At WrestleMania 32 in Orlando, FL, Randy Orton defeated Bray Wyatt to once again become WWE Champion.
The next month, Wyatt challenged Orton to a House of Horrors match, something that hadn’t been seen in the company previously. The match was presented in cinematic form, with both men brawling in a seemingly abandoned house with a number of spooky decorations, like dolls hanging from the ceiling. The bout was declared non-title after Bray Wyatt was drafted to Monday Night Raw, so despite Wyatt emerging victorious, Randy Orton retained his title.
Someone who’s well familiar with cinematic matches is Matt Hardy, who revolutionized that form of storytelling when he introduced fans to his Broken universe in 2016 while working for TNA. Speaking on the latest episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the AEW star spoke about bringing cinematic matches into the WWE, and spoke about striking a balance between comedy and drama.
“I think with the way he tried to forge it into something that he understood a little more helped and was beneficial. So that’s why I was like, okay to go along with it, because Vince feels like he’s playing a part in it obviously, he’s going to do a lot more with you. And, and my, my main goal, the most important goal was to get a cinematic match, that was very important.
“That was one of my entire goals coming back to WWE, to be able to do cinematic matches every so often. So yeah, I didn’t like the laughing stuff, Bray didn’t like the laughing stuff, and we thought that was too much. We got doing comedy.
“I mean, for instance, like Bray Wyatt, even at his most serious and deadly, you know, reinvention as The Fiend, you know, would still do, Bray Wyatt, Firefly Funhouse Bray. And he would also do Bray Wyatt muscleman Bray on top of Bray Wyatt, on top of the Fiend, which was an absolute killer, so Bray understands the comedy in stuff, how you have had to have like humor and light hearted moments.
“And I do as well, obviously, because Broken Matt Hardy did so much silliness as it was anyway, but it was part of the entertaining concept. I felt like in these matches, you can have moments that are very serious and very sincere and even dramatic, you know, but you also can’t take yourself too serious.
“Because when you’re doing a cinematic match, you’re still two pro-wrestlers that are basically doing like a version of a movie. And it’s not like you’re the greatest actors in the world, you know, we’re not Matthew McConaughey and Brad Pitt, we’re out there doing our thing. And we’re wrestling and we’re being you know, live stuntmen on the fly as we’re doing all this, but also we’re entertaining people.”
Matt Hardy Believed WWE’s House Of Horrors Match Took Itself Too Seriously
Turning his attention to the 2017 House of Horrors match, Matt Hardy continued, saying that the match came off “cheesy” because it took itself too seriously, focusing too much on trying to be a horror movie instead of entertaining the audience as wrestlers. He believes Vince McMahon‘s influence on the match is evident.
“I felt like the House of Horrors match which you referenced earlier with Randy and Bray, you could tell that had Vince’s fingerprints over it tried to take yourself way too serious. And they tried to like do a horror movie thing but I think at the end of the day, it just came off cheesy.
“And I feel like if you try to do something way to serious in the insane and larger than life fantastical world of pro-wrestling I feel like it’ll rub people the wrong way. Because it’s not going to be the great thing you want, because once again, then you go back to two men fighting one another in their underwear throwing each other and ropes and stuff, you know, like pro-wrestling isn’t a serious contest.
“And I still, once again, I would recommend everyone out there don’t take your pro-wrestling too serious. Enjoy it. But like remember like this is entertainment at the end of the day and pro wrestling was built on entertainment and it’ll always need entertainment in the confines of pro-wrestling.”
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy and link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.