The WORST Wrestling Story Every Year (1989-2025)

2020 - The Fiend Teams Up With Alexa Bliss

Usually, when romcoms and sitcoms take on the love triangle trope, the writer creates two competing love interests with different attributes. That way, the protagonist’s choice is made all the more difficult.

Does Jennifer go for the safety option? Greg is a nice guy with a steady job, who’d never wrong her, but he’s a bit boring. He’d never take her when they can’t tell for sure nobody is looking. But Chad, wow. He’s cocky, hot, and unreliable. You know that hog is good for the forage - but will he ever settle down?

Alexa Bliss, conversely, had a different choice in 2020.

Would she go with Braun Strowman, the big, dumb, clumsy gentle giant? Or the Fiend: the deranged and murderous alter-ego of Bray Wyatt, an evil entity with supernatural powers?

This angle was horrible, and, one would hope, less problematic than WWE intended. You see, it was implied that the Fiend was controlling Alexa in some way, turning her to the dark side through uncanny, unknowable means. As she grew closer to the Fiend, she took on the clichéd characteristics of the evil child horror trope. She styled her hair in pigtails and played on a swingset.

This, surely, was WWE drawing on a surface-level knowledge of the horror genre. The Exorcist, the Shining, Poltergeist: all draw on the “wrong” feeling of a scary young girl.

The thing is though, Alexa played an adult before taking on this role, suggesting that the Fiend had groomed her. So WWE either unwittingly told a very problematic story because they’re such hacks, or something far more sinister was in play.