WrestleMania 33 Review: 10 Major Talking Points
3. Skin-Crawling Embarrassment
The WWE Title match between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton will linger in the memory for a totally bizarre production technique.
At various points throughout, Bray Wyatt (presumably via his supernatural powers; like much of the character, there really was little explanation) Wyatt projected stock horror movie imagery onto the canvas. The first attempt succeeded in its mission to startle Orton; disturbed by the appearance of crawling maggots, Orton took refuge out of the ring. Another image, of burrowing earthworms, caused Orton to flurry to the outside, but Orton recovered from his bout of entomophobia when a final projection of beetles covered the ring. He simply dropped Wyatt with an RKO out of nowhere and captured a thirteenth World title.
The logic behind the finish was impossible to parse. Was it meant to convey that Orton had heroically conquered Wyatt's mind games? It made no sense. Orton was the Machiavellian antagonist in their storyline. He wasn't haunted by the spectre of Sister Abigail; he killed her for a second time.
Was this projection a neat update of WWE's campy sports entertainment mode, or just massively, massively lame?
Like much of 'Mania, it's up for debate - but it's beyond silly that Wyatt has evil powers and still can't use them to win a wrestling match.