It was like a combination of the debuts of Nexus and The Fiend.
Uncle Howdy and the residents of the Firefly Fun House have finally debuted and rightfully so, their first live appearance is a visual treat. In some ways, it's like going inside a horror house. It's campy, but I like how they have Chad Gable and other victims as living props.
I would have loved it if they slowed down a bit though. I get the lighting, but they could have started in catering to show the other fallen bodies a la Five Nights At Freddy's cutaways. And perhaps they could have shown other camera angles from the lens of a fallen camera person, or a CCTV from that position. The lighting is okay, but they could have slowed it down for the people to check out the fallen bodies.
The Wyatt Sick6 vignettes are interactive, so the WWE should expect some internet wrestling sleuths to look for easter eggs.
That said, here's the elephant in the room that everyone needs to check out.
What happens now?
THE SPOOKY CRAP
I was never really a fan of the supernatural version of Bray Wyatt. I am a big fan though of his spookier, swamp-dweller version. He is a charismatic cult leader and it helped that he had Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, and Braun Strowman. But I get it, he needs to upgrade his character. From Waylon Mercy, he became a cooler version of Mordecai. Hell, we saw him as the next-generation version of The Undertaker.
With that said, Undertaker and Kane are boxed characters because of their presentation. For them to get their spookiness across, they have to fight other larger-than-life performers. It was hard for them to get to the main stars without dragging them to their insane universe but at the same time, it's harder for them to hang with the main stars because there is nothing real with their characters.
Kane would default turn as comedic babyface when his vicious streak is over. The Undertaker is different, but most of his best feuds happened when he faced reality-based characters. There was no spooky bullshit when he faced Shawn Michaels. And even against the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, and even Kane and Mick Foley for that matter, they concentrated on the bigness of the situation rather than teleportation and voodoo crap.
THE ENDGAME
For most wrestlers, winning the big prize is their biggest achievement. Kofi Kingston has his longevity but he will always be remembered for Kofi-Mania. Jack Swagger, The Great Khali, and Jinder Mahal may have been crappy champions that fell out of relevance the second they lost their titles, but they will forever be remembered for their main title achievement.
What exactly is the rationale of The Wyatt Sick6 other than honoring Bray Wyatt's legacy? Bo Dallas is a former NXT Champion who got lost in the main roster. Erick Rowan is mainly known as a tag team wrestler who was released because "creative had nothing" for him. Dexter Lumis went from terrifying stalker to obscure lover, to return as a loveable stalker. Joe Gacy is Bray Wyatt's compressed file version and creative made Nikki Cross do a lot of things that made her character a hot mess.
The Uncle Howdy character can't even become the "Kane" version of Bray Wyatt when he was still an active performer. Maybe under the mask, Bo Dallas will get his chance to succeed as an insane carnival leader. With that said, how can he feud with the likes of Cody Rhodes? Are we going to see a fight between them or Alpha Academy, Final Testament, Judgment Day, and even The Bloodline? The last major title run of Dallas was when he and Curtis Axel challenged Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy for the tag team championship.
That feud gave us this awesome moment.
This is why I question Braun Strowman's exclusion from the group. He has ties with Bray Wyatt, and he is a former heavyweight champion. Inserting him into the mix will give the group instant validity as he can be the guy who can challenge for the top belts. At least when he fights like a monster, he is more believable than Bo Dallas who is probably going to borrow a lot of moves from his brother like Sister Abigail and the mandible Fiend claw.
When Wyatt first won the championship, he still had part of his swamp dweller gimmick. When Wyatt won the title as his alter ego, The Fiend, he would do promos as his Firefly Fun House persona. Maybe I am jumping to a bunch of conclusions here, but if Uncle Howdy is going to have a reality-based persona, then he needs to drop the name, develop a good moveset, and make sure they become over with the fans, not just through their gimmicks.
RETRIBUTION LITE
And this is the scariest part of this blog, and this is a whole lot of negative if you think about it. Bo Dallas, Erick Rowan, Nikki Cross, Dexter Lumis, and Joe Gacy are kept in masks for a reason. Aside from having new identities, it's going to be their insurance policy if the gimmick bombs.
Except for Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett, and Ryback, none of the Nexus were treated as future main eventers and if you think about it, Bryan was the only one to break the main event barrier.
And speaking of failed factions, Retribution also had masks. Wyatt Sick6 had the better debut, but Retribution was a mix of chaos and unpredictability but with a hint of reality. They didn't have a reason to exist other than the reveal of Mustafa Ali as the Smackdown hacker. Keith Lee and Mercedes Martinez allegedly turned down offers to join the faction, and they were saddled with horrible gimmicks nonetheless. Other than the spooky lighting, I fear that the Wyatt Sick6 might turn underwhelming inside the ring. Retribution had Dijak and Dio Maddin, who are legit imposing towers while Ali and Mia Yim can be viable options for the secondary titles (or in Reckoning's case, the women's title.) Shane Thorne for me is the obvious problem, but in a group, someone has to take most of the damage, just like what JD McDonagh is doing for the Judgment Day.
The Retribution faction bombed inside the ring when people never took them seriously.
Again, there will be leniency for the Wyatt Sick6 because they are going to make sure this group would protect the legacy of Wyatt.
With that said, we live in a time when wrestlers communicate through social media. Moreover, wrestlers are asked to go to conventions to talk to their fans. The positive side of having masks is that for example, Big Damo can have selfies with Nikki Cross without the latter staring like a possessed doll in front of the camera.
I hope Braun is going to be their sixth member. In some ways, I think they kept the group to five so that the final member would be Bray Wyatt's spirit. Having said that, they need to have some sort of structure. They can't be part of spooky matches because even anomalies like Undertaker, Kane, and Wyatt had to drop or tone down their personas. After all, they are the only ones who have this kind of gimmick. This is why a guy like Strowman could just go with the flow without a mask, and as the group draws success, I just wish they slowly get out of their gothic appearances.
When Bo Dallas made the "We're Here" statement, it lacked the swagger of his brother. Maybe that would come at a later date. From what I recall, Dallas was a good wrestler, but for some reason, he looked goofy with his white trunks.
Maybe this is Bray's real intention - to help Dallas go over with the fans. Despite his WWE tenure, Dallas is only 34 years old. I believe they will lose the masks if they get over. From the way I see it, they are going to have interactions with the other top groups (or made-up groups,) probably during the Survival Series or the Royal Rumble.
Nonetheless, I hope the team will exceed everyone's expectations. Nikki Cross is going to give her unique spin in the women's division. Lumis is 40, Gacy is 26, and Rowan is 42. In terms of eye tests, Rowan's rabbit has a more imposing look, but Funhouse Annals had the rabbit as the most susceptible in terms of "accidental" bludgeoning.
Maybe, the events of the last segment of Raw are more in the dreams of the fans. Chad Gable will return to his usual role as if nothing happened but whenever he sees a rabbit, pig, and buzzard, he will just fall into a trance?