It seems not everyone liked The Fiend’s run.
The Fiend debuted in WWE in 2019 and had a great run as the Universal Champion mere months after the character debuting. His first in ring match would take place at Summerslam, where The Fiend would destroy Finn Balor in minutes following his spectacular entrance. The Fiend also had a knack for turning people heel following their matches with him.
It was noted by Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio that Bray sold a ton of merchandise and fans loved him. Unfortunately, some inside the company felt he was doing major damage to the other characters they were trying to build.
“You can make the argument for Bray Wyatt becoming a big star and he was absolutely a huge merchandise seller, but you can also make the argument that he was not a success and I know people there who have made the argument that, ‘Oh, he’s one of the most over guys, he sold a lot of merchandise.’ He was fired for reasons having nothing to do with being over or not over. He was not fired having to do with his gimmick.”
“He was fired having to do with things that I probably shouldn’t talk about, so I’m not going to, to start a can of worms. But it’s got nothing to do with that. He had health issues, also, as far as being kept out of action and everything like that.”
“So it was just one of those things, but the argument against him was that you know, with the exception of Daniel Bryan, pretty much everybody he worked with got destroyed by him and was left for sh*t and had to rebuild and had to turn heel. I mean, granted, Miz turning heel was probably going to happen anyway because he wasn’t that great of a babyface, and Seth turning heel, because they absolutely destroyed him as a babyface, that’s absolutely due to the Bray Wyatt thing and the booking of the Bray Wyatt thing. So, there was the argument that he was more harm than good, other than the fact that he sold a lot of merchandise.”
Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio
Of course, not everyone backstage thought like the sources cited. Bray would remain a threat as The Fiend long after he lost the Universal Championship until he was released by the company.
Transcription by Ringside News
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