WWE: The Fiend and What I Feel Isn't Clicking

I should preface this by saying I do enjoy some of The Fiend's work I think it's an interesting gimmick. The idea of this is to look at what is happening and why fans seem to be turning off the character as a whole.

When Bray Wyatt came back as The Fiend WWE audiences were intrigued by the new character and what it would mean for Bray Wyatt who career is stagnated. After battering Finn Balor at SummerSlam 2019 the only logical step was to have him challenge for the Universal title held at the time by Seth Rollins. Well, one mismanaged Hell in a Cell match later and it felt like a sucker punch for the character. While he has had his ups and downs with 2 world title wins since the debut of the character it is safe to say that audience reaction has changed. Using the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) award you can see The Fiend went from Best Gimmick in 2019 to Worst Gimmick in 2020. Now, I am not saying the WON awards are gospel but they can be seen as an indicator of fan sentiment that the gimmick isn't hitting the heights it's debut did. 

I think a lot has to do with the booking. The previously mentioned Hell in a Cell match and its ending, the loss to Goldberg and a poor feud with Braun Strowman all culminated with a feud with Randy Orton in which The Fiend has currently out of action having been set on fire. As of the time of writing on 27th February 2021 Randy Orton spewed out some black goo after I think Alexa Bliss but a curse or spell on him in what felt more of a tribute to Papa Shango. 

In a way The Fiend reminds me early Undertaker. While he stood in a group of characters and gimmicks instead of just wrestlers he always stood out with the character firmly in the supernatural. While Undertaker never did get that feud with Papa Shango he had his monsters of the week those like Kamala and Giant Gonzalez which worked in some regards with him. However, I do feel this follows into some of the worst work for Undertaker, at this time he was still firmly a supernatural being he hadn't been humanised and went on to feud with The Million Doller Corporation from Royal Rumble 1995 with IRS all the way to SummerSlam and the casket match with Kama. These character did work to humanize Taker to make him feel vulnerable. I feel this happened with Mankind.

While not exactly in the mould Mankind was certainly in that weird and wonderful gimmicks which is what Taker needed. A slightly out there character but one who works with that mysticism in him. Through this they could have unique matches much like the boiler room brawl. The issue is The Fiend doesn't have that sort of character to work like that. Every feud sees the person The Fiend is with move out of the comfort zone of the character it almost seems unnatural. You can't look at the likes of Rollins or Orton in their feuds with The Fiend and how it is a complete change on how these characters act or just in general the weirdness of the character doesn't lend itself well to others not in that element. For The Fiend to work you need someone in that way to work with. Honestly, I don't think you have that gimmick currently that works to the extend that Mankind did for Undertaker, if I had to pick someone it would be Dexter Lumis who's gimmick is also somewhat out there that could work with The Fiend but that's more of a hit and hope. 

Really when it comes to The Fiend the issue is how far out there it is as a gimmick to everyone else. By the time The Undertaker became an institution on the show he had feuds with Mankind and Kane character in that similar mould and stories had been taken to give us an understanding of Undertaker. but The Fiend hasn't had that. Maybe we are in a day an age where this gimmick can't grow. It has it's fans but where can it go? Do you stay the course with more wacky hijinks which doesn't fit with the rest of the show or reboot Bray Wyatt again? 

It's difficult to say. The character is unique to a strength and a detriment, nobody else on the roster is like The Fiend but at that same time it means nobody can really showcase what the strength of the character could be. I don't know if WWE can do these supernatural gimmicks anymore maybe they need to tone him down or work with a close gimmick could someone like a Karrion Kross or Dexter Lumis work or would we see even more situations so far away from the rest of the show it doesn't fit. 

Of course I write this as we are days or weeks away from The Fiend being resurrected him hell or wherever he is. Maybe as WWE likes to do they'll continue how The Fiend is and never change. But we will see.