Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt WWE Payback 2017 Match Preview and Pick

Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt are set to compete in a potential disaster dubbed the House of Horrors Match. On WWE.com, the match is not being advertised for the WWE Championship, which is currently in the possession of No. 1 contender Jinder Mahal, who stole the belt Tuesday night on SmackDown Live.

The build to WWE Payback has been severely dampened by the Superstar Shake-Up, which split up multiple opponents, forcing WWE Superstars on Raw and SmackDown Live to awkwardly promote their matches without appearing on the same show. With Orton and Wyatt, WWE has had the luxury of Wyatt's signature Titantron promo, but with a lot of confusion surrounding just what a House of Horrors Match is, there is little enthusiasm behind a blowoff for a feud that went south weeks ago when Orton committed arson on a corpse. 

Still, Orton and Wyatt are two of WWE's premier athletes with the potential to mix backlot brawling with in-ring chain wrestling (the match will start in the House of Horrors and end in the ring) and hold this wild concept together. 

WWE experimented with creepy, in-match visuals during Wyatt and Orton's match at WrestleMania 33. Unfortunately, all this meant was beetles and maggots being projected throughout the canvas in brief spots that disrupted the already sagging momentum of the match. In reaction to the spot, Wade Keller of PWTorch "[didn't] know what to say," while Jason Powell of Prowrestling.net took a more straightforward approach by calling the stunts "ridiculously campy." 

Orton and Wyatt will have a lot of skepticism to overcome before either of them pull up to the driveway in the House of Horrors, but I fully expect this match to exceed expectations. Who knows? Maybe Sister Abigail somehow reincarnates, something that was teased as part of a WWE Fan Council (h/t Wrestling Inc) that polled fans on what they want to see. Maybe WWE captures the spirit of Impact Wrestling's "Final Deletion" series with an intriguing, supernatural brawl.

If anything, think of all the versions of the RKO that can come out of this. 

WWE once had a Boiler Room Brawl between The Undertaker and Mankind that mirrored this premise of an on-location battle that culminated in the ring. Granted, the Undertaker-Mankind feud was much more compelling, and Undertaker always had a penchant for taking bad ideas and spinning them into gold (starting with his gimmick), but House of Horrors features two pros with similar talents.

Orton has an on-deck feud for the WWE Championship where he will need to look as vulnerable as possible for anyone to believe Mahal has a chance. Meanwhile, Bray Wyatt needs to be established on a flagship that, much like SmackDown Live, is in desperate need of strong heels. As a heel with the home-field advantage who needs the win, expect Wyatt to come away with the victory. 

Prediction: Bray Wyatt defeats Randy Orton via pinfall 

Alfred Konuwa is a Featured Columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report and Forbes. Like him on Facebook.