The Disturbing Truth Behind The Fiend

Fiend Change
WWE Network

The graphic ’The Fiend Bray Wyatt’ appeared when the character made his entrance. This is in contrast to simply ‘The Fiend’, which ran over the screen at SummerSlam. Somewhere between August and October, Vince McMahon decided to conflate the two entities. Joseph repeatedly insisted that ‘the Fiend Bray Wyatt’ was carrying a mallet, or whatever dumb sh*t he was doing, and not simply ‘The Fiend’.

You could almost hear Vince screaming in Joseph’s ear. “He’s the Fiend Bray Wyatt! Our idiotic Universe must be made aware that it’s Bray Wyatt in there!”

*Narrator*

It wasn’t Bray Wyatt in there. The Fiend is—or was—the manifestation of Wyatt’s disassociated personality. He was a tulpa, thought into existence, driven by Wyatt’s guilt, fury and self-loathing at wasting his awesome potential. That’s one interpretation, and that was the joy of the character: it yielded several, and these interpretations converged to create the one non-toxic discourse surrounding WWE.

And until Vince Vinced it, the character was awesome. There was a real Lynchian quality to the horror, an unsettling contrast between lightness and innocence and the darkness that will always undermine everything. The Muscle Man Dance was as funny as the Fiend’s SummerSlam debut was really quite horrifying. The Fiend, for a time, felt like the ideal, only-in-sports entertainment creation—the perfect way to combat the rising ride of professional wrestling.

And then Vince Vinced it.

CONT'D...(2 of 5)

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!