Welcome to Last Word on Mania month at Last Word on Sports! All month long we will be doing articles to build up for Wrestlemania 31 on March 29, 2015. Be sure to read everything this month by clicking this link. Enjoy!
Every year, during the time when the road to Wrestlemania commences, we become captivated with individuals and their rise to becoming a brighter star then the year prior. Some reach for that brass ring, while others plummet back down to earth, but for Bray Wyatt, his road came with many twists and turns. For most, a championship run can make or break a career and define someone’s legacy. For Wyatt, his rise in fan popularity has come with the cult-like promises to all those that choose to follow him and his buzzards. With open arms, he welcomes those that choose to accept his guidance down the path of enlightenment, while those that oppose him feel the wrath of Sister Abigail. His year, however didn’t start off the way he would have hoped.
Before Wrestlemania XXX
Bray Wyatt’s road to Wrestlemania didn’t kick off with a Royal Rumble victory. In fact, he wasn’t even a participant in the match. Instead, he took on white hot Daniel Bryan in a one-on-one match after a failed attempt to recruit the leader of the Yes Movement. Focused on putting an end to the shenanigans of Bryan, Bray left the CONSOL Energy Centre, in Pittsburgh, as the winner. The victory also kept Wyatt’s undefeated PPV record in tact, and continued his impressive progression through the company’s ranks.
Notable wins continued to pile on against the likes of Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, and Big Show, while he was running gun in six man tag matches, alongside his former Family, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. At Elimination Chamber, the Wyatt Family received their first real test. Standing opposite to them were their counter-parts, and the other three-man stable that was tearing through the company: The Shield. Before the two teams even exchanged blows, or the bell rang, the crowd was roaring in anticipation, giving the match even more hype, with some “This is awesome!” chants. The Wyatts conquered The Shield in what would be a defining moment in their run as a group.
With the big win now behind them, Bray had his eyes set on a bigger prize, and who bigger than the man standing at the top of the pecking order, John Cena? His goal was clear – bring out the true evil in Cena and unleash the demon inside. Through weeks of torment and haunting words, Wyatt promised that the true side of Cena would eventually show itself, and that Bray would be the one to finally release all of that pent-up rage.
Wrestlemania XXX
It was only fitting for Bray Wyatt to make his Wrestlemania entrance, the first in his career, a chilling one. Before his presence was even felt, Mark Crozer and the Rels – the band that performs Bray’s theme – belted out on their instruments while wearing eerie crow masks. It was a true match, between band and wrestler, and as Bray stood at the top of the ramp, with his Family behind him, and his face illuminated by the lantern he carries with him, the crowd cheered. His opponent was John Cena, so it was expected that the partisan crowd would side with “the other guy”, however, it was almost cult-like how the fans raced into their pockets to fish out their cellular phones and shine a light.
And so the story goes, Cena conquered the odds (again) as he battled through constant interference from both Rowan and Harper on the outside, and eventually took down Bray with an Attitude Adjustment to put the match away in the record books. At one point in the match, Wyatt seemed to have Cena reeling, and even contemplating using a steel chair on Bray to put a stamp on his inner evil coming out, however, John was simply playing possum, and instead clocked Harper and Rowan with the chair before settling his problem with Wyatt.
While the result was something to be forgotten, the match itself was not. Bray Wyatt, in 2014, stood toe-to-toe with arguably one of the best of this era, and stood his ground. Managing to tell a story and captivate the audience, even a loss couldn’t hurt the promise to Bray Wyatt’s stock.
Extreme Rules
Unsatisfied with his Wrestlemania loss to Cena, Bray kept his focus strong on being the man behind John Cena’s dark side coming out. Participating in a 3-on-1 handicap match, the Wyatt Family took the disqualification loss to prove to Cena that regardless of the result, the punishment following was worth the minor blip on their record. The trio beat down Cena and any team he could muster up to even the odds. It all culminated into a rematch between he and Cena at Extreme Rules, where the two would settle their differences inside a steel cage, where there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
Once more, Bray Wyatt stood tall and held his own, pounding away at Cena and punishing every inch of his body using the steel structure that surrounded them. Nearing the end of the match, Cena looked to be on his way to victory as he walked to the exit door to put an end to the bout. Just when you thought things were done, a child emerged in front of Cena, blocking his way. In Wyatt Family fashion, the boy began to sing “He’s got the whole world in his hands” with a distorted voice. The image managed to distract Cena long enough for Bray to take advantage, hitting Sister Abigail on John and defeating him via pinfall. The single biggest victory of his career, at that point.
Payback
True to the name of the event, John Cena was out to get Bray Wyatt for his loss to him at Extreme Rules. This time, the two competed in a singles match with one stipulation – keep me down for a ten count, a traditional Last Man Standing match. This would be the rubber match to determine who would get the last laugh, and it was Cena who made his way out of the PPV with another victory to his name, keeping down the delusional Wyatt for ten seconds. Another match with expectations being met overall, but a result that left most wanting more and questioning if Wyatt would get a chance, away from Cena, to rise to the occasion.
Money In The Bank
That chance came one month later, when Bray was included in the 8-man ladder match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. While the match still included Cena, the odds of either winning were drastically reduced with the inclusion of Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Kane, and Alberto Del Rio. Earning his chance to become the new face of the company, a challenge left opened by the WWE, Wyatt rose to the occasion and stood among the biggest names at the time. While Bray failed to capture the championship, the winner (Cena) eventually went on to face Brock Lesnar, where he was demolished and embarrassed. An opportunity that, safe to say, Bray Wyatt is glad he missed out on.
Battleground
One closed door manage to open up another, and this time Bray Wyatt’s frustration was taken out on the man who professed himself as a saviour, Y2J Chris Jericho. Hell bent on proving to the world that the Jerichoholics were just a mirage, and that the people had actually turned on him in favour of a new leader, Wyatt took on Jericho in a one-on-one match. The two exchanged offense, but ultimately ended with something the fans were not expecting – a Chris Jericho win. Usually used in a spot to get his opponent over, Jericho’s win had many people raising eyebrows at the possibility that Bray Wyatt’s position in the WWE could be in jeopardy, especially after losing out on the John Cena sweepstakes and following it up with a loss to a part-time wrestler turned rock star.
Summer Slam
The following month, the Eater of Worlds exacted revenge by beating Chris Jericho in a rematch from the previous month. Defeating the Ayatollah of rock and rollah, Bray Wyatt finally brought some hope back to those that were still following his story and silenced some of his critics, at least for the time being, regarding his burial in the company over the past couple of months leading into this match.
Survivor Series
No two wrestlers are less alike from one another than Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose, so it only made sense to put the Lunatic Fringe and the Man of 1,000 Truths in a battle. The feud had wrestling fans salivating, as the two wrestlers were both known to put on exciting matches and thrilling promos to hype up their encounter. With Wyatt’s backwoods peacher style and Ambrose’s unpredictable nature, it was almost a guarantee that this match would live up to expectations, and did it ever. The action spilled to the outside numerous times, and the two exchanged turns dishing out punishment, but in the end, Ambrose’s loose canon style caused him to use a steel chair on Wyatt, forcing the referee to call for the bell. To make matters worse for Bray, Dean brought a ladder into the ring, only to climb up to the top and stand triumphantly atop, signalling to Wyatt that there was more to come in their future.
Tables, Ladders, and Chairs, and Stairs
In the final month of 2014, Wyatt took on Ambrose for a second time in two months, this time in a TLC match. A match where tables, ladders and chairs were all legal, the insanity inside both competitor’s minds was now free to leak into the ring, leading to a match full of mayhem. The two wrestlers took turns destroying each other, putting one another through tables, utilizing ladders, both as weapons, and a higher ground to cause maximum damage, and of course, chairs too. Both inside and outside the ring, the action-packed match was full of ridiculous spots, where if you blinked, you missed it.
The finish, however, had many rolling their eyes in disgust. It was another Wyatt win over Ambrose, but the groan-factor kicked in with how the match ended. As Ambrose was flying odd the deep end, he found a TV monitor underneath the ring and decided it was a weapon that had to be used. Conveniently enough, the monitor was still attached by the wiring, and as Ambrose went to take a run at Wyatt, the monitor exploded in his hands, causing him to become temporarily blinded. Wyatt took advantage of the situation, and downed his crazed opponent with Sister Abigail.
Royal Rumble
Coming in as entrant #5, Wyatt went on a similar run to CM Punk’s 2010 Royal Rumble moment. Tossing out returnees in Bubba Ray Dudley and Boogeyman, as well as former Family member Luke Harper and fan-favorite Daniel Bryan, Bray took to the microphone to claim that this year was Bray Wyatt’s year, and nobody would take this moment away from him. Bryan was the first real threat to his position, but Wyatt managed to dispose of him. Finishing the match with 6 eliminations, and lasting the longest out of all 30 participants with 46:58, Wyatt was eliminated by the duo of Kane and Big Show, putting an end to his promising journey in the Rumble match.
Bray Wyatt: One Year Later
So the hanging question is this: is Bray Wyatt better off one year later? After losing two of three PPV matches against John Cena, and splitting a series with Chris Jericho, Bray Wyatt started to dial it in and unleash the true force that fans had been waiting for, for pretty much the entire 2014 year. Making victories over Ambrose a regular occurrence, both on televised and PPV events, Wyatt’s stock rose significantly leading into the Rumble match. Although he failed to be the last man standing, and capture the guaranteed title shot at Wrestlemania, Wyatt opened the eyes of many, and silenced his critics along the way.
On the other hand, simply appearing in a Wrestlemania match against Cena, two more matches following that one, and a Summerslam victory over Jericho, one could argue that Wyatt’s stock was never in trouble to begin with. After all, not many are trusted with taking on the biggest name in the company on the grandest stage of the business. Playing devil’s advocate, one could even suggest that his time with Cena and Jericho simply elevated his game to the next level, leading into his feud with Dean Ambrose, and allowing him to appear as a true monster in the WWE.
Whatever opinion you hold, one can’t argue Wyatt’s current stance in the company, and nobody can discredit how far along he’s come since debuting in the WWE back in 2013, after taking out Kane during an episode of Monday Night Raw, and receiving “Husky Harris” chants from a somewhat smarky audience.
The only thing left to culminate this year into the beginning of Bray Wyatt’s rise to the top is to out-do last year’s Mania performance. What better way to do so than to call out The Undertaker and take turns playing mind games with him, until he finally accepted, and confirmed he’ll meet The New Face of Fear at the company’s flagship event. Whether it’s a match or a simple confrontation, just being in the ring with The Phenom, standing toe-to-toe with the legend, will place Wyatt at a true position of power in the company. Yes, Undertaker has since lost his infamous Wrestlemania streak, but his presence alone still means something to the wrestling world, and what he does this month with Bray Wyatt could be very meaningful to Wyatt and his career going forward.
Main Photo via WWE.com
