Examining Bray Wyatt's Direction, Upside and Long-Term Potential

Bray Wyatt remains a monster chained to a stake, aching to tear free and terrorize the village.

A special talent with rare presence and verbal acumen, Wyatt has yet to be treated as such. WWE has teased his ascension and paired him with marquee names, but has failed to fully tap into his potential.

The Eater of Worlds' contribution to WrestleMania 32 was a microcosm of his WWE career thus far.

WWE had him confront The Rock, trading insults with the all-time great. In between the shots he took at Wyatt, The Rock also spotlighted the heel's skills.

"You got it all. You got the ability. You got the charisma," The Great One told him.

That's an opportunity much of the roster had to be jealous of, but momentum soon shifted. John Cena and The Rock overwhelmed The Wyatt Family in mere seconds. The final image of that scene was The Rock and Cena celebrating. Wyatt was not in the frame:

That's been the arc of so many of Wyatt's stories.

He takes on marquee names, from Cena to Undertaker, only to fall. He promises to feast on his foes, but ends up being the one lying on the dinner table. He's just 4-6 in pay-per-view matches in 2015 and 2016, per CageMatch.net.

Wyatt remains patient, though, as he showed in his comments in an interview with Busted Open:  

On Monday's Raw, WWE appeared to have changed course with Wyatt. The longtime villain and his band of bruisers attacked The League of Nations. That would just be heel-on-heel violence at work, but it more likely signals a face turn on Monday's Raw, a move that would take advantage of an upswell in fan support.

The audience has long shown its passion for Wyatt. Fans light his way to the ring with cellphones. They have sung along with him and roared when he goes on the attack. 

Adjusting Wyatt's alignment would only be a single step in what has to be an ongoing process. Unlocking The Eater of Worlds' greatness should be high on WWE's list of priorities. In an industry where charisma is king, someone like Wyatt has to be treasured.

Strengths

From the moment he walked onto the WWE stage, Wyatt was among the best talkers on the roster. He embodies his character; he carves out fantastic imagery. With a mic in hand, he is a preacher and a poet. 

That allows him to stand toe-to-toe with anyone in a verbal clash, as we saw when he tangled with The Rock at WrestleMania.

He carried his rivalry with Undertaker, offering monologues to set up the narrative while The Deadman remained off-screen. He could hang with Paul Heyman in a promo battle or create sparks while trading trash talk with Kevin Owens. 

As a bonus, Wyatt is inventive and has a mind for the business. Appearing on the World According to Wrestling (NSFW language) podcast, former NXT head trainer Bill DeMott told Dan Higgins, "Bray Wyatt is the benchmark for creative and that's all him. Of the set he's one of the most intelligent men, he does his homework and he's all in."

And once Wyatt's rivalries move to the ring, he delivers there, too.

The New Face of Fear employs a hard-hitting offense. He accelerates impressively, charging at his foe like a train. In less than three full years on the main roster, he has amassed a strong collection of standout bouts against the likes of Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns and Cena.

Beyond that, he has a presence that few others can boast. Wyatt feels like a titan from another world, someone one can't help but be pulled in by.

Obstacles

Wyatt is like a virtuoso guitar player who puts off listeners by hitting intricate combinations of notes rather than going for the simple, catchy riff. His promos are sometimes too esoteric for the general wrestling audience.

During his feud with Dean Ambrose in 2014, Wyatt said, "If you could see what I am. If anybody could see the creature that lives behind my eyes, they would know that I am hope, I am disdain, that I am a slave to my calling."

A portion of the crowd no doubt savored the literary flair of that speech, but it had to go over many a head at the same time. For Wyatt to fully catch in, he will have to rein in his mic work a bit. 

The uniqueness and strange nature of his character is a challenge for WWE Creative. He isn't the typical angry wrestler one can plug into the typical wrestling narrative. The writing team has to compose outside-the-box angles for him. 

WWE hasn't shown that it has mastered that. The Man of 1,000 Truths himself seems to recognize that.

Wyatt explained in an interview on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, "We [The Wyatt Family] were so different. I don't think the company even knew how to use us. What are these things, you know?"

The Wyatt Family's patriarch also has to overcome a growing history of losses in big moments. Wyatt has promised the Apocalypse several times over, only to have Undertaker and Kane trample over him or Cena to conquer him or Reigns to launch himself off Wyatt's prone body.

Don Feria/Associated Press

It's getting harder and harder to buy Wyatt and his crew as real threats at this point. 

Hall of Famer Jake Roberts is among those who believe that WWE has done Wyatt a disservice with how it has booked him. Speaking with Ring Rust Radio, Roberts said, "I think they're holding him down. I think he can do a lot more. I'd like to see them turn him loose."

Whether WWE does just that will be one of the major keys to if he reaches his ceiling or if he becomes a guy fans remember as someone who spent his career underutilized. 

Long-Term Potential

Simply put, Wyatt has the tools to be an all-time great.

Like Roberts before him, he has a unique, compelling and unforgettable character. He is a hugely talented talker on a roster full of average ones. And he can produce in the ring in order to cap off rivalries with classic bouts.

Credit: WWE.com

That combination should lead him to several world championships, to PPV main events and an eventual induction into the Hall of Fame. Wyatt should be one of the pillars of the next era.

But his path moving forward is largely dependent on how WWE views him. If the company is convinced that he's just a sideshow act best suited for falling victim to bigger stars, his career will leave fans with a number of what-ifs.

Should WWE, though, as Roberts said, "turn him loose," it will have a megastar at its disposal.

Be sure to check out previous editions of this ongoing series:

• Zack Ryder
• Becky Lynch
• Neville
• Adam Rose