25 Worst Wrestling Moments Of 2020
12. Serious Voices For The Burning ‘Fiend’
Attention, wrestling commentators. If something happens on your show that needs some gravitas, then try your best to avoid the low voice delivery or lines like, 'Well this wasn't on the format sheets'. That dull inflection on an announcer's voice normally puts people right back at Over The Edge 1999 when Owen Hart tragically fell to his death.
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler were greatly distressed and winging it when that happened, so it's understandable that their voices dulled. They were concerned and distraught for a friend and colleague. Hearing those same low voices at TLC 2020 when Randy Orton set a mannequin dressed as Bray Wyatt's 'Fiend' alter ego on fire didn't have any excuse.
It was unnecessary.
Bray and Randy had been working a 'Firefly Inferno Match'. Towards the end of the show, Orton used a match and gasoline to set the dummy ablaze. Immediately, the commentary team (who were surely instructed to do so by Vince McMahon behind the scenes) went into 'serious voice mode'.
Again, this will always remind a certain demographic of Owen's misery, so it's wise to avoid it wherever possible. Yes, commentators should take things seriously 99.9% of the time, but JR and 'King' set a precedent they didn't even want to in 1999. It's best just to lay out and say nothing rather than act like this wasn't part of the show.
Wyatt's offshoot was involved in some of the dirt worst content between 2020-2023, but that peaked (so to speak) at events like TLC 2020. The fiery business was an attempt to update The Undertaker's fate in the 90s. It didn't work.