Planet Kayfabe: Getting Real About “New Wyatts”

Planet Kayfabe: “Getting Real About The New Wyatts”

By: “KCA” Paul Matthews
June 12, 2024

Hello everyone and thank you again for reading Planet Kayfabe.  It’s been a minute.  Life has been busy with work and the baby, who I guess is now officially a toddler,  and free time is a rare luxury more than ever.

I really wouldn’t change a thing, though.

Pleasantries out of the way, this may be where I turn heel to some of you, but the title of this piece is “Getting Real” and I have to keep it real with you, as I always have and give you my honest opinions and not mindless hot takes or the opposite, but equally as bad, safe takes. You click on “Planet Kayfabe” you’re getting honesty whether you like it or not.

The WWE fans seem to be anticipating the return of “Uncle Howdy” (Bo Dallas, brother of Bray Wyatt)   There have been teases for months. Fans have speculated on Bo’s return since the untimely passing of Bray Wyatt last summer at the age of 36.   Emotions range from eager anticipation to apprehension.  Now, we seem closer than ever to a new Wyatt stable returning with WWE’s lasted QR code teasing a countdown to Monday.

Let me get this out of the way. I am not looking forward to this at all. Let’s also be clear and separate personal from professional. Obviously,  the passing of Windham Rotunda was horrible. He was only 36. That’s the same age I am right now. He was a husband and a loving father, again, I can relate and can’t imagine what it would be like if my family lost me or if I suddenly lost my wife so young.  However, as a fan watching WWE on TV,  most of Bray Wyatt’s stuff was some of the worst television I’ve ever seen and a lot of it represents the worst of what I consider the worst era creatively for WWE.

Like many of you, I too have fond memories of the early Wyatt Family stable. When it was Bray, Harper and Rowan. That was awesome.  However, over time they lost the script. Their angles became goofier. Bray was presented as this intimidating figure that scared the locker room but he never beat ANYBODY.   Yet, we were supposed to be freaked out when he did a stupid bridge in his match or made images appear in the ring from an overhead projector. OOoh! Spooky!

Not only was the material bad, but it was repetitive. It’s the same thing every time. Cut some spooky word salad promo that means nothing.  Bury the babyface by making him shit his pants even though not one fan ever took Bray seriously as a real threat. Then have a shitty match where no one gets over in the end. Actually, not only that, but frequently, the babyface was worse over coming out of a program with Bray Wyatt.   On top of that, Bray was a poor wrestler not fit to do WWE’s main event style and it only got worse as he got older, heavier and the injuries piled up.

So, enter Bo Dallas. Remember him?  The “Bo-Lieve” guy.  Also remembered for being a part of “The Social Outcasts”,  “The B-Team” and “The Miztourage”.  Yeah, apparently that guy is going bring back the Wyatt Family and make you feel the same feels you had 10 years ago when they stood toe-to-toe with The Shield.

Are people out of their mind? How can anyone possibly think this is a good idea and that it will work?

I feel like this whole thing is out of sympathy and a sentimental attitude and is destined to fail.   WWE does plenty in being sympathetic to the Rotunda Family.  They continue to support them. They produced that great documentary  (“Becoming Immortal”)  However, the television product is a different story.  I can’t forget that Bray’s last run was awful. His Hell in a Cell match with Seth Rollins remains one of the worst WWE main events that I have ever seen. His return and later Mountain Dew match with LA Knight just as LA was starting to get hot was atrocious.   I can’t unsee and blank out years and years of garbage like WWE expects me to just because the man himself, loved by his family and peers, passed away way too young.

You may say “ok, but this isn’t Bray. Its Bo.” and to that I say, that’s worse.  Bray Wyatt was the talented one of the two and the more creative mind.  He was awful as a single in main event settings, but at least he was over at one time. At least a good portion of the audience cared. Who the fuck is Bo Dallas? He’s Bray’s brother. Otherwise, he spent his WWE career as a jobber. Yes, a jobber in every sense of the word that’s all he was.  On top of that its been like five years since this guy has worked.   Shortly before the pandemic began he was granted time off to recover from injuries. That was late 2019. It is now the summer of 2024.  That four-and-a-half years and even still the best thing of note to his name is his 2013 run as NXT champion.

The point is, a revised Wyatt Family is not going to be better lead by his less talented and less-over brother.   Just like how no “New” team ever gets over anyway.   The New Rockers. The New Blackjacks. The New Midnight Express. The New Brood. The New Nexus.  The New Wyatt Family.   Get ready.

If you think I’m being too negative, I’ll give you one little piece of optimism here. The only thing that makes me even give this the slightest bit of a chance is that Vince McMahon is no longer involved with the company.    Paul Levesque even once said that Bray Wyatt was incredibly creative, but needed to be reeled in at times because many of his ideas would just be absurd when in context with the wrestling world.  Which is funny because some ridiculous stuff got on TV I can only imagine what was left off.

I was sad when Windham died. I was not sad when Bray Wyatt was released.   WWE has entered a new era. Some are calling it “The Renaissance Era” and it didn’t get there on the back of nonsensical, supernatural bullshit and overly produced cinematic matches. They got there on producing stories that make sense.  Listening to the fans in regard of who was over or getting over and putting on quality main event matches.

If you’re one to fall into the trap of revisionist history and want to say “what about The Undertaker”  The Undertaker evolved.  The Undertaker himself used to say that the Ministry of Darkness was the worst stuff he ever did in his career.  He wanted to do something like the American Badass long before he was allowed to by Vince McMahon.  It was bad in 1999 but if he returned in the summer of 2000 and was throwing lightning bolts and slitting wrists, he would have been laughed out of the arena and treated like some old relic of the “New Generation”.  Instead, he changed his entire look. His music. His entire presentation. Even adopted a new finishing move and in the process opened himself up to a new generation of fans.

That spooky Wyatt shit sucked in the late 2010s and it would suck even more in the mid 2020s.   It isn’t going to be good and it isn’t going to work. Hate me now; praise me later. Just trust me.

Thank you again for reading Planet Kayfabe here on NoDQ.   As always it’s great to check in with you all, so leave a comment below and share your thoughts.  Happy summer to you all. I hope to hear from you soon.   For NoDQ, I’m Paul Matthews.  Take care.