Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt are all set to have the most highly anticipated match-up in the short 3-year history of the Universal Championship lineage. If you look back and think about it, there really wasn’t a match throughout the lineage that had more excitement, buzz and anticipation about it.
And this is taking into account the fact that the title headlined WrestleMania in 2018. But that’s the power of having a solid babyface who fans are behind and an exciting challenger – perhaps the most exciting one yet. But all of it has to do with The Fiend Bray Wyatt.
For one, fans must remember that this is the Bray Wyatt who they were so desperately backing in 2016-17 when he had all the momentum in the world. He was always over, he always got a reaction, but what he never got was that decisive win that would take him to the next level. Instead, he was used as a “jobber to the stars” as they call it, being built up simply to take the fall for a bigger superstar. This obviously affected his momentum and eventually, fans began to think that all his promos sounded the same.
They couldn’t even be blamed for it because WWE’s presented Wyatt as such a non-threat that it was hard to take him seriously by the end of his run as The Eater of Worlds. The best thing that happened to him was that extended hiatus where he wasn’t seen or heard from minus the occasional social media post. He would essentially lock himself up from everyone, including his own peers, busy brainstorming a new character.
When he did return, it was as a part of the Firefly Fun House and slowly but surely, The Fiend was unveiled. From his debut, he instantly became the most exciting character in WWE and that is exactly what he is today. If you’re not in the loop – here’s what happened:
Recently, WWE had gone to Canada for a series of live events. At both Calgary and Edmonton, there was a Universal title match between The Fiend Bray Wyatt and Seth Rollins. It ended in a disqualification because Wyatt wouldn’t let go of the mandible claw when pressing Rollins against the turnbuckle, forcing the referee to prematurely end the contest.
This happened on both occasions, but what was really interesting to note was the fact that Wyatt constantly no-sold the Curb Stomp. In fact, in their second meeting at Edmonton, Rollins would land a whopping 6 curb stomps on Wyatt, all of which weren’t sold. This means that we’re in for a very interesting story.
Firstly, the dynamic of this match is off the charts and one that we haven’t seen before in a long time. On one hand, we have Seth Rollins, who is the established fan-favorite Universal Champion. The WWE Universe highly respects and regards him, but he doesn’t seem to be as exciting as Bray Wyatt’s incredible new character.
And one of the best parts is that Rollins is coming off two back-to-back clean victories on PPV over Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman. Nobody in history can claim that, not even Roman Reigns. And the fact that Rollins is presented as somewhat an underdog in the story is fascinating. While some have been surprised that Wyatt was thrust into the Universal title picture right away, it may very well be for a good reason.
Another interesting thing to note in all of this is that Seth Rollins received quite a bit of boos when at Canada and confronted by Wyatt. It seemed as though the fan sentiment had shifted partially in favor of The Fiend and that’s something we can likely expect at WWE Hell in a Cell 2019.
What you can expect at Sacramento is for the crowd to possibly turn on Rollins in favor of Wyatt. It’s not going to be something where it’s personal against Rollins, but more to do with the new excitement over The Fiend Bray Wyatt. The real interesting question, however, is as to how they plan to protect both of them.
Both superstars are in a place where neither can afford to lose, but one would think that Rollins can atleast take the pin and be slightly protected. However, this is WWE’s opportunity to do something really special and pull off a shocker. If Wyatt does become Universal Champion, then he instantly becomes WWE’s top heel, even overtaking Brock Lesnar (though one could argue that Lesnar is far beyond the heel-face dynamic at this point).
Their match at Calgary and Edmonton provided us with a teaser of what is to come. A lack of selling, incredible storytelling and a potentially lopsided crowd reaction in favor of the heel. It’s going to be really exciting to see how it all pans out at the end.
