I have talked a lot about the Wyatt Sicks (or the Wyatt 6 as we knew them before their arrival) in the past, following the white rabbit down the rabbithole through a series of brilliant QR codes, web site clues and videos. It has been one of the most imaginative and exhilarating WWE storylines of recent years but the question remained, following their iconic debut, what happens next?
In the same way that Sister Abigail seemed to be the leader in the Firefly Funhouse family, she was the one who appeared on this week’s Monday Night Raw, giving a VHS tape to Michael Cole, addressed to Pat McAfee. I’ve never felt older than the moment where Cole had to explain to the WWE Universe what a VHS tape was and also brilliantly saying that they would play it ‘if they can find a VHS player backstage somewhere’. This was clever as it added to the realism of the storyline, they didn’t just give Cole the tape and then we saw the footage, it looked unscripted and in a world where we don’t get much Kayfabe, this was a very welcome moment. But we did not know the heartwrench that was coming…
The tape gets shown and we see Uncle Howdy, talking with a slightly blurred voice, whether that was special effects or because of the VHS format or just to be spooky, I’m not sure, but it worked, it gave me that feeling you get in a nightmare, the type where you think ‘I know this is not real, but I’m being drawn in’ which was exactly what I want in the Howdy universe. But then a swerveball, you thought that the most obvious thing was that he was talking to Pat McAfee, this seemed to be the obvious set up that the show had been going towards (now we know that McAfee’s father in law passed away which was why he was not on the show, much love to him and his family), but instead…Bo Dallas. The real life brother of Bray Wyatt. Taking his brother’s legacy on his shoulders and then Howdy starts questioning how he feels since the death of his brother. Damn, that was a blade to the heart, in what is a fantastical storyline, to hit us with that, especially as we know that it is Bo underneath the Howdy mask too, was quite the emotional hit.
They gave us enough, they surprised us, they made us look forward to what is next, this storyline continues to surprise and delight but now they have added the real life tragedy to the story, it has even more gravitas. That is no longer the BO-LIEVE! guy sitting there opposite Uncle Howdy, it is the real life brother of Bray and we feel for him, even though we also know he is part of this dark mysterious force. Who are the heroes and who are the villains? Chad Gable was hit by this group and this week went straight to apologise to his stable for how he treated them. Face, heel, face, it is a rollercoaster but one which I am super excited to ride to its conclusion as long as it isn’t a squash job in Saudi Arabia.
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