Ever since his initial emergence onto the WWE stage, Bray Wyatt has been a mysterious entity camouflaged in quirks and riddles. He reminds me of Mick Foley as the maniacal Mankind, shrouded in secrecy yet making no efforts to hide his immediate agenda: pure and total carnage. Juxtaposed with the fan favorite Dean Ambrose, the colorfully nicknamed ‘Lunatic Fringe,’ you aren’t likely to find many dissimilarities aside from their appearance and otherwise world view. Even the WWE Universe has seemingly split their support over the two superstars, making this Sunday’s match at the Survivor Series especially unpredictable.
Theories have been conjured and disproven time and again over the previous several weeks, but regardless of what draws these two together, they’ll be set to explode once the bell sounds. Bray speaks at great length of Dean’s family life, alluding to a mysterious unnamed female figure referred exclusively to in pronouns. This program is all about playing mind games, and I’m not convinced such a steady build will culminate and cease to be following this weekend’s showdown. But how can this story continue without overburdening the average WWE fan with yet another fuzzy finish? Well, I have an idea. So let’s put on our Fantasy Booking Helmets, because when the sh*t hits the fan, it flies around the room. And I don’t want anyone to get hurt.
I have no doubt in my mind that the match up between Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt will be perhaps the most physical singles altercation on the card. In fact, I’m positive it will be, considering the only other singles match is for the Diva’s Championship. Nonetheless, I expect a brawl; spilling out onto the floor, complete with all of the hard-hitting stunts you’ve come to associate with this sort of spectacle in the WWE. Ambrose has a sort of unapologetic work ethic that provides for scintillating spots and uproarious segments. It’s always a bit of haphazard nostalgia whenever Dean Ambrose drags his opponent through the live crowd in an effort to beat him unmercifully, as I can’t help but to recount the 1990’s when “anything could happen” in the WWF. The ‘Buzzard Following’ Bray on the other hand has an abrasive style all his own, and I’m not sure if Ambrose will be as liberal with his usage of hard-core high spots as he has in the past.
I expect this overarching program to extend clear through TLC and perhaps even into the Royal Rumble, meaning a clean 1-2-3 pinfall victory is almost out of the question. Don’t ask me to venture any guesses as to exactly what’s going to happen at the end of the match, but I sense it may derail Dean Ambrose whatever it is. I certainly wasn’t expecting a holograph to interrupt the Hell in a Cell main event last month, so it could be anything. As Bray appears more versed in the psychological warfare aspect of sports entertainment, and knowing that this match cannot have a definitive end, odds are that Bray Wyatt will be the victor, regardless of what spells the end for the former member of The Shield.
If there’s any doubt in your mind that this match is just the beginning of a larger feud, all you have to do is look ahead one month. TLC is a match designed to settle scores, and I’m optimistic about a superstar with the abilities of Dean Ambrose colliding with the equally exemplary Bray Wyatt when the tables, ladders, and chairs have become commonplace. Speculation dictates that Dean Ambrose is likely to walk away from the final pay view of the year with a checkmark in his W column, should this program continue to evolve. But don’t be so sure, as unusual combatants more often than not yield unusual circumstances. While it’s virtually impossible to predict any of the action going on in a match almost three weeks away, I do think that Bray Wyatt will continue his winning streak against Dean Ambrose through the end of 2014.
If Bray is vanquished at TLC, then vengeance is to be had by Dean Ambrose, but the score is now tied and we are at another cliched fork in the road in WWE programming. Previously-set precedents provide that a tied-score would lead to a third match, but why would someone as emotionally unhinged as Bray Wyatt think in such rational terms? It’s much more realistic to have Wyatt continuously dominate Ambrose month after month, all the while laying in the vicious verbal licks and taunting Dean for his previous problems and current situation.
Although many members of the WWE Universe would like to see Dean Ambrose win the Royal Rumble and headline Wrestlemania, it’s not going to happen. After the embarrassing fan reaction this past year to Rey Mysterio and Dave Batista, the WWE needs to think twice about how they book some of their more popular superstars in the Rumble. I’ve stated in previous articles that Wyatt is a character that needs to be set outside of the title picture. He doesn’t think like normal men, and therefore isn’t enamored by the idea of wearing a black strap of leather with a gold plate on the front. Dean Ambrose, although a guaranteed future title contender, should consider walking along the same path for the time being. I think the wisest way to make the fans happy, while not pushing two of their favorite superstars, is to continue engaging them in battle with one another.
Arriving at the Royal Rumble, the only question is: what type of match could end this heated rivalry? While a Last Man Standing Match is perhaps the most likely, it’s interesting and exciting to hypothesize what else could be considered for these two future faces of the company. In a perfect world, also known as a time set before 2008, this rivalry would be ripe for a First Blood Match. However given the current political climate of WWE, I couldn’t see such a stipulation return in a matter of just two months. How about a Three Stages of Hell Match? Much more inside the spectrum of possibilities than a First Blood I’d say, plus the Three Stages format could serve to fix time issues due to a smaller card caused by the Royal Rumble match. Even the unrefined nature of a Falls Count Anywhere Match could potentially spill into the backstage area and harken back to a simpler Attitude Era.
A match I haven’t seen in several years however, that I think would be perfect for this feud is the Texas Bull Rope Match, known in some circles as the Caribbean Strap match. In fact, I’m fairly certain the locale and apparatus may have changed even more than that, so they could very well refer to this as something more apropos. It’s simple: two men who can’t stand being in the same ring as one another are bound at the wrist by a long rope, and may only achieve victory when they reach all four turnbuckles in succession. This is a match that works best to highlight the heroes ingenuity, while accentuating the villains ruthless tenacity, and there aren’t two better competitors more suited for such a contest on the WWE roster.
I think it’s time that the WWE introduces a Bray Wyatt match. A specialty-type stipulation not unlike The Undertaker’s Casket Match, Kane’s Inferno Match, or even The Great Khali’s Punjabi Prison. If Wyatt is poised to become the new supernatural superstar of the next era in WWE, he needs a match befitting his personality and the darkness that he embodies; a match when said aloud sends shivers up the spine of his opponent. Whatever that match may come to be, I hope it provides as much originality as Bray Wyatt has since appearing in the WWE.
When the final curtain has fallen and every act has been performed, there’s no question in my mind that Dean Ambrose will emerge the winner. He will of course have his struggles along the way, losing battle after battle. But Dean Ambrose is as much the classic hero archetype as is Sir Lancelot or Hercules. The Buzzard-following cult leader known as Bray Wyatt is the multi-necked Hydra, and Dean Ambrose is set to systematically sever each of his heads, until ‘The Eater of Worlds’ has been destroyed. That might take a few months. Following their program, Dean will be set to reignite his feud with Rollins, which could be achieved in a number of ways. As far as Bray is concerned, like any good villain, he’ll clean himself off and return to the drawing board, with a new superstar in his sights, maybe even his former family members Erick Rowan or the newly crowned Intercontinental champion Luke Harper.
Of course this is all speculation, drawing upon everything I know about the WWE coupled with any and all inside knowledge I’ve accrued; certainly plenty of guesswork and wishful thinking indeed. But one of the most enticing aspects of being a wrestling fan, of being a member of any Fanbase for that matter, is speculation. Wondering the “what if’s” and “how comes” can make every episode of Raw worth watching, and makes the hours leading up to every monthly pay-per-view especially exhilarating. Until next we meet, I’m Mark Haggerty and if any of this comes true, I am a psychic and will help you find your missing children and/or car keys.
