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Credit: WWE.com

The culmination of "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt's terrifying rampage on the WWE roster culminated Sunday night inside Hell in a Cell as he challenged Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship.

The arena stayed bathed in red as the bell rang and The Fiend launched himself at the champion. Rollins landed some rights and lefts, but the masked challenger appeared unfazed, amused even as he stood tall inside the squared circle.

Rollins retrieved a kendo stick and smacked The Fiend twice, only to have his opponent no-sell it. Wyatt sent The Beastslayer into the cell, achieving great pleasure in his punishment of the titleholder. He continued to dominate him until the champion grabbed hold of the steel steps and blasted his rival with them.

Rollins scored on a tope suicida, but Wyatt recovered and delivered Sister Abigail into the cell. Back inside the squared circle, the heel eyed the table The Architect had set up. He teased a uranage, but his opponent fought out. The champion delivered a superkick that left his opponent prone on the table. A frog splash through it did The Fiend no damage.

Nor did the stomp, from which the challenger stood right back up. A second Sister Abigail, this time in the ring, earned only a two-count. The Fiend snapped Rollins' neck, leaving him limp. He tossed the champion to the floor, where he retrieved an oversized mallet. He attacked the champion's midsection with the weapon, but Rollins fought back with a desperation superkick.

He seized an opening and delivered a stomp onto the mallet. Back inside, he delivered a springboard knee on two occasions and then a series of superkicks. Rollins unloaded a series of stomps, but The Fiend still fought back to his feet. A pedigree and a fourth stomp followed; Rollins went for the cover, but the challenger kicked out at one.

Rollins continued to assault Wyatt with stomps as boos rained down from the stands. He produced a chair from under the ring and inched toward his opponent. He blasted The Fiend with it, only to have him kick out at another one-count.

With the chair lying on his opponent's face, Rollins drove a ladder into it. Still, a two-count.

Rollins laid the ladder and chair on top of Wyatt's face, grabbed a toolbox and crashed it into the weaponry. The frustrated champion pulled out a sledgehammer, harking back to his days as a member of The Authority under Triple H.

After the official pleaded with Rollins, he bashed the pile of weapons with the sledgehammer and the referee called for the bell.

As officials hit the ring to check on The Fiend, the masked maniac recovered and applied the mandible claw. He dragged Rollins to the floor and laid him out with Sister Abigail. A second, this time on the concrete, left the champion motionless as chants of "AEW" filled the arena.

Another mandible claw, this time complete with blood, ended the assault as the boos continued.

Result

The Fiend defeated Rollins via disqualification

Grade

F

Analysis

This was an overbooked atrocity that Vince McMahon and WWE should be embarrassed to present to its fans after the week that was in wrestling.

On the heels of a highly successful Fox debut and a Wednesday night that proved there is an audience for the alternative, the idea the WWE chairman presided over a creative meeting where this was the approved finish is ludicrous.

WWE had a rare character on its hands that completely captivated the audience and left them wanting more. Instead of paying it off with the short, sweet and dominant victory that would serve as its coronation, it overthought the scenario and sought to drag things out for another pay-per-view rather than pay it off.

A year ago, WWE pulled the trigger on Becky Lynch when it realized it had captured lightning in a bottle. She went on to become the biggest thing in the industry and is, arguably, the biggest star in the industry today.

Instead of learning from that, the company failed its fans and Wyatt to the point that whatever aura The Fiend had built for himself has now been extinguished.

Why? Because WWE didn't want to take the universal title off Rollins so soon after he won it, or to get another month of matches out of the program.

Either line of reasoning is deeply flawed, and the outcome was horrendously damaging.

Good luck recapturing that, WWE. Sometimes, giving the audience the obvious outcome is not a bad thing.