WWE: More “downs” than “smacks” for Feb. 28, 2020

Down: I thought The Fiend attacked people; guess I was wrong

The Fiend is supposed to be this dark, evil alter ego of Bray Wyatt who doesn’t feel pain yet dishes it out with abandon. He attacked Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan to set up angles, and even though he was on the receiving end of a spear from Goldberg, he was the one to confront Goldberg and was just beat to the punch.

He also ambushed Mick Foley, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Kane.

Then why did he appear behind Cena only to offer a respectable challenge?

This just isn’t The Fiend character we’ve come to know over the past six or so months. Respect? The Fiend has never acted with respect, so why start now? Is it because, as Michael Cole annoyingly kept reiterating, John Cena is the “greatest of all time” in WWE’s book? Did his loss to Goldberg, which was basically the inverse of every match of The Fiend post-Hell in a Cell, humble The Fiend to the point of respect?

For all we know, either or both could be the answer(s). Not having heard from The Fiend/Bray Wyatt makes it harder to come around to this new disposition because there is nothing to contextualize why it happened, just like the face turn for Lacey Evans (more on this later).

Since the show ended a bit early anyway, maybe this would be a “smack” if a Funhouse segment aired after Cena spoke to give us The Fiend/Wyatt’s motivation. Hopefully we have that Funhouse segment next week.