It may not be perfect, wrestling stories rarely are these days, but there is something about the Bray Vs. Orton feud that has audiences at least a little bit engaged, and maybe even a bit excited. The company has relied on the same old story arcs for far too long, but this could well be an indication that Smackdown is moving on to bigger and better things, and dare I say it, fans might just be readying themselves for a return to better times! Here are 5 reasons, in particular, to love this feud
#1 The Company is Taking Their Time – Effectively!
When a heel faction comes onto the scene, the WWE like to toy with the idea of adding more people to it. Sometimes a babyface finds himself in a position where he is forced to join the stable. These kinds of stories always have a little bit of promise, but ultimately fall flat far too quickly. In 2010/2011 John Cena was feuding with Nexus. As a way to add intrigue to the story, Cena lost a match against Wade Barret and was forced to join the group.
The whole thing was a little underwhelming, with Cena acting as the reluctant errand boy until he finally found a way to worm out of the situation. In more recent times, Daniel Bryan decided he was going to join the Wyatts, and to be fair, the company did go a little way to making us invested.
His in-ring gear was different, his attitude towards other wrestlers changed. It looked like the makings of an interesting few months, however, the whole thing ended far too abruptly, with Bryan turning on Bray less than two months later. It did propel Bryan onto bigger and better things, but did nothing for Bray Wyatt whatsoever.
Initially, when Randy joined the Wyatts, fans feared a repeat of the same old kind of story, Randy would eventually just turn on Bray after a few matches and do nothing for either character. However, the company have persisted with the story line, even making it a key theme of the WWE Championship feud going into Wrestlemania.
True, Randy has now revealed his true intentions, and it might have seemed a little predictable, but you can already sense this is going to have a lasting impact on all involved, and will only act as a much-needed stepping stone for the Eater of Worlds himself.
#2 Luke Harper’s Push
He may have just narrowly missed out on an opportunity to fight for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania, but think back to a few months ago and how unlikely that scenario would have sounded for Harper.
Despite his talent in the ring and overall impressive presence, there have been times when Harper felt moments away from being future-endeavoured. When Braun Strowman first joined the Wyatts, you felt it was only a matter of time before either Harper or Rowan was going to be replaced for good.
However, he was persevered and found himself on the cusp of Smackdown’s main event scene. We now know that one of Randy’s aims was to break up the Wyatts, leaving Bray to defend himself for the first time since his debut. This has opened up the glass ceiling for Harper and given his recent crowd reactions, he may well be going on to compete for the belt later in 2017.
#3 Allowing Smackdown to distant itself from Raw
Ever since the brand split, Smackdown has felt like the fresher, more well-thought out show of the two. One thing Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon promised was an opportunity for new talent. This has been a little mixed considering the guys at the top are still John Cena and Randy Orton, but the Wyatt/Orton feud has allowed the show to go in a different direction to its Monday night rival.
If there’s one thing the fans are tired of its the ‘authority’ angle. Many are showing their immense displeasure that Stephanie McMahon is still playing the same role we saw her perform throughout 2013 – 2017. Smackdown has broken with that tradition after decided to install a babyface GM and Commissioner. The space this departure has opened has made way for new, alternative story lines to form.
Rather than have nearly every story line in someway affected by how management feels about the talent, we instead see a rivalry between two of the company’s main performers, which has nothing to do with either Bryan or Shane. It is even blurring the lines between face and heel altogether.
We are genuinely not sure whether Bray or Orton is playing the heel, and that feels more like good story telling as opposed to the usual inconsistency. Maybe this is a trend Smackdown will follow, allowing fans to make up their own minds and not have their intelligence insulted by constant and overt heel-authority power plays shoved in their faces.
#4 It is humanising Bray Wyatt
We all know Bray can deliver a great promo, the aura that surrounds the guy inside and outside the ring are almost unparalleled considering the state of the WWE roster at the moment. However, one problem with him is that his character hasn’t really changed since his debuted.
In recent years he has toned down the nonsensical gibberish he usually spouts, and is starting to address his opponents more directly. However he still seems to think of himself as this all-conquering phenom, laughing at the mere thought of others being able to beat him in the ring.
The problem is, of course, that Bray has lost a lot more signature matches than he’s won, and his character just feels a little weak. Therefore the superiority complex he has doesn’t make a lot of sense.
In the final scenes of Smackdown this week, Bray looked visibly vulnerable and afraid. What Randy has done has served to peel away the outer layers of Wyatt and allowed the audience to see him at his lowest point, alone, without back up and questioning himself.
A perfect comparison here would be when Mankind started to reveal himself more as a personality after his interviews with JR. He was no longer this removed, evil creature we couldn’t relate to, but a messed up human being that we all wanted to cheer for. If this feud does for Wyatt what JR did for Mankind, this has to be considered a seriously important rivalry.
#5 It reminds us of times gone by
When I watched Smackdown this week I was instantly reminded of the early days of the attitude era. After their match-up at Wrestlemania 14, Kane and Undertaker’s relationship sunk to new lows. Kane and Paul Bearer even dug up the graves of Taker’s parents, set one of them on fire and choke slammed the Deadman into the other.
The camera zoomed into the coffin, showing worms, maggots and bones, shaking the viewing audience with fear and revulsion. In the scene involving Orton, we saw the same kind of gruesome imagery, and the whole thing felt a little unsettling. It was a refreshing change to be impressed by something other than in-ring work.
Being a fan of WWE today, it is hard to imagine ever returning to the days of TV 14, but there is something about this feud that is making us believe better days may be ahead. Smackdown is clearly indicating to us that they are willing to go places RAW isn’t.
Perhaps the very fact that RAW is the signature show means they are more restricted in terms of the product they are putting out. Smackdown has always been seen as the alternative show, and inclusion of older characters like Cena and Orton speaks to their desire to appeal to an older audience.
Maybe the reason Bray was added to the Smackdown roster was because we will finally be getting edgier content in the future? It’s a long shot, but the attitude era has never felt closer in the past 10 years as it did on Tuesday night.
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