Show
Time and location
HOUSTON – Nobody says “NO!” to Bray Wyatt. The buzzards feasted on goat meat in Houston after Daniel Bryan refused to join Wyatt’s clan of followers and felt the wrath of the crazed cultists in the second 3-on-1 Handicap Match of the night.
With Bryan thrown into the wolves’ den by his former friend and now WWE Director of Operations Kane, who orchestrated the match, Bray began the match in his customary rocking chair, content to observe his acolytes’ brutal handiwork as they went to work in the opening moments. Erick Rowan and Luke Harper, Wyatt’s pair of personal Goliaths, manhandled their David early on. Bryan – who Wyatt intended to out as a monster in sheep’s clothing – was forced to hack away at Harper’s legs with shin kicks to claim his first lead of the night.
The submission master’s advantage didn’t last long, though, and Rowan soon tagged in to toss Bryan to and fro like a bearded Brawlin’ Buddy. Once the masked monster had done his work, Wyatt rose from his perch and his minions understood that the time had come for "The Eater of Worlds" to enter the fray. Wyatt not only went a long way towards fulfilling his own prophecy of Bryan’s destruction but he celebrated it, stalking his opponent in a skin-raising crab walk and creepily rolling on the ground in delight while Bryan teetered on the brink of destruction.
Photos: Bray destroys ... and embraces?
The wildness of The Wyatts’ own offense led to an unexpected display of solidarity; after his lieutenants administered another round of punishment, Bray presented Bryan his hand in a final gesture of mercy, offering to “make it all go away.” Bryan, to put it lightly, refused, kicking Wyatt’s hand away in a show of defiance before raining elbows into the face of the self-styled monster. Wyatt’s response was one of unbridled rage, and the overwhelmed Bryan soon found himself at the Family’s mercy once again.
Fed up with Bryan’s defiance, Bray instructed Harper to dispose of the “Yes!” man, but the big man’s titanic sit-out powerbomb wasn’t enough to dispatch the upstart challenger. Bryan took advantage of Harper’s subsequent frustration to find his second wind, reaching deep to take both Harper and Rowan out of the match, bringing it down, once again, to Bryan and his would-be savior.
The former WWE Champion gave his all in the last-ditch effort to escape Wyatt’s hell, yet the “Man of 1,000 Truths” would not be denied, muscling his way free of the “Yes!” Lock to rain a smothering series of blows on his prone opponent. With the tenderness of a father raising his newborn son, Bray picked Bryan up off the mat … and transitioned seamlessly into the punishment of a match-ending Sister Abigail.
With the bell tolling for Daniel Bryan, Bray fell to his knees and embraced his fallen foe in a gesture of … something. Sportsmanship? Pity? Brotherhood? Perhaps what they’re fighting for isn’t as important as the conviction with which they fought. Maybe he knew that, even though he couldn’t convert Bryan, he still exposed his animal nature in defeat. Maybe, for Bray Wyatt, that was all that really mattered.