It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of The Fiend Bray Wyatt, given that he's the most interesting character we've seen on WWE television in, well, an awfully long time. However, even with that being the case, the fantasy booker in us can't help but look ahead to the future.
While the downfall of The Fiend won't come from one defeat, you'd have to imagine that the person who gets the first pinfall over the monster - or win in general - will get a big rub from it. Therefore, we've decided to come up with a few ideas as to who it should be (and who it shouldn't).
10 SHOULD - Kevin Owens
They really do seem to have taken Kevin Owens’ momentum off of a cliff in recent weeks, which is probably why he’s going to be heading to NXT sooner rather than later.
However, if they’re serious about the possibility of pushing him as the next Stone Cold or something to that effect, then he could be the perfect tweener to go up against The Fiend. We’d be fascinated to see the dynamic between the two, and the chemistry (and promos) would be dynamite. Come on, who wouldn’t find this kind of match-up fascinating?
9 SHOULDN’T - The Undertaker
It seems like only a matter of time before The Phenom squares off with The Fiend, potentially in the last match of Undertaker’s career. We just know that WWE will be thinking about him going out on top, but that would be the wrong way to go.
We like the idea of these two squaring off at WrestleMania 36, and while we don’t want it to be a complete squash, Bray needs to defeat Taker in a relatively emphatic way to give himself as much momentum as is humanly possible.
8 SHOULD - Finn Balor
It has to be The Demon that does it and if he does, it needs to mark the return to the main event scene for the Irishman. They fought at SummerSlam and while we really enjoyed the match itself, Balor wasn’t exactly made to look like a million bucks. We understand that wasn’t the point, but a redemption story – that is told properly – could be exactly what the guy needs right now.
We just need to see what his reaction is to all the time off he’s had lately. Will he thrive, or will he struggle to regain momentum?
7 SHOULDN’T - John Cena
There are a lot of things to like about John Cena, even though the cool thing to do has always been to boo the guy and act as if he’s the worst thing to enter WWE since the Gobbledy Gooker.
Cena returning to WWE television is acceptable, but he should be kept far, far away from Bray Wyatt. That is a feud we’ve already seen multiple times, and it didn’t exactly work out too well for Bray before – so why are we to believe that it’ll be any different this time around?
6 SHOULD - Braun Strowman
When he is being built correctly, Braun Strowman is one of the most important superstars in WWE. When he isn’t, his trajectory is a little bit different, as you’d probably expect to be the case.
Strowman was brought into WWE by Wyatt and it makes a lot of sense for him to be the one to dethrone The Fiend. That doesn’t mean he has to completely destroy his momentum, because as long as the company books it in the right way (make sure Triple H is in charge of this), then it should work out for the best.
5 SHOULDN’T - Brock Lesnar
There was a time when Brock Lesnar was a valuable member of the main roster for WWE, but that time has been and gone and it’s time for everyone to move on. Brock can still come back every now and then if WWE feels the need to book him in any fun matches, but Lesnar vs Wyatt is about three years out of date now.
They should’ve gone head to head back at WrestleMania 32 and the fact that it didn’t happen, in many ways, is perhaps a sign that it shouldn’t be revisited.
4 SHOULD - Drew McIntyre
This is going to be another case of ‘it’s all about the booking’ but under the right circumstances, we could be talking about Drew McIntyre as the kind of guy that is able to do some really impressive stuff for WWE – to the point where we could easily see him becoming a world champion one day.
Matching him up against Bray would make for a really fun clash of styles, and the Scottish Psychopath is certainly believable as a worthy challenger, even if he’s hit a few speed bumps in the last few months.
3 SHOULDN’T - Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins is the man that Bray Wyatt should, and probably will take the Universal Championship from. That’s just the way it is, and we’re coming to terms with that idea.
While Seth may be ‘the man’ within his own right that doesn’t mean he needs to be given a rub as big as this. He’s already taken out Brock Lesnar multiple times in 2019, and we feel like that’s a big enough ‘thing’ that he doesn’t need to do the same thing to Bray – especially not this early on.
2 SHOULD - Aleister Black
Inject it into our veins. Aleister Black vs The Fiend Bray Wyatt feels like the kind of feud you could build an entire generation on, and that is no exaggeration. These two men have the kind of characters that would mesh together perfectly, and there is nothing we’d love more than to see some unbelievable promos between the duo.
In the end, though, The Fiend’s unbeaten run should end with a picture-perfect Black Mass that brings Wyatt back down to reality. That’s the kind of storytelling we need to strive for.
1 SHOULDN’T - Randy Orton
Randy Orton should not have won the WWE Championship from Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33, and the House of Horrors match should never have happened. Alas, the feud between the two men was pretty fun up to that point in late 2016 and early 2017, and in a different world, perhaps we’d be a fan of them squaring off again.
They’ve just taken this one a bit too far beyond repair, unfortunately, and we’d be much more invested in the idea of The Fiend terrorizing Randy Orton – because he does kind of deserve it.