10 Most Insane Things WWE Has Done In The Empty Arena Era

Bray Wyatt’s two cinematic matches since the start of the pandemic have ranged in quality considerably, with one being a near-masterpiece of modern WWE storytelling, and the other being the exact opposite. What both have done however is express how boundless the level of craziness this era is, regardless of overall quality.

The Firefly Funhouse match with John Cena exceeded all expectations. The two have good chemistry in the ring but instead of working a structured contest at all, they worked a deconstruction of Cena’s WWE career to date, poking holes in his flawed heroic mentalities and exploring the possibilities of his heel turn. The match wonderfully uses WWE’s history and a brilliant performance from Cena to tell an overwhelming, emotional tale of a man who doesn’t really know who he is. It’s reminiscent of all the moments with the real Coop in Twin Peaks: The Return: the voice and energy are right, but the confidence and purpose are gone and all that awaits is a cycle of darkness.

The Swamp Fight had an incomprehensible monologue, terrible editing and tried to mythologise the history of Wyatt and Strowman, something that was minimal at the time and has been completely disregarded since Braun’s solo run. It was bad, and it ended a confusing PPV in deflating underwhelming fashion.

Still, it’s impossible to imagine a world where under conventional circumstances these matches could have been produced on PPV, and both will be viewed as the key examples of the positives and negatives of cinematic wrestling.