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This week's edition of SmackDown on FOX saw the first night of the draft. A certain number of WWE Superstars were a part of the selection pool and the USA Network battled with FOX executives to gain ownership of top WWE stars.
There were no real surprises through the course of the night, except for The Fiend being drafted to SmackDown. This is the only real surprise if you consider the fact that he was in the Universal Championship picture on RAW, not long ago.
Why was the decision made to draft The Fiend to the blue brand then? I will list out the reasons for the same in this very article.
Feel free to leave a comment and let me know if you agree or disagree with my assessment.
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#5 Genuine sports entertainment on an otherwise sports-oriented show
I know that WWE is very keen on a sports-oriented presentation on FOX and in my case, that's an instant turn-off. I find actual sports boring, and I'm sure there are a lot of you just like me, who can't stand unscripted non-dramatic sporting action that sports entail. FOX could have had a whole bunch of viewers tune out of the product at once if their core product offering was far more sports than entertainment.
They can remedy the whole situation with Bray Wyatt and his Firefly Fun House segments because honestly, those are creative and different from anything in the wrestling world at this point in time. WWE is a variety show where there's something for everyone, and with The Fiend now even fans of the dramatic aspect of sports entertainment have something to watch.
Do I believe that SmackDown will handle The Fiend better than RAW? I mean it can't get worse than how he was booked at Hell in a Cell 2019.
#4 Because he's unlikely to wrestle on a weekly basis anyway
Now, one of the things that one must keep in mind is that while Bray Wyatt is not technically a part-time performer, he is part-time in the sense that you won't see him wrestle on weekly television. Unless something drastically changes and Vince McMahon decides otherwise, The Fiend is only going to be someone that wrestles exclusively at WWE pay-per-view events. And this makes him an ideal candidate for SmackDown over WWE RAW.
Because RAW has the extra hour of wrestling, the brand will want more performers who can wrestle on a weekly basis on the show. This is why I wouldn't be surprised to see Seth Rollins remain on RAW, and Brock Lesnar be drafted to SmackDown on FOX. Rollins may be the Universal Champion, but he can go every week, if it is necessary.
I like the idea of keeping Wyatt as a special attraction!
#3 Hottest commodity in wrestling
Let's not even pretend that there's anything hotter in WWE than The Fiend, at this point in time. WWE can hype up Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins all they want, but nothing has captured the imagination of the WWE Universe like Bray Wyatt has.
There have been many supernatural Superstars in WWE history from The Undertaker to 'The Big Red Machine' Kane, but none of them have done anything nearly as creative as the Firefly Fun House yet. Bray Wyatt is the hottest commodity in professional wrestling today and FOX lapped him up.
RAW has been on the USA Network for a really long time now. While it's an institution in itself, SmackDown has a new look, a new vibe and hence, The Fiend was the perfect fit for the said brand.
Maybe when the next draft comes around, The Fiend will have a chance to return to the red brand.
#2 Possible feud with Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman
The idea behind drafting a Superstar to a certain brand is to build compelling storylines with the men or women of the brand, as is applicable in every single case. This is why The Fiend was drafted to SmackDown, which is also home to Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. Both men could potentially have very compelling feuds with Bray Wyatt.
Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt have obviously faced each other in the past, but that was a very different Bray Wyatt, who used to lose a lot more matches than he won. The history can be used to build a new feud with Roman Reigns. Braun Strowman was a member of the Wyatt Family, so there's a feud there too.
Both men are top superstars and they'll definitely be thrilled to work with The Fiend in the weeks that follow because Wyatt is so very well-liked backstage. More feuds will be made clear after the second night of the draft, I'm guessing.
#1 The tweet from WrestleVotes
WrestleVotes on Twitter is a great source for a lot of great WWE insider content, and you must have seen their work on Sportskeeda previously. So, they had posted the following Tweet sometime before the draft:
While Paul Heyman will not be on hand to lend his immense expertise when it comes to building The Fiend, I do suppose that Eric Bischoff is not an incapable mind either. Responsible for arguably the biggest wrestling boom in the history of sports entertainment, Bischoff should do right by The Fiend, in the coming months.
We've all seen the little cameos from Bray Wyatt and The Fiend on FOX when his image would show up without anyone expecting the same. It is very clear that negotiations were ongoing, but FOX won the tug of war, for The Fiend, at the very end.
Friday nights will never be the same.
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