WWE Stable Expansion, Pt 1: The Wyatt Family

I have always been a sucker for stables. Groups like the original Four Horsemen, the Freebirds and the Von Erichs were before my time. But they set the standard.

The Heenan Family were at their strongest when I first started watching wrestling. As a youngster, I always hoped a faction of good guys would form to battle the Heenan Family. I was hungry for stable wars before I even knew what that meant.

Although I was too loyal to Vince McMahon to watch the nWo’s takeover of the WCW, the storyline intrigued me. Throughout the Attitude Era, in response to the hysteria created by Eric Bischoff and Ted Turner, there were all sorts of stables being formed in the WWF. They included the likes of the Disciples of Apocalypse, Los Boricuas, the Oddities, the Mean Street Posse, The Brood, Right to Censor, and the Radicalz. Borrowing from their competitors, even the J.O.B. Squad had a brief presence in McMahon's company.

The stables of the Attitude Era peaked when Triple H spent months leading Degeneration X in epic battles against The Rock and the Nation of Domination. The fusion of the Corporation and The Ministry was brilliant. The Invasion of the Alliance was a full-scale war that resulted in a lot of dream matches many fans never thought they’d see.

Right now, the WWE is ripe for a multi-stable onslaught to determine who really rules the roost of the WWE. You may disagree with me, but I think the best stable wars involve massive teams, and my favorite stables of all time have been deep with talent.

The WWE has five potential powerhouse stables in the WWE right now, and I think all of them could benefit from a growth spurt before their eventual decay.

This is part one of a five-part series in which I take a look at a current (or potential) stable, and who I think the best contenders are for new additions. Each of these five stables—The Shield, The Wyatt Family, The Heyman Guys, The Real Americans and The Authority/Evolution—will get five recommendations from me for potential inductions.

For part one, we take a look at the men behind the fastest growing WWE trend in recent memory: the Wyatts.

The Current Lineup

Image credit: WWE.com

The Wyatt Family: Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper

The Wyatt Family's current lineup: Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Eric Rowan.

Clearly, anyone who is a Wyatt convert will have to undergo a complete makeover. I can’t think of anyone in the company right now that could make the transition without some major attitude and apparel changes. But luckily, that’s Wyatt’s whole gimmick: a cult leader who has the uncanny ability to bring people into the fold.

Converts would have to contain at least one of the following traits or circumstances: 1) be believable as a cult follower; 2) need a serious change in what creative currently has for them; or 3) provide a genuine twist when it is revealed that they are a Wyatt.

I list my top-five picks for future Wyatts.

5) Damien Sandow

It looked like WWE had big plans for Damien Sandow and then just dropped him all of a sudden. He’s got charisma, he’s a talented in-ring worker, and as we’ve seen lately with his generic Magneto get-up, he’s not afraid to try new gimmicks in an attempt to get over.

The build-up could be good. Sandow, claiming to be the learned man that he is, boasts that Wyatt’s brain-washing would have no effect on him. Of course, eventually, it does. It might be interesting to see Sandow in a position where he’s a follower, rather than someone who talks down to all of his opponents.

Plus, he’s already got the beard started. He hasn't tried anything fresh since his debut on the main roster. It's about time to shake things up.

4) Bo Dallas

In this “reality era,” almost everyone knows that Bo Dallas and Bray Wyatt are brothers, which could play a big part in the story. Physically speaking, Bray has that very-athletic-for-a-short-and-chubby-guy thing going for him, and Harper and Rowan tower over the average WWE Superstar. But they don’t have a lightweight, high-flying grappler like Dallas.

After weeks of spewing his positive Bo-Lieve message to the WWE Universe, he clashes with Wyatt’s opposing dogma. After losing a match and suffering a brutal post-match beatdown by all three members of the Wyatt Family, the next time we see Dallas, he’s a Bo-Liever…in Wyattism.

3) Nikki Bella (Or Maybe Brie)

Image credit: WWE.com

Nikki would look much different as a Wyatt.

Assuming Wyatt’s feud with Cena continues, what could add more drama to the story than Cena’s “plastic girlfriend” leaving the leader of the Cenation for a “real man” like Bray Wyatt? Not only would it affect Cena, but Brie would obviously be concerned, which means Daniel Bryan would be concerned as well. Cena, Bryan, the Wyatts and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship could make for some great television.

Plus, don’t you want to know what sort of wardrobe change a Bella would have to make to be a Wyatt?

But maybe Brie would be a better option. If Wyatt moves on to the World Heavyweight Championship after Cena, the unfinished business between Wyatt and Bryan would make for some amazing television, now that both Superstars are even bigger than they were when they first interacted.

Imagine if Wyatt convinced Bryan's wife to join the cult. Brie could cut promos about her fake, "plastic" sister, obviously influenced by Wyatt. While Wyatt battles Bryan, the Bellas erupt into a feud of their own. With Bray whispering in her ear, Brie could even make some sort of comments about how Nikki's augmented breasts are another example of the "lies" people like her and Cena are always feeding to the WWE Universe.

2) John Cena

Everyone in the IWC has been desperate for a Cena heel-turn for at least the last five years. If Cena is eventually going to turn his back on all of the youngsters that love him so much, wouldn’t siding with someone as demented as Wyatt be the most dramatic and shocking way to do so?

I’m not talking about anything like the time Daniel Bryan “joined” the Wyatts. This isn’t going to be a two-week charade where Cena is just plotting to turn on Wyatt. This is going to be Cena admitting that he can’t get the best of Wyatt. That all of the talk he’s made about the new generation coming through him is legit. That maybe there is someone who can teach him a thing or two about the real world.

Obviously, if a Cena heel-turn ever happens, it’s not going to be permanent. Whether it’s Nikki that finally convinces him to leave, or the eventual disbandment of the entire Wyatt family, Cena eventually goes back to the face we hate after a good six months or more of being a Wyatt.

Do you have a better idea for a Cena heel-turn?

1) Undertaker

We all know that Undertaker isn't in any kind of condition to be an active wrestler. But if it turns out there is someone who has been influencing Bray this whole time, who better than the Undertaker? It could even be revealed that 'Taker's wife Michelle McCool is really the "Sister Abigail" that speaks to Wyatt on a regular basis.

Undertaker has a history of leading dark factions when he headed the Ministry. While he may not be in any condition for full-on matches, he could still get physical when needed. Of course, it would make more sense if the Wyatt Family had already grown by a member or two, and Wyatt had started hinting more at the fact that there was someone else ultimately giving him commands, perhaps alluding to the idea that Sister Abigail and/or another "higher power" of sorts would be revealed soon.

Do you remember how much anticipation was built when it was made known that there was a "higher power" behind the Ministry? Before revealing 'Taker and McCool, they could even tease that the power was Vince or Triple H and that Stephanie was Sister Abigail.

Although the Ministry was quite a different beast than the Wyatt Family, it isn't too large of a leap to make sense. It could give a storyline reason as to why Undertaker has been off-screen so much over the last year or two. Having failed to defeat Lesnar at WrestleMania, 'Taker could lead Wyatt to exact his revenge.

The obvious, major flaw in this plan is that it would be strange for the Wyatt Family to be led by someone other than a Wyatt. And at the peak of the Wyatt movement, it may not be a good idea to have Wyatt taking orders from another on-camera personality. So maybe save this twist for the end of the Wyatt Family gimmick. As it begins to lose momentum, give it a final boost with the build-up of revealing a Sister Abigail who unexpectedly comes with a higher power. The end of the Wyatt Family could come when Bray refuses to accept 'Taker's marching orders, and the group ultimately disbands.

What Are Your Thoughts?

Do you think I'm wrong about making additions to the Wyatt Family? Are there better options? Perhaps this is a case of, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I think the "growing" nature of The Wyatt Family lends itself to eventually take on some converts. I think they need to reach a level of at least five Superstars at some point.

But what do you think?