WWE SummerSlam 2020: ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt must leave as Universal Champion

WWE SummerSlam 2020 is right around the corner. Unfortunately for Braun Strowman, “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt must leave with the Universal Championship

WWE SummerSlam 2020 is just one short week away, and Braun Strowman will be defending the Universal Championship against “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt. Perhaps more than any match heading into SummerSlam, the bitter history between these two goes back quite some time.

Braun Strowman’s connection to Bray Wyatt goes all the way back to his main roster debut on August 24, 2015, when Strowman appeared as the newest member of The Wyatt Family. Alongside Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan, Strowman unleashed a path of destruction wherever he could.

It wasn’t until the 2016 WWE Draft that Strowman was separated from them, and started to create his own destiny. From 2016 all the way into early 2020, Braun Strowman struggled to ever reach the pinnacle and capture a top championship in WWE.

We saw glimpses of Strowman’s greatness through various rivalries and mind-boggling feats of strength. In 2018, Strowman had several big moments from capturing the WWE Raw Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania 34 with 10-year-old Nicholas, to his victory in the Greatest Royal Rumble, to winning the 2018 Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match.

Braun Strowman’s underwhelming reign heading into WWE SummerSlam 2020

Unfortunately for Strowman, none of those moments, even the Money in the Bank, translated to a top-tier title win. It wasn’t until January 31, 2020, that Strowman captured his first singles title in WWE, defeating Shinsuke Nakamura to become the Intercontinental Champion.

However, he lost the title at Elimination Chamber to Sami Zayn after just over a month with it in his possession. Fortune favored Strowman, as the global pandemic led Roman Reigns to make the right decision for his health and pull out of his WrestleMania 36 match challenging Goldberg for the Universal Championship. Strowman got slotted in as a replacement and left WrestleMania as the champion.

Braun Strowman had finally done it, but since then his title reign has been nothing short of uninspiring. Even Drew McIntyre, who has also had to start and continue his title reign during this fan-free pandemic version of WWE, has delivered solid matches and good promos despite the circumstances.

Meanwhile, Braun Strowman’s reign has only gotten less and less interesting, despite the best efforts of Bray Wyatt to tap into their history and build some excitement. At Money in the Bank 2020, Strowman defeated Bray Wyatt (without taking on the persona of The Fiend) and retained his Universal Championship.

Their rivalry continued at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules as the two battled in a cinematic and horrific clusterf**k called a Wyatt Swamp Fight. There were intriguing moments, and Wyatt did his best to hearken back to their history, but the match didn’t deliver on the same level as many had hoped.

The Fiend needs to remain unstoppable in WWE

Ultimately, the Wyatt Swamp Fight was nothing more than a tool to push Strowman one step further and give Bray Wyatt a reason to bring out The Fiend. At SummerSlam, we’ll finally see Bray Wyatt bring The Fiend to the fight against Braun Strowman. I’m cautiously optimistic about the match they’ll bring us, though I do hope WWE forgets that horrendous red lighting concept for the match.

Regardless of how the match itself goes, there’s only one outcome to choose: The Fiend must leave as Universal Champion. Braun Strowman’s title reign has been increasingly stale, and even this darker version of Strowman shouldn’t be enough to defeat The Fiend.

As far as I’m concerned, Bray Wyatt is undefeated as The Fiend. Yes, I do hear you. Goldberg did beat The Fiend, but that happened at a Blood Money Saudi Arabia show, and we’d all be better off if we forgot that show or Goldberg’s second reign (or first for that matter) as Universal Champion ever happened.

Therefore, “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt walks into SummerSlam as an essentially unstoppable creature, and he needs to carry that through the match and into his exit as Universal Champion. SmackDown, and the title itself, desperately need the breath of fresh air putting the title back on Wyatt would breathe into the product.

Lastly, there’s the issue of Roman Reigns’ eventual return to WWE. There’s no doubt that WrestleMania 36 really should have seen “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt defending the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. Two huge problems stopped that from happening, but that doesn’t mean WWE can’t set the stage for it when Reigns feels safe to return to action.

“The Fiend” Bray Wyatt could hold the title all the way to WrestleMania 37 if he needs to, where we might just see the WrestleMania 36 Universal Championship Match everyone (including Roman Reigns) truly deserved.