What killed The Fiends Character in 2020

[The Blue Nova]

When the fiend came in 2019 It was fresh and everyone liked it it was something new and a great character the way he debut at summerslams squashing Finn Balor was awesome and he even won Wrestling observer newsletter best gimmick that year. Sadly his feud with Rollins and losing the belt to Goldberg kind of killed the character dead in the water then his whole feud with Braun kept making it worse. I think its the only gimmick to ever win best gimmick one year and worst gimmick the next. With that being said. I am a huge Bray fan and thinks he is creative. I blame the WWE writing at the time and not on him.

[pinja]

Three things: 1. They didn't find a way to make him beatabale without having him lose all of his mystique.
2. Alexa Bliss was inserted.
3. Those pants.

If Bray absolutely has to wear a mask, make him Mankind instead of Kane (although Kane was introduced as a victim, so it was easy to draw sympathy for him by making him vulnerable). Make him a human who can seem supernatural because he's high on his own craze. Or drugs.

[cornettesracket]

In part No crowds. The fiend and bray wyatt was a visual character and as we saw when bray returned the crowd made it.

The crap in the cell and the burning of him didn’t help.

[Gus Richlen: Ruffian]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH PAL

[Tenshigure]

End discussion.

[Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story]

With the benefit of hindsight, the Rollins stuff was what highlighted that the character wasn't viable in certain circumstances. The Goldberg stuff is what confirmed it and put the nail in the coffin.

I thought Alexa was honestly at her best doing the stuff with Bray. When it was just her it was weak, but they worked well together.

The mistake was putting him in the world title mix and not nerfing his power a bit. I wouldn't mind seeing the Fiend again one day, but not for a bit.

[Push R Truth]

I don't think it helps that The Fiend as a character can have his essence boiled down to "Spooky guy that no sells shit but he has a real budget unlike the 300 other dudes in backyard feds that dress up like the Joker/Demon and act all crazy with a ten dollar budget". I mean, there's only so much you can do with that. Losses seem lame. Wins eventually seem inevitable. "But Val, the Undertaker!" Yeah I know. His success along with Kane is fascinating and not-at-all something you can just replicate.

Fiend is basically Brimstone but instead of just CUSTOM BOOTS, everything is custom. I guess Bray didn't write his own 28 page wikipedia either. And Bray has actual talent. And has held a real WWE contract. And Bray has drawn a dime.

Now all the Fiend bashing aside, Bray Wyatt and Funhouse Bray can make the Fiend work but they gotta carry like 90-95% of the story/content. Fiend, not unlike Finn's demon, isn't the sort of thing that you use all willy nilly. It's like a once, maybe twice a year gimmick to dip into fully.

[lucas_lee]

The character itself IMO. With all of that buildup there was nowhere to go but down. No amount of fantasy booking wouldve saved the nightmare that was booking a match in that gimmick.

[BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps]

He was a character way more suited for Lucha Underground than WWE. As outrageous and unrealistic as some WWE angles have been Bray was pushing the fantasy to new levels where it was conflicting too awkwardly with the rest of the show. Plus dude was just too overpowered, even original Deadman Undertaker could be taken out more easily.

[Friday Night SmackOwn]

Fighting for title belts. Throwing him into a title feud with Rollins a month after the character debut was the wrong idea.

[Pooh Carlson]

The Goldberg match was rough and they booked themselves into a corner making him too invincible. That said, 2020 was actually good in my opinion for The Fiend since no crowd meant they were able to stage more whacky stuff that they wouldn't have been able to do with a crowd. Sadly, what really killed everything was Brodie passing at Bray lost all motivation it seemed.

[Deleted]

There are many reason but the two most vital IMO.

1.He was a character that completely conflicted with the rest of the roster and show.....everytime this discussion comes back I reiterate the same point that you can't have a charatcer like The Fiend in a grounded wrestling oompnay it does not work and will never work because there is too much at odds and things simply do not make sense and then people start asking questions about how does this happen but this doesn't , why does so and so do this but they ignore this etc etc.

2.His no selling...in his WWE title match against Seth he NO SELLS GETTING BLOWN UP!!!!! you have absoloutley nowhere to go after this with the character because you have automatically debilitated the entirety of your roster when they have to face him.

[polarbearpete]

Who killed The Fiend? You did.

[darbus alan]

That Hell in a Cell match was almost record timing in seeing people turn against a previously popular gimmick. Usually it's gradual. Scattered but increasing boos. The Fiend fast tracked that process.

[dbrussel]

HIAC vs Seth and Golderg matches

[The Blue Nova]

Nov 4, 2022 13:05:55 GMT -5 polarbearpete said:

Who killed The Fiend? You did.

LOL Polarbear pete is amazing lol

[Friday Night SmackOwn]

Nov 4, 2022 13:23:46 GMT -5 darbus alan said:

That Hell in a Cell match was almost record timing in seeing people turn against a previously popular gimmick. Usually it's gradual. Scattered but increasing boos. The Fiend fast tracked that process.

I think that was the first time they had the bright (red) idea of having the Fiend be accompanied by red lighting, which was just awful.

[Bo Rida]

Nov 4, 2022 13:23:46 GMT -5 darbus alan said:

That Hell in a Cell match was almost record timing in seeing people turn against a previously popular gimmick. Usually it's gradual. Scattered but increasing boos. The Fiend fast tracked that process.

Yeah, just about everything about how that match was put together was wrong.

[WoodStoner1]

I think making Push synonymous with Main Event/world title run hurt. As putting him there with Rollins led to the HIAC incident, and ended with the Goldberg debacle.

There's not as much shame in being a high midcard act as you'd think.

The Fiend should have just been an attraction who destroys people like at SummerSlam.

[fg]

Nov 4, 2022 11:30:55 GMT -5 Tenshigure said:

End discussion.

This.

This caused the crowds to booo Goldberg for a month. So, some young wrestlers can’t beat an indestructible character yet a 50-year-old can?