Is Windham Rotunda clinically insane, or is he a method actor of the highest order? When he was tasked with changing his persona from the Army Tank with the Hot Rod Engine into the Eater of Worlds, did he take a page from Daniel Day-Lewis' playbook and immerse himself in the backwoods of the American South, latching onto any amateur preacher with a moonshine still or a meth lab on their property? Or has a cult leader of personality always existed inside the man?
I could not watch his TitanTron-televised response to Kane tonight without trying to figure out how Bray Wyatt actually does it, how he gets possessed with the spirit with the same vigor of a Baptist preacher, but not the same constitution. CM Punk speaks with passion, but even at his most worked-shooty, I never really believed he was railing against the institution. He's playing a role, excellently, but still playing.
Paul Heyman is another master of the mic, but he embodies pro wrestling's carniest elements. Again, he's playing a role. Even AJ Lee, a revolutionary voice within the company, can't convince me that she's really neurotic and not just acting as such. Don't get it twisted. I'm not criticizing any of the three, because they're all great. I don't necessarily think you have to make me believe that you believe what you're saying to be a great promo. I'm not even sure that someone should be blurring the lines between whether they're as unhinged as Wyatt's character is in real life.
The only other wrestler in WWE that gives me a similar vibe is Brock Lesnar, but for different reasons. Many people hear him talk and use it as validation of their theories that only Heyman should ever talk for him. I disagree completely. Lesnar is a total hayseed, and I love every minute of him talking because of it. I reveled in his pre-taped interview not because I thought he delivered it with conviction. If anything, I imagine The Beast Incarnate getting bored with trivial matters of humanity. He is a creature more primal, after all.
Lesnar is a Minnesota meathead who'd rather be doing anything - watching the Vikings, eating lutefisk, ice fishing, but especially mauling suckers - than talking, the reason why his "Say something stupid, Paul," line from RAW worked perfectly. You know Heyman doesn't speak in blithering platitudes. I know Heyman is a snake oil salesman. But to Lesnar? Words are dumb. Kimuras are smart. The brilliance of his hyuck-hyuck farm boy persona is that it is verily an extension of himself, almost bordering on parody. He's Kurt Angle's early-WWF character evolved.
But not even Lesnar at his most psychopathic in the ring is as scary as Wyatt is with a microphone. He and his Family are getting cheered by crowds, but do these people even know what they're lauding? Maybe they appreciate the performance, and I can appreciate that on a metaphysical level. But man, if I were in those crowds, watching that guy speak with possessed eyes and unsettling laughter, and I would be frightened out of my gourd.
Then again, maybe I am the observer, and the fans are the ones sucked into the Wyatt Cult. I feel like I'm the protagonist of the Call of the Cthulhu, and the ones who now are likely to buy the lamb mask know that I know too much....
...there I go again, confusing the issue. My lapses in and out of belief and observation are a product of how realistic this terror Wyatt is bringing to life really is. But the question remains. Is he crazy, or is he method? Whatever the answer is might be irrelevant if he ends up capturing WWE and becoming the next supernatural marvel in pro wrestling's annals.
I could not watch his TitanTron-televised response to Kane tonight without trying to figure out how Bray Wyatt actually does it, how he gets possessed with the spirit with the same vigor of a Baptist preacher, but not the same constitution. CM Punk speaks with passion, but even at his most worked-shooty, I never really believed he was railing against the institution. He's playing a role, excellently, but still playing.
Paul Heyman is another master of the mic, but he embodies pro wrestling's carniest elements. Again, he's playing a role. Even AJ Lee, a revolutionary voice within the company, can't convince me that she's really neurotic and not just acting as such. Don't get it twisted. I'm not criticizing any of the three, because they're all great. I don't necessarily think you have to make me believe that you believe what you're saying to be a great promo. I'm not even sure that someone should be blurring the lines between whether they're as unhinged as Wyatt's character is in real life.
The only other wrestler in WWE that gives me a similar vibe is Brock Lesnar, but for different reasons. Many people hear him talk and use it as validation of their theories that only Heyman should ever talk for him. I disagree completely. Lesnar is a total hayseed, and I love every minute of him talking because of it. I reveled in his pre-taped interview not because I thought he delivered it with conviction. If anything, I imagine The Beast Incarnate getting bored with trivial matters of humanity. He is a creature more primal, after all.
Lesnar is a Minnesota meathead who'd rather be doing anything - watching the Vikings, eating lutefisk, ice fishing, but especially mauling suckers - than talking, the reason why his "Say something stupid, Paul," line from RAW worked perfectly. You know Heyman doesn't speak in blithering platitudes. I know Heyman is a snake oil salesman. But to Lesnar? Words are dumb. Kimuras are smart. The brilliance of his hyuck-hyuck farm boy persona is that it is verily an extension of himself, almost bordering on parody. He's Kurt Angle's early-WWF character evolved.
But not even Lesnar at his most psychopathic in the ring is as scary as Wyatt is with a microphone. He and his Family are getting cheered by crowds, but do these people even know what they're lauding? Maybe they appreciate the performance, and I can appreciate that on a metaphysical level. But man, if I were in those crowds, watching that guy speak with possessed eyes and unsettling laughter, and I would be frightened out of my gourd.
Then again, maybe I am the observer, and the fans are the ones sucked into the Wyatt Cult. I feel like I'm the protagonist of the Call of the Cthulhu, and the ones who now are likely to buy the lamb mask know that I know too much....
...there I go again, confusing the issue. My lapses in and out of belief and observation are a product of how realistic this terror Wyatt is bringing to life really is. But the question remains. Is he crazy, or is he method? Whatever the answer is might be irrelevant if he ends up capturing WWE and becoming the next supernatural marvel in pro wrestling's annals.