PWPNation — The lights glow red as Seth Rollins raises the sledgehammer and slams it down onto the toolbox that lays on the ladder and chair draped across The Fiend’s face, laying on the mat, not moving for several minutes. The bell rings as the ref calls for the end of the match. Was it a DQ? Did the ref stop the match because Bray couldn’t continue?
Before there was an answer, there were boos, chants of “AEW” and “BULLSHIT” and even a few “RESTART THE MATCH” chants trying to get going.
Everyone is quick to complain because the story being told wasn’t the story they wanted to be told. It’s like when my 3-year-old is mad because I read Green Eggs and Ham to him instead of Goodnight Moon.
Bray has been around for many years. He’s a former WWE Champion. He needed a change though as Bray Wyatt the cult leader was getting stale.
Enter: Firefly Funhouse.
Remember when Bray wasn’t even on our TV and we only heard rumors about the bird hand puppet awkwardly showing up in a box was leading to Wyatt’s return? Remember that? I do, because I was one of the millions of people who didn’t get it and already wrote it off as absolute garbage.
Fast forward and the Firefly Funhouse made its debut. That night, every doubt was silenced and every skeptical part of us was turned into a believer. It rekindled our fascination with Bray Wyatt, but could they keep it up?
Over the months, the world grew more and more impatient for The Fiend, and for Bray to have a match in either of his forms. Then it came. The day that The Fiend attacked Finn Balor.
Bray made easy work of the “ordinary man who can do extraordinary things,” and soon rumors of Bray challenging for the Universal Title began to lead us down the yellow brick road to the Emerald City that we all forgot doesn’t really exist.
So let me fast forward to the point: The finish to Hell In A Cell.
There was no official DQ. There was no announcement at all. The ref stopped the match and immediately yelled for the Cell to be raised and for medics to come out. The story was told and The Fiend was taken to a new, scary, supernatural level.
In this story, The Fiend didn’t need to win the title. He only needed to be seen as this demon, this monster, this supernatural entity that could take almost anything that could be dished out. Accomplished: Bravo.
Seth is the Beast Slayer, he’s the King Slayer… The story was told the right way for both men to solidify exactly who, or what, they are.
Maybe you thought the only right way to end it was with Bray winning. But ask yourself, where would Bray go from there? After only one match with his new character, he’s already the Universal Champion…Now what?
Sometimes we start thinking of 100 different, amazing things that could happen and when none of them happen, we tend to ignore what did happen and just latch on to the fact that we hated their decision. We all do it, I know I do it. I was disappointed, not that Bliss/Cross lost, but because I already convinced myself it can only end when Bliss finally turns on Cross.
Don’t get it twisted though, I’m not saying HIAC was a great PPV. It was 100% a throw-away show while the WWE anxiously awaits the crucial draft on Friday night. They couldn’t risk making too many big changes, which is why I assume there was a lack of title matches. No tag team, no U.S., no IC title…
Just remember, the story they told during the Universal Title match was a story meant to expand The Fiend’s character as that supernatural monster. The character needs to develop before he can carry around the company on his shoulders.