Though teaming with Matt Hardy afforded Bray Wyatt a stay of execution in 2018, the 'Eater Of Worlds' had long been left for dead by a chronic and brief WWE Championship run and a seemingly endless run of spooky storylines he almost always lost. With every defeat, another slice of fear was torn away from the (theoretically) brilliant gimmick that first came to life on NXT.
In 2019, he finished the job with a chainsaw.
The Firefly Fun House in its original incarnation was a dark and demonic reset, captivating in its simplicity with a genuinely terrifying undertone that refused to allow even the most cynical of viewers to settle upon the challenging visage. By teasing a Fiend, Wyatt had name-dropped a monster far greater than the old him could have ever been. His SummerSlam debut against Finn Bálor was one of the greatest (re)introductions in company history. At best, it was at long last Wyatt's weirdness approaching the magic of The Undertakers at the umpteenth f*cking attempt.
It's all gone now, of course, but we can't discount what we once had.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
