WrestleMania 36 took place inside the empty WWE Performance Center as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. WWE presented a couple of "cinematic" matches during the two-night Show of Shows, including a memorable Firefly Funhouse match pitting John Cena against Bray Wyatt/The Fiend.
The unconventional bout has been hailed as a meta masterpiece, with many fans left wondering if it was once eyed as Cena's WWE farewell.
During a recent conversation with Chris Van Vliet, the leader of the Cenation was asked what the original plan was for his confrontation with the late WWE Superstar, confirming it was indeed supposed to take place within the confines of the squared circle.
"Yeah, and then things happened. And I remember three days before we filmed the Firefly Funhouse match. It was the last TV taping where they came in and they’re like, you’re gonna have a Firefly Funhouse match. And I remember there was three people in one of the conference rooms in NXT with me, I said, 'What’s a Firefly Funhouse match?' They said, 'I don’t know.' I said, 'Great! What can we do?' And that was like, oh man, again control the controllable. I wish we had an audience."
"Performers are like, 'I wish there could be blood. I wish we could do chair shots to the head. I wish we could swear, I wish I could flip people off.' Control the controllable, use the tools in your tool belt. How do we make something entertaining over a two day period with no audience? And they gave us a stipulation. Everybody else has a regular match. And it’s your stip like it’s your stip. It’s not a doctor of Thuganomics match or hustle, loyalty, respect match, that’s completely different.
"You have these definitive characters, you have all this ammunition, you have all this personality. And that’s what people really radiate towards. Holy sh*t we can make this a meta look at my life and we can get away with it."
Cena went on to reveal that they then tracked down various props which WWE had on hand in order to enhance the match. It sounds like he was also very proactive in helping shape what would become one of the most iconic confrontations of both his and Wyatt's respective careers.
"What do we have up in the warehouse? We have the fist, we have the blue cage. I can get some nWo stuff, we can make this work. And I remember this [is] the only match I’ve ever written from start to finish. And my poor wife, I made her print it out and I’m writing and giving her paper. [She said], 'What is this? What does it even mean?' I said, 'Just print it, I need it.' And somewhere I still have the original draft in my handwriting of the Firefly Funhouse."
Wyatt passed away last year and, elsewhere in this interview, Cena paid tribute to someone he spent a lot of time in the ring with. You can watch the full interview in the player below: