10 Things You Didn’t Know About 'The Fiend'

3. The Story Of His SummerSlam 2019 Lantern

Fans paying close attention to every 'Firefly Fun House' episode may remember seeing Bray chainsaw the head off a cardboard cutout of his old character. That was the direct inspiration for the grisly, gruesome new lantern 'The Fiend' carried to the ring at SummerSlam before facing Bálor.

The lantern was the head of Bray Wyatt. Spooky.

It was another design dreamt up by Savini Studios, although they didn't actually think WWE would use their creation in the end. Check out the early concept art shared by Kyle Scarborough on Twitter above. That sketch was modified to have sewn-up eyes (meaning light couldn't shine out of them) and a more realistic head of hair, and the end product was so frightening that Jason Baker and his team thought WWE would deem a severed head too scary.

They didn't. WWE loved the thing and agreed to let Wyatt carry it with him to the ring on pay-per-view for his first match back since late-last year. That was a surprise to Baker. He was sure that the child-friendly company would ask for something less macabre.