5 reasons why The Fiend Bray Wyatt wasn't on the RAW after SummerSlam 2019

SummerSlam had many great moments, but perhaps the greatest moment on 'The Biggest Party of the Summer' was Bray Wyatt making his in-ring debut as the demonic Fiend and destroying Finn Balor.

WWE got everything spot-on about The Fiends first match, from the excellent choice of entrance music, giving Wyatt his own personalised 'The Fiend' aston subtitles, having Wyatt hold the severed head of his former persona. It was chilling and felt like a huge moment and definitely went down as one of the best debuts of the PG era.

The Fiend would go on to practically squash the first ever Universal Champion Finn Balor with a series of brutal moves including head butts, a 'John Wick' style sinister looking neck snap, Sister Abigail and the Mandible Claw finisher.

The lights then flickered as The Fiend posed over a prone Finn Balor before they went off completely and The Fiend had disappeared, leaving a bewildered Balor to pick himself up off of the mat alone.

This was widely regarded as the best thing to happen at SummerSlam so naturally people were expecting to see some sort of follow up on the Monday Night RAW afterwards, but Wyatt didn't appear at all,

Big mistake to not feature Bray Wyatt or “The Fiend” on #RAW tonight after becoming the most-talked about thing in wrestling at SummerSlam.

— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) August 13, 2019

But what are the possible reasons for the WWE's decision not to strike whilst the iron is hot and give the WWE Universe more Fiend on Raw? Let's take a look!

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#5. The Fiend and/or Bray Wyatt will appear on SmackDown Live instead

Even though Bray Wyatt is still officially a RAW Superstar and WWE are going to quietly remove the Wild Card rule heading into October for the Fox move, there's still a chance that Wyatt will appear on SmackDown Live instead.

After all, in the build-up to SummerSlam Wyatt did hop across both brands with episodes of Firefly Funhouse playing on both RAW and SmackDown and Wyatt answering Balor's SummerSlam challenge also happened on the blue brand.

It seems that Wyatt/The Fiend is so otherworldly that he may even transcend the brand split. If there's any Superstar that should ignore the boundaries between red and blue when seeking out their victims, it's this iteration of Bray Wyatt!

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#4. To build suspense and anticipation for the next appearance

Wyatt only appears at the right time

We saw Bray Wyatt disappear from the ring at SummerSlam indicating that he's gone somewhere otherworldly, or has at least teleported somewhere else. Either way, it's clear that Wyatt's ability to come and go as he pleases is something WWE want us to buy into.

So, we, as the WWE Universe, are left wondering when we'll see Bray Wyatt again? who his next victim will be? How he will strike? The longer these questions go unanswered, the more impactful Wyatt's eventual next appearance will be.

This is, after all, exactly what WWE did with the Firefly Funhouse vignettes giving us a glimpse into the new Bray Wyatt, but waiting for weeks and weeks until he finally hit the ring and ambushed Finn Balor to a huge reaction.

Sure there's an urge to just throw Wyatt out there at every opportunity following the positive reaction The Fiend got at SummerSlam, but there's definitely an argument to be made in keeping him off-screen for prolonged periods to maintain the mystery and demonic nature of the character.

#3. WWE wants to save Wyatt's next appearance for a major show

Could Wyatt wait until next week's King of the Ring to appear again?

As I mentioned in the last slide, there's an argument to be made for Bray Wyatt/The Fiend to not be used all of the time, only as and when it would make the most impact and therefore garner the most buzz.

So, WWE could be planning to hold Wyatt back in order for his next appearance to take place on one of the upcoming big shows they've got planned over the next few weeks with the likes of King of the Ring, Clash of Champions and the legend-filled first Fox SmackDown Live episode

For example, keeping him off of television until next week's King of the Ring tournament and then having Wyatt surprise everyone again and suddenly appear and interfere in one of those matches to build towards the next feud would be something that not only generates hype for the next Fiend match, but also gets people talking about King of the Ring itself.

#2. He's waiting for Finn Balor to return

Balor succumbs to the Mandible Claw but it wasn't enough to keep him down after the bell

There was some suggestion that Finn Balor was going to take time away from WWE are requesting a small break, with that rumored to take place after SummerSlam. This led to the belief that Balor would lose against Wyatt at SummerSlam (especially after choosing not to be 'The Demon')

However whilst Balor did indeed lose to The Fiend at SummerSlam, and quite emphatically may I add, he was able to walk out of the ring via his own volition so isn't necessarily so 'injured' that he needs to take time off.

If the plan is still for Wyatt to completely write Balor off of television whilst he's away it would make sense to keep Wyatt off of a Monday Night RAW that doesn't feature Finn Balor and wait for his next appearance.

You could then cement The Fiend as a heartless and dangerous monster by having him do something legitimately terrible to Balor to write him off of WWE television for however long his break is.

#1. Wyatt's job is done - for now

Everyone Bray Wyatt has attacked since returning to the ring after weeks of Firefly Funhouse vignettes has had a reason behind it. Wyatt wanted Balor because they had unfinished business and he wanted Foley so that he could take the Mandible Claw.

Then at SummerSlam The Fiend vanquished Balor with relative ease after evidently listening to the 'Hurt' hand rather than the 'Heal' hand. What if Wyatt's victims have all served their purpose for now and The Fiend has no further jobs to do.

No point having The Fiend make an appearance, or Bray Wyatt if nothing in particular is going to happen off of the back of it, Wyatt's appearances should be special every time they happen and the best way to ensure that is to make sure each one has a point and is shocking and unexpected.

Regardless, it's clear that with all the Firefly Funhouse vignettes, all the quirky character elements like the 'hurt' and 'heal' gloves and all the work that Wyatt has put into building the character that we are being told a careful and considered story here about who The Fiend is and what exactly is going on. So with that in mind it's best to let it unfold at it's own pace!