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One of the most surprising WWE pay-per-view finishes of 2019 took place at Crown Jewel when “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt defeated Seth Rollins in a Falls Count Anywhere match to win the Universal Championship for the first time in his career.
Heading into the match, it appeared as though Wyatt was going to lose and remain a member of the SmackDown roster on Friday nights, with Rollins continuing to represent RAW as its top male title holder.
However, unlike at the previous Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, this match had an additional stipulation that it “could not be stopped for any reason”, meaning Wyatt was able to withstand a ton of punishment from Rollins before defeating him with his Sister Abigail finisher.
In this article, let’s take a look at five of the biggest questions that need answering after the unexpected finish in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
#5 Will Bray Wyatt move to RAW?
This, of course, is the question on everybody’s minds right now.
Following the 2019 WWE Draft, it was made clear that the ‘Wild Card Rule’ was over and Superstars from the RAW and SmackDown rosters would officially be separated once again.
Then, one day after the conclusion of the draft, Triple H announced on WWE Backstage that Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross had been traded to SmackDown. He vaguely explained that, in exchange, RAW would “get future draft pick considerations”, which presumably means that SmackDown owes the red brand a favor.
With two World Champions now on SmackDown (Bray Wyatt and Brock Lesnar), there is no way that WWE will allow RAW to be without a World Champion for much longer.
It is surely just a question of when, not if, Wyatt moves back over to Monday nights.
#4 What’s next for Bray Wyatt?
WWE announced prior to the Crown Jewel main event that Bray Wyatt will appear on an edition of Miz TV on the next episode of SmackDown on FOX on November 1.
Interestingly, the advertisement showed a picture of ‘Firefly Fun House’ Wyatt, as opposed to “The Fiend”, which means it will be the first time that this new version of his character would step foot inside a WWE arena.
It is worth remembering that, from a storyline perspective, Wyatt himself has not actually won the Universal Championship. His alter-ego, “The Fiend”, now holds the title, so we will have to wait and see whether ‘Fun House’ Wyatt even has the Universal Championship with him on Miz TV or whether he continues to refer to “The Fiend” as a completely different person.
In terms of future opponents, WWE has confirmed that this year’s Survivor Series will have a RAW vs. SmackDown vs. NXT theme, with all three shows battling it out for brand supremacy for the first time.
Assuming that World Champions will face other World Champions, Wyatt’s possible opponents are currently WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, NXT Champion Adam Cole and, if NXT UK is included, United Kingdom Champion WALTER.
#3 Is Seth Rollins going to turn heel now?
At the start of 2019, Seth Rollins was the most popular male Superstar on the WWE roster. This continued after his Universal Championship triumph over Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 35 and into his rivalry with another babyface at the time, AJ Styles, who received boos when he stood across the ring from fan favourite Rollins in April.
Fast forward six months and there is now a very different feeling towards the former Shield member from large sections of the WWE Universe.
Rollins is no longer the top babyface on RAW. Instead, he has taken on the John Cena and Roman Reigns role of receiving loud boos in the majority of his matches, most notably at Hell in a Cell when he hit Bray Wyatt with 11 stomps.
Speaking to Corey Graves on his new After The Bell podcast this week, Rollins described WWE’s fans as a “fickle audience” and said he does not know what he has done to receive the negative reactions that now greet him in arenas around the world.
Needless to say, those words are not what you would expect to hear from a babyface, regardless of whether they are in character or not, so it would not be at all surprising if we finally saw “The Beastslayer” return to his heel ways in the near future.
#2 How did Bray Wyatt react to his title win?
In February 2017, Bray Wyatt claimed his first World Championship when he outlasted five other men, including WWE Champion John Cena, to win the Elimination Chamber match.
Now, two-and-a-half years later, “The Fiend” bounced back from the controversial Hell in a Cell ending to claim his first Universal Championship at Crown Jewel, making Wyatt a two-time WWE World Champion.
Writing on Twitter after the show, Wyatt sent out a cryptic tweet which referred to his alter-ego as “The Zombie Man”. He then signed off with his usual “Yowie Wowie” catchphrase, accompanied by a picture of “The Fiend” holding the Universal Championship.
For those of you who are active on social media, you may have noticed that Wyatt gave an in-character interview to WWE’s Arabic network shortly before Crown Jewel.
He mentioned that “The Fiend” does not care about winning the Universal Championship from Seth Rollins, but the ‘Fun House’ version of Wyatt would love to hang the title up on his wall.
“I don’t really know. I think The Fiend doesn’t really care about winning the Universal Championship. I, however, think it would be stupendous. I’d like to hang it up in my house and show all my friends. I think that’d be good.”
#1 Why did WWE not book this finish at Hell in a Cell?
If you take a scroll through your social media timelines today, you will see a lot of people being largely positive about Crown Jewel and the way in which WWE booked Bray Wyatt to win the Universal Championship in the main event.
However, you will also see people questioning why the company opted for Seth Rollins to lose his title in Saudi Arabia, as opposed to earlier this month at Hell in a Cell.
The finish to the previous pay-per-view’s main event turned out to be one of the most unpopular of all time, with fans booing and chanting for refunds and rival promotions after the referee stopped the match following Rollins’ sledgehammer shot to Wyatt’s skull.
The majority of fans got what they wanted in the end, but it is still interesting to wonder why WWE decided that Crown Jewel was a better event for a title change than Hell in a Cell.
Did WWE want Rollins to lose the Universal Championship but not have to chase it (again) going into Crown Jewel? Or did they underestimate the appeal of Wyatt’s “The Fiend” character and make the decision to have him win the title following the reactions after the Hell in a Cell controversy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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