The v2 wrestling brain of the year - fight 2 - round 1

Please vote for your favourite response to the question at hand. The judging will be open until Tuesday and further rounds will be published as and when.

To avoid bias, the contenders are not revealed.

Would Bray Wyatt defeating the streak have benefited WWE more in the long term?

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Contender 1

You can say a lot of things about Bray Wyatt. You can say he is an enigma, you can say he is one of a kind. The issue with Bray Wyatt is his legacy (link to WM30). The fact is Bray wyatt is not on the same scale as the Undertaker. The Undertaker is one of the greatest performers of all time, the undertaker had the greatest streak of all time. All Bray Wyatt has done is beaten Kane, the Miz and a few mid carders before facing cena at the big ppv.

I want to compare bray wyatt to Brock Lesnar. The truth is that Brock Lesnar was the guy to beat the streak, he has a legitimate background which makes him best for business. I mean I would rather watch Brock Lesnar for 9.99 than Bray Wyatt. Bray Wyatt is a higher mid carder, he has had big fueds with the like of Daniel Bryan and the Shield but the fact is that he had to be built up as a major force even though harper and rowan have gained the most from the push of the wyatt family.

The art of booking a wrestler to be the next big thing is a difficult action for the creation team. Wade Barrett was meant to face the Undertaker at Wm27, Barrett had a great 2010, he was a worthy main eventer and had been working in main events with orton and cena, the issue was that they couldn't keep the push going. The only wrestlers who have been pushed since cena to success are bryan and reigns. If wyatt beat the streak he would not have had the same effect as Lesnar due to his reputation in general. Bray Wyatt beating the streak would have not benefitted the WWE or Brock Lesnar's return to the company

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Contender 2

The short answer is no.

The long answer is nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I believe that the WWE simply wouldnt be able to pull it off. They couldnt make Bray Wyatt into a credible threat in time for 'Mania 30, and I dont think Undertaker could have another one in him to save it for Mania 31. It would have taken an incredible amount of work to get it right, and we've seen since his fued with Cena that the WWE creative team cant keep a ball rolling, no matter how over the character is. Now, you could brush this off a the curse of the Cena fued, but we've seen before with the WWE that a guy can go from being a hot ticket draw to a mid-card jobber in a matter of months. I can cite guys like Cesaro, Sheamus, MVP, Ziggler, Kofi and The Miz till the cows come home. Bray Wyatt hasnt been demoted that far down the card, but they lost all momentum he had after Mania. His Last Man Standing match was probably his best singles match but his fued with Jericho has been underwhelming.

So whats gone wrong? He's been on the main roster for over a year now but the character hasnt evolved in any way. We've been hearing about 'her' for over a year with no further explanation other than the name of his finisher. He never had a clear goal in mind, just to disturb the system. His cult family is gaining more followers as he goes, as you can see during his impressive entrance, but whats the goal of his cult? Its almost as if his entire purpose was to try (and fail) to corrupt Cena to get the 'Never Give Up' mantra over.

His program with Bryan was a flop because of poor timing. Bryan needed to be free for WrestleMania so the rushed the ending. While it was very memorable, the angle itself didnt deserve that payoff.

Could Bray Wyatt have taken the streak and ran with it? I dont think so. I always thought Shawn Michaels should have retired with the streak, but Brock Lesnar was the perfect choice. It fits into his persona so much more. You can do a lot more with Lesnar taking the streak than Wyatt. I just cant think of a way Wyatt could include that to his character. There has been no big pay-offs with Wyatt at all yet and I think that giving him the streak would have been a waste. While he is a great worker, in all aspects, there hasnt been enough done to his character to keep him interesting. Its not his fault, its the WWE's.

Long term success is measured by how well the short term gets over with the crowd. Keeping that in mind, ask yourself if the WWE would be better now had Wyatt taken the streak instead of Lesnar?

Short answer is noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo......

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Vote for your favourite above and don't forget to vote in round one as well - How can wrestling break the mainstream again? - https://www.606v2.com/t55539-the-v2-wrestling-brain-of-the-year-fight-one-round-1

This one was very tight for me. And it was interesting that not only did both go for no (I was ready to be swayed by a "Yes") but that IMO neither fully focussed on the question of whether it would have benefitted the WWE, preferring to look more at the status of Wyatt.

I would have gone yes because:
1) I don't think that Brock needed to beat the streak. If WWE can't sell his physique, MMA background and ruthlessness without that then they are very challenged creatively.

2) We have very few (any?) characters like The Undertaker or Kane now. Almost every wrestler wrestles as a character that is somewhat an extension of themselves. Bray Wyatt feels to me the nearest contemporary of Taker or Kane. If a torch were to be passed then passing it to this character IMO makes sense.

As pointed out above, Wyatt's character has stagnated as WWE doesn't really know what to do with him. Turning Cena to the darkside was interesting. Defeating and ending the streak of what was the WWE's biggest dark side could have been massive. I think down the line this gives the WWE much more to play with than they have at the moment.

3) I would have marked out massively if Wyatt had delivered the Sister Abigail to Taker. Only for Taker to sit up. And Wyatt to do the spider walk over to Taker and look him in the eye. That alone I would pay to see.

I agree with both, went number 2 because I think they looked at the problems with Wyatt's character which for me is one of the main points against Wyatt taking the Streak, his character simply isn't strong enough.

Contender 2 - give more valid reasons for Bray Wyatt not being the choice to end the streak and put their point across slightly better.

Contender ready, gladiator ready, 3-2-1…..

Neither guy really answered the question properly for me. There wasn’t enough about how it would or wouldn’t benefit the WWE in the long term. They both focused on Wyatt’s character and the creative flaws with the handling of his character. Not enough said about the actual question.

That said, I went with number 2 purely because it wasn’t as lazy as number 1.

The winner of Round 2 by a 78% to 22% vote is Samo! Hard luck to TopoftheChops who leaves us at this stage of the competition.