Bray Wyatt is good at being bad. But fans want to cheer him right now, and WWE appears ready to lean into that on SmackDown.
Mike Johnson of PWInsider reported today that “WWE has internally slotted Bray Wyatt as the top babyface for the Smackdown brand,” which is an acknowledgement that fans are going to give him good guy reactions after the excitement around his return. Johnson says Drew McIntyre is listed as the No. 2 face for SmackDown.
Wyatt had been a heel for the large majority of his previous WWE run, both as the leader of the Wyatt Family and later as The Fiend. The most notable exception was when he formed a tag team with Matt Hardy after helping him at WrestleMania 34, though their partnership lasted only a few months.
Big returns almost inevitably lead to face reactions from fans, though WWE has plenty of experience doing immediate pivots to get crowds to boo wrestlers right after their comebacks. That could certainly have been the case with Wyatt as well, but there will be an inherent intrigue to allowing him to continue to be cheered that should be fun to see play out.
On top of that, Johnson reported that Wyatt has been “the company’s top merchandise seller in recent weeks,” and that’s an easier trend to maintain for a face than a heel. WWE has capitalized smartly on Wyatt’s return in that area, even offering White Rabbit t-shirts before he appeared in person at Extreme Rules.
Now the question is who Wyatt will face off against in his first real program on SmackDown. It appears the masked figure who many believe will be revealed as Uncle Howdy (a name WWE has trademarked) will continue to torment Wyatt, but whether it ends up being someone else behind the mask or another aspect of Bray’s famously conflicted personality remains to be seen.
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