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This week on SmackDown, a lot of fans were excited because they knew that Bray Wyatt was going to return with a special segment of The Firefly Fun House. Now, Bray Wyatt has been away because he just became a father, but it was written into the storyline as him reeling from the loss against Braun Strowman at Money in the Bank.
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What made waves is the fact that this week's show would end with Bray Wyatt not bringing The Fiend back, as many fans on SmackDown had expected but instead reverting to the swamp cult persona we had come to loathe and fear oh so very long ago. One had assumed that the gimmick was dead and buried when Bray Wyatt reinvented himself, but obviously, as one can see, such is not the case.
While nobody truly knows what goes on in the twisted and demented mind of Bray Wyatt, I have 5 theories that may shed some light on it.
#5 Bray Wyatt starts a new cult on WWE SmackDown?
If you bring back a cult leader persona on WWE SmackDown, chances are that Bray Wyatt will have a cult to lead soon. Obviously, it wouldn't comprise the gentlemen that I have showcased here considering that two of the four are no longer with the company, although Mr. Brodie Lee now leads a cult of his own- The Dark Order.
But there are so many underutilized talents just rotting away on the current SmackDown roster who could benefit from Bray Wyatt and his, well, healing touch (or glove). Wyatt could form a brand new faction with people who don't have too much going on TV such as Mojo Rawley or even Akam from the AOP.
Maybe even a potential sister Abigail?
#4 Cult leader Bray Wyatt saves The Fiend vs. Braun Strowman for SummerSlam
I know that a lot of fans were upset that Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman was the big feud right after Braun Strowman defeated Goldberg to become the Universal Champion. A lot of people, quite rightfully, felt that Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman was the biggest feud on SmackDown and should have been saved for a much bigger stage, like SummerSlam 2020.
They will be delighted to know that the clash of two unstoppable forces, Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman may very well happen at SummerSlam 2020 because of the way that the story has stretched out thus far. This current feud is clearly leading to a clash between Braun Strowman and The Fiend and SummerSlam feels like the ideal stage for something so titanic.
In this manner, WWE would have actually stretched the feud all the way from WrestleMania to SummerSlam but in a very creative manner, where at no point does it seem forced.
Compare this to the neverending feud between Roman Reigns and King Corbin.
#3 Bray Wyatt can take yet another loss in the said gimmick
A long time ago, Bray Wyatt was referred to as 'The Eater of Pins' which was a spin on his gimmick 'The Eater of Worlds' because he would keep taking loss after loss to the point where his character was quite severely diminished. Because Bray Wyatt was such a favorite of the 'smarter' fan, this was a term used in derision at how WWE continued to book him despite the fact that he was the most original gimmick of the modern era.
If the plan is indeed a trilogy that culminates in a match against The Fiend at SummerSlam, then the right way to go about things is to have Bayou Bray Wyatt, as my colleague, Greg Bush so eloquently put it take a loss ahead of the eventual showdown with The Fiend.
This does make sense because this persona of Bray Wyatt is more an ode to the past than a sign of things to come. We all saw how much steam was taken out of The Fiend's character when he was pinned by Goldberg and that's the gimmick that needs to be protected.
#2 Possibility of a cinematic match in the Wyatt Compound between Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman
When we first saw the Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena cinematic match at WrestleMania this year, we knew that it was the start of something special. And yet, Bray Wyatt has pioneered this style of storytelling for a really long time. Of course, a lot of us still remember and recall the match between Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy in the Hardy Compound a long time ago on RAW.
But even before that, The New Day and The Wyatt Family had a very unique sort of match in the Wyatt Compound. And there's every chance that we could return to The Wyatt Compound or at least, what remains in the ruins of the compound after Randy Orton burned it to the ground. It will definitely be a very unique horror movie setting, where the creativity of Bray Wyatt can take center stage.
It will also be fun to see Braun Strowman struggling with supernatural forces that he cannot control for a change.
#1 Bray Wyatt and the concept of long-term storytelling with Braun Strowman
Anyone who is a fan of Bray Wyatt, the man, knows that everything he does has a certain purpose to it. When the brand new gimmick had been launched, Bray Wyatt had cryptic clues in all of his vignettes and while that may have been a little too intelligent for the regular wrestling fan to understand, smart marks had a field day searching beneath the surface and reading between the lines for meaning.
The character of Bray Wyatt knows that in his current avatar he was unable to heal Braun Strowman because both men have evolved significantly since then. But maybe, at this stage, Bray Wyatt still wants to 'heal' Braun Strowman a lot more than he wants to hurt the man, because of the bond they share.
So maybe, a trip back in time is Bray Wyatt's big plan simply because the man wants to welcome him back into the fold once again and he feels, from a storytelling perspective, that cult leader Bray Wyatt stands a better chance of doing so.
