Entry #375
Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt
Wyatt Swamp Fight
WWE The Horror Show at Extreme Rules - July 19, 2020
I think we can pinpoint the point when pandemic wrestling seemed like it was about to drag at around July 2020. We got the SmackDown Karaoke Showdown (a waste of three women's talents, and also Tamina was there) and then nine days later we got this. A horror show. More of a nightmare. Not only was there an Eye for an Eye match, which was, as I remember it, quite good aside from the entire premise, we got this. WWE's seventh cinematic match of 2020 (I don't count the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever), and by all accounts the worst. The next step in the Braun/Bray feud. The Wyatt Swamp Fight. Let's endure it.
We start with Bray, in cult leader mode, in his rocking chair which happens to be in the middle of an open road. Braun drives up to it, and he's waddling in wide stance like he's shit himself. Lights out (they're outside) and Bray's gone. So Braun takes it out on the chair, tossing it at a sign containing the only quote from Dante's
Inferno that anyone knows. (Side note: I'll make it my personal mission to let everyone know one other thing about
Inferno - that they escape Hell by crawling through Satan's anus. Feels like this thread, in a way.)
Braun sees stock footage of pigs, rabbits, and buzzards as he wanders. A bunch of goons come out (in very Harper and Rowan-esque vests) and Braun fights them off. Cut to Bray in the Funhouse cheering Braun on. Braun really wants to see Bray face-to-face but he's shocked to find... himself? In his Black Sheep mask? I guess it's symbolic or something. Braun Classic knocks out New Braun with a shovel.
Braun finds himself chained to a chair, in a shed full of what appear to be rejected props from the House of Horrors match. Including, for some reason, one of those red-and-blue push-along cars. Here comes Cult Leader Bray again. Braun exploits the one-night-only TV-14 rating by calling Bray a bastard. Bray undergoes one of his typical, post-2016 rambling promos where he tries to convince Braun to join him. Braun (after listening to a couple of minutes of talking) refuses. Sister Abigail comes out with a snake that bites Braun, and he's out again!
Suddenly Braun's in front of a campfire, and he's attacked by the not-Harper and not-Rowan, along with a third guy. I think he's meant to represent Eli Cottonwood? Suddenly third guy catches on fire and Braun laughs like a fucking maniac. He's then tempted by the siren call of... GHOST ALEXA BLISS! In a Sister Abigail veil. Team LittleBig continuity shots show as Alexa's dialogue sounds weirdly sexual. Not at all weirdly, when you think about it, actually, given some of the shots they used. In comes Bray, and tries to remove Braun's eyes until Braun chokeslams him through a deck and into a boat. This is somehow the first time they've made contact with each other all match!
The boat floats away and returns without Bray. Braun trudges through this (probably parasite-filled) swamp to inspect the boat, but HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK Bray was right behind him. He tries to drown Braun as stock footage of alligators punctuates the risk. It looks like Braun's dead, but no, he bursts out. He's now on the deck again, but Bray stands over him, perfectly placed to
give him a Bastion Booger-style Trip to the Batcave hit him with a shovel. Time to brawl again, while distorted Wyatt Family clips play. Bray screams and blaimes Braun for this. Braun staggers up and kicks Bray into the water... and there's no sign of him. Braun says "it's over", the copyright logo shows...
SIKE Bray drags him into the water with a Mandible Claw. They both disappear in the dark waters... which turn red and bubble for a Fiend appearance! "LET ME IN" no.
It's like the House of Horrors match and the MitB 2020 match had an incestuous baby and then the House of Horrors match drank and smoked during the pregnancy. Dumb pseudo "horror" stuff, weirdness for the sake of weirdness, unclear symbolism, and often just a lack of Any Thing Happening. I admire the production values that went into producing something so impenetrable and silly.