Wrestling Forum banner

Vince Russo on The Handling of Bray Wyatt

6K views 67 replies 43 participants last post by  theboxingfan 
#1 ·
Russo made a column about the Handling of Bray Wyatt on CSR:

EVEN WWE FANS HAVE TO ADMIT . . . HOW DO YOU HAVE NOTHING FOR BRAY?

Every week when I review RAW for my podcast channel vincerussobrand.com, I do my absolute best to be as fair with my review as possible, even though I’m not a fan of the current product. The way the WWE is presented today, is just not for me, and that’s totally OK. Honestly, I’m not sure who their audience is any more, and who they’re going after, but I do know that it’s certainly not the television viewer, or casual wrestling fan any more.

Again, I’m not going to argue with their philosophy, it’s their company, not mine, but I just want to be honest up front. Now, when it comes to creative, I’ve also made it clear that I’m not a fan, but I’ve also stated that it has nothing to do with me liking, or disliking their creative ideas. Everything in wrestling is subjective, not two people are going to look at any angle the same. My beef has been with what I feel is a lack of effort. Agonizing over coming up with the best content you possibly can. Sure, I understand that being three hours is their biggest constraint, but, they are taking the paycheck from USA every week—not me.

Look, when it comes to creativity, every idea is not going to be a great idea, but having NO IDEA is absolutely inexcusable. When you are being paid to come up with “creative” for any company, especially an entertainment one, and you fail to do so—then you simply aren’t qualified to be in that line of work. Am I being a bit harsh? Of course I am, but if you are on the level of writing for the largest sports-entertainment company on the planet—there are expectations that go along with that. And, there are not only the expectations of your fan base, but also those of your talent who are dependent on you to make a living. Listen, they’re not all going to be “The Rock”, or “Stone Cold”, but, if they’re good enough to be on the main roster—then the writers should be good enough to come up with creative for them.

Listen, I’m not by any means implying that writing a weekly, three-hour wrestling show is an easy job, because it’s not. And, if there was anybody that would come up with excuses to protect those thankless, faceless, poor slobs—it would be me. However, when they come across as blatantly inept as they do at times—there are just no excuses. When it’s clear cut that a talent is being stymied by the writers, and not their natural ability—then something needs to be done. What I’m saying is this ;

IF YOU’RE A WRITER FOR THE WWE AND YOU HAVE NOTHING FOR BRAY WYATT . . .THEN YOU SHOULDN’T BE A WRITER FOR THE WWE.

There are no excuses here, folks. Bray Wyatt is far and away the most gifted talent that has commanded a wrestling ring since the days of the Attitude Era, and WWE Creative have failed him miserably. That includes Vince, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and anybody else who has had anything to do with the growth of his career. The very first time I ever saw Bray Wyatt walk to the ring, with that mesmerizing music, and that brilliant entrance—I knew this guy was absolutely unique. He was special . . . there was nobody else like him. Having worked with him for many years, there’s no way that you couldn’t compare him to Taker. The only thing that was missing was that physical presence, and that was clearly replaced by a personality and a look that was created by a genius . . . Bray Wyatt.

The night that Bray surprised Chris Jericho upon his return to the WWE, which now seems like decades ago, I thought that this unique icon was well on his way to becoming a cornerstone in the Fed for years to come. It was all there, right in their grubby, little hands, all they had to do was dot the Is and cross the Ts. Whatever you gave this guy was going to be gold. But, who would have thought for a second that the brain trust leading WWE Creative would have dotted the Ts and crossed the Is instead. In what seemed impossible to do . . . they failed Bray Wyatt miserably.

From dropping Harper and Rowan for no reason, to a missed opportunity that had all the potential in the world between a magnificent hologram and the mystery behind Dean Ambrose’s father, WWE Creative was just absent in trying to build on Wyatt’s natural ability. The Ambrose/Wyatt feud was the first feud I ever witnessed in wrestling where there was just no finish. Nobody got over. Both guy’s ended up at the same spot before the story even started. It did nothing for nobody–not Ambrose, and not Wyatt. At the end . . . it was just a total waste of everybody’s time. The angle came down to how high of a ladder could Dean Ambrose jump off of tonight. Laughable.

And from there it only got worse. One word . . . Ryback. I don’t even know what that was. Wait I do . . . the most forgettable program in WWE history. I don’t get it. Unless Bray did something terribly wrong within the eyes of WWE management—I’m talking sleeping with Stephanie McMahon and getting caught wrong, then anybody who has had anything to do with the development of Bray Wyatt should be fired the minute they show up to work this morning. There are just no excuses.

Then you wonder why I question the Zayn’s and the Owen’s of the world? I question them because while these “not ready for prime-time players” are debuting on RAW—Hunter’s Boys—Bray Wyatt is somewhere back in the dressing room picking his nose. We see Mercury and Noble for 30 minutes and we don’t see Bray Wyatt? That’s like benching Bryce Harper for a little leaguer—the two aren’t even in the same galaxy let alone playing field.

Honestly, I have zero desire to work for the WWE these days–none—but, I would give my left spaulding to have the opportunity to work with somebody as talented as Bray Wyatt. That would be an absolute gift to any writer, or anyone with a creative mind for that matter. The potential is absolutely limitless . . . the guy is an absolute gift to sports entertainment, a once in a lifetime character. How could they be failing so miserably.

Outside of Stephanie giving birth to Bray Jr. . . . I guess we’ll never know.

What a shame.
I'm not the biggest Russo fan but more and more he seems like a better wrestling critic than booker. As much as his writing of the fight among the Nitro girls was atrocious, I'm giving him a pass there. Cause it's been mind-boggling seeing the WWE dropping the ball with Bray.

Personally I think it's mainly a case of Vince McMahon being out of touch...the man I don't think gets guys like Bray, the true maniacal ones. That's why he never gave Raven the time of day, either. Even though the guy was very over(even when he was on Heat!).
 
#3 · (Edited)
He's booked consistently strong, despite having no connection with the crowd and having one style of promo that everyone apart from his deluded marks got bored of two years ago. His in-ring work is good for a big man, but how many memorable matches has he had during his main roster career? Just the one with Bryan, who has great matches with everyone, at RR2014.
 
#16 ·
i don't see how he has no connection with the crowd

regardless, you seem to have missed the point. this isn't about how many matches he won, how good they were - it is about how the writers have seemingly not found a direction for the character.

when you sum up what vince has said, it i hard to argue. if you can't come up with something good for a character with so many possibilities, what chance has anyone else got of a decent storyline
 
#5 ·
There are no excuses here, folks. Bray Wyatt is far and away the most gifted talent that has commanded a wrestling ring since the days of the Attitude Era
True shit.

We see Mercury and Noble for 30 minutes and we don’t see Bray Wyatt?
True shit.

As much as people hate Punk for being an assertive asshole, it seems like anybody worth a damn is gonna have to adopt a similar attitude to get anything of what they deserve.


Also, inb4 all the little boys of wrestling forum confuse a full beard with a neckbeard (it's called spending too much time on the internet).
 
#8 · (Edited)
Are you speaking about the filter that is responsible for the booking of Roman Reigns, creation of New Day, ending Undertaker's streak, and the two most fucked up Roads to Wrestlemania of all time?

Someone better replace that filter before it pollutes the whole system.

For the record, Russo is crap with or without filter. Leaving out the filter is just giving his insanity more time to shine.

I hope people don't pretend Russo would do any better with Wyatt. Different, yes, but not better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jpickens
#20 ·
Russo is right on here. It is very rare for a wrestler to be almost totally unique both in and out of the ring, but Wyatt is just that. I haven't been this impressed with a young wrestler in a long, long time. He isn't for everyone from a "mark" standpoint, but it's tough to deny that the presence of his character is a very important piece to the company.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jpickens
#30 ·
Bray Wyatt isn't used to his full potential??? REALLY? What expert insight that no one could have possibly come to on their own like over a year ago. Oh that's right, the solution is that he needs the biggest imbecile in wrestling history to come back and book him properly, then he'll be a success!

WWE clearly has plans for him and protects him as much as they can. They'll pull the trigger at some point, they just haven't yet.
 
#35 ·
It's fucking mind blowing how Bray Wyatt (Wyatt Family) vs. Triple H (The Authority) hasn't happened at all in WWE yet. Back when Wyatt was attacking Punk and Bryan, saying "the devil made me do it", and then recruited Bryan into the group and was talking about "tearing down the machine", it made PERFECT sense for Wyatt to enter a program with HHH and play the babyface to tear down the machine on his way to the title. WWE really, really missed the boat on that when Wyatt was hottest. Now he's been fed to Cena and Undertaker since then and is labelled the guy who is "all talk, but can't win the big one", not by WWE themselves, but by the fans. They see this too.


Hopefully this Wyatt Family reboot gets him back on track and we can see a babyface turn which pits The Wyatt Family against The Authority, and ultimately, Wyatt vs. HHH with Wyatt going over on his way to win the title, preferably getting the streak rub from Lesnar (well, whatever streak rub there is left now... at least being the first to pin him cleanly).
 
  • Like
Reactions: TNA is Here
#14 ·
Let the Wyat familly beat up Ryback, Miz and Show and take the IC title. His gimmick is still appealing but it's the storylines which are always the same. Back to the drawing board!
 
#37 ·
Spot on assessment from Russo.
 
#42 ·
Cult leader gimmicks is better suited for the upper midcard imo. Ministry Taker was dumb to me. CM Punk's Straight Edge Society worked best on the B show/secondary storyline. The New Nexus run was a flop.

A faction in the main storyline that always worked is one of dominance like the 4 horseman which has been repeated many times in the WWE with DX/Evolution/Authority basically anything with HHH as a heel. lol
 
#48 ·
They need to have Wyatt do more than just cut cryptic promos and appear once the lights are off. Have him kidnap people, have him chain people up in his home out in the woods, have him actually do creepy things. Not just play mind games. It's too repetitive and this is coming from a huge Wyatt fan. They really dropped the ball by not getting Roman's daughter involved with the Reigns/Wyatt feud. Could have been really great/creepy stuff.
 
#50 ·
It's easy to agree here as I thought for the longest time now that having the Wyatt family be the top heels of the show would make for some awesome television. Especially considering the main event storylines we've suffered through this year. Wyatts on top would be a unique change.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top