Bray Wyatt def. Daniel Bryan

PITTSBURGH – At Royal Rumble, Bray Wyatt emerged victorious over Daniel Bryan, instantly burying a sea of “YES!” chants from the electrified capacity crowd into a creepy shroud of darkness.

MATCH PHOTOS

It was a match destined to be extremely personal from the start. Bray Wyatt came into Royal Rumble looking to punish Bryan after The Beard appeared to willingly join The Wyatt Family several weeks earlier, then turned on The Eater of Worlds inside a steel cage with absolute aggression. For his part, Bryan looked to replace Wyatt’s madness with some of his own.

The scene spelled pure intensity from the moment the two Superstars stepped into the ring. Yet, even with the stakes being so personal, no one could have predicted the monumental match that lay ahead.

In the early going, an altercation between Bryan and Wyatt’s disciples, Luke Harper and Eric Rowan, led the referee to exile both Superstars from the ringside area, creating a true one-on-one showdown.  That turn of events proved even more fortuitous for Bryan moments later, after Wyatt sent him through the ropes and The Beard appeared to hit his head on the steel steps.

That was only the beginning of the carnage. With each minute that passed, the all-out brawl grew more ferocious, as the two competitors absolutely dismantled one another – whether it was Bryan slamming his foe‘s head into the canvas or Wyatt mercilessly smashing Bryan’s skull into the unforgiving steel ring post. Yet no matter how ruthless things became, the heart of Daniel Bryan refused to give in. And in a key moment, The Beard roared back with a jaw-dropping Tornado DDT off the ring apron.

Bryan regained the advantage and ultimately cinched in the “Yes!” Lock, but the vicious Wyatt bit his way out of the submission move. The WWE Universe would have no time to catch its collective breath; seconds after Wyatt escaped the running knee by rolling out of the ring, Bryan lunged at Wyatt through the ropes. But The Eater of Worlds was able to catch his opponent, and hurled him face first into the ringside barrier with unrelenting brutality.

After that, it was only a matter of time before the leader of The Wyatt Family would finish off his adversary with Sister Abigail. Like him or hate him, Bray Wyatt emerged victorious over Daniel Bryan in a brutal showdown. The only question is where the creepy entity will go from here.