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If you're like me, you've spent the last several days wondering - how in the world did WWE book The Fiend to lose so easily at Super ShowDown? To 53-year-old Bill Goldberg of all people.
I, like many others, was not only dumbfounded by the decision but just downright angry about it. It made zero sense. How did a man who survived nearly being killed by Seth Rollins (he was literally thrown off the stage and electrocuted) get beaten by 4 spears and a (weak) jackhammer in 3 minutes?
Goldberg historically has been booked very strong, dating all the way back to his incredible run in WCW where he mowed down 173 straight competitors before Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and the cattle prod were finally able to hold him down for three seconds.
However, he's not the Goldberg of old. Father time has caught up with him, and he just cannot perform how he did when he was in his prime. Also, no one - and I mean no one - has been booked as strong as The Fiend.
The amount of damage Bray Wyatt's alter ego has been able to endure, just to get right back to his feet, has been unmatched in company history.
So how was he beaten so easily? There had to be an explanation.
We got this instead....
The very next night on SmackDown the whole booking decision was seemingly swept under the rug. New Universal Champion Goldberg, to a chorus of boos, told the crowd that the past doesn't matter and that it's all about who's next. Who's next for Goldberg is Roman Reigns. We didn't find out what was next for Bray Wyatt until The Fiend appeared at the end of the show to challenge John Cena to a match at WrestleMania 36.
This was great news. The worst fears from fans that The Fiend was being "buried" were quickly debunked. No person who is having a push stopped gets to face Cena at WrestleMania. Period. That said, a couple of questions remained. How did The Fiend lose so easily and why would anyone fear him now that it's been proven he isn't unstoppable?
Fans and wrestling legends had their theories and explanations. Some of them made sense. Bubba Ray Dudley on Sirius XM said Bray simply didn't care about the Title - said it was holding him back from his goal of facing Cena at WrestleMania. Mark Henry claimed The Fiend only feeds off of fear and since Goldberg had none, he was able to overcome. Solid opinions based on nothing from WWE however. Nothing that happened on television even remotely gave a reason for what happened - until now?
The reason... was lack of motivation?
For the first time since his loss to Goldberg, Bray Wyatt addressed the WWE Universe - specifically John Cena - in the latest episode of the Firefly Fun House. There was no specific mention of Goldberg or his loss at Super ShowDown, but he subtly dropped a line that may explain everything.
We now know why The Fiend is targeting Cena. The former Universal Champion has pinpointed his loss to Cena at WrestleMania 30 as the catalyst for everything that went wrong in his life in the years after that match. He claimed that Cena helped create The Fiend. Cena helped create a being that was built by pain and fueled by "vengeance".
Could that be it? Revenge? The driving power behind The Fiend all along has been his undying quest to right all the wrongs of his past. It's been one of the theories bantered around before, but now it appears we have our first confirmation on WWE programming. It goes along the lines with what Bubba Ray said on Busted Open, and with a tweet sent by Bray shortly after Super ShowDown.
When The Fiend has been his most dominant, its been against someone that Wyatt has a grudge with. He had no grudge with Bill Goldberg. He had no past with Bill Goldberg. Hence, Goldberg was able to do what he always does, which is to surprise his opponent and dominate them quickly. It appears vengeance, not any Championship, is the most important thing to The Fiend.
I still would have preferred Wyatt to drop the Title another way - multi-man match, ladder match, cage match - there are a number of ways to do it without making The Fiend look weak. As Mark Henry said though, everything has a weakness. The Fiend's appears to be motivation. If The Fiend wants to end you though, there may be nothing stopping him from doing so.
Which means, John Cena, is in serious trouble. If the 16-Time World Champion has always been Wyatt's white whale, then he's in for the fight of his life come WrestleMania 36.
I'm still not happy that The Fiend was defeated so easily, but it appears now I have my explanation. It's one I can live with. Also, who knows? Maybe now The Fiend has a reason to get revenge on Goldberg down the line. He'd have the chance to right, what many consider, to be the first wrong in this chapter of Bray Wyatt's tale.
What do you think? Do we finally have our answer as to why Wyatt lost so easily? Follow me on Twitter and let me know what you think.
