Opinion

Rob: What Went Wrong With Bray Wyatt & The Fiend In WWE?

Rob digs into Bray Wyatt’s run in WWE and why it ultimately didn’t work in any character iteration…

Published

4 years ago

November 14, 2021

Rob Bonnette

Rob digs into Bray Wyatt’s run in WWE and why it ultimately didn’t work in any character iteration…

So now that the Bray Wyatt wrestling story looks to be all but done, it’s time for the finger pointing. There are reports going around, most specifically one from Fightful Select, that highlights Bray’s ongoing frustrations with creative and Vince’s frustrations with him in return. It seems like a marriage that was doomed to fail, but that won’t stop the blame game from happening. And while it’s easy to pin it all on the old man, I think a lot of this is on Bray (Windham Rotunda) himself and just on circumstances that emerged surrounding the character. Here are what I think the big issues were:

The Monster Problem

The Fiend was an unstoppable evil clown monster, and that in itself was the problem. The cool visuals and costumes, the Firefly Funhouse, and spooky stuff made for very entertaining TV segments and some cool visuals like the Randy Orton pose while the Fiend burned in the background at the end of TLC, but none of that could fix the problem that was how do you finish his matches, and ultimately his stories? Because the evil horror movie clown eventually has to get taken down by someone, but in an ongoing medium like pro wrestling there’s a show the next day after said takedown. The Fiend as a character failed the number one question as to how you book the blowoff match for a feud: What’s next?

The Fiend as a character no selling all of someone’s offense while scaring them to death and ultimately beating them was a good way to force that opponent into a creative corner. Just ask Seth Rollins. It also made for nonsensical things like Braun Strowman getting dragged underwater into a swamp and then coming back on TV a week or two later. Or John Cena getting trapped in a dream world of sorts and disappearing into thin air then coming back a year later to confront Roman Reigns. Even when done well (the Cena thing) there was no plausible ‘what next?’ unless the Fiend lost.

But losing brought it’s own problems. The unstoppable murder clown gets beaten, that should be the end of the character as either the guy behind him leaves the territory entirely (which is what would have happened at any time prior to say, 1987) or gets taken off of TV to rebrand entirely. Now in Bray’s case the former happened, just not in the way anyone imagined. But after feuds with Rollins, Strowman, and Orton plus shorter angles with Cena and Goldberg it was clear that there was no right way to end anything with him. Have him go over then you have to change or revamp whoever he beat, but if he loses then you have to get people to buy back in when he returns. To be blunt, every angle or feud ended with the Fiend or his opponent having to be fixed. The Orton feud with it’s abrupt ending, as maddening as it was, turned out to be the least damaging of them all.

At the end of the day if there’s no good way to end any story with the character then that ties everyone’s hands involved, and guarantees a conclusion that satisfies no one. A year and a half of that was enough to make it clear that either you had to cut the cord or continue with this character doing the same with the rest of the roster, or at least the ones who didn’t have the clout to say ‘not gonna work for me, brother.’ In the old days he would have been built through some midcarders then eventually fed to Hulk Hogan and that would be the end of it. But in 2021 that wasn’t on the table, until what happened off camera ultimately made Randy Orton into the final Fiend Killer.

The Bell Had To Ring

Opinions of Bray Wyatt in the ring ran from ‘he stinks’ to ‘he’s ok’. Name a good Bray Wyatt match that wasn’t a tag match or where he wasn’t carried by a great in work worker like Daniel Bryan or Roman Reigns. And before you say ‘well, duh’ even guys who are not known as great in ring workers like say, the Miz, have had great matches with people who aren’t on the level of Reigns or Bryan. And by great I don’t mean five star workrate extravaganzas, I’m talking about matches that don’t have the audience thinking ‘ok, this kinda sucks’ after 10 minutes. You gotta be better than that if you’re going to reach the level that Bray’s biggest fans thought he should have reached.

And The Fiend only made that worse. Instead of pedestrian affairs you got ridiculous matches where by design he no sold everything from his opponent, until the finish where he had to either go down to defeat and contradict the rest of the match or win in such a way that whoever he beat was screwed going forward. The quick and easy version of this is that everything good about the Fiend happened before the bell rang, and once it did it was a race to see just how bad either he or his opponent would be ‘ruined’ by the finish. The easiest contrast to him, the Undertaker, was Ricky the Dragon Steamboat in ring by comparison. And speaking of which…..

He’s not The Undertaker

Taker is the quickest comparison to Bray, and what a lot of people hoped he would become. But there are some important distinctions between the two. For one while Taker was not a five star match guy on his own he was capable of playing his part in such a match or evven pulling a surprising great one like against Batista at WrestleMania 23. There isn’t one singles match in Bray’s resume where you were pleasantly surprised because of what he did. Then there’s the fact that Taker’s size made him an imposing figure in the ring while seeing the Fiend stand face to face with Goldberg took something out of his sense of invincibility.

And then there’s this. For all the spooky stuff that came with Taker, it all usually came before or after the match, not during it. When the bell rang you usually had a proper wrestling match, be it some crazy stipulation thing (Buried Alive, Casket), a no DQ match, or a straight match altogether. With the Fiend you either got a cinematic match that was completely out of the bounds of reality even when done well or some gimmicked up match in the real world like the cell match with Rollins or a regular match that ended with a dud like the Goldberg and Orton ones.

This brings us back to the same problem as my first point, that there was no way to do a match with this guy that either wasn’t an actual match (the Cena match at Mania) or was overbooked to absurd levels or just ended with a whimper. And then there’s the fact that to a very vocal part of the audience the only acceptable outcome was a Fiend victory. Taker on the other hand did take some early losses, even though they were in gimmicked up Body Bag matches, but we still saw him lose and thus were not fixed on him just having to win all the time. We knew he could lose which made it easier to go with it when he did. The Fiend from jump was presented as not just scary but invulnerable and the people who got on board the strongest were only here for that and that alone. Which is an impossible thing to maintain without him killing your whole roster.

In Conclusion

Long term the Fiend was just an unworkable character for the reasons I stated above. It’s fitting that Windham Rotunda is moving on to Hollywood because there he can write stories that have a hard ending and move on to the next one. There’s no Monday Night after the PPV where the two people who fought have to show up and move to the next feud. And there’s a much different bar to making an entertaining horror movie than a good wrestling match. It’s not easier, it’s just different and with a different set of expectations from the audience. While the release could have been less messy and not so abrupt it was the likely outcome regardless, the only difference being that Bray may have sought it himself after a while. But it’s a lesson into the need to put limits on characters, one that hopefully everyone remembers next time. Until then, good luck to Bray in Hollywood.

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Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)

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Opinion

Chairshot Staff Picks: Money In The Bank

Extra, extra read all about it… Chairshot Staff picks are in!!!

Published

2 weeks ago

June 6, 2025

PC Tunney

Sing it with me… money money money money moneeeeeeeeeyeeeeee… everybody’s got a price! MONEY IN THE BANK is here!!! How money will our staff picks be?!?

AJ – Roxanne Perez
Andrew – Stephanie Vaquer – *Bubba Sparxxx Impression* I don’t tell stories, I let them tell theyself.
Dave – Guilia – A stacked field but I just like her here.
DJ – Naomi
DPP – Roxanne Perez
Jason – Alexa Bliss
Patrick – Roxanne Perez
Rey – Naomi – If Naomi loses, we riot!
Rob – Naomi
Greg – Alexa Bliss – Bliss has had huge reactions since returning and is moving a ton of merch. While I can see them wanting to build Roxanne Perez, Giulia, or Stephanie Vaquer, I think Alexa Bliss.

Tunney’s Take: Rhea Ripley – I’ll make my case short and sweet… Mami in the Bank! You can’t leave that money on the table.

Chairshot Pick – Tie – Naomi 3 & Roxanne Perez 3 (Alexa Bliss 2, Giulia 1, Rhea Ripley 1, Stephanie Vaquer 1)

AJ – LA Knight
Andrew – El Grande Americano – Feels correct given his push and the fact he’s over.
Dave – Seth Rollins – Got to push that new faction.
DJ – LA Knight
DPP – El Grande Americano
Jason – LA Knight
Patrick – Solo Sikoa
Rey – LA Knight – Looks like another push, and he does have history with Cena.
Rob – Solo Sikoa
Greg – Seth Rollins – This company is extremely high in the El Grande Americano gimmick, but this match comes down to Seth Rollins or LA Knight. Given the Rollins storyline, it’s his briefcase to win.

Tunney’s Take: El Grande Americano – Picture this: Chad Gable wins the AAA Mega Championship and El Grande Americano wins MITB! WHAT A SATURDAY in LA!!!

Chairshot Pick – LA Knight 4 (El Grande Americano 3, Seth Rollins 2, Solo Sikoa 2)

AJ – Becky Lynch – Sadly
Andrew – Becky Lynch – I still don’t care about Lyra.
Dave – Lyra Valkyria – Starting to warm up to her and Becky has a lot to do with that.
DJ – Lyra Valkyria
DPP – Becky Lynch
Jason – Becky Lynch
Patrick – Lyra Valkyria
Rey – Becky Lynch – Put some fire on the Irish Beef.
Rob – Becky Lynch
Greg – Becky Lynch – I don’t think you do a rematch here just to have Becky lose again. Unless Bayley shows up to help Lyra.

Tunney’s Take: Becky Lynch – A big part of me feels that winning this title checks off a major box for Becks in her HOF career.

Chairshot Pick – Becky Lynch 8-3

AJ – Cena & Paul
Andrew – Rhodes & Uso – Easy way for Cena to lose without eating the pinfall.
Dave – Rhodes & Uso – Get the QB back on the winning track.
DJ – Rhodes & Uso
DPP – Rhodes & Uso
Jason – Cena & Paul
Patrick – Cena & Paul
Rey – Rhodes & Uso – Heels usually lose these kinds of matches. Logan takes the pin.
Rob – Cena & Paul
Greg – Rhodes & Uso – I hope Jey isn’t an afterthought here like Cody was last fall when he was paired up with Roman. I think Cody pins Cena to set up Cody-Cena 2 at SummerSlam.

Tunney’s Take: Cena & Paul – I don’t think Cena is involved in another loss until he loses the WWE Championship. I also think Logan Paul is NOT done trying to capture Jey Uso’s World Heavyweight Championship. …Travis Scott in the house?

Chairshot Pick – 6-5 Rhodes & Uso

In closing I want to thank everyone on the panel for participating with their picks! You can follow each prognosticator/podcaster on X @ the handles below. We all enjoy Pro Wrestling so remember three things… be respectful of others, comparison is the thief of joy and HAVE FUN!

AJ – @PhenomenalAJB
Andrew – @IWCWarChief
Dave – @AttitudeAgg
DJ – @TheMindlessPod
DPP – @itsmeDPP
Jason – @JediFett
Patrick – @WrestlngRealist
Rey – @itsreycash
Rob – @rbonne1
Greg – @gregdemarco44
PC – @PCTunney
TheChairshot.com – @ChairshotMedia

prowrestlingtees.com/TheChairshot – a PLETHORA of GREAT designs…MAKES A GREAT GIFT!

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SUNDAY – Keeping the news ridiculous… The Oddity / The Front and Center Sports Podcast

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS…IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

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About Chairshot Radio Network

MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)

WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)

THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)

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SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!

All Shows On Demand

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

Opinion

Chairshot Staff Picks: Backlash St. Louis

Chairshot Staff picks!!!

Published

1 month ago

May 9, 2025

PC Tunney

May is upon us and with that, so is Backlash from St. Louis! What does the first PLE after WrestleMania have in store for the WWE Universe? Let’s see if the Chairshot Staff can properly interpret the crystal ball of rasslin’ future.

AJ – Pat MacAfee – Gunther has to start losing control and who better than an announcer.
Andrew – Pat MacAfee – Goldberg getting involved does seem correct here.
Dave – Gunther – He’s not losing to a broadcaster.
DJ – Gunther – Pat is sent to the shadow realm until football season is over.
DPP – Gunther – Post match beat down leads to Pat time off.
Jason – Gunther – One massive spot and or bump from Pat.
Patrick – Gunther
Rey – Gunther – RIP MacAfee, t’was a good life.
Rob – Gunther
Greg – Pat MacAfee – Why? Goooooldbeeerrrrrgggggg!

Tunney’s Take: Gunther – Seems like the right pick here. Pat may be getting some time off and Gunther needs more heat.

Chairshot Pick – GUNTHER 8-3

AJ – Lyra Valkyria – Becky’s hopefully putting her over, still mad about Dakota.
Andrew – Becky Lynch – I have no real interest in Lyra currently.
Dave – Becky Lynch – Lyra is boring AF!
DJ – Lyra Valkyria – Bayley interferes.
DPP – Becky Lynch – Becky cheats and steals the title.
Jason – Lyra Valkyria – Bayley costs Becks.
Patrick – Becky Lynch
Rey – Becky Lynch – Story needs to jump up a bit, Becky Charlotte’s Lyra.
Rob – Lyra Valkyria
Greg – Becky Lynch – It’s been fun, Lyra. (It kinda hasn’t)

Tunney’s Take: Lyra Valkyria – Bayley’s interference should set up some type of program with Becky as we head towards Summer(Slam).

Chairshot Pick – BECKY LYNCH 6-5

AJ – Jacob Fatu – Great way to put him over w/ two former WHCs and LA Knight.
Andrew – Jacob Fatu – He’s Jacob Fatu!
Dave – Jacob Fatu – Too soon to pull the belt off him.
DJ – Jacob Fatu – Priest and LA can’t decide who’s is bigger.
DPP – Jacob Fatu – Your hardcore match, tables and chairs involved.
Jason – Jacob Fatu – The Champ retains due to or in spite of Solo.
Patrick – Jacob Fatu
Rey – Jacob Fatu – All gas. No brakes. Ain’t losing.
Rob – Jacob Fatu
Greg – Jacob Fatu – Someone from The Samoan Dynasty ain’t winning a title just to drop it.

Tunney’s Take: Jacob Fatu – Uncle Mo is on Fatu’s side and other than Knight, I don’t see Drew or Priest holding the US title in the current circumstances of this title’s landscape.

Chairshot Pick – JACOB FATU 11-0

AJ – Dominic Mysterio – Judgement Day shenanigans just leading up to Finn turning on Dom later.
Andrew – Penta – Dom’s fine having a short reign, could also work for pushing AAA.
Dave – Dominic Mysterio – He’s probably more over than Penta.
DJ – Dominic Mysterio – Dirty Dom takes home the gold and the girl.
DPP – Dominic Mysterio – Big Head helps Dom pull out the win.
Jason – Dominic Mysterio – By hook and crook.
Patrick – Dominic Mysterio
Rey – Dominic Mysterio – Latino Heat keeps burning. Finn gets closer to the edge.
Rob – Dominic Mysterio
Greg – Dominic Mysterio – Someone from The Guerrero Dynasty ain’t winning a title just to drop it.

Tunney’s Take: Dominic Mysterio – That belt looks good with the king of chicken tendys. I can see Penta and Rey reforming as a tag team sooner than later.

Chairshot Pick – DOMINIC MYSTERIO 10-1

AJ – John Cena – Why? Cena wins, lol.
Andrew – John Cena – Shenanigans ensue so it’s not a clean win.
Dave – John Cena – The last time is now.
DJ – John Cena – Randy hears voices telling him he needs an Attitude Adjustment.
DPP – John Cena – Cena tries to cheat but the ref doesn’t call for a DQ.
Jason – John Cena – Nefarious means, Randy not ready for Evil John Cena.
Patrick – John Cena
Rey – John Cena – Cena just counting down the dates. Should be fun though.
Rob – John Cena
Greg – John Cena – You know they want Cody to be the hero in the end.

Tunney’s Take: Randy Orton – Once upon a time Randy got himself intentionally disqualified and it cost John. Saturday, history repeats itself with a 180-degree twist. Cena retains via Orton DQ victory. This time, Travis Scott’s appearance takes care of that task.

Chairshot Pick – JOHN CENA 10-1