The Disturbing Truth Behind Bray Wyatt
Finn Bálor arrived in NXT and turned heel, reverting back to the critically-acclaimed top worker Vince McMahon had confused with a hand slap-happy 1980s babyface, for He is a benevolent Fiend.
Seth Rollins turned heel, too. After losing to the Fiend at Crown Jewel 2019 - in what was a psychology-bereft weapons match impossible to watch through bathed red light, and thus a ***** classic compared to their Hell In A Cell disaster - Seth experienced delusions of grandeur. He developed a new 'Messiah' persona, though this was informed by his untenable positioning as a babyface in reality. In storylines, he had deflected his failure to lead on top in what was a good (in theory, the promos were boring as f*ck) meta development.
As the Fiend attacked various acts indiscriminately, Jerry Lawler and Braun Strowman each found themselves on the receiving end of a Mandible claw. Lawler changed into a less perverted individual, but that probably has more to do with the whole PG thing than anything else.
Strowman danced with the New Day two months later on SmackDown, possibly as an unorthodox form of therapy prescribed to alleviate his trauma. Or, in another, more accurate way, because there is no grand mythology and Vince McMahon enjoys watching people do things that they would not ordinarily do. It is funnier that way. Who wants to watch a dancer dance? Who wants to watch a wrestler wrestle?
Strowman didn't feud outright with the Fiend until the following year, but "they" say that you change if you "come into contact with" the Fiend. Sticking his hand in somebody's gob surely counts as contact. "They weren't in an actual feud" isn't an effective counterargument. "The magic only works if they run it back at least once on pay-per-view!" is a deranged thing to think.
CONT'D...(3 of 6)