Dear WWE: Please Keep Bray Wyatt Away from Roman Reigns

Dear WWE: Please don't make the same mistake twice and ruin Bray Wyatt.

So goes what has to be the underlying thought of many WWE and pro wrestling fans after the return of Wyatt at Extreme Rules on Saturday night.

While it was one of the greatest reveals of all time after a creative, interactive buildup for weeks, Roman Reigns and WWE gold in general could outright ruin things in a hurry.

That ruination would damper the work put into this return and maybe spoil Wyatt's last chance as a headlining, historic act.

None of this is much of an exaggeration, if at all, either. Fans know how it went down last time—Wyatt's The Fiend persona and all of the fun, spooky supernatural stuff surrounding it provided weekly entertainment in a way most things on WWE programming just couldn't.

Then Wyatt, the supernatural monster with alter egos and maniacal puppets trapped in an alternate-reality kids-type show, got interested in WWE's titles.

Or rather, the company saw how hot he was with fans and wanted to get him in the main-event scene, completely ignoring all sensible character and storyline motivations.

So Wyatt got in the title scene and had that disaster of a feud with Seth Rollins, who himself was so damaged by it he needed to undergo a massive character change exiting the encounter.

Some of the character and storyline storytelling might have worked there if the in-ring side of it wasn't so bad. But who can forget Wyatt and Rollins getting booed out of the stadium in a main event after the Fiend took countless weapon headshots and was eventually buried with, well, stuff, because he was just so unstoppable?

That feud just kept going for some reason too, with Rollins going to Wyatt's Firefly Fun House and burning it down, with it being as bad as it sounds.

There's an important distinction here, too—Rollins and Reigns are mostly interchangeable in the above conversation. This is about Wyatt and The Fiend, or whatever character alteration the supernatural Superstar dreams up next.

But with Reigns specifically, it gets even worse.

Were WWE to throw Wyatt right at Reigns right now, only disaster could result. It's blatant to anyone paying attention that the unified champion isn't going to lose a title any time soon as the push for his GOAT-solidifying run continues. The final destination is an encounter with The Rock in Los Angeles at the next WrestleMania.

That's why WWE is comfortable—and smart—for putting Reigns up against Logan Paul at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia. Reigns won't lose and fans know it, but Paul will emerge looking even better and like he deserves full-timer status.

The same doesn't apply to Wyatt. He's clearly not going to beat Reigns for a title, and a Fiend-styled character with a title is silly, anyway. Taking a predictable loss would be a disaster and it might just be one for Reigns, too, not unlike what happened to Rollins. It's the same fate befalling anyone running into Reigns right now (like Drew McIntyre in the UK, Austin Theory and his meaningless briefcase, etc).

Thinking much broader than immediate repercussions with that sort of encounter, Wyatt is so much better used as an asset far, far away from title scenes right now.

Considering how dull the holding-pattern main-event scene is right now while WWE jams this Reigns run through, Wyatt can alleviate some of those issues by headlining things in his own special way. He doesn't need a title or main-event feud. WWE needs to just let him do his thing with the promos and creativity we saw already through the use of QR codes, minigames and mystery.

The company has done a splendid job of this already by making the mid-card title scenes feel very important through the likes of Bobby Lashley. But Wyatt, especially if it's on Raw where there isn't a top title, feels like a main event all on his own that only makes the entire show better. If the leadup to the historic reveal was this good and helped ratings so much, imagine what he can do on a weekly basis if he's not in a silly title feud.

This comes with the territory of all the intrigue. We have no idea, no hints or clues yet as to Wyatt's actual character(s) or what he wants to do upon his return. But WWE should be able to see this cliche writing on the wall of past mistakes and avoid it with relative ease, especially given the obvious benefits.

Wyatt forming a huge stable, or going against Braun Strowman or Finn Balor or being used to uplift younger talents or reeling in Alexa Bliss again—there are endless possibilities that have zero to do with titles and Reigns that could uplift the entire company, provided WWE can avoid the one glaringly obvious landmine.

Wyatt showed be used alongside Reigns, not against him. There's a time for that, but it certainly isn't now.