has in no way needed to exploit or use the fact that he defeated the Deadman. Frankly, he received a greater boost from decimating John Cena at SummerSlam and his Royal Rumble triple threat victory.

Someone who definitely could have made use of breaking Undertaker’s streak was Bray Wyatt, without any question. Wyatt has a similarly eerie persona, a bizarre character and a demonstrable lack of fear towards death or pain. Also, after a mixed first year-and-a-half in WWE that has seen many praise his psychology and promo skills but heavily criticize his in-ring performances, Wyatt would have certainly benefited from overcoming such a legendary figure as the Undertaker and breaking his dominance of WrestleMania.

Also, it would have without question been capitalized upon far greater than Brock Lesnar’s victory was. Whilst hearing Paul Heyman discuss him as “the one in 21-1” is excellent, Wyatt as a regular member of the roster could have made such more use of breaking the Streak. He could have launched a new cult of superstars that reveled in the name of the defeater of the Deadman. Wyatt could have referred to himself as the new Phenom, stepping into the massive boots of the legendary competitor. His entrance video could have been simply the image of 21-1 for an entire year to remind everybody of his feat.

Instead, the best Wyatt can hope for is to be the second man to defeat the Undertaker at WrestleMania, which doesn’t have the same ring to it. Undertaker should have waited until he was ready to retire to finally lose at the event, no matter who it was he fell to. So, the only appeal to this match is the legendary status of the Undertaker, which still holds strong, and the potential quality of the match. That is the real problem with this match, because as Lesnar found out last year, you can get away with a sub-par match if the Streak was broken. Now Wyatt doesn’t have that on offer, it needs to be a great match, and that is far from likely to happen.

Bray Wyatt has had only a handful of standout matches since debuting in 2013, often against speedier technical wrestlers like Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler. But, more often than not his matches have ranged from the dull to simply unwatchable, including bouts against Kane, John Cena and Chris Jericho. That would put a lot of pressure on the Undertaker, which is not a great idea. Although he is undeniably one of the greatest wrestlers in WWE history with regards to storytelling, he doesn’t compete regularly anymore, and as these pictures show he does not seem to be in the greatest shape. At 49 years old and looking even more aged due to the punishment of his long career, the chances of this being an excellent contest are slim to none.

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This match therefore cannot help either superstar except in one scenario – Wyatt absolutely destroys the Undertaker. An unrelenting destruction of the legendary Phenom in a way similar to Lesnar vs. Cena at SummerSlam would allow Wyatt to have the same boost from this match that would have been achieved by defeating the Streak. Although it would be a sad way to end the legendary career of the Undertaker, it would put over a prominent young star and help the company build for the future, whilst he can wait for a first ballot spot in the Hall of Fame.

If anything other than this scenario happens, this potential WrestleMania clash will mean absolutely nothing to Bray Wyatt, the Undertaker, or the fans.

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