[undecisive]

Cunningham's law baiting - I love it!

So yeah, turns out it's nothing to do with the 8266's board, and everything to do with the chosen relay module. Since it has nothing to do with driving the relay, it doesn't need to be connected. But if it were connected, whenever it is high, the relay board connects it to the reset, so the chip gets reset.

So you are bending it simply to ensure that pin can't be plugged in to the relay