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At Long Last, Bray Wyatt is WWE Champion

ByAlexander Podgorski|

For Bray Wyatt, it really is better late than never.

On Sunday, February 12th, 2017, Bray Wyatt became WWE champion for the first time. Throughout the match, he was supposed to be a bad guy. The fans were supposed to boo him. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the fans cheered everything Bray did, even when he attacked the ostensibly-larger fan favorite A.J. Styles. And when he won the WWE Championship, the crowd erupted with joy.

Many people had predicted that Wyatt would win the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber, and for once, WWE did the predictable thing and it turned out great. Instead of turning on the match for being so easily pre-determined, the fans were happy that Wyatt won. Their joy stemmed from seeing a guy that had started off on such a rough path that it was impossible to think he’d ever reach the top earn the top prize in the company.

Six years ago, there was no Bray Wyatt; instead, there was Husky Harris. A man whose first name was basically a synonym for ‘fat’. No matter how much WWE tried to build him up into something bigger through nicknames such as, ‘the Army Tank with a Ferrari Engine’, he just wasn’t catching on. He couldn’t get over with his agility, nor could he do so with his look. He was in desperate need of something new, a complete revamp of his character and personality.

Enter NXT. Under Triple H’s direction, NXT transformed from an abysmal elimination-style show where wrestlers play games like Musical Chairs, to a bona fide developmental territory designed to build the champions of the future. NXT has since gone on to become a third brand of sorts, with shows and TakeOver specials that compete with the main roster shows (including WrestleMania itself) in terms of popularity.

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Many wrestlers have come from elsewhere and have flourished in NXT, before moving on to even bigger success on the main shows. Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and to a lesser extent, Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns, have all gone through NXT and have become stars on RAW or SmackDown.

But Wyatt was the first true success story from NXT. He was a WWE guy through-and-through, and didn’t need to have wrestled elsewhere to have garnered a fan following. As for Roman Reigns, he has achieved considerable success so far, but his rise to the top has been mired in controversy and downright rejection in some respects.

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Wyatt, meanwhile, stayed true to his original character and remained an evil sort of character. Over time, this evil cult leader became a beloved fan favorite whose presentation was the opposite of when he was known as Husky Harris.

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The Eater of Worlds could cut excellent, cryptic promos that had the audience wanting more. He was surprisingly agile for a man of his size (he has since cut down on some of the excess weight, looking far more svelte than when he was Husky Harris). His look is completely different, with his long beard, loose-fitting shirts, and pants. He looks a lot like Waylon Mercy, a similar but less-successful character from the 1990s.

While he might not be the most technically-graceful wrestler on the roster, he doesn’t need to be. All he needs is a handful of signature moves and he has the entire world in his hands. That is charisma; it’s the ability to get the biggest reaction out of doing so little. Bray Wyatt oozes a dark and subtle charisma that makes him a captivating character. This is why so many people have become supporters of his over time.

Wyatt winning the WWE Championship is something many fans have been wanting for a long time. He was white hot in 2013, at a time when his Wyatt Family gimmick was turning heads in WWE all the time. Keep in mind, that was the same time when the main event featured such stars as John Cena, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Brock Lesnar, and the Shield. The Wyatt Family, led by Bray, were so entertaining that they were overtaking many of these other stars in terms of popularity and interest.

At the time, there was a popular belief that Wyatt was being catapulted to the main event because his gimmick was so popular. Even as he entered 2014, it was believed he’d win the WWE Championship very soon. Sadly, that never happened. In fact, 2014-2016 was actually a terrible period for the cult-like leader.

First, he lost to John Cena at WrestleMania XXX. This was a terrible decision, because Cena did not need that win while Wyatt most certainly did. He was a popular rookie that needed to prove he deserved to rub shoulders with established main-eventers. Instead, Cena won again (because, WWE), and Wyatt slumped. The Wyatt Family was split without explanation, and each one of them suffered as a result.

Wyatt’s 2015 wasn’t that much better, as he lost to the Undertaker at WrestleMania 31 (another terrible decision, as this was another perfect moment to elevate Bray). He spent most of that year doing more talking than winning, and wrestled in mostly forgettable matches.

The ‘new’ Wyatt Family that he was leading wasn’t so much as a resurrection of the more successful 2013-14 version as it was a vehicle through which new member Braun Strowman could get over with the audience. Indeed, Wyatt became a secondary character in his own faction.

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With the roster becoming increasingly crowded, there was fear that Wyatt would be lost in the shuffle forever. Thankfully, the draft happened, andWyatt ended up as a big fish in a small pond on SmackDown.

With the SmackDown roster being so much smaller, there was more room for Wyatt to flourish again. He became a main-event-level player once again, and his popularity rebounded after plateauing a year before. Now, he’s WWE champion, and will be headlining WrestleMania. The big question now is, what will happen to him at WrestleMania.

Wyatt will be defending the WWE Championship, and his likely opponent will be Randy Orton. Even though Orton cut a promo on SmackDown ‘pledging his loyalty’ to Wyatt, it’s obvious that’s only a farce. It’s just like when Orton was a member of the Authority and then turned on Seth Rollins. The impending double-cross was so obvious that when it happened, the reaction wasn’t as good as it could’ve been.

Given Wyatt’s track record at WrestleMania, this is one year that he absolutely must win. He has already lost two high-profile singles matches at ‘Mania, and together with Eric Rowan, was demolished last year by John Cena. If he has any hope of being more than a flash-in-the-pan transitional champion, Wyatt must score a decisive victory at WrestleMania.

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But that’s still more than a month away. For now, let’s just sick back and enjoy the fact that the awesome Bray Wyatt is finally WWE Champion.

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