WWE NXT Star Almost Did The Fiend BETTER (Back In 2014 )

It has been said - often across the virtual courtroom of the Internet (and sometimes in ACTUAL courtrooms) - that WWE like to reuse old ideas. Sometimes all that amounts to is someone taking on a theme tune that wasn't quite right for someone else, sometimes it's an entire gimmick... And others, it's just the germ of an idea that almost became something but then died on the wind.

Perhaps the case for Knuckles Madsen, the former NXT star, who has picked up a little attention in the past couple of days among people who frequent Xavier Woods' Instagram (hello, it's me, I am people who frequent Xavier Woods' Instagram). The New Day star regularly shares videos from his archive; either of gimmicks he tried out (or pitched) or ones that he helped put promos together for.

The latest shows what Knuckles could have been, as Woods edited and shot the promo and if it has some disturbingly familiar vibes, it's because Madsen's abandoned character - which he actually brought out at some NXT shows - bears an uncanny resemblance to some of the details of Bray Wyatt's Fiend character.

Both have an almost child-like enthusiasm for "making people laugh" coupled with an unsettling, borderline supernatural element (without going as far as being undead or something).

Knuckles The Clown was destined never to really see the light of day, because Madsen was released in 2013 after 26 matches with NXT - including one against CJ Parker where he was actually billed as his Clown gimmick - which is a real shame.

The similarities with the Fiend don't quite go far enough to suggest anything sinister, of course, but there's certainly enough to suggest they come from the same region of Parts Unknown. They're both based on the same anxiety and the same child-like fears - only Fiend's playground of a Kids TV show studio is replaced for Knuckles with an actual playground.

And truthfully, it works better.

Say what you want about Bray Wyatt's booking as The Fiend, the reason the character worked at all was two-fold - first, his look is great. It's a borrowed one as well, of course, because the mask is an approximation of the Joker's skinned and refixed face mask from DC's Death Of The Family Batman comics, but there's no doubting the impact. And then there's Wyatt's performances, which is why his promos have worked so well.

They worked so well, in fact, that you never question exactly why the Fiend has anything to do with a kids TV presenter or a Fun House. You see that and your brain accepts the correlation between clown-like character and carnival fun house. The rest is just a vehicle for Wyatt to play, with the Mr Rogers clone persona giving Wyatt the chance to brainwash his childish victims into his cult. There's certainly a message there, but it's not quite as pure as what Knuckles was aiming for.

His was a more pure expression: Knuckles just wants to play, to have fun, to make children laugh - but he's clearly broken. Like Joaquin Phoenix's Joker backstory, the hint is that it was the relationship with his parents that made him the way he is and he's driven by a need to perform and make people laugh to replace that darkness. It's all pretty genius and a shame we never got to see more of it.

Madsen also spoke to False Finish Wrestling Radio (via PWMania) after his release to reveal that Knuckles had originally been a sort of tribute to Matt Borne, who infamously played the first iteration of Doink The Clown, but with a twist:

“I had worked with Matt Borne two years ago. We were a tag team kind of deal. After Matt died, it was on my mind for awhile and I wanted to show some other things that I could do. I didn’t want to be Doink, I wanted to be a creepy guy outside your window with the makeup on.”

In the same interview, somewhat ironically, Madsen also spoke about how his time at the Performance Centre was partly defined by watching his back for "vultures" looking to steal moves:

“There are quite a few trainers and classes. There are a lot of vultures flying around there who will take the move if they like it so I was careful. I just worked with the great trainers. At the performance center, there is a man there who is just great. Norman Smiley, he is a surgeon in the ring. It was incredible. I would love to say I could do The Big Wiggle so I am going to yeah, I can do the wiggle.”

In the end, Madsen - or Kevin Nickel to give him his real name - was released before he ever got a real foothold and before Knuckles The Clown could make a mark. It would be interesting to see how he received the debut of The Fiend so many years later.