The Firefly Fun House was perhaps the most divisive matches ever produced by WWE. Some loved it, some hated it. But, for those who hated it, we have to ask, 'Did you catch all the Easter eggs and subtle hints throughout?'
Bray Wyatt was said to be the creative genius behind the match. With some help from Bruce Prichard and some creative changes from John Cena, the entire segment was full of inside references to the past and moments that, if you look at Cena and Wyatt's respective careers, you can't help but appreciate.
Here is everything you might not have seen the first time through:
Cena Wound Up Having A Match With Himself
The match opened as John Cena found himself in an empty arena with no opponent. Cut to Bray Wyatt, who was standing inside the Fun House, saying Cena was about to have a match with his most dangerous opponent yet.. himself. He asked, "Who are we really and why do we do the things that we do?" That would be a theme throughout the match.
The ideas presented as the match progressed re-visited all of Cena's former characters and past issues throughout his time in wrestling. There's a theory that all of this could have been in Cena's mind. After all, he did teleport in and out of the match.
Cena Enters The Darkness
As Cena opens the door and exits the Fun House, he finds himself in darkness. The idea here might be that there was a dark time in wrestling where WWE didn't know what the next steps would be as the Rock and Steve Austin were leaving. It ushered in what the Vince devil puppet calls"Ruthless Aggression", asking if Cena has it. This was much like when Vince called all the wrestlers to the ring back before Cena stepped up to become the next big star in WWE.
The puppet asked Cena if he was willing to make the necessary sacrifices to be a success. Of course, Cena had a reputation for going above and beyond, making an ungodly number of appearances to rep the company and now that he's gone, fans view him as someone who has abandoned WWE for Hollywood.
Cena Re-Debuts As the Prototype
Cena's persona in OVW was "The Prototype". They revisited his WWE debut against Kurt Angle in an open-challenge match. Only this time, the debut doesn't go well.
Because Cena was able to showcase well the first time and got the approval of The Undertaker, as he struggles to hit any moves on Wyatt, it teases the idea that Cena's one opportunity for a first impression could have gone terribly wrong. There was even a reference by Wyatt to Nikki Bella when he started singing her old theme, "You Can Look (But You Can't Touch).
In reality, Cena's inability to live up to those early expectations almost got him fired. Wyatt talks about it.
Saturday Night's Main Event References
The old Saturday Night's Main Event theme music then plays and Cena finds himself outside one of WWE's old blue steel cages. Wyatt then goes on a rant about Cena's looks, which of course is a shot at Vince, who back in the day believed only stars that had a million-dollar body could be the faces of WWE.
Cena and Wyatt then gave their best Hulk Hogan impressions."Let me tell you somethin'" said Cena and Wyatt gets in the act when he says, "What ya' gonna do brother, when you realize EGO-Mania is running wild on you!"
Doctor of Thuganomics
Cena transitions into the Doctor of Thuganmoics character and can only speak in rhymes. He took a lot of heat for abandoning this gimmick when he saw the audience was filled with kids and that's when he became the most polarizing character in WWE. Would he have done things differently if given the chance again?
Cena takes a shot at Husky Harris, which was Wyatt's first gimmick as part of the original NXT class and before he became Bray Wyatt. There was even a line where Cena talked about putting his junk in glove and calling it "Mr. Suck It" which could have referenced the time Shawn Michaels stuffed his pants and got fined by Vince as part of DX.
First WrestleMania Match
It then cuts to John Cena and Bray Wyatt battling in their first encounter at WrestleMania. The people were clearly with Wyatt and Cena got the win which derailed Wyatt's push thereafter. "You were supposed to be a man of the people," said Wyatt, suggesting Cena should have asked WWE to give Wyatt the push.
There was a shot of human-like Sister Abigail and an Undertaker urn in the background.
The John Cena NWO Reference
When Cena appeared in NWO silks, this was an ode to the many calls for Cena to turn heel and his refusal to ever do so. That he didn't, was ultimately led to the downward cycle of his career. He could have prolonged his wrestling career like Hogan did. Instead, he was too afraid.
The "Such Good Sh-t" Line
There was a point in the segment where the puppet version of Vince McMahon was watching along as an announcer and said, "This is such good sh-t." That moment was in reference to an interview Jon Moxley did with Chris Jericho right after Dean Ambrose departed from WWE.
Ambrose/Moxley would constantly complain about the creative WWE would come up with and Vince's response was always "It's such good sh-t."
The Closing Line
Finally, there is a theory that when John Cena said that he would end the most over-hyped, over-privileged WWE superstar ever, he knew he was talking about himself. This was all apparently a dream and that Cena let Wyatt in. Doing so is what ultimately cost him the match.