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A few days ago, "The Fiend" made his in-ring debut against Finn Balor at SummerSlam 2019. The entire WWE Universe was overwhelmed by the brilliance of Bray Wyatt's newest gimmick. Social media was flooded with praise for Wyatt and WWE on creating almost a perfect character. Many fans have described the Fiend's entrance as one of the greatest of all-time.
Everything about The Fiend was perfect - the spooky entrance with the lantern, in-ring psychology and the perfect outro. As expected, The Fiend defeated his SummerSlam opponent in no time with a Mandible Claw.
WWE deserves a lot of credit for backing Bray Wyatt on this experimental gimmick. If everything goes well, The Fiend may become an iconic character. However, there are a few things that WWE should refrain from to protect The Fiend. In this slideshow, we will take a look at a few things WWE should do to protect The Fiend.
#3. Continue Bray Wyatt's involvement in the creative control of Firefly Fun House
In WWE, not many wrestlers can boast of having creative control of their gimmicks. However, according to Jason Baker, director of Firefly Fun House, Bray Wyatt is involved in pitching him the ideas related to Firefly Fun House. During an appearance on Busted Open, Baker said that Wyatt was the brainchild and texts him pitching in ideas.
Wrestlers must have a bit of creative freedom to enjoy their work. Wyatt, along with his team, created one of the best characters in modern-day wrestling. Thus, WWE should proceed to have Wyatt on board and get constant inputs from the former "Face of Fear". Else, Firefly Fun House could become another flash in the pan.
#2. Move Bray Wyatt to Smackdown LIVE
During his entrance at SummerSlam 2019, The Fiend used a lantern with Wyatt's severed head as a facade. WWE initially uploaded the entire clip of The Fiend's entrance at first on YouTube but in less than two hours, they took the video down and trimmed down the clip significantly. There weren't any mentions of the Fiend's entrance during the post SummerSlam episode of RAW as well. Fans are speculating that WWE did it because a "severed head" won't be appropriate in a PG rated show.
"Edginess" is an important part of the Fiend. With SmackDown LIVE moving to Fox Sports, and with Fox Sports pressurizing WWE to give an edgier product, it does not take rocket science to deduce that Bray Wyatt would be better off on SmackDown LIVE. The last thing WWE want would be to tone down an amazing character due to pressure from the broadcaster.
#1. Don't overexpose the Fiend
In WWE, most of the Superstars have to work for around 300 days a year. Most of the Superstars have to work RAW and/or SmackDown LIVE followed by the heavy schedule of house shows. Since WWE has diluted the brand split rules, some of the Superstars are regularly appearing on both Raw and SmackDown LIVE, and thus getting overexposed during the process.
Take WWE's top full-time Superstar, Roman Reigns, for example. The Big Dog is wrestling on almost every episode of both RAW and SmackDown LIVE. Even though that may look good, the sad fact is that such a work schedule is overexposing Reigns. His fights don't feel much special anymore due to that. On the other hand, the fights involving Brock Lesnar, who fights only on select PPVs, feel much more special.
WWE should not make this mistake with The Fiend. The Fiend should be used very sporadically. He should not be summoned for the sake of filling the match cards. Sure, WWE could use The Fiend to interrupt segments as he did with Kurt Angle or Mick Foley. But they should not waste an entrance from the Fiend on regular TV shows.
