At Battleground 2015, Bray Wyatt defeated Roman Reigns with some help from Luke Harper, reforming the team previously known as The Wyatt Family. This was followed up by a match between Harper and Reigns on Monday Night Raw, which saw Dean Ambrose get involved in the feud.
Obviously, this makes sense, as Ambrose has been portrayed as still being friends with Reigns despite how they no longer accompany each other to the ring as The Shield. Back when that group was still a threesome and included Seth Rollins, the trio had some great matches with Bray Wyatt’s clan, which also included Erick Rowan, who is also noticeably absent from this current program due to an injury.
This is where things get a little bit dicey and where speculation starts to run rampant. Many reports online (which, of course, need to be taken with a grain of salt) point to Sting making an appearance at SummerSlam to fight alongside Roman Reigns against the creepy cult.
If this is to happen, it causes a problem of the teams being unbalanced. That being said, what are WWE’s options going forward?
Option 1: Six Man Tag Team Match with Sting and Erick Rowan
For all we know, Erick Rowan’s recovery has progressed so much to the point where he’s cleared to wrestle. I highly doubt that is the case, but stranger things have happened. Just look at John Cena’s Royal Rumble return in 2008 as an example of how we as fans still don’t know 100% of what’s going on.
If Rowan is available, the easy booking decision is to have the full Wyatt Family take on the two Shield members, who enlist Sting to even the odds and help them win, as he had said before that he had justice on his mind back during his feud with Triple H. The Shield knows all about injustice and wearing all black, so that team would be an easy sell.
Option 2: Six Man Tag Team Match with Sting and a New Wyatt Family Member
If the team of Reigns, Ambrose and Sting is in tact, but Rowan is unable to compete, there’s nothing stopping WWE from just adding a new member to The Wyatt Family to take his place. The only question would be who is chosen to fill that role.
Anyone who is currently involved in a storyline could be ruled out, as would anybody who has a strong enough character to not be utilized in this role past SummerSlam. When you start whittling away the people that would not fit standing next to Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper, your options are extremely little.
Bo Dallas is a name that comes up mostly because of his real life connection to Bray Wyatt, as they are legitimate brothers. However, Dallas is a jobber who would need to not only drop his gimmick entirely, but also change his look and somehow be booked over the course of the next few weeks as dangerous enough to be taken seriously. Otherwise, how would The Wyatt Family stand a chance?
Jack Swagger is another person who isn’t doing much right now, but would also need a complete character overhaul, which may be too much work to put into this. He’s got the credentials, despite not having the best track record as of late, and he has the size to be intimidating, but it’s also hard to imagine him standing next to Harper and Wyatt and looking like he’s one of the pack.
Even when looking at the NXT roster, there aren’t many people who could fit the bill. Bull Dempsey is a possibility, but is he ready to be called up to the main roster? Hardly. Solomon Crowe is a weird dude, but not in the Wyatt Family sense. You’d be making a mistake if you held your breath for Sylvester Lefort to join the team or for Rhyno to convert over.
WWE might have to think outside the box when adding a new member to The Wyatt Family, whether that means grabbing talent not currently signed to the company or changing up someone’s character considerably, such as putting a mask on someone imposing like Sawyer Fulton and having him pretend to be someone else entirely.
Option 3: Sorry, Dean Ambrose…
A third option exists which gets rid of the Erick Rowan problem by means of getting rid of Dean Ambrose and having Sting replace him. If Sting is to be teaming up with Roman Reigns and there’s no third member of The Wyatt Family, then Ambrose by default has to take the hit, because WWE doesn’t value him in the program as much as they do Reigns.
I would assume this would be a result of Wyatt and Harper taking Ambrose out and incapacitating him to the point where it seems as though Reigns will have to fight alone, until Sting makes the save. Ambrose could come back either at SummerSlam to make a distraction or after the event to continue the feud at Night of Champions, where possibly Rowan will be healed or a new third member could be added to the mix, or Sting would then be the one to disappear (depending on how many dates WWE wants to use him).
Option 4: Sting is Just a Baseless Rumor
Then again, why all the fuss about removing Dean Ambrose to put Sting in the match when the simplest solution is usually correct? Occam’s razor would suggest The Icon isn’t involved in this feud at all and all of this speculation is either a complete fabrication or at least being blown out of proportion. Right now, there has been nothing that soundly points to Sting interfering, whereas Dean Ambrose has officially been tossed into the mix for the program.
It’s a lot of work to take someone out of a match and then replace them with someone unrelated to the events, particularly when Ambrose sat out of the Battleground pay-per-view for some reason. It wouldn’t be wise for one of the most popular people in the company to not make an appearance at two major events in a row simply because WWE couldn’t figure out a way to book him into a feud with someone else.
The best case scenario for all parties involved, in my opinion, would be Erick Rowan being healed enough to participate and make this a 3-on-3 war with Sting coming in as the special attraction, but I’m not holding out too much hope that this will happen. Short of a new Wyatt Family member being brought into the mix (and the right person for the job being chosen), I would rather see this just end up being Wyatt and Harper facing off against Reigns and Ambrose in some sort of street fight and for Sting to not make an appearance at all.
Those are my thoughts, but what are you hoping WWE decides to go with for SummerSlam? Can you think of any other alternative suggestions for the next direction of this angle? Tell us your thoughts, booking ideas and predictions in the comments below!
