John Cena vs. The Fiend (Firefly Funhouse Match)
Right off the bat, this isn’t going to be a normal Wrestlemania match. An episode of the Firefly FunHouse starts when John Cena says “welcome to Wrestlemania”. Bray Wyatt welcomes John to the FunHouse. Cena shows up on the set looking very confused. Ramblin Rabbit talks to him and tells him where Bray went. This doesn’t feel like the same tone as the Boneyard Match which is good. The Vince McMahon puppet starts talking to John Cena. Saying something about Ruthless Aggression over and over again. Bray Wyatt stands in the ring to a montage of John Cena’s debut.
John Cena shows up behind the classic Smackdown Fist in his original ring gear. Cena goes for the slap, and Bray blocks it. Bray brings up some failures from Cena’s past. John goes after Bray in a comical, cartoonish way. Saturday Night’s Main Event plays with Bray echoing Hulk Hogan and 80’s wrestling. This is a very meta segment from the company. They’re letting Bray Wyatt run wild with this one. John Cena is going all out here also. Cena shows up now as his Doctor of Thuganomics persona. John makes a Husky Harris joke. Wyatt turns back on the charisma about John being the golden boy. He goes on about Cena being a bully. Bray drops Cena with his own chain. Wyatt is back in as his Wyatt Family leader persona.
Wrestlemania 36: The FunHouse Ends
This is much different than what we saw yesterday in a much more meta and psychological way. It’s incredibly awesome to see these characters through the lense of Bray Wyatt. This is years and years of storytelling and pain for Wyatt being told in a fantastic segment. Now there using Eric Bischoff and WCW, where else can they go?
John Cena comes out as a member of the NWO. “This is such good shit” says the McMahon puppet. Cena wails on Wyatt and lands attacks for the first time. All of Cena’s failures being shown on screen. It turns out Cena was just wailing on a Wyatt doll. The Fiend shows up behind him. He lands the Mandible Claw into Sister Abigail. Another Mandible Claw after Cena’s voice over of the overhyped over privileged end of a superstar. Wyatt counts the three count and it ends.
Wrestlemania 36: Analysis and Grade
That was something completely different and amazing. The WWE might have found something perfect with these cinematic type matches. The two that they ran for this Wrestlemania were both the best segments of the weekend. Bray Wyatt went through years of pain, frustration, and anything else he could drudge up. Cena played his part to a tee. Both guys should be lauded for this segment. It was meta, it used the archive footage well and poked fun at all things WWE. I want to see more of this from the WWE. Truly great work.
