The Handling & Future Of Bray Wyatt
by VINCE RUSSO & BLAKE MITCHAMORE
RUSSO:
EVEN WWE FANS HAVE TO ADMITT . . . HOW DO YOU HAVE NOTHING FOR BRAY?
Every week when I review RAW for my podcast channel vincerussobrand.com, I do my absolute best to be as fair with my review as possible, even though I’m not a fan of the current product. The way the WWE is presented today, is just not for me, and that’s totally OK. Honestly, I’m not sure who their audience is any more, and who they’re going after, but I do know that it’s certainly not the television viewer, or casual wrestling fan any more.
Again, I’m not going to argue with their philosophy, it’s their company, not mine, but I just want to be honest up front. Now, when it comes to creative, I’ve also made it clear that I’m not a fan, but I’ve also stated that it has nothing to do with me liking, or disliking their creative ideas. Everything in wrestling is subjective, not two people are going to look at any angle the same. My beef has been with what I feel is a lack of effort. Agonizing over coming up with the best content you possibly can. Sure, I understand that being three hours is their biggest constraint, but, they are taking the paycheck from USA every week—not me.
Look, when it comes to creativity, every idea is not going to be a great idea, but having NO IDEA is absolutely inexcusable. When you are being paid to come up with “creative” for any company, especially an entertainment one, and you fail to do so—then you simply aren’t qualified to be in that line of work. Am I being a bit harsh? Of course I am, but if you are on the level of writing for the largest sports-entertainment company on the planet—there are expectations that go along with that. And, there are not only the expectations of your fan base, but also those of your talent who are dependent on you to make a living. Listen, they’re not all going to be “The Rock”, or “Stone Cold”, but, if they’re good enough to be on the main roster—then the writers should be good enough to come up with creative for them.
Listen, I’m not by any means implying that writing a weekly, three-hour wrestling show is an easy job, because it’s not. And, if there was anybody that would come up with excuses to protect those thankless, faceless, poor slobs—it would be me. However, when they come across as blatantly inept as they do at times—there are just no excuses. When it’s clear cut that a talent is being stymied by the writers, and not their natural ability—then something needs to be done. What I’m saying is this ;
IF YOU’RE A WRITER FOR THE WWE AND YOU HAVE NOTHING FOR BRAY WYATT . . .THEN YOU SHOULDN’T BE A WRITER FOR THE WWE.
There are no excuses here, folks. Bray Wyatt is far and away the most gifted talent that has commanded a wrestling ring since the days of the Attitude Era, and WWE Creative have failed him miserably. That includes Vince, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and anybody else who has had anything to do with the growth of his career. The very first time I ever saw Bray Wyatt walk to the ring, with that mesmerizing music, and that brilliant entrance—I knew this guy was absolutely unique. He was special . . . there was nobody else like him. Having worked with him for many years, there’s no way that you couldn’t compare him to Taker. The only thing that was missing was that physical presence, and that was clearly replaced by a personality and a look that was created by a genius . . . Bray Wyatt.
The night that Bray surprised Chris Jericho upon his return to the WWE, which now seems like decades ago, I thought that this unique icon was well on his way to becoming a cornerstone in the Fed for years to come. It was all there, right in their grubby, little hands, all they had to do was dot the Is and cross the Ts. Whatever you gave this guy was going to be gold. But, who would have thought for a second that the brain trust leading WWE Creative would have dotted the Ts and crossed the Is instead. In what seemed impossible to do . . . they failed Bray Wyatt miserably.
From dropping Harper and Rowan for no reason, to a missed opportunity that had all the potential in the world between a magnificent hologram and the mystery behind Dean Ambrose’s father, WWE Creative was just absent in trying to build on Wyatt’s natural ability. The Ambrose/Wyatt feud was the first feud I ever witnessed in wrestling where there was just no finish. Nobody got over. Both guy’s ended up at the same spot before the story even started. It did nothing for nobody–not Ambrose, and not Wyatt. At the end . . . it was just a total waste of everybody’s time. The angle came down to how high of a ladder could Dean Ambrose jump off of tonight. Laughable.
And from there it only got worse. One word . . . Ryback. I don’t even know what that was. Wait I do . . . the most forgettable program in WWE history. I don’t get it. Unless Bray did something terribly wrong within the eyes of WWE management—I’m talking sleeping with Stephanie McMahon and getting caught wrong, then anybody who has had anything to do with the development of Bray Wyatt should be fired the minute they show up to work this morning. There are just no excuses.
Then you wonder why I question the Zayn’s and the Owen’s of the world? I question them because while these “not ready for prime-time players” are debuting on RAW—Hunter’s Boys—Bray Wyatt is somewhere back in the dressing room picking his nose. We see Mercury and Noble for 30 minutes and we don’t see Bray Wyatt? That’s like benching Bryce Harper for a little leaguer—the two aren’t even in the same galaxy let alone playing field.
Honestly, I have zero desire to work for the WWE these days–none—but, I would give my left spaulding to have the opportunity to work with somebody as talented as Bray Wyatt. That would be an absolute gift to any writer, or anyone with a creative mind for that matter. The potential is absolutely limitless . . . the guy is an absolute gift to sports entertainment, a once in a lifetime character. How could they be failing so miserably.
Outside of Stephanie giving birth to Bray Jr. . . . I guess we’ll never know.
What a shame.
Kurt Angle & Ed Ferrara join Vince Russo Saturday night, 10pm EST on Russo’s new radio show. IHeartRadio.com to listen.
