Jonathan Bachman/Associated Press
Bray Wyatt fell short in arguably the biggest match of his career against Undertaker at WrestleMania, but he got back to his winning ways Sunday at Payback by defeating Ryback.
The WWE Universe Twitter account had the news:
WWE captured arguably the highlight of the match, Ryback from the top rope:
The images of these two weren't pretty, as WWE Universe showed us:
Mike Killam of WrestleZone.com praised the action:
The self-professed New Face of Fear hasn't competed much since WrestleMania, as he was left off the Extreme Rules card. Much like he did with The Deadman, though, Wyatt cut a number of cryptic promos in reference to a specific Superstar.
His target ended up being The Big Guy, as he attacked him on the Raw episode following Extreme Rules. That led to a heated feud between them, and things eventually came to a head at Payback.
Although the Eater of Worlds rarely gives direct reasoning for his actions, he has seemingly taken offense to Ryback's positive outlook. In an attempt to prevent him from spreading his message to the WWE Universe, Wyatt decided to take matters into his own hands.
After appearing on Chris Jericho's podcast several months ago, Ryback became an inspirational figure in the eyes of many fans. According to fellow Superstar Dolph Ziggler, his commitment to success is extremely impressive:
Wyatt has always attempted to influence the WWE Universe with his own way of thinking, and going after Ryback may have been his way of preserving that.
While Wyatt has been on the precipice of being one of WWE's top heels since last year, Ryback has been doing everything possible to get back to where he was in 2012. The Human Wrecking Ball was arguably the most popular wrestler in the company at that point, but some questionable booking decisions halted his momentum.
After returning from an injury last October, though, Ryback started to work his way back up the ladder. He needed a truly big win in order to kick-start things, though, and he wasn't able to get it at Payback.
Both Wyatt and Ryback needed to come out on top Sunday, but only one of them ultimately could. WWE decided to go with Wyatt, which suggests that there are bigger immediate plans for him.
There are few better characters in wrestling right now than Wyatt; however, he has been plagued by inconsistent storytelling and subpar performances in the ring. If strides can be made in both those areas moving forward, though, the sky is the limit.
Sunday's match isn't one that fans will remember for its technical acumen, but if it results in Wyatt being launched toward something more substantial, then it was ultimately a success.
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Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2463968-bray-wyatt-vs-ryback-winner-and-reaction-from-wwe-payback-2015
