The worst things are sometimes the best things.
What happens when the wrestling and horror worlds collide? You get Bray Wyatt, a bearded villain who can best be described as a mix between Charles Manson and, well, a professional wrestler. Wyatt, a heavily tattooed cult leader, is referred to as “the new face of fear,” and he can often be found making WWE scary with otherworldly antics that are exclusive to his character.
Just last month, he made maggots appear in the middle of the ring during a wrestling match. Well actually, it was a projection of maggots onto the ring canvas. But still. It was cool.
Last night was WWE’s Payback event, and one of the big matches on the card was the “House of Horrors” match between Bray Wyatt and his current adversary, Randy Orton. Going into the show, none of us had any idea what the gimmick match actually was, as it was the first of its kind. So what the hell was it? Well, it was basically a short horror film… about a wrestling match.
The first half of the match was literally set inside a ransacked haunted house, decorated like a low budget student horror film. Creepy baby dolls hung from the ceiling in one room, while a Blair Witch-style stickman was the centerpiece of another. The idea was that Orton was literally inside of Wyatt’s twisted nightmare; naturally, Wyatt was dominant throughout the bizarre match.
The pre-taped first half of the “House of Horrors” match culminated in the kitchen, where Wyatt slammed a refrigerator down on Orton. The two then awkwardly traveled back to the arena where Payback was being held for the second half of the fight, which was more or less a standard wrestling match. With a little help from some unexpected friends, Wyatt ended up winning.
Not surprisingly, social media reaction to the match was mostly of the “what the hell is this?” variety. But hey, there’s something to be said for horror movie wrestling matches, I suppose.
If you missed it, you can watch the first ever “House of Horrors” match on the WWE Network!