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Bray… Bray Wyatt? Is That YOU?!

Ooooooooooooohhhhhh-kay… So, maybe I’m still needing to process this, but this latest version of Bray Wyatt is, well… Either genius or lame, depending on who you ask. Just this week, Wyatt returned to the main roster, well, kinda.

He debuted his new character, which I can best describe as a reformed man. A reformed man who is looking to redeem himself… By being a children’s TV show host? At first glance, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, here is Bray Wyatt; “Eater of Worlds”, “The New Face of Fear”, “The Man of 1000 Truths” who would always instruct us to “follow the buzzards”.

And he’s doing his best Pee Wee Herman impersonation? Why? …

Nope, not going to take that gimmick from Simon Miller of WhatCulture, nuh uh.

By the way, shout out to the homie, Simon Miller, can’t wait to see you back in the ring, dude.

Well, if you watch the video, it represents a new birth for the Bray Wyatt character. Possibly one that was inspired by the fact that he and JoJo are expecting.

And while that could be a possibility, it’s likely not the case. You see if you haven’t been living under a rock, the character of Bray Wyatt; while a very popular character, has been stale for some time. Most of which the blame falls on WWE for poorly booking him the way they have.

Once believed to be the one to take the reigns from The Undertaker as WWE’s resident boogie man; Wyatt had a very promising future in the company.

The Right Gimmick…

He had the perfect gimmick, which was inspired by Robert De Niro’s character, “Max Cady”, from the 1991 thriller “Cape Fear”. It was also borrowed from Dan Spivey’s gimmick, “Waylon Mercy”, who was also inspired by the Cady character, but, with subtle changes here and there.

Originally, he debuted the gimmick in Florida Championship Wrestling (which would later be rechristened as “NXT“); showing a good amount of promise. That promise, along with the incredible following he gained with his “Wyatt Family” stable; carried over onto the main roster.

But, how did we go from this…

…To this?

 

Till next week on the #FireflyFunHouse… ? #RAW @WWEBrayWyatt pic.twitter.com/huDEL3J5po

— WWE (@WWE) April 23, 2019

I think I can tell you, as stated earlier, Bray Wyatt is now a man who is looking to redeem himself. Thus, the bright smile, friendly demeanor, the puppets (with a friendly nod to the aforementioned Waylon Mercy); the “dad” sweater.

But, you can see that the old Bray wants to come out…

Notice when he dips down and comes back up, the screen starts to shift; losing focus, the picture becomes blurred and distorted. The words “Hurt” and “Heal” line up on the knuckles of his gloves, as he covers his face.

But, that familiar smile appears from behind his hands, letting you know that he is in control.

But, is he? Is he really?

If I had to guess, I would say that we will see the old Bray Wyatt reemerge. Sooner, rather than later…

Reemergence…

A man who tries to redeem himself always has two paths to take. One leads to redemption, the other leads to destruction. This is easily the (not-so-well) hidden undertone of the Firefly Funhouse promo.

An undertone that will be the defining subject of this latest run for Wyatt. As he tries to show the world that he has in fact changed; he also has made a lot of enemies during his tenure, who still have a grudge with him.

Enemies who are fan favorites currently, like Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and The New Day. Those who will test Bray’s determination to show that he has changed.

Enemies… Who will finally force the real Bray Wyatt out.

When he said that he used to be a bad man, as he got booed, he admitted that he “deserved that”. He also reiterated that he had changed, that that side of him was “dead now“.

As a show of proof, he sawed a cardboard cut out of himself, in the old “Eater of Worlds” get up, and laughed maniacally as he sawed the top part off. But, not before saying “alright” as the kids booed the cutout. His hand… is a phone now?

And, as he closed out the segment, he let his “fireflies” know that he’d “always light the way” and that all they “had to do was let me in”. Which sounds an awful lot like something that the old Bray Wyatt would say.

Bray Booked The Right Way…

Now, this part will be the tricky part, admittedly, because upon his return to the ring; how do you go about taking the story from “reformed man looking for redemption” to “reformed monster returns to terrorize”?

One idea is to go back into their classic idea for Bray, which saw him lose big feuds at their climax. When he was a “monster”, he lost a number of notable feuds, against the likes of Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, and John Cena. Heck, he even took the biggest loss against the man everyone thought he’d replace, The Undertaker.

So, how can it work for this version? Easy, the utilize the same formula that WWE used when Eddie Guererro was trying to show he wasn’t a bad guy anymore. Where Eddie (or Eddy, for my Lucha purists) would stop himself short of using chairs or cheating; you could see Bray fighting to resist using his old tactics on his opponents.

Bray could knock an opponent down, walk over to the corner, lean in while tapping the front of his foot into the canvas; with that oh so familiar smile, and then hang himself upside down, before attempting his infamous “spider walk”. Only to stop himself midstep, shouting no in frustration.

The minor distraction could lead to a roll-up pin, which would cause him to lose it momentarily. And in that instant, he could attack his opponent, and set up “Sister Abigail”, only to stop himself, and roll out of the ring with a dazed look on his face.

Wash, rinse and repeat this step for a few months, with him getting closer and closer to the Bray Wyatt of old; until finally, he snaps.

But, will they do this?

At the present time, with all of the news of superstars wanting out of their contracts, injuries and the like; it is likely an idea that is considered the endgame, but nowhere in sight, at the moment.

Which is good, because it gives this fresh take on the Bray Wyatt character time to develop. Time to mold itself, or really, for the reformed man to mold it for himself.

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And if you have any thoughts or theories, comment down below, thanks for reading!