100 Worst WWE Matches Ever - 50 - The Fiend vs. Randy Orton
Wrestlemania 37 - Night 2
I think there’s an argument that the Fiend is the most unique run of any wrestler in WWE history. The hype and promise that stemmed from his excellent presentation at Summerslam 2019 along with the already established popularity of Bray Wyatt seemed to set up the gimmick as a sure fire hit. The visuals were fantastic, and benefited from the Firefly Funhouse to make him one of the more unique acts in WWE history. He was immediately, for better or worse, booked as one of the most unstoppable figures in WWE history, a point we will no doubt touch on when a certain match (you know the one) pops up later in this list. No wrestler that I can think of was booked nearly as strong, only to get their legs cut out from them at the peak of their popularity, and terrible booking hampering any momentum they might have built.
Following a disastrous title run where he was squashed unceremoniously by Goldberg, WWE tried to rehab the character in the pandemic era with victories over John Cena and Braun Strowman, and even recruiting Alexa Bliss as his new possessed plaything. But the fact that the majority of the Fiend’s run took place during the time period we’d all rather forget, makes it truly one of the more fascinating runs in the company’s history.
In late 2020, Orton and Bray Wyatt reignited their rivalry from 2018, this time with Orton as the heel and Wyatt as the unlikely face. One of the more under-discussed aspects of the pandemic era is that it gave WWE much more creative liberties with how they presented their product. Instead of having to rely on light tricks to do things like Undertaker or Wyatt teleporting, now they could just edit the footage they had to make it much more seamless. It meant that the already whacky Fiend character could use even crazier supernatural aspects without having to cater for a live crowd. That was never more apparent than the Fiend vs Orton feud in 2020 and 2021, which featured such wonderful moments as: :
Randy Orton setting the Fiend on fire at TLC 2020.
Alexa Bliss teleporting all over a pretend playground she had set up in the ring.
Fiend and Alexa Bliss being able to change persona or costume at a seconds’ notice.
Lighting and stage equipment nearly falling on Orton on numerous occasions.
Black ooze dropping from the ceiling and wrestler’s mouths.
Randy Orton getting shot in the face with a fireball.
Randy Orton showing up the next week with a disfigured face.
Randy Orton showing up the next next week back to normal.
If I had a nickel for every time Randy Orton faced Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania in a feud that featured Orton setting something on fire …
At Fastlane, the Fiend returned as a fiery disfigured mess - emerging from the ring to help Alexa Bliss defeat Randy Orton. A visual that many of us, probably Randy Orton included, will never forget.
And that brings us nicely to Wrestlemania. For the first time in a year, we now have a crowd so any tricks and wackiness will have to be far more traditional. Before the match, The Fiend transforms from the disfigured monster he returned as into the classic Fiend look.
Alexa starts twisting the handle of a box-like structure set up at ringside for his entrance. Unfortunately for us it isn’t Gweneth Paltrow’s head inside, but rather the Fiend. And what a lovely treat for the fans in attendance - the ones who are lucky enough to get to watch the first live wrestling event in over a year. They have to suffer through the obnoxious, distracting bright red lighting on the Fiend’s match. Imagine celebrating that we may be getting out of a world-altering pandemic, and then rewarding the fans in attendance with a match that you basically can’t see because you want to give this cheap horror show some goofy look effects. Randy Orton, possibly in an attempt to hide from his own match, decided to wear white trunks today so he almost completely disappears in the light.
Like most things supernatural in wrestling, I hated this. Fiend matches don’t work because logically they make no sense. If you are going to have a supernatural entity in wrestling, it needs to exist within the rules set out by the universe you’re presenting. This is like the most basic concept of writing. If I’m watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I don’t want to see Buffy having a competitive fight with a regular person on the street because it doesn’t make sense within the scope of the world created by the writer. If Vegeta lost a fight to Hercule, it wouldn’t make sense because one is superhuman and the other is not. If you’re presenting the Fiend, who no-sold so many finishers over the last year and a bit, how am I to believe he’d ever lose? That’s not even touching on the supernatural stuff we’ve seen in the last year. He’s survived drowning at the hands of Braun Strowman, being set on fire by Randy Orton. He even has the powers to literally infiltrate the mind and psyche of his opponent as we saw at Wrestlemania 36. He’s no-selling everything in this match, so it stands to reason that this match should not be competitive and there can only be one winner.
But it’s not, because wrestling is stupid, wrestling writers are even stupider, and supernatural characters are the worst thing about it. I wouldn’t mind them nearly as much if they treated their audience with even an ounce of respect. The respect to say this is our supernatural character, this is how strong he is, and we will respect you - the audience - by adhering to the things that we have already shown you.
I feel like I’m repeating myself from my Undertaker vs Yokozuna review now. Read that for more rants about how bad this stuff is.
The match itself is complete ass. Shockingly, the Fiend isn’t even the worst part of this, because Alexa was - somehow - immeasurably worse than him. Her playful jailbait persona with acting right out of a straight to DVD horror sequel. The fight itself is essentially the Fiend not selling anything for Orton, and if you’ve seen any Fiend match you will get the gist of what this is. The only slight part I enjoyed was the Fiend teasing a punt to Orton. Everything else was pretty putrid. Orton puts in one of his classic “I know this is going to suck” performances that we’ve seen from him a couple of times now.
Just as the Fiend is about to finish this match after Sister Abigail and the Mandible Claw, Alexa Bliss appears on top of the box-like structure, having changed her costume and now has the dreaded black ooze running down her face. The Fiend is distracted, and that distraction is enough for Orton to hit one singular RKO for the victory. This is the big feud conclusion - this feud which has featured all sorts of crazy bullshit listed above. A feud which featured attempted murder, arson, possession, and disfiguration. Ends with a simple distraction finish and one finisher, like something you’ve seen on any random episode of Raw in your life.
That’s it.
This, I remind you, had gone on for the better part of five months now, ending at the biggest show of the year and arguably one of the most anticipated Wrestlemanias ever due to the circumstances surrounding it.
“Can someone explain what we just witnessed?” asks Byron Saxton, and we will have to keep wondering because the whole thing is never explained. The lights go out, and everyone disappears.
It’s emblematic of the entire Fiend experience. It sets people up to expect something special, and shits the bed at the end, killing the optimism of even the biggest Bray Wyatt fan. It’s almost poetic that this is the end of the Fiend character. This is it for him, the Fiend character would be entirely pushed onto Alexa Bliss while Wyatt was taken off TV until his eventual release. Bliss would eventually, but quietly, distance herself from the Fiend character.
And of course, despite all of this, the absolute stupidest part of this whole match is Michael Cole describing a box as a “box-like structure”. The sort of verbiage that can only come from WWE and Michael Cole.
Up Next - A tale of the supernatural, blackmail, and attempted murder.
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