20 Greatest Matches In WWE's Empty Arena Era

Some folks would have you believe that the Boneyard Match was WWE’s cinematic high point. Those people are wrong. While the discerning fan could roughly imagine that bout’s vibe given the title and participants, there’s simply no way to prepare yourself for the Firefly Funhouse, a risky masterpiece of uninhibited creativity.

Less a match than a journey to the centre of John Cena’s psyche, the ‘Mania high point saw Bray Wyatt lure Cena to the set of his disturbing kids’ show. From there we ventured to the depths of Cena’s failures as a character and a man - his difficulty getting over as a whitemeat debutant, his reported burial of younger talent, his overall staleness.

Then things got increasingly weirder. John joined the NWO, before reliving his WrestleMania XXX fight with Wyatt, only this time the Fiend was able to tempt the perma-face into embracing the hate. Cena swings a chair, Wyatt disappears, locks in the mandible claw, and “wins”. Cut to Titus O’Neil looking thoroughly baffled.

So much kudos is earned here, from the producers who allowed this madness to Bray Wyatt’s limitless imagination, and perhaps most of all to John Cena for agreeing to this bonkers testimonial.