I've really enjoyed Smackdown since the Brand split but the one thing which is disappointing and still leaves a sour taste is how they have completely screwed the pooch with Bray Wyatt.
The question is simple, it's not will WWE give him a push to main event tier? It's could they if they really wanted to or has his booking damaged him too much and how could they do it?
Personally I don't think it's too late, he's got a unique look, entrance, moveset and character. To me it's never been a debate as to whether he has the abilities to be a top tier player it's purely that his booking has consistently undermined any momentum he gets. The fact that the crowd still pops for him when he's still a heel and has been booked to constantly lose should tell WWWE all they need to know. The fans want to get behind this cool charismatic guy but WWE keeps missing the boat.
If I was booking him I had have him try and mess with Orton with a series of well thought out and logical but new/unique mind games in the run up to Backlash with Orton becoming angry that he can't get his hands on him. Really amp up Orton frustration. Then at Backlash Orton comes out first and then attacks Wyatt on the ramp during Bray entrance to sell Orton frustration. Have a brutal match in which momentum Ebs and flows. Orton starts getting frustrated as Wyatt keeps kicking out. So this is the beginning of building Wyatts character showing that he is very difficult to keep down. Eventually Orton will go for the punt but Wyatt will reverse it either into a huge bump for the win or a SA outta nowhere. Give Wyatt a huge win. I wouldn't do a rematch just yet so on the following Smackdown you have Orton give Wyatt props for not staying down and ask for a rematch but before he gets to that someone attacks him. My choice would be Samoa Joe making his debut but thinking about the booking of it maybe Corbin would be better as Orton would have lost to Lesnar and Wyatt. This puts Wyatt vs Orton on the shelf for now. Wyatt would come out later and say how he proved at Backlash that he has changed and he's fed up of waiting for opportunities and now he will take them. The next part of his push would be the tweener/face turn. The new WWE champ AJ Styles is in the ring and he has just attacked Ambrose from behind and is threatening to end his career with a chair wrapped around his head but the lights go out and Wyatt clears Styles out. The crowd pops huge and then Ambrose staggers to his feet before eating a SA. Because Wyatt shouldn't be all out face. I would probably then make Wyatt have to earn his shot at Styles. Really making him out to be a guy who cannot be kept down. Kinda like they should have booked Ambrose vs Lesnar but that's another story. Then you either have a heel screw him out of his shot, needs to be a fairly big name so he can pick up another big win before going after AJ or he wins a shot at AJ. Wyatt as a anti hero, anti authority guy is money. It's a shame that the Authority figures on Smackdown are face but I suppose you could have Shane be the one to screw Bray and have Shane say he's seen how dangerous Wyatt is and how he encourages Anarchy and Shane doesn't want that in the Smackdown champ, needs protect the brand and stop Bray being the face of his show (maybe a bit of tension between Shane and Bryan starts here too) or some such spiel. Then have Wyatt be forced to go through Shane's hand picked guys if he wants his shot at the title. You could bring back some of Shane's old pals or adversaries and try to stack the deck against Wyatt. Make Wyatt sympathetic but no where near a cookie cutter baby face. He doesn't care if it's a face or heel in his way he just hits both with a SA. You tell the story that Shane is continually stacking the deck vs Wyatt but Bray just keeps somehow winning. The crowd will be into him he starts playing up to them more, they sing along to his catchphrases and he's got the whole world in his hands and he brings back the down with the machine shtick and merch. Finally it's Bray vs Shane in some type of gimmick match and you have some run ins as Shane is desperately trying to avoid losing and stop Bray from getting a title shot. Maybe Harper and Rowan return to try to screw Bray or Bo could have been one of his opponents in the run up as well. So you have had his ex family members, his real brother and some other faces from his recent past all set up by Shane as he trys to keep Wyatt away from title picture. Wyatt finally wins and gets his shot at Styles. Because Smackdown is only 2 hours and once a week I would have this whole program play out over a pretty long period. The guys Bray beats to end up vs Shane should be a mixture of lower/mid careers with some big name veterans in on short term deals to help Wyatt win big matches throughout this program. Make the more current/recent stars he faces be the likes of the Wyatt family, Bo, Kane etc and the bigger name veterans be from Shane's past maybe Ken Shamrock or X-Pac. Names big enough to help Bray push but not to big that they damage the objective of the whole program which is turn Wyatt tweener/face, make him the anti hero he is ready made for and solidify him as a top guy on Smackdown. If they wanted to continue down this route then at Royal Rumble you have HHH or Vince screw him to lead into a HHH match at Mania but my personal choice for Wyatt at WM 33 was always to have him beat Lesnar. He needs it more than any of the other top guys and that would be the icing on the cake. But the tension and chemistry between HHH and Wyatt every time they teased it was awesome. Plus I would fucking love to see Joe or Nakamura vs Lesnar at WM and give them the rub but I know deep down that Lesnar rub is being save for the culmination of Project Samoan Superman but I try to not think about that.
:vince3
That's what I would do bit that's just me. The guy is unique in every way, fans want to cheer him and he can talk. Yes he can sometimes be repetitive but when he gets something to focus on, adds a bit of anger/fire and when he plays up to the crowd a bit he is one of if not the best mic worker they have outside of Cena/Heyman.
:harper
The question is simple, it's not will WWE give him a push to main event tier? It's could they if they really wanted to or has his booking damaged him too much and how could they do it?
Personally I don't think it's too late, he's got a unique look, entrance, moveset and character. To me it's never been a debate as to whether he has the abilities to be a top tier player it's purely that his booking has consistently undermined any momentum he gets. The fact that the crowd still pops for him when he's still a heel and has been booked to constantly lose should tell WWWE all they need to know. The fans want to get behind this cool charismatic guy but WWE keeps missing the boat.
If I was booking him I had have him try and mess with Orton with a series of well thought out and logical but new/unique mind games in the run up to Backlash with Orton becoming angry that he can't get his hands on him. Really amp up Orton frustration. Then at Backlash Orton comes out first and then attacks Wyatt on the ramp during Bray entrance to sell Orton frustration. Have a brutal match in which momentum Ebs and flows. Orton starts getting frustrated as Wyatt keeps kicking out. So this is the beginning of building Wyatts character showing that he is very difficult to keep down. Eventually Orton will go for the punt but Wyatt will reverse it either into a huge bump for the win or a SA outta nowhere. Give Wyatt a huge win. I wouldn't do a rematch just yet so on the following Smackdown you have Orton give Wyatt props for not staying down and ask for a rematch but before he gets to that someone attacks him. My choice would be Samoa Joe making his debut but thinking about the booking of it maybe Corbin would be better as Orton would have lost to Lesnar and Wyatt. This puts Wyatt vs Orton on the shelf for now. Wyatt would come out later and say how he proved at Backlash that he has changed and he's fed up of waiting for opportunities and now he will take them. The next part of his push would be the tweener/face turn. The new WWE champ AJ Styles is in the ring and he has just attacked Ambrose from behind and is threatening to end his career with a chair wrapped around his head but the lights go out and Wyatt clears Styles out. The crowd pops huge and then Ambrose staggers to his feet before eating a SA. Because Wyatt shouldn't be all out face. I would probably then make Wyatt have to earn his shot at Styles. Really making him out to be a guy who cannot be kept down. Kinda like they should have booked Ambrose vs Lesnar but that's another story. Then you either have a heel screw him out of his shot, needs to be a fairly big name so he can pick up another big win before going after AJ or he wins a shot at AJ. Wyatt as a anti hero, anti authority guy is money. It's a shame that the Authority figures on Smackdown are face but I suppose you could have Shane be the one to screw Bray and have Shane say he's seen how dangerous Wyatt is and how he encourages Anarchy and Shane doesn't want that in the Smackdown champ, needs protect the brand and stop Bray being the face of his show (maybe a bit of tension between Shane and Bryan starts here too) or some such spiel. Then have Wyatt be forced to go through Shane's hand picked guys if he wants his shot at the title. You could bring back some of Shane's old pals or adversaries and try to stack the deck against Wyatt. Make Wyatt sympathetic but no where near a cookie cutter baby face. He doesn't care if it's a face or heel in his way he just hits both with a SA. You tell the story that Shane is continually stacking the deck vs Wyatt but Bray just keeps somehow winning. The crowd will be into him he starts playing up to them more, they sing along to his catchphrases and he's got the whole world in his hands and he brings back the down with the machine shtick and merch. Finally it's Bray vs Shane in some type of gimmick match and you have some run ins as Shane is desperately trying to avoid losing and stop Bray from getting a title shot. Maybe Harper and Rowan return to try to screw Bray or Bo could have been one of his opponents in the run up as well. So you have had his ex family members, his real brother and some other faces from his recent past all set up by Shane as he trys to keep Wyatt away from title picture. Wyatt finally wins and gets his shot at Styles. Because Smackdown is only 2 hours and once a week I would have this whole program play out over a pretty long period. The guys Bray beats to end up vs Shane should be a mixture of lower/mid careers with some big name veterans in on short term deals to help Wyatt win big matches throughout this program. Make the more current/recent stars he faces be the likes of the Wyatt family, Bo, Kane etc and the bigger name veterans be from Shane's past maybe Ken Shamrock or X-Pac. Names big enough to help Bray push but not to big that they damage the objective of the whole program which is turn Wyatt tweener/face, make him the anti hero he is ready made for and solidify him as a top guy on Smackdown. If they wanted to continue down this route then at Royal Rumble you have HHH or Vince screw him to lead into a HHH match at Mania but my personal choice for Wyatt at WM 33 was always to have him beat Lesnar. He needs it more than any of the other top guys and that would be the icing on the cake. But the tension and chemistry between HHH and Wyatt every time they teased it was awesome. Plus I would fucking love to see Joe or Nakamura vs Lesnar at WM and give them the rub but I know deep down that Lesnar rub is being save for the culmination of Project Samoan Superman but I try to not think about that.
:vince3
That's what I would do bit that's just me. The guy is unique in every way, fans want to cheer him and he can talk. Yes he can sometimes be repetitive but when he gets something to focus on, adds a bit of anger/fire and when he plays up to the crowd a bit he is one of if not the best mic worker they have outside of Cena/Heyman.
:harper