{"id":125308,"date":"2024-06-28T10:00:29","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T14:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=125308"},"modified":"2024-06-28T06:15:18","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T10:15:18","slug":"are-uncle-howdy-and-the-wyatt-sicks-heels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/06\/28\/are-uncle-howdy-and-the-wyatt-sicks-heels\/","title":{"rendered":"Actually, Are Uncle Howdy and The Wyatt Sicks Heels?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The discourse around the new group is growing, but nobody is asking the fundamental question, are <strong>Uncle Howdy<\/strong> and the <strong>Wyatt Sicks<\/strong> heels or faces?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The old saying is that hurt people hurt people. There is no part of the adage that quantifies the relationship between personal grief and inflicting pain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><strong>Bo Dallas<\/strong> must be hurting badly if the two are intertwined. That makes sense, too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Losing a loved one and somebody you admire is beyond painful. When that loss happens to somebody who it feels as though had more to do, it compounds the pain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Wyatt Sicks deliver a package to Michael Cole: Raw highlights, June 24, 2024\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/A9dLZWft-UU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Pro-wrestling, all of it, could be better at telling these stories. Triumph, anger, pride, hubris, defeat, joy; all of those are in the lexicon of emotions that bookers and performers have mastered entertainers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Grief isn&#8217;t one of those emotions, and to make matters worse, most other forms of entertainment do a positively horrible job depicting grief. Any psychologist will tell you that as an emotion, it is tricky and manifests in ways that are hard to predict or understand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Yet WWE is handling it better than some mainstream content. Dallas, in particular, cut a career-defining performance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">With that context, it is safer to say that maybe a brother processing a significant loss is actually meant to be our sympathetic hero\u2014perhaps Uncle Howdy and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/06\/24\/what-wwe-should-should-not-do-with-the-wyatt-sicks\/\" target=\"_self\">The Wyatt Sicks<\/a> heels, but maybe not.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;What am I supposed to do, let him become a mausoleum?&#8221; &#8211; Bo <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Dallas<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">For some people, the first priority after a loss is remembrance. The fear of losing the memory of their loved one becomes a loss on par with the initial tragedy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Dallas relates this incredibly sympathetic view as his primary explanation for why. When asked why he is back and why The Wyatt Sicks is running amok on Raw, he cites his brother&#8217;s legacy and how he is keeping it alive even though he is not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Fighting to honor a loved one is 100% a face motivation. In fact, WWE&#8217;s biggest babyface just completed his story of honing his late father.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When Cody Rhodes won the title, he did it because it was a tragedy that his father never got to hold the title himself. Why is bringing <strong>Bray Wyatt&#8217;s<\/strong> vision to life while honoring his memory any different? Truthfully, it is not. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bo Dallas opens up to Uncle Howdy about his brother Bray Wyatt: Raw highlight, June 24, 2024\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jIx1pzRO25s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Another note is the victim that Wyatt Sicks targeted. How are Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks heel when they attack a heel in Chad Gable?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/06\/23\/chad-gable-is-alive-will-compete-in-mitb-match-on-wwe-raw\/\" target=\"_self\">Gable viciously<\/a> abused and abandoned his family, which is not something that Uncle Howdy would take well, given his connection to his brother. How could somebody who feels so raw and abandoned about losing a brother allow a man claiming to be a father to his pupils to abuse them without recourse?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Why would we, as wrestling fans, not root for that wrestler to get what they so clearly deserve? The answer is we would.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Wrestling fans typically want the villains on the roster to get their comeuppance in the form of a beatdown. Nothing about the debut, on paper, is heelish.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Yes, some staff took a beating. Our in-ring heroes have punched their way through innocent people to get a rival before. It is the of that night carnage that makes it clear WWE wanted this to feel different. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;They wanted to forget about all of us&#8230;we made them remember.&#8221; &#8211; Bo Dallas<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Undercutting the pain and loss, all of the sympathetic attributes we can relate to as people are something more sinister. For example, why are <strong>Joe Gacy<\/strong>, <strong>Dexter Lumis<\/strong>, and <strong>Nikki Cross<\/strong> involved?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Well, because this is a union born of anger and vengeance. He spits like venom in his promo that they wanted to forget about all of us before coldly pointing out what we all know.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He and his friends made them pay for that, made them remember. This reveals a more traditional wrestling motive, one that is very heel-dominant.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The talents feel ignored. They made sure that again. While Bo&#8217;s vengeance could still be rooted in grief, it could also be about WWE&#8217;s ignoring his obvious talent for so long or until it was too late. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Uncle Howdy returns with sinister friends: Raw highlights, June 17, 2024\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8AZCEQ_3nZU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In Dallas and Howdy&#8217;s segment, there is another very subtle note of jealousy. He is not jealous of Bray, although that could be an issue deep in the real emotions of <strong>Taylor Rotunda<\/strong> (the performer behind Dallas).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He directs his anger at the <strong>WWE<\/strong> Universe. A lot of us have felt the stinging loss of Wyatt. He had a lot of very lovely and caring fans, and he had connected deeply with them throughout his career.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Having lost a close family member myself somewhat recently, I can attest that the jealousy isn&#8217;t totally uncommon. Even if your loved one isn&#8217;t a renowned wrestling star on television, it can happen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Well-wishers you may barely know come to share their grief and, as a close family to the departed, you often find yourself being a source of their comfort. That jealousy of them, needing you to be a shoulder while simultaneously feeling alone yourself, can get intense.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Although it isn&#8217;t unreasonable, it is still petty jealousy to begrudge people the chance to grieve. That makes it very much heel behavior. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> It Doesn&#8217;t Matter if Uncle Howdy and The Wyatt Sicks are Heels<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Are Uncle Howdy and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/06\/19\/who-are-the-wyatt-sicks\/\" target=\"_self\">The Wyatt Sicks<\/a> heels? If you asked most fans, the answer would be yes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Also, it wouldn&#8217;t be shocking to see the five of them listed as top heels on <em><strong>Raw<\/strong><\/em>&#8216;s internal roster. None of that matters, though. The simple and wrestling-friendly emotions are all tangled into a web of mayhem as a means to accurately describe grief.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It is the ultimate shades of grey scenario. These characters are not stuck between the binary options of good and evil. Instead, it is characters that express both with ease.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In the real world, there is no one-dimensional heel or face; nobody is all of anything, and grief is both destructive and sympathetic. It is debilitating and cathartic. It is both. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/04\/02\/bray-wyatt-becoming-immortal-key-takeaways-from-the-wwe-documentary\/\" target=\"_self\">Bray Wyatt<\/a> being at the center of this story is fitting. Both literally and figuratively, this story and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/05\/20\/how-aews-timeless-toni-storm-achieved-what-wwes-fiend-could-not\/\" target=\"_self\">stories like it<\/a> couldn&#8217;t have happened without Wyatt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">There is a criticism of Wyatt and the Wyatt Sicks that they are not fully grounded in reality. The real world increasingly feels like a work or as if it&#8217;s trapped in kayfabe, to use wrestling parlance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In the mayhem of our times, surrealism is often the only way to relate to more significant themes. All of us in the WWE Universe and beyond have had to grieve recently\u2014the loss of Wyatt is the loss of time generally.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Loss is universal. Sometimes, that loss helps us connect with our neighbors. But secretly, truthfully, we&#8217;ve all felt a rage too, haven&#8217;t we?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Does that make us heel? That&#8217;s hard to say. But heel or face, we can understand the group&#8217;s actions. It&#8217;s to be expected. Hurt people, hurt people.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/h3>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">WWE Network<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Peacock<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The discourse around the new group is growing, but nobody is asking the fundamental question, are Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks heels or faces? The old saying is that hurt people hurt people. There is no part of the adage that quantifies the relationship between personal grief and inflicting pain. Bo Dallas must be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4470,"featured_media":125330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[1016,224,105,8876,8916],"class_list":["post-125308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-bo-dallas","tag-bray-wyatt","tag-monday-night-raw","tag-uncle-howdy","tag-wyatt-sicks"],"modified_by":"Chinyere Okafor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4470"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}