Can horror work in wrestling? The late great Windham Rotunda found his own innovative success with his iterations of Bray Wyatt and eventually The Fiend, but some of that intrigue fell victim to booking and creative choices. You can’t pin ghosts (Goldberg did), but the lasting effect on the product and The Fiend persona itself was put into question.
There’s no denying that Wyatt had an innate connection with the wrestling fanbase and it would have been tremendous to see what he and WWE had planned for him if it wasn’t for his tragic passing, but what fans got to witness on Monday, the game plan looks promising. It’s all the more fitting that Bo Dallas is front and center.
The Wyatt Sicks had their fair share of spooky tricks in their debut. Nikki Cross as “Sister Abigail” channeled the girl from The Ring to begin the terror tour that viewers were about to be led on. The implied violence with only WWE showing the results of the bloodshed added to the horror. ECW Original Blue Meanie mentioned on X that WWE beautifully set the table for how Gorilla typically looks for us to eventually see the “massacre” that took place.
“Brilliantly marketed, build up debut,” Meanie said on “Rumor & Innuendo”. “I believe in the creative. They got great guys there like Rob Fee who’s doing an amazing job backstage developing characters and I think we’re about to see something very cool and to carry on the legacy of Bray Wyatt.”
“They got people talking. When you get people saying ‘How are they going to do this?’ That means they’re invested to watch next week as well and see the follow-up.”
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Bo Dallas Redemption Story
While Bo Dallas has previously portrayed “Uncle Howdy” on television, we have yet to see the younger Rotunda brother’s actual face in years. With how this new faction is set up, there’s potential for all the masks to come off. Arguably, that may be the most beneficial to Wyatt Sicks in the long-term. These “personas” could merely just be an homage to Wyatt’s legacy, but the people behind the masks are what fans can truly sink their teeth into. Erick Rowan won’t totally be “Rambling Rabbit”, nor should Dexter Lumis be “Mercy The Buzzard” but you associate those established names with characters that Wyatt created and you continue to keep those fireflies “aflame.”
That brings us to Bo Dallas. He played a patronizing champion heel in NXT before being called up the main roster where he was greatly used as a comedy act. The B Team found cult-like success as a tag team, but what will really establish Dallas as a viable star is the cult he’s currently cultivating. Is there a sixth member or his Wyatt the omnipresent addition?
Charles Manson violently symbolized the end of the 60s with Helter Skelter and there’s nothing scarier than a little bit of realism in your horror. Obviously, Chad Gable didn’t get killed backstage, but how will this affect his character moving forward? How will RAW protocol be affected in the weeks to come? Will we see a skeleton crew of production and “Superstars” next week as RAW recovers? Those can be wrestling’s variant of “murders committed.”
If The Sicks take someone out, make it mean something. They’re gone for a while and that character is changed for better or worse. Do the cult stuff right, something that WWE teased and struck out on when Bryan Danielson joined The Wyatts many moons ago. If you’re going to make a sixth in The Sixth, have them initiate a new member or channel X-Men’s Apocalypse’s “Four Horsmen” and rotate a new member in from time to time.
If you humanize the horror, you make each member relatable and the actions they take more impactful. WWE can make this whole faction work. They just need to avoid the potential pitfalls and lean into the strength of it all by letting the fan’s imagination run wild. More like JAWS and less like Terrifier 2. WWE could have something very cool going, but it’s certainly going to be a team effort.
For starters, Bray Wyatt has got to be smiling.
Related: Sami Zayn Reveals How He Dodged Wyatt Sicks’ Attack