Bray Wyatt sent the wrestling world into a frenzy back at SummerSlam when he made his in-ring return as his new demonic persona, “The Fiend.” Not only did Wyatt wrestle his match against Finn Balor with his terrifying new look, but he managed to get himself trending on social media when he carried out a lantern made to look like his own head.
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Wyatt brought his new look to life thanks to the aid of horror special effects icon Tom Savini and his production company, Tom Savini Studios. Jason Baker, who is credited with supervising Wyatt’s new look and directed the Firefly Fun House segments, recently spoke with GameSpot about how Wyatt’s mask and lantern came to be.
“Firefly Funhouse has consumed my life,” Baker jokingly said about producing the vignettes. “I don’t want it to sound like I’m complaining though. I’ve had a blast working on it. It’s like a dream come true.”
Baker credited Wyatt with the ideas behind his props.
“It’s all Bray’s brainchild,” Baker said. “He had these ideas, and we did some concept art, but it wasn’t really hitting home with Bray. So he got a really, really good sketch artist named Kyle Scarborough, out of St Louis, to do some concept art for him. Those sketches were awesome, and we took those and brought them to life.
“They’re good blueprints, but we put our own stamp on the mask as well,” he added. “It comes down to sculpting, logistics, and comfort. If the guy’s going to wear this while beating the living piss out of people, he should be able to see out of it and make sure it’s strapped to his head.”
Scarborough recently shared the concept art sketch for Wyatt’s lantern, which is fairly close to the finished product.
I honestly didn’t think this would make it to #wwe televison, but it was nastier than I thought possible. The stitched eyes instead of open lights.
— Kyle A. Scarborough (@ScarboroughTWTC) August 12, 2019
What a great time to be a wrestling fan. #WWESummerSlam@WWE @WWEBrayWyatt #SummerSlam #SummerslamCL @WWENetwork pic.twitter.com/yr0jwemI2Y
Baker was also asked about what would happen next with Wyatt’s character. He chose not to spoil anything.
“They [the fans] need to keep watching because they haven’t seen anything yet,” Baker said. “If they think this is the greatest thing to ever happen, they just need to keep watching. It’s going to blow them away.”
