As usual, the action didn’t stop when Raw went off the air.
Eventually, Tyson Fury was left alone in the ring. Cesaro shoes then to head out and try to calm him down.
After a brief exchange, Fury decided he’d had enough and knocked Cesaro out and left him.
When Cesaro came to and realized what happened, the lights failed and the eerie screeching started that signaled the Fiend was there. When the lights came on, the Fiend had Cesaro in a Mandible Claw, adding insult to injury.
This is poignant for several reasons
The first being that Bray Wyatt was listed as “injured” as an excuse to say he wouldn’t appear on Raw. Given this was his usual gimmick, he didn’t appear too injured in fan recordings of the events.
Simply put, it was a way to have us not expect him to show, just like when they say someone is banned from the building. The difference here is they most likely didn’t want to get the fans expectation up for a rematch following Hell in a Cell. The fact they tweeted out that there would be a rematch between Wyatt and Rollins at Survivor Series would’ve gotten the fans fired up for that night’s show.
The tweet was quickly deleted, and leaves us wondering if it was a spoiler they intended to share on Raw later that night and changed their minds given the continuing backlash. It’s still a possible match, but considering Rollins is in a 10-man tag match at Crown Jewels (It would be awesome is Wyatt attacked there and cleared the ring. Just saying.) it’ll be the only time they’ll be able to face off unless it’s on network television.
It’d make sense for the Fiend to have another playmate for a while, and Cesaro is one that doesn’t back down and will most likely go after Wyatt following this attack.
The only problem with that is the attack will have to happen on one of their shows. It’s WWE policy that dark matches, like post televised show matches, aren’t canon. They’re meant to give their superstars a chance to work out their plans for an upcoming match or segment (like the post Raw video of Rollins coming to life and stomping the Fiend).
But there’s another reason.
The Fiend my be going to Smackdown
It’s no secret Fox wants the Fiend on Smackdown, and sending him there would end any rivalry between him and Rollins. It’ll give McMahon the chance to wipe his hands of it and say, “Well, we tried it,” and walk away.
It’d be the perfect ending as far as he’s concerned as his golden boy can move onto other things. One of those being the rumored plans for Rollins to keep the Universal title until WrestleMania, where he’ll face Reigns.
McMahon reportedly wanted Rollins, Lynch, Lesnar, and Flair as champions heading into the draft, locking them into their respective brands against any bargaining Fox would do (let’s face it, the draft is already determined) to acquire them.
