Bray Wyatt has returned to WWE and in the space of five minutes, told an interesting story.
As Extreme Rules’ title card was playing on air and the announce team was saying goodbye to the fans at home, the lights in the arena would shut off, with the crowd immediately knowing what was coming next. For the past few weeks, we have awaited the reveal of “The White Rabbit” in WWE. But no one could have predicted how intricate the reveal would actually be. Slowly, a male voice would begin singing “The Whole World Is In His Hands”. The crowd would begin to rise to a fever pitch at this point but would quickly be silenced by a horrifying sight.
As the song rang out, the camera and spotlight would continually focus on people in costumes, dressed as horrific versions of the Firefly Funhouse puppets. After the puppets were shown, we would see a Fiend Mask destroyed on the announce desk and another person dressed as The Fiend right in the front row. At this point the crowd was white hot but WWE slowed down the segment again, showing a destroyed and aged Funhouse on the tron before Wyatt would burst down a door on stage and emerge with a new mask and his lantern. He would remove the mask, mouth to the camera “I’m here” and blow out the lantern. The show would then go off the air with Wyatt’s new logo on screen.
Now, from a story point of view, there is always more to Bray Wyatt’s segments so it is worth going through the five minute segment with a fine toothed comb. The first note to make is that there was no references to The Fiend in the music, or in Wyatt’s gear when he revealed himself. In the segment, it felt like the Funhouse was buried. Or at the very least – put on hold. While we saw the puppets in the crowd, they were horrific versions of the characters and with The Fiend mask shown on the announce table burned, it would signify that the character may be gone. However, moments after we would see another person dressed as The Fiend, so it may not be forever.
The Funhouse itself was covered in cob webs, the puppets appeared, well, dead. Wyatt would first appear on the TV in the funhouse, repeating the phrase “Who killed the world? You did.” Now, this could mean a lot of things, and one thing that may have gone under the radar is this: Who killed the world of the Firefly Funhouse from a story perspective? Alexa Bliss. Bliss would actually react to Wyatt’s return with an ominous message.
In terms of his new mask, it resembles a mask used in Japanese Mythology, resembling an Oni mask. An “Oni” is a Japanese demon, usually associated with dark entities.
There is a belief amongst fans that the people in the crowd, showing the puppets, may lead to actual WWE roster members, with many already fantasy booking the likes of Liv Morgan and Alexa Bliss into the faction immediately. The idea is again an interesting one and could be the direction this goes, but there is a fine line when it comes to the Funhouse. While fans were excited to see The Fiend in the front row, the character has its own set of issues that may be better off left in the past. However, if this can be booked in a cohesive way with The Fiend making little appearances at the end of feuds similarly to how Finn Balor uses The Demon, it could be a perfect blend of the two characters we have seen Bray Wyatt play on WWE TV. A mixture between the cult leader Bray and Funhouse Bray could provide some gripping stories for the returning star.
All in all, the segment was shot in a way that has rarely been used in WWE over the last few years. It left me uneasy, gripped and on the edge of my seat waiting for Wyatt to appear. The final note about the segment comes as it went off the air. The number 6 has been a common part of Wyatt’s vignettes’ and at the end of the show, Wyatt’s new logo aired along with the DEH noise that was used during The Wyatt Family run in WWE. Again, this points more towards Bray’s first character than The Fiend but time will tell when Wyatt will appear next.
Follow Corey at @CoreyBrennanBS on Twitter
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