Can Bray Wyatt be the next Undertaker?

[Xemmy]

This was my exact worry. The business and the industry is hugely different now than it was then. People get bored faster, the company is transparent, etc. I'm not sure that a gimmick character can last as long in this era.

Think about when Bray gets big enough that he starts doing media. Does he stay in character for interviews? Can he improvise answers in his character? Does he break character? If he breaks character, does it lose mystique?

I think if Bray does what Taker has done the last few years and kept quiet- avoiding a lot of interviews, staying in character as much as possible, etc- then he can pull it off. Though it should be noted that other people can hurt him too. Nikki announcing to everyone that he apologized for calling her plastic can hurt the mystique, and it was really a bit unprofessional to do that. He'll have to dodge a lot of bullets to pull it off. But I think he can. This character is just too damn good not to at least try.

 

[kingofkings1]

Bray needs a manager like Paul Heyman so that he can do what this post is all about. He can't be like undertaker but something different and an awesome character.

 

[MMA Mark]

The problem with Wyatt's gimmick is that it would be hard for him to be over like that as a face. That's the big difference in my opinion between Wyatt and Taker. The Dead Man gimmick is so much more easily tweaked to be top face status or you could go dark with and be a top heel. Wyatt is one way only and that's heel, being cryptic and creepy don't work well when you're a face. This will lead to the biggest problem and that is running out of people to fight. It's easy to last over 20 years when you split your time between face and heel. Wyatt a heel is already feuding with the face at the top of the food chain in John Cena. Not much further you can go after that. I think he could potentially last for years but he'll be relegated to mid card and that makes him different than Taker.

Bray can definitely go face. Similar to how The Shield has now turned face. Their characters haven't changed at all, they are just now attacking heels and instead of clearly being hypocritical about the justice thing, now they can actually deliver justice when going after heels.

Wyatt preaches about people being fake, prideful, sinful, etc. He could easily turn around and call someone like HHH prideful, greedy, power-hungry, etc. Batista and his hollywood look, Orton being a snake, ADR being rich, etc. etc.

Plenty of ancient proverbs and biblical passages for Bray to have material and get over as a face.

 

[chicagokmc]

Bray can definitely go face. Similar to how The Shield has now turned face. Their characters haven't changed at all, they are just now attacking heels and instead of clearly being hypocritical about the justice thing, now they can actually deliver justice when going after heels.

Wyatt preaches about people being fake, prideful, sinful, etc. He could easily turn around and call someone like HHH prideful, greedy, power-hungry, etc. Batista and his hollywood look, Orton being a snake, ADR being rich, etc. etc.

Plenty of ancient proverbs and biblical passages for Bray to have material and get over as a face.

The thing is he doesn't just preach about those things. He attacks people, bashes heads into ring posts (Kane), triple teams guys (Bryan). These behaviors that heels have gotten away with forever. This isn't how WWE books it's faces. Wyatt comes off as creepy and scary because most of the time he isn't only saying these things he is inflicting scary damage. He wouldn't get to do that to that level as a face.

The Shield are bad-asses. Their gimmick is built around beating people up. That does translate between heel and face extremely well. It's wrestling! We watch it because we like seeing beat downs. But even they are changing now that they are faces. The triple teams, which defined the Shield, have disappeared and now they are fighting people straight up. The other thing that defined them was unprovoked run-ins, those are gone too. Instead the run-ins are just against those who have wronged them first.

My point is going from heel to face requires change in the gimmick to show more vulnerability and weakness (so that they will overcome the weakness and win in the end). Wyatt can last for awhile yes, years even. but it is highly unlikely he'll last over 2 decades.

 

[Dagger Dias]

It depends on what angle we are viewing this question from. Will he have the next two decade long undefeated streak? No. That will never be replicated unless everything falls into place perfectly. Will he step up as the next creepy character who climbs far up the card? That I can see happening. This gimmick is legitimately creepy and if he is able to prove himself he could end up getting to the level of where Taker is in terms of the card, toward the top with a few world title runs down the line. Bray will be far more vocal than Taker has been for some obvious reasons. This may be the gimmick that will come the closest to Taker's in creepiness but also in how well it works, and for quite some time. I hope Bray never stops being this character as long as it is allowed to evolve when necessary so it doesn't get stale.

 

[L@RISANO]

It depends on what angle we are viewing this question from. Will he have the next two decade long undefeated streak? No. That will never be replicated unless everything falls into place perfectly. Will he step up as the next creepy character who climbs far up the card? That I can see happening. This gimmick is legitimately creepy and if he is able to prove himself he could end up getting to the level of where Taker is in terms of the card, toward the top with a few world title runs down the line. Bray will be far more vocal than Taker has been for some obvious reasons. This may be the gimmick that will come the closest to Taker's in creepiness but also in how well it works, and for quite some time. I hope Bray never stops being this character as long as it is allowed to evolve when necessary so it doesn't get stale.

Agreed.

However, in this day and age, and judging by the way most fans can't seem to appreciate something for too long until they want something 'fresh and original'; the Bray Wyatt character lasting even a decade, should be treated as equal or close to Taker's 2 decade long service,lMO, as long as it is 10 memorable years in the WWE at a Main Event level and keeping himself fresh.

 

[shalliin]

What are some of you smoking? There's no way Wyatt will be anything near to Undertaker levels or longevity. He's unlikely to have the same gimmick as much as a year from now, let alone 20+ years. He's one of most over rated guys I can remember. Hello? This is HUSKY HARRIS we're talking about! If he's still going by Bray Wyatt even 2-3 years from now, I will stop watching or having anything to do with wrestling period.
He has neither the skill in the ring, the ability on the mic, or the presence/IT factor to last more then a couple of years s a gimmick that 10-15 years from now will be relegated to and compared more frequently and more correctly to PAPA SHANGO then to the Undertaker. I'm not even bothering reading any more posts about this, this whole question is asinine and an insult to every wrestling fans intelligence.