3 Fresh Ideas to Reintroduce Bray Wyatt to WWE as a Main Eventer

What started as a cryptic tease at local live events quickly became the hottest phenomenon in WWE.

During the commercial break at Raw and SmackDown tapings, an acapella version of Jefferson Airplane's “White Rabbit '' plays while the audience emblazons the dark with their smartphones. This elusive but familiar call and response seems to signal the return of Bray Wyatt.

The mysterious White Rabbit could be someone else, but it’s hard to deny that all the clues seem like something straight out of Wyatt’s playbook. The QR codes that recently appeared have simply read “come with me” until activated.

Those three words fit his methods to amass followers early in his career and his call to let him in as The Fiend. He also famously ended his first FCW promo with the phrase.

The first QR code led fans to a game of Hangman with the question: “Who killed the world?” The answer turned out to be “You did.” It could be a call back to a classic backstage interview between The Eater of Worlds and Michael Cole.

The latest barcodes have sent savvy fans down a rabbit hole (no pun intended) of more references to his career.

This is the most innovative and fascinating approach to return or major debut we’ve seen in some time. Fittingly, the psychedelic classic rock record that sparked it all is a song about following your curiosity. It’s a trippy call to feed into your inquisitive nature, and The Man of 1,000 Truths is leading us into the next chapter of his career.

So, how can he and WWE follow up on such an enthralling mystery? That’s a consistent query for Wyatt when the payoff hasn’t always matched his incredible promos or vignettes. His comeback is his chance to reinvent himself, and these are some fresh ideas to reintroduce him.

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Make His Motives Clear and Stick To Them

Wyatt is one of the best talkers of his generation. He knows his character and commits to it as no one else can.

However, it’s fair to say many of his promos became empty threats or long-winded monologues that didn’t lead to anything. Keeping up with his enigmatic ranting and ravings grew exhausting when it was clear there was no end goal.

If The Eater of Worlds reemerges, he has to make his motives clear, and WWE has to trust him enough to stick with an ongoing story. For example, The Fiend worked best as a vehicle to exact his revenge on everyone who wronged Wyatt. The driving force that initially made him so compelling grew unclear when he entered the title picture.

That was always a mistake because The Fiend shouldn’t care about conventional wrestling goals like winning a championship. He didn’t want to grab the brass ring. Horror-inspired characters are difficult to pull off, so his established internal logic needed to remain consistent. If vengeance was his objective, all of his feuds should’ve been built around that overarching narrative.

That’s the key to keeping the character interesting when he returns. Establish a rationale for his actions and build upon it. The 35-year-old doesn’t need to win every match or become a champion: Storytelling is the priority.

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Dive Into Metacommentary and Self-Deprecating Humor

Some fans think the supernatural characters in pro wrestling are dated. Many of the best examples from our childhood, such as The Undertaker, Kane, The Brood and Papa Shango, created life-long memories. However, they seem a bit hokey to adult viewers.

That’s not to say that there is no place for them in modern wrestling, but recent attempts like The Judgement Day or Joe Gacy have soured some fans. The last few months of The Fiend’s appearances or Alexa Bliss’ act didn’t help matters, either.

It’s easy to say spooky characters just don’t work in an era where realism and workrate are celebrated. Nevertheless, theatrics and unforgettable moments are still as meaningful as high-quality matches. There is still so much room for error, but Wyatt is currently the best at producing quirky segments and talked-about occurrences.

He may have found the trick to keeping a creepy gimmick fresh with The Firefly Funhouse. It was such a kooky concept, but the self-deprecating humor and callbacks to WWE’s continuity made it appealing. There were so many layers to the seemingly random segments and its cast of puppets.

Many fans may have grown out of some of the more cartoonish aspects of professional wrestling. Nevertheless, peaks behind the curtain and callbacks have been prevalent for over a decade.

The most hardcore fans just want to know that you’re not trying to insult their intelligence. They may be mature enough to understand The Fiend isn’t real, but giving them Easter eggs and self-referential commentary makes them feel like they are in on the joke.

That same fanbase also likes wrestling lore. If you show them that their knowledge matters and reward them for paying attention, they will remain invested. That technique is already working with the QR codes.

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Allow Wyatt to Have a Lasting Impact

One of the major issues with The Fiend and other iterations of Wyatt’s character is that he ultimately became toothless. He would appear on the screen and make promises that never came to fruition or spout cryptic mumble jumble but continue to lose to his most notable opponents.

WWE has to find a way to make him into a big attraction, but he also has to be a believable threat. That doesn’t mean he needs to go on an undefeated streak or immediately beat a top star, but Wyatt has to feel like has a lasting effect on the product.

For example, taking John Cena off the board for a while following their Firefly Fun House match at WrestleMania 36 was a fantastic way to showcase this. Similarly, Finn Bálor went to NXT for a while after their feud, but he wasn’t on the main shows.

Consider what The Legend Killer persona did for Randy Orton. It was a perfect instance of WWE showing us instead of telling us that the young star was dangerous.

Wyatt shouldn’t have to stay in the confines of established rules or traditional wrestling tropes. You don't need to use him at every pay-per-view or overexpose him. Instead, his appearance should feel impactful because of the story he’s a part of.

This is, admittedly, a tough predicament for WWE because he’s a popular Superstar and it’s tempting to put him on television as much as possible. There is merchandise to sell and live events to promote. It should also avoid letting him go through every good guy on the roster again as he did as The Fiend.

The challenge is to allow him to affect his opponent in some way even if he loses. Turning wrestlers who come in contact with him into heels was clever, but that concept didn’t always translate well. Having his opponents cower in fear when he was The Fiend was a step too far.

Instead, Wyatt should prey on other characters' wants and insecurities as a launching pad for other storylines. A good way to think about this is how a humiliating loss or effective mind games can stay with an opponent until they overcome it. The effect shouldn’t be supernatural because it forces the audience to suspend disbelief.

Allow Wyatt’s words to hit their mark and cause someone to question everything they’ve been doing.

There is so much potential for great feuds and stories when you allow him to instigate other plot points realistically. He could create discord among tag teams or cause a comedy act to take themselves seriously again.

More importantly, it would make him an integral part of WWE programming.