What’s the story?
WWE Champion Bray Wyatt received some praise from his alma mater, Troy University, for winning the WWE Championship this past Sunday at the SmackDown exclusive pay-per-view Elimination Chamber.
Greg Phillips of the official blog of Troy University, Troy Today, discussed Wyatt’s legacy at Troy University and his various accomplishments under his government name, Windham Rotunda. Phillips wrote the following:
“Before he was “eating worlds” as Bray Wyatt, he was grinding on the field with the Troy Trojans football team as Windham Rotunda on the 2007 and 2008 squads. Wyatt, a prized junior college transfer from the College of the Sequoias, came to TROY after being named a junior college All-American his sophomore year. After redshirting in 2007, he served as a backup center on the Trojans’ Sun Belt Conference Championship squad in 2008. It was during his tenure at TROY that he discovered his true calling, however, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, father and uncle into the family business.”
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The Wyatt Family debuted in NXT in 2012 and would make their impact on the main roster the following year. Until he won the WWE Championship, the only title Wyatt had held was the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, which they lost to American Alpha last year.
Despite being on the main roster for more than four years, Wyatt rarely received matches for the WWE Championship. The few times he has fought for the title were the 2014 Ladder Match for the WWE Championship at Money in The Bank and competing in the 2016 Royal Rumble match; the second Royal Rumble in history to ever be for the WWE Championship.
Though Wyatt is well-known for his gimmick as head of The Wyatt Family, he was also a member of The Nexus; both the original group led by former WWE Superstar Wade Barrett and New Nexus which was led by former WWE Superstar CM Punk.
The heart of the matter
Plenty of fans were happy to see the Eater of Worlds finally get a chance to be a top guy in the WWE and this seems like a good opportunity.
People wanted Wyatt to fight for the Championship ever since 2014 when he defeated Daniel Bryan and The Shield in some hellacious matches. He’s spent the majority of his career on the losing end since 2014, but that has finally been rectified with the biggest win of his career.
What’s next?
While it is nice to see Wyatt with the WWE Championship, the fact remains that Orton is the number one contender for the WWE Championship and is probably the favourite to win the title at WrestleMania; ending the feud that began towards the beginning of the 2016 Brand Split.
There is still a chance that Wyatt could retain the Championship, but fans won’t know until April 2, 2017, when Orton and Wyatt clash for the title in Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
Sportskeeda’s take
With his recent WWE Championship win, Wyatt has accomplished something, that not even his father managed to do during his time with the company. His championship reign now adds to the legacy of both the Windham and Rotunda Family in professional wrestling.
Excluding any title changes that may occur before WrestleMania, Wyatt will have held the championship for at least 50 days and if he manages to defeat Orton, he could hold the belt even longer and not be known as a transitional Champion.
Wyatt began his professional wrestling career in Florida wrestling in the company’s developmental territories so it will be interesting to see The leader of The Wyatt Family return to Florida for the biggest wrestling event they’ll see this year as the WWE Champion.
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