I can't pretend that the most exciting thing in my brain right now is the rise of the Wyatt Family and the potential glory that they could be bringing to my TV set. It is one of the rare times that I want to use this column to look at the present, because quite frankly, this is an example of WWE going back to an idea and it being phenomenally better than before. Let's make the obvious side-by-side comparisons of Wyatt to Waylon Mercy, since both wear Hawaiian shirts, talk in a Southern drawl, and blatantly bite from Robert De Niro's portrayal of Max Cady in Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake of Cape Fear.
Let me tell you what I like about Mercy's demeanor before I shit all over it by comparing it to the modern insanity of Wyatt. Mercy's promos are delivered in a nicely unorthodox fashion, almost as if trying to bite the Jake Roberts model of the creepiness in a low voice. The vignettes are shot in the WWF 1990s style, so it's hard to really blame it on Waylon as to why the surroundings can look flat. It's simply the form of the time. But here's my problem with Mercy. His promos aren't particularly cryptic, which is the actual genius of what we'll see later with Wyatt. The second promo feels merely like a guy with a weird head tattoo ranting about picnics. Sure, the whole way he speaks about children is creepy, but it's far less of the unsettling assault that it needs to be to fashion this character. And presentation would prove to be important in Mercy's debut (and final) year of 1995, considering not too long after this, Goldust would be actually unsettling to the audience, no matter the homophobia he was playing off of to do it. Then again, Goldust's debut vignette was pretty cheesy, too (if still better at being totally bonkers).
Maybe Dan Spivey just needed a little help in fear from his buddy Mark.
I can't comment on these without just getting excited to such an extent that I'm scared I will be disappointed. In one sense, Bray Wyatt is helped by the modern WWE model. WWE's production team could even make Kizarny look interesting, much less a guy playing off of middle America's fear of a backwoods South. The jumpcuts are meant to be unsettling, as well as some of the videos suddenly ending. (Credit to the CM Punk promo from 2011 allowing WWE to play with subverting their audience's expectations for how a vignette or promo is supposed to close.)
Yet I can't help but find Wyatt's actual behavior completely fascinating. Like Waylon Mercy, what Wyatt is saying is essentially gibberish in some way. I don't know how you can be an Eater of Worlds or what it means to "follow the buzzards." Wyatt is purposefully obtuse when he tells the audience that "[they're] already here." (Would be a funny nod to Husky Harris already being on the roster or a pleasant nod to NXT.)
Yet Wyatt has a conviction about what he is spouting. Much like last year with the story of AJ Lee, it is hard to tell if Wyatt is nuts or simply a brilliant manipulator. It is fair to say that his manipulation skills have to be at least reasonable considering the rest of the Wyatt Family. But it is already more reasonable to see that his mania, terrifying eyes, and even his rocking chair are visual motifs. Bray is more than a man with a head tattoo and a De Niro impression. He is a terrifying being.
Yet I can't help but find Wyatt's actual behavior completely fascinating. Like Waylon Mercy, what Wyatt is saying is essentially gibberish in some way. I don't know how you can be an Eater of Worlds or what it means to "follow the buzzards." Wyatt is purposefully obtuse when he tells the audience that "[they're] already here." (Would be a funny nod to Husky Harris already being on the roster or a pleasant nod to NXT.)
Yet Wyatt has a conviction about what he is spouting. Much like last year with the story of AJ Lee, it is hard to tell if Wyatt is nuts or simply a brilliant manipulator. It is fair to say that his manipulation skills have to be at least reasonable considering the rest of the Wyatt Family. But it is already more reasonable to see that his mania, terrifying eyes, and even his rocking chair are visual motifs. Bray is more than a man with a head tattoo and a De Niro impression. He is a terrifying being.