Chaos Theory: The Villain WWE Deserves

I'm a sucker for a good villain. No matter what the medium, no matter how the story is being told, I will fall in love if the villain has depth of character and can pull me in. Arguably, the greatest villain in all of modern fiction is The Joker. Though his story has been told many times, and in many ways, he has no single, agreed-upon history. He comes from nowhere, and everywhere. His goals are simple and yet so beautifully complex: he is the bringer of chaos, and he does it because he can.

My ultimate desire as a fairly sick and twisted fan of pro wrestling has always been to see a heel who encompasses all of the qualities of The Joker. Now, I'm not talking about Joker Sting, or Prince Devitt in his (absolutely convincing) Joker ring apparel. I want a wrestling character who brings with him or her the simple and indestructible desire to push over a single domino - just to watch the rest fall.

Just over a year ago, when The Wyatt Family debuted on the main roster, I had high hopes that Bray Wyatt would bring me all of the pandemonium I could ever desire. And at first, it seemed he was hell bent on causing nothing but trouble for both heel and baby face alike. But that began to wane as he set his sights on fan favorite Daniel Bryan (which automatically made Bray a major heel) and then the polarizing John Cena. At the beginning of Wyatt's feud with Cena, I saw a glimpse of what could be: a character who wants to destroy something many fans love just because he can. He could have moved on from Cena to a top heel like Randy Orton, then to a babyface, and continue to move his way through the top of the roster, regardless of how loved or hated they were by fans. He could help to create feuds between other characters, whispering poison in everyone's ear, and keeping the paranoia of our favorite wrestlers at an all time high. But that's not what happened. After Wyatt's losses to Cena at WrestleMania and Payback, and a lackluster win at Extreme Rules, the sun began to set on the potential power of Bray Wyatt.

The closest thing we currently have to the Joker character in WWE would have to be the unstoppable pairing of Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar. Yes, this job is such a tall order it takes two people and they're still not quite there. If you happened to watch the brutal beating that John Cena received from Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam (or, really, any of the matches Lesnar's ever had), you know that he is seemingly unstoppable. Whatever he wants, he takes. Meanwhile, Paul Heyman is using his gift of gab to win over the audience, and turn them in whatever direction is most beneficial to him and his client.

The thing that prevents this duo from giving me what I'm looking for as a true Joker-style heel is that Lesnar and Heyman have goals. They set their sights on something and they take it. While the conquering of the Undertaker's undefeated WrestleMania streak was assuredly a dastardly move for any villain, it came with a great amount of prestige. As Heyman continues to remind us, no one can ever say they put an end to such an auspicious series of wins. This is now simply one of Lesnar's accolades. When Lesnar set his sights on winning the WWE world heavyweight championship at SummerSlam, he didn't do it so he could then set fire to belt the follow night on RAW (which would have been brutally awesome, by the way.) He did it so that he could then be "the guy" in WWE. There is now no one above him. And while it will be tricky to find him a new worthy competitor when his feud with Cena is over, he is not champion in order to simply cause mayhem throughout the WWE. He conquers his obstacles and his opponents. He doesn't burn the whole thing to the ground.

I have not given up hope, though. Since the split of The Shield back in June, my attentions have been fully focused on Dean Ambrose. He is a joy to witness both in the ring and on the mic. But he is no villain - yet. His support from the crowd as he carries his torch of vengeance against his former brother-in-arms, Seth Rollins, has him entirely in the baby face column. But after taking a dramatic curb stomp from Rollins into a stack of cement blocks on the most recent RAW in Las Vegas, we probably won't be seeing Ambrose for a while. Anyone who reads the blogs knows by now he'll be off shooting a movie, an endeavor likely to keep him off TV for weeks. But when he comes back, he still has to teach Rollins a lesson - a task I fully expect to include many jaw-dropping, unbelievable, and possibly dangerous matches. But when it comes time for Ambrose to move on, where to direct his attention? Who should he be pit against next? This is where my inner demented writer starts to laugh uncontrollably:

Everyone.

The character of Dean Ambrose is unpredictable. He contains so much madness and seemingly little regard for his own health or safety. He is the perfect candidate to wreak havoc on the entire WWE. Seth Rollins has stated in promos that Ambrose is uncontrollable. So, let's see it. Let's see him get involved in feuds that don't have anything to do with him. I want him to screw people out sure-fire wins. I want him on the bad side of baby faces and heels alike. He needs no motivation other than to watch everyone around him squirm. And when he causes pure mayhem, put him in matches he could never win. He loves the pain, so he can't really be beaten. You can't beat a man who has nothing to lose and nothing to gain. As long as he screws up his opponent, gets into their head, he's already won. A character that set on bringing down the entire world around him means he is game for anything. You can put a character like that in any scenario and watch the whole thing spin out of control. He can lose match after match and never die of shame. He has no pride. He has no goals. He just wants to destroy everyone and everything.

I know there are others, perhaps down in NXT or in the indies who could give me the anarchy I long for. But when I look at him, I can just feel that my need for explicit violence will be satiated by Dean Ambrose. However, I am willing to take it wherever I can get it. I haven't entirely ruled out the idea that a woman might be best suited for this role. Imagine a smooth, sexy female manager who keeps drawing in wrestlers and then getting them into impossible matches they can never win. She uses guys (and ladies) to work her way up the roster, until she's basically destroyed everyone. She has a thousand enemies and no remorse. She's not afraid, either, as the men can't hit her and she's too smart to let herself get backed into a match with a woman. She's just slimy and spineless enough to stay in the Authority's good graces, at least until she's powerful enough to make them her playthings. And when she's had her moment of glorious tumult at the top, she disappears, seemingly eradicated. Until they need someone brilliant to fix a problem, and they unleash the chaos again.

It's possible, of course, that my desire to craft the perfect story where pure, baseless evil wins out has taken all the flavor out of the story lines the WWE is currently offering. We live in the time of a pro wrestling industry overrun with characters who toe the line between face and heel. While this makes these characters malleable, it doesn't make for particularly compelling television. So maybe it's time to start applying some of these ultimate villain concepts to the heels of the roster. Maybe it's time for a shake-up, something that people can recognize as familiar in character, while still eagerly anticipating watching it unfold each week. Bring on the calculating, the brilliant, the demented, and the vicious. It's time WWE gave us a character with an ace up their sleeve.

Or a Joker.