Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt: Winner and Reaction from 2015 WWE Battleground

Roman Reigns entered Sunday's Battleground event with retribution on his mind, but the popular Superstar came up short in his effort to take down Bray Wyatt.

Wyatt earned the victory with a little help from a hooded man who emerged from the crowd. The hooded man shoved Reigns into the ring post on the outside, which allowed Wyatt to hit Sister Abigail for the three count, per WWE:

The unknown assailant revealed himself to be Luke Harper, per WWE Universe:

Sam Roberts is thrilled to see at least two-thirds of the Wyatt Family reuniting:

Jim Ross had a positive review for the match: 

Bray Wyatt has stagnated a bit over the past year-plus, so putting him back in the faction that helped make him so popular in the first place is a great idea. You also wonder how this might impact his feud with Reigns going forward.

Reigns seemed well on his way to winning the Money in the Bank contract and becoming the heir apparent to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the Money in the Bank event, but he was foiled by The Eater of Worlds, who pushed him off the ladder.

Ever since that point, Wyatt and Reigns have been at odds. Wyatt has successfully gotten into the former Shield powerhouse's head through a number of tactics, including taunting Reigns with the illusion that he had kidnapped his daughter.

Wyatt also conducted sneak attacks on Reigns multiple times, and he even sent out a decoy of himself to distract The Juggernaut during his matches. All the while, Wyatt attempted to hammer home a chilling message, according to WWE Universe on Twitter:

While Wyatt's promos are always cryptic and can be interpreted in any number of ways, one can only assume that his mission was to prevent Reigns from ascending to the top of WWE at any cost.

He solidified that notion by suggesting he will continue to haunt Reigns throughout his pursuit of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and other accolades, per WWE's official Twitter account:

Reigns has been built as a nearly unstoppable force ever since debuting as one-third of The Shield. He was a Tag Team champion, he set elimination records at Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble, and he even won the 2015 Rumble match.

The first signs of vulnerability came during his world title match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania as he took a beating before former friend Seth Rollins successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to win the title.

Wyatt has continued to hack away at Reigns' cloak of invincibility, and that helped make him a sympathetic figure entering Battleground, which had never been the case previously.

It seemed as though much of the WWE fanbase was behind Reigns in hopes of Wyatt receiving his comeuppance for his dastardly ways, but The Big Dog is faced with adversity once again after The New Face of Fear was triumphant.

Both Reigns and Wyatt were put in a tough position since they are rising stars who would have benefited significantly from a victory. Wyatt came away with one, but Reigns wasn't so lucky, which means the WWE Creative team will have to work to restore some of the credibility he may have lost.

Reigns and Wyatt each have bright futures ahead of them regardless of Sunday's result. Even though Reigns came out on the losing end, one can only assume WWE is laying the groundwork for something big in the near future. 

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.