Saving Bray Wyatt...

[Jazzy G]

I'd use him as a manager type, I know they don't have them much in WWE anymore, but him as this manipulative snake-oil salesman type who's managed to convince his wrestlers that he's in the right could be a good idea, and could help some lads who aren't great at talking. 

I don't think there is a way back for him, but I do wonder whether Cody sees it as some kind of challenge for him to try and get a good feud/match out of him.

[mim731]

Walk out with the decapitated heads of The Fiend and Uncle Howdy, place them in the ring, say he's done with this shit and just be himself.  Ok, maybe not that, but figuratively the same thing. The most interesting Bray has been in years was the week or so when he came back and he was being a real person connecting with the audience about his mental health, before it got all "lore" heavy again. Go back to that. Let him be a real person and let the audience invest without the spooky bollocks. If the need arises in the future you can go back to that supernatural version of Wyatt, as needs must and as a last resort in a feud, but save that for when it'll actually mean something.

I still think there's something there, if they can find a way to funnel and filter his creativity and channel his obvious charisma he could still be a big asset. Needs someone else to reign in his wild ideas though.  

[TheScarlettChad]

He can be fired again. He peaked with his return last year. Then it went downhill. Like it always does. Either make him cult Bray or tell him to fuck off and he can go do shit movies nobody will watch. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

42 minutes ago, mim731 said:

Walk out with the decapitated heads of The Fiend and Uncle Howdy, place them in the ring, say he's done with this shit and just be himself.  Ok, maybe not that, but figuratively the same thing. The most interesting Bray has been in years was the week or so when he came back and he was being a real person connecting with the audience about his mental health, before it got all "lore" heavy again. Go back to that. Let him be a real person and let the audience invest without the spooky bollocks. If the need arises in the future you can go back to that supernatural version of Wyatt, as needs must and as a last resort in a feud, but save that for when it'll actually mean something.

I still think there's something there, if they can find a way to funnel and filter his creativity and channel his obvious charisma he could still be a big asset. Needs someone else to reign in his wild ideas though.  

Thats probably the best suggestion I have seen. I'd even add to what you said and wouldn't mind The Fiend being used like Fin Balor uses his spooky character. Rarely and with purpose. Just don't let Bray book himself. 

[wordsfromlee]

They need to bin off all the gimmicky character stuff and go back to basics with an old school-Kevin Owens type. A big lad who can talk and wants to scrap. 

[DavidB6937]

20 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Thats probably the best suggestion I have seen. I'd even add to what you said and wouldn't mind The Fiend being used like Fin Balor uses his spooky character. Rarely and with purpose. Just don't let Bray book himself. 

Absolutely don't go down the Finn route. That's been shit nearly every time they've done that too.

[mim731]

4 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Absolutely don't go down the Finn route. That's been shit nearly every time they've done that too.

In fairness, conceptually having an alter ego like Finn does in the Demon is less the issue, and on paper it's a fine character addition. It's the am-dram, cheesy as fuck, zero subtlety execution of it that's utter dogshit. 

 

 

[Mr_Danger]

I like this son of a son of a plumber vs son of a taxman feud idea. Easy to invent some age old family beef. They could do some good work with the story of Bray being a WWE boy who’s basically had it all handed to him but pretends to be the alt goth versus Cody’s having to leave build up another company then comeback but I wouldn’t trust them to handle it. I feel like for Bray to be able to rid himself of his spooky shit he just needs to stop doing it and have them down play it all as mind games and smoke and mirrors if they ever do reference it.

[HarmonicGenerator]

17 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

I like this son of a son of a plumber vs son of a taxman feud idea. Easy to invent some age old family beef. They could do some good work with the story of Bray being a WWE boy who’s basically had it all handed to him but pretends to be the alt goth versus Cody’s having to leave build up another company then comeback but I wouldn’t trust them to handle it. I feel like for Bray to be able to rid himself of his spooky shit he just needs to stop doing it and have them down play it all as mind games and smoke and mirrors if they ever do reference it.

Perfect for a Cody feud then! "Oh! oh" etc.

[RedRooster]

1 hour ago, wordsfromlee said:

They need to bin off all the gimmicky character stuff and go back to basics with an old school-Kevin Owens type. A big lad who can talk and wants to scrap. 

Problem is, they already have that in Kevin Owens, and Wyatt isn't anywhere near as good in-ring. I don't even know how good his promos are - he can talk in riddles well enough, but I couldn't even point to one memorable in-ring Bray Wyatt promo. Once you strip away the gimmickry, I'm not sure what exactly you have left. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 minute ago, RedRooster said:

Problem is, they already have that in Kevin Owens, and Wyatt isn't anywhere near as good in-ring. I don't even know how good his promos are - he can talk in riddles well enough, but I couldn't even point to one memorable in-ring Bray Wyatt promo. Once you strip away the gimmickry, I'm not sure what exactly you have left. 

Husky Harris, who was dogshit.

[air_raid]

You know what, rather than think too much about promos and characters, I'd go back to basics for a month or so, and not put the cart before the horse. He's over, right? Allegedly? Plenty of people seem to give a shit regardless of what the spiel is, and its usually the spiel that lets him down. So, just have him do some matches. He comes out to his normal music with his lamp, gets in the ring and wrestles like he was normal Bray Wyatt doing all his regular spots, then wins with Sister Abigails Kiss, against a few opponents week after week. Have the commentators announce/do an on screen graphic as to who he's wrestling at the PPV/premier event. DO NOT DO ANGLES OR PROMOS. Get to the match at the PPV, have him win. Along the way, pay attention to crowd reactions. IF he keeps getting an entrance pop, the people react and get into his matches and moreover make noise when he wins, then at least you know he IS redeemable and you can figure out what to do with character direction/tweaks for him to have a promo presence, because people are still prepared to give him a chance.

If not, bury him on that weekend show if it still exists, pay him his downside not to wrestle until he gets bored and fucks off, or DO put the cart before the horse and have him be some kind of idiot cowboy and comes out and mumbles his usual riddles in a way that we're explicitly, in the story, aware that he's lost his mind, and have him job on telly to literally anyone who needs a win. "Bray Wyatt" sounds like a gunslinger anyway, let's have him play a Smoking Gunn that got mule kicked in the head and now can't figure out if he's a poet laureate, Dick Murdoch or Dr Doom.

[Rule One]

Half the battle is what does Bray Wyatt want for himself?

Does he still want to be this monster/spooky nonsense that's killing anyone who works with him stone dead or can he see himself away from all that? If he can't get over the first hurdle then it's curtains.

There needs to be a clear path of how this nonsense ties up and how to transition him into something else.

Could the spooky shite be contained into its own segment where he's fighting his personal demons off in Uncle Howdy/whatever crap he throws to the wall without any other superstar being involved?

Where does he go from there and who does he become? He's mid-level in the ring but has bags of charisma that could be utilised in other manners.

Cody survived Stardust but he had to have a very strong will/mindset and was prepared to work flat out to achieve what he wanted. Bray doesn't seem the type to want to do that.

At this point he's too far gone for me to give him the time to change.

[DavidB6937]

4 hours ago, mim731 said:

In fairness, conceptually having an alter ego like Finn does in the Demon is less the issue, and on paper it's a fine character addition. It's the am-dram, cheesy as fuck, zero subtlety execution of it that's utter dogshit. 

 

 

Is it an alter ego though? I always figured it was a bloke who did some paint work and a slightly different entrance for the psychological intimidation. There's no difference between Finn with and without paint. That's the main issue. It doesn't really bring anything else out of him. You think wow this guy has gone to a dark place and then he just does the same shit so what's the point?

Obviously I don't expect it to go TOO far the other way like The Fiend kicking out of a bazillion things. But at the least there should be an edgier in ring performance if he's tapping into that Demon stuff.

[Vamp]

Sit him down backstage, give him a list of things he can't do (rambling promos, gothic, horror, dark, brooding, masks, cult leader) but give him a few weeks to pitch something else. Give his idea a go. If it works, great. If it doesn't work have a chat about how you've both tried a few times now and it's not working and if he wants to try his ideas elsewhere you'll support that decision.