"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt is one of the geniuses in wrestling. His contributions may not be huge, but he's a pretty smart guy who has reinvented himself many times over his career. While fans have always taken a keen interest in him, WWE on the other hand never seemed to really know what to do with Wyatt.
They had him feud with some of the top-dogs in wrestling such as John Cena, The Undertaker, and more and even had him lift the World Championship several times over the years. But despite these huge accomplishments in WWE, The Fiend hasn't really been that lucky in terms of booking.
Rivalry With Randy Orton Brought Out The Worst Of Him
Wyatt's WWE Championship victory at Elimination Chamber 2017 was a great moment for wrestling fans. On SmackDown following the pay-per-view, Wyatt defended his WWE Title against John Cena and AJ Styles, and even after a pre-match attack by Luke Harper (the late Brodie Lee), Bray ended up winning the match.
It was clear that Randy Orton would turn on him soon but The Viper refused to face The Wyatt Family's leader at the Grandest Stage of Them All for the WWE Championship, which obviously turned out to be a ruse. So what happened next? One successful title defense and then Wyatt ended up losing his prestigious belt and became the worst WWE Champion of the 2010s.
His reign could've been bigger than it was. Sure, Wyatt wasn't a great wrestler but he had a great gimmick and mic skills to make up for it. His feud with Randy Orton was terrible and while it had its moments, some really good, the overall rivalry was nothing but a terrible affair. Even their WrestleMania 33 match received poor ratings from wrestling fans.
The Fiend Should Never Have Become A Champion
For the next few years, Wyatt remained in the mid-card scene and never got a moment to shine properly again until 2019 when he introduced The Fiend to the WWE Universe. By the time he made his debut, Wyatt had already won over so many fans that he became the hottest thing in wrestling for a while.
His gimmick, while being a little too much for some fans' taste, got everyone talking about him. The former cult leader of The Wyatt Family now had a split personality. One moment he was super scary, the other he got real goofy as the host of The Firefly Fun House.
Soon after his return, WWE booked The Fiend vs Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship at Hell in a Cell. Wyatt had already shown he isn't afraid of pain but that he rather finds pleasure in it. The pay-per-view happened and in the main event, Rollins tore apart The Fiend with every weapon he could get his hands on. Nobody knew what WWE was thinking because they made The Fiend so overpowered in that match that it destroyed Seth's momentum. The match ended due to referee stoppage and it became one of the worst pay-per-view main events from the past decade.
No one really blamed The Fiend for this because it was all WWE's fault, right? Weeks later at Crown Jewel, Wyatt finally defeated Rollins to win his first-ever Universal Championship in WWE.
It was the start of something new for Wyatt, but even this reign wasn't good. The last time Wyatt was booked weakly against Randy Orton and ended up losing his title easily to him. But this time, WWE didn't do that and in the process, they ended up developing a whole lot of other problems. It was good that The Fiend was nearly unstoppable in the ring, but the problem was that every rivalry against him meant the death of someone's character quite literally in fact as many wrestlers even ended up changing their gimmick after feuding with him.
At this point, some had started to doubt The Fiend as WWE's World Champion. The question was who would end his reign of terror. The answer: Goldberg.
The 54-year old returned for his Saudi Arabia payday in 2020 and ended Wyatt's Universal Championship reign. What the likes of Rollins, Daniel Bryan, and The Miz couldn't do the WCW megastar did it. But it was probably a good decision to take the title off Fiend's shoulders. His reign was super messed up as it was pretty hard to defeat someone who possesses supernatural abilities. And those character changes probably weren't coincidences as well. Those superstars really needed some change in their character after losing to a former unbeatable superstar.
The Fiend's Universal Championship Reigns Were Forgettable
The loss to Goldberg had surely hurt The Fiend's momentum but WWE saved his character by getting John Cena to job to him at WrestleMania 36. But then again, they ended up having him defeat Braun Strowman and ending his Universal Championship reign prematurely.
If that wasn't enough, Roman Reigns returned and stole the title from Wyatt a week later at Payback. All of this was confusing for many fans, and those who watched it live on television know that Wyatt never really did anything significant during any of his reigns. He only chased the title and WWE made sure to hype him up every time but after winning the belt, the company seems to move on from him.
The Fiend had three runs with the World Championships and all three of the times WWE messed up. Instead of creating balance, WWE either gave him too much power or too less and both times, it hurt his character.
The Fiend Is Great, But Keep Him Away From Top Belts
The Fiend's booking shows that while it's a great character, it's very limited in many areas. First off, Wyatt should never lift another World Title ever as long as he's The Fiend in WWE because that just wouldn't work for many different reasons. He can lose the title but it wouldn't be an easy task to take it off from him. And also, his character doesn't need a major belt to stay relevant because The Fiend can thrive on its own.
The company probably doesn't understand but The Fiend character works best as an attraction. Unless WWE figures out a way that lets him have good title reigns, Wyatt doesn't need to be anywhere near any title scene.