The Fiend’s Rise & Universal Title Win at WWE Crown Jewel Was Long Overdue

Bray Wyatt’s WWE Universal Championship win over Seth Rollins at Crown Jewel is the buzz of pro wrestling fans all over the world. The Fiend walked into Saudi Arabia with all the momentum a superhuman character could possibly have and he walked out with Monday Night Raw’s top trophy.

The Fiend’s win likely came as a shock to many fans, who believed that the company would never make the switch. Rollins is the top guy in WWE and Wyatt has been arguably the most underused and under appreciated Superstar in recent WWE history. Some would day that Wyatt’s main event win was long overdue and perhaps that’s true.

Bray has always been the most intriguing, most captivating gimmick to never be featured in a top spot in the modern era of the company, that much is certain. While other Superstars were rising up the in the pecking order despite not finding their niche, Wyatt was fully embracing his gimmick.

Windham Rotunda was not a guy playing Bray Wyatt on TV. When he stepped through the curtain, he was Bray Wyatt and every time he spoke, he made the fans believe in him. Wyatt has often been compared to The Undertaker because of the supernatural qualities that both men share. But the real comparison comes with the way that both men inhabit their roles.

The aura surrounding Undertaker would never exist without his commitment to the character and the same is true of Bray Wyatt. When fans look at The Fiend, they don’t see a gimmick. They see a true main event threat in the making and now he has seen that vision come to fruition 

It could even be said that Wyatt needed the change that The Fiend persona brought him. Without it, he would perhaps still be on the outside looking in. Even though Bray had become his character and lived it to the fullest, he was constantly being overlooked and left out of a top spot. But why is that?

Why would WWE take a talent with big time potential, invest a ton of money in him, get him over, then leave him out in the cold with no further progression? The hard truth is that the company has done this very thing for years with many different Superstars. But Bray Wyatt was a different case.

Bray was the kind of star that WWE typically loves to elevate, mostly as a major heel challenger to the top babyface. Wyatt seemed to thrive in that role and gave major stars like John Cena all they could handle between the ropes. But as WWE has done many times in the past, once Wyatt’s run was over, he was back down to doing nothing.

It’s as if WWE was holding Bray Wyatt in one place, using him only when different babyfaces needed a good heel to work. The problem is that while Bray lived in that bubble, he was never able to fully burst through to the next level. 

That has been the case for so long now that many fans have likely forgotten about his WWE Championship win in 2017. It was just two years ago that Bray Wyatt won the title, holding it for just under two months. Wyatt’s supporters believed during the time that he had finally arrived and was a true main event star 

You can’t kill it.

Under the red light…

the Zombie man rules the Universe #YowieWowie pic.twitter.com/MqV8L1rgqb

— Bray Wyatt (@WWEBrayWyatt) October 31, 2019

However that was simply not the case and now fans are looking at The Fiend as Universal champion, wondering what will happen next. Is this championship a short-term position for Bray Wyatt? Will The Fiend wear the title for two months this time as well, then lose it and then be kicked back down the ladder?

Perhaps the biggest difference between 2019 and 2017 is the way that Bray Wyatt is being presented. The Fiend character is a game-changer for him, as he’s now living in a different atmosphere than he ever has before. Much of that is due to the mystique surrounding the gimmick. But most of it is due to the way he’s been booked.

Seth Rollins threw everything he had at Wyatt at Hell in a Cell. Seth used every weapon he could get his hands on and utilized every finishing move in his arsenal. But The Fiend kept getting back up and nothing cold hold him down. Many pro wrestling insiders predicted that The Fiend would have to win the Universal Championship eventually, because he was booked so incredibly strong at HIAC. 

WWE was indeed making a statement by giving The Fiend such an incredible spotlight as the indestructible monster. Once it was apparent that the company had committed to him, fans knew it was only a matter of time until he won the gold. So now he has it. Seth Rollins is on the outside looking in and Bray Wyatt is the man on top.

After 10 years in WWE, the man known as The Fiend has become an overnight sensation. He is living proof that a talent can find his niche, get it over and rise to the top. He’s done that very thing before and it fell flat in the end. Whether or not that will be the case this time around, is anyone’s guess.