Imagine a world where Laurie Strode, after one or two Halloween sequels, teams up with Michael Myers. If you can’t beat ’em with a hanger, knife, gun, or even fire, may as well join ’em, right?
Michael and Laurie become horror’s Mickey and Mallory for another set of sequels until Laurie decides to destroy Michael herself. She uses all he taught her to “finish” him because she wants to be the only one Haddonfield whispers about on brisk Halloween nights.
Since monsters never really die in horror movies—at least not till the grosses go down—we all know Michael will come back. But showing someone is a better Michael Myers than the actual Michael Myers makes him a less scary monster.
And that is the position Bray Wyatt finds himself in at this very moment. Alexa is a better “fiend” than Bray in pretty much every single facet. What their clear-ish breakup signifies is there’s nowhere to go but down for the once self-declared “Eater of Worlds.” Especially since she’s made him redundant, dull, and worst of all, silly.
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The Fiend didn’t have many if any, weaknesses. Outside of a few minor scars from a bit of fire that magically healed themselves, the dude was untouchable. Then along came Alexa to emotionally manipulate him, and he goes down like a ton of bricks. Every horror monster has its kryptonite. Vampires hate garlic on their pizza, zombies detest head trauma, and Jason Voorhees has mommy issues.
Those flaws are OK because they’re established early on and provide dramatic tension. With The Fiend, as with a lot of wrestling, everything feels like it’s done on the fly. It’s hard figuring out what The Fiend is and what he’s not when WWE doesn’t seem to have an answer themselves. Therefore when Alexa pops out of a jack-in-the-box dressed like...whatever she was dressed like, and it stops The Fiend dead in his tracks, it’s on us to fill in the blanks.
And yeah, that ain’t it.
The Fiend is Bray’s instrument of vengeance. Does anyone really expect him to get his retribution on Alexa? If the recent episode of the Firefly Fun House is any indication, the answer is an emphatic, “Nah.” Bray intends to move forward, cleansing his house of all clout chasers and witches who wild out. While there’s a precedence of making a clean break in wrestling stories, this one makes Bray look rather chump-ish.
Even worse, it renders the whole thing moot. If this entire story was Alexa pulling a long con on Bray or about her getting drunk with power, then WWE really wrote themselves into a corner. The company isn’t fully committed to inter-gender matches, and there isn’t another woman willing to fight on Bray’s behalf. The story never had a chance to go anywhere meaningful, and a resolution was never an option.
So instead of a vengeful Bray, last Monday gave us a guy in full Baptist preacher mode promising to be better. Horror monsters maintain their edge by coming back twice as hard after every defeat. If Bray lets this slide, WWE is telling us The Fiend is a toothless punchline.
If Bray’s history is any indicator, The Fiend as a joke is just where we’re headed. It wasn’t beauty who killed the beast; it was creative.
Is he dead, Cagesiders? Or are you holding out hope this spooky ship can right itself?