“Sing! Sing! Love! Love! All power in this world is measured by how much love you have. Whether you love to bring joy or suffering, you cannot deny that love is a delectable experience. It is a ravenous wildfire with beautiful flames. It is a divine wine that brings warmth to those who drink it and it cannot be defined. You have to live it! You have to feel it! Get them to love you, John, and then they’ll do anything for you. But you already know that, don’t you? And how does it feel now, John, to know that you have lost their love? To know that they would rather see you suffer than see you smile, and I like your style. This past Monday night on Raw, your people, John, they were given a choice. And you, you could have given John a fair fight. Instead, you threw him to the wolves like a piece of meat…
…Thinking of me as just a man is a mistake. I am not. I am the nagging conscience of a world that has thrown itself away to moral monsters. I am everywhere and I am everything. And my words, man. My words are not just words. My words are razor blades that cut deep. And they are working!…
…At Extreme Rules me and you got a date with destiny, John, inside a steel cage. And how fitting. We’re just like a couple modern day gladiators fighting for the respect of our people…
…This cage defines your world, John. And everything you stand for and all the blood sweat and tears you’ve put in fighting for them, it’s landed you right here, with me. Like a snake trapped with a rat in a box. And just remember, John, it was you who invited me here. And you haven’t even removed my venom. Your nightmares have become my dreams come true. And in my dreams I hear them, and in my dreams I feel them, and in my dreams I see them. One by one, they will all follow me.”
— Bray Wyatt, in his near Shakespeare-quality steel cage soliloquy (Friday Night Smackdown, 4/26/14)
About the Edit: Wyatt’s monologue has haunted me all weekend. I rewatched Smackdown on TiVo so I could expand this post, give a more full quotation of his brilliance. I short-cutted with ellipses across a few lines that were more banter than brilliance, but for the most part I maintain my initial Shakespearean assessment — Bray Wyatt is a hillbilly Iago. (And of course, he rounded out his performance by leading the crowd in a rousing verse of his favorite hymn, “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands.”
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