Windham Lawrence Rotunda, better known to wrestling fans as Bray Wyatt, was born May 23, 1987. Bray seemed destined to be a pro wrestler from a very early age. He was part of a legendary wrestling family that included his father Mike Rotunda, his brother-in-law Barry Windham, his grandfather Blackjack Mulligan, his brother Bo Dallas, and his fiance and former WWE ring announcer JoJo Offerman whom he had two children with, and two from a previous marriage.
Wyatt was a two sport athlete. He attended Hernando High School where he won the State Wrestling Championship at 275 pounds in the year he graduated in 2005. He went to College of the Sequoias where he earned second-team All American honors his sophomore year as an offensive guard. He left Troy University before getting his degree to go into professional wrestling.
In 2009, Bray started in the WWE’s developmental territory, FCW, which was the precursor to the modern day NXT under the name Alex Rotundo. He would later change his name to Duke Rotundo and would soon start teaming with his brother, Bo Rotundo. Within a month, they became FCW Tag Team Champions defeating Justin Angel (who would later be known as Justin Gabriel) & Kris Logan (who would go on to become Brian Cage). They would lose the titles in November to The Dude Busters (Caylen Croft & Trent Barretta)
In 2010, NXT began its second season with one of their contestants being Duke Rotundo who now went by the ring name of Husky Harris, and his coach was Cody Rhodes. He talked about being the grandson of Blackjack Mulligan and the son of Mike Rotundo. He made his debut in NXT the following week teaming with Cody Rhodes in a losing effort against MVP and his protege, Percy Watson. On the fourth week of the competition, Harris turned heel attacking announcer Matt Striker. Harris was eliminated from the competition in August but left an impression when he and Cody Rhodes attacked Kaval which resulted in a wild brawl with MVP and Kofi Kingston.
Harris began wrestling on the SmackDown live events after his departure from NXT. Harris made a huge impact when he and Michael McGillicuty (who would go on to be Curtis Axel, son of Curt Hennig), interfered in a match between John Cena and Wade Barrett at the 2010 Hell in a Cell pay-per-view as they wanted to be part of Barrett’s Nexus. Barrett claimed he didn’t need their help in beating Cena, but were made members two weeks later. CM Punk took over the Nexus in 2011 and Randy Orton attacked McGillicutty and punted Harris in the head to write them out of the storyline.
Continuing to use the name Husky Harris, Rotunda returned to FCW in March of 2011. Husky became involved in a feud with Richie Steamboat, son of WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat, later in the year culminating in a bullrope match, won by Rotunda. On February 2, 2012, Husky teamed with Bo Rotunda to win the FCW Tag Team Championship from Brad Maddux and Eli Cottonwood. They would lose them on March 15, 2012 to Corey Graves and Jake Carter, the son of Vader.
In April of 2012, Rotunda repackaged himself as Bray Wyatt and debuted on July 11, 2012 for the rebooted NXT brand. Shortly after his debut, he tore his pectoral muscle. While injured, Wyatt continued to be on TV with his new character. He would go on to form The Wyatt Family with Luke Harper and Erik Rowan. Wyatt himself was the one who came up with the ideas for the gimmick which had a Cape Fear feel to it. Wyatt was listening to music for weeks trying to find the perfect song that would fit the mood and surroundings of the Wyatts.
He came across a song by Mark Crozer who had been uploading his music to licensing websites in the hopes it would be used on TV. Wyatt heard Crozer’s song entitled, “Broken Out In Love.” As soon as Wyatt heard it, he knew that had to be their theme. He pitched it to WWE and they agreed. They renamed the song “Live In Fear” and the rest is history. The Wyatt’s soon developed a cult-like following amongst the NXT crowd with them turning on their cell phones when the Wyatts made their way to the ring.
Wyatt finally returned to the ring on February 21, 2013. On May 8, 2013, Harper and Rowan won the NXT Tag Team Championship from Adrian Neville (Pac) and Oliver Grey. They lost the titles to Neville and Corey Graves on the NXT episode that aired on July 17, 2013, taped on June 20th.
Vignettes started airing on Monday Night RAW of the Wyatt Family and their origins. They showed creepy videos of them in the backwoods and Rowan wearing a lamb mask while Wyatt sat in a rocking chair. On the July 8th episode of RAW, the Wyatts debuted and attacked Kane. They would continue to attack WWE wrestlers in the following weeks and Wyatt would say, “Follow the buzzards.”
Wyatt debuted his finisher called “Sister Abigail”, leading fans for years wondering who Abigail is and when or if she would be a character in the family. Kane challenged Wyatt to a Ring of Fire match at SummerSlam 2013. Wyatt won the match with interference from Rowan and Harper. Wyatt continued his winning ways by defeating Kofi Kingston at Battleground. Harper and Rowan would lose to Daniel Bryan and CM Punk at Survivor Series and a month later, Wyatt teamed with Rowan and Harper to defeat Bryan in a handicap at the TLC pay-per-view. Bryan defeated Harper and Rowan in a gauntlet match to face Wyatt. Harper and Rowan interfered in the match and attacked him until he gave up and joined the Wyatt Family to close out 2013.
Daniel Bryan only lasted a couple weeks in the family as Bryan attacked The Wyatt Family to start 2014. Wyatt would defeat Bryan at the Royal Rumble. The main event on the show was Randy Orton defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against John Cena. Wyatt attacked Cena costing him the match which started a feud between them.
At the Elimination Chamber, The Wyatt Family defeated The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, & Dean Ambrose). Later in the show, Wyatt again cost Cena his opportunity to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the Elimination Chamber main event.
Wyatt became obsessed with exposing that Cena is a fraud and tried to turn Cena over to the dark side. They fought each other on four straight pay-per-views. Cena defeated Wyatt at WrestleMania 30. The following month, Wyatt defeated Cena in a steel cage match at Extreme Rules. Cena won the next month at Payback in a Last Man Standing Match when he had the Usos in his corner to combat Harper and Rowan in Wyatt’s corner. At Money in the Bank, John Cena won the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Ladder match over Bray Wyatt, Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro, Kane, Randy Orton, and Roman Reigns.
Bray Wyatt’s next feud was with Chris Jericho who had returned to WWE after a year off when the Wyatt Family attacked Jericho in the locker room on RAW. Jericho defeated Wyatt at Battleground, Wyatt won the rematch at SummerSlam, and Wyatt won the rubber match inside a steel cage on RAW.
After SummerSlam, vignettes started airing of Luke Harper being set free.
At the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, Seth Rollins faced Dean Ambrose in a Hell in a Cell match. Wyatt interfered, costing Ambrose the match. This led to their match at Survivor Series which Wyatt won by disqualification when Ambrose hit him with a steel chair. Wyatt would win their rematch at the TLC pay-per-view in a TLC match. Wyatt would defeat Ambrose again on RAW in a Miracle on 34th Street fight to close out 2014. Wyatt defeated Luke Harper and warned Ambrose if this is what he does to Harper, think what I will do to you.
Wyatt continued to feud with Ambrose to start out 2015 as he defeated Ambrose in an ambulance match on RAW. Wyatt was unsuccessful in trying to win the Royal Rumble, but began to call himself the new Face of Fear. At Fastlane, a casket was brought out and Wyatt came out of it to challenge The Undertaker at WrestleMania 31. Undertaker accepted his challenge on RAW. The Undertaker legitimately injured his ankle earlier in the day of WrestleMania. They still managed to get through the match. Wyatt kicked out of The Undertaker’s tombstone and Undertaker kicked out of Wyatt’s Sister Abigail. Wyatt was not able to kick out of a second tombstone which resulted in Undertaker winning the match.
Wyatt returned two months later to defeat Ryback at Payback.
Wyatt interfered in the Money in the Bank match when he attacked Roman Reigns and cost him the match. Wyatt defeated Reigns at Battleground when a hooded person attacked Reigns. Wyatt gave Reigns the Sister Abigail and pinned him. The hooded person turned out to be Luke Harper who reunited with Wyatt. Reigns and Ambrose faced Wyatt and Harper at SummerSlam. Ambrose gave Wyatt the Dirty Deeds and Reigns followed up with a spear to pin Wyatt.
On an August 24th episode of RAW, the teams were rematched. Braun Strowman made his debut and aligned himself with Wyatt and Harper. At Payback, Wyatt, Harper, and Strowman defeated Reigns, Ambrose, and a mystery partner who turned out to be Jericho. Strowman choked out Jericho to win the match. Reigns and Wyatt fought in a Hell in a Cell Match at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. Reigns won the match when he speared Wyatt and pinned him. In a second Hell in a Cell Match on the card, Brock Lesnar defeated The Undertaker. After the match, the entire Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper, and Braun Strowman) attacked The Undertaker and carried him away.
The following night, Wyatt said he wanted The Undertaker’s soul. Kane tried to attack The Wyatt Family, but they carried him away as well. The Undertaker and Kane defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper at Survivor Series.
At the TLC pay-per-view, The Wyatt Family defeated The ECW Originals consisting of The Dudley Boyz, Rhyno, & Tommy Dreamer) to close out 2015.
None of the Wyatt Family members were successful in winning the 2016 Royal Rumble. Brock Lesnar defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper in a 2 on 1 handicap match at Roadblock.
On April 13th, Bray Wyatt injured his right calf on a European tour in a match against Roman Reigns. He returned on June 20th. The Wyatts were interrupted by The New Day. The Wyatts invited The New Day to their compound. The New Day showed up the next week to the compound and then ran away. This set up their match for Battleground which saw The Wyatt Family emerge victorious.
In the 2016 draft, Wyatt and Rowan were drafted to SmackDown and Strowman was drafted to RAW. On the August 16th episode of SmackDown, Wyatt walked away from Rowan after he lost his match to Ambrose.
Bray Wyatt challenged Randy Orton to a match at Backlash. Wyatt attacked Orton before the match and Orton was unable to compete. Wyatt was ordered to face Kane in a No Holds Barred Match. Kane won the match when Orton interfered giving Wyatt an RKO and Kane pinned him. Orton challenged Wyatt to a match at No Mercy. Wyatt won the match when Luke Harper returned to help out Wyatt.
At Survivor Series, Team SmackDown (AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, and Shane McMahon) defeated Team RAW (Braun Strowman, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins). Wyatt hit Sister Abigail on Reigns leaving himself and Orton as the sole survivors. Orton and Wyatt teamed up to defeat Rhyno and Heath Slater to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. Orton and Luke Harper were allowed to defend the titles. They put the titles on the line in a four corner’s match against Heath Slater and Rhyno, The Usos, and the team that won the match and the titles, American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) to end the year.
Bray Wyatt started 2017 off in a big way winning the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber defeating the champion John Cena, AJ Styles, The Miz, Dean Ambrose, and Baron Corbin.
Orton claimed he would not go after Bray Wyatt for the championship at WrestleMania 33, but it turned out he was lying as he went to the Wyatt compound and burned it down including Sister Abigails’ grave. Orton would go on to defeat Wyatt at WrestleMania 33. A week later, Wyatt was moved to the RAW brand as part of the Superstar Shakeup. Wyatt challenged Orton to a House of Horrors match. Harper sided with Orton while Rowan sided with Wyatt. Wyatt defeated Orton in a cinematic match at Payback.
At Extreme Rules, Wyatt lost a Fatal 5-Way Extreme Match involving Finn Balor, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and the winner of the match, Samoa Joe. Wyatt defeated Seth Rollins at Great Balls of Fire. He lost to “The Demon” Finn Balor at SummerSlam and again at No Mercy. They were scheduled for another match at TLC, but Wyatt was pulled due to an illness concern.
Wyatt returned in November to begin a feud with Matt Hardy who had become “Woken” Matt Hardy.
Wyatt and Hardy both eliminated each other during the 2018 Royal Rumble. Wyatt lost to Hardy at Elimination Chamber. On the March 19th episode of RAW, Wyatt lost to him again in an Ultimate Deletion Match when Hardy pushed him into the Lake of Reincarnation. Wyatt returned at WrestleMania 34 and helped Hardy win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. They would team together to win the vacant RAW Tag Team Titles at The Greatest Royal Rumble when they defeated Sheamus and Cesaro. They lost them to Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel at Extreme Rules.
Wyatt did not return to WWE until April of 2019 when he debuted The Firefly Fun House which at first seemed fun and entertaining, but had sinister overtures. In July, Wyatt appeared wearing a horror mask and called himself The Fiend and used the Mandible Claw as his finisher. He attacked Seth Rollins at The Clash of Champions. Their match at Hell in a Cell took place with red lighting in the arena and around the ring. The match was stopped when Rollins hit him with a sledgehammer. Fans in attendance booed this heavily and began questioning the bizarre creative direction Wyatt was going in. Wyatt got drafted to SmackDown and Rollins burned the Firefly Fun House down to the ground. The Fiend defeated Seth Rollins at Crown Jewel in a Falls Count Anywhere Match that could not be stopped for any reason to win the Universal Championship. The Universal Championship was now part of the SmackDown brand as a result of this. The Fiend debuted his own championship belt shortly after this match.
The Fiend successfully defended The Universal Championship against Daniel Bryan at Survivor Series. He also defeated The Miz at TLC.
Bray Wyatt started 2020 by defeating Daniel Bryan in a Strap Match at the Royal Rumble. He then lost the title to Goldberg at Super Showdown in three minutes.
With the pandemic just starting, wrestling was now operating with no live crowds. Bray Wyatt defeated John Cena in a Firefly Fun House Match, which was a cinematic match.
He unsuccessfully challenged Braun Strowman for the Universal Championship at Money in the Bank. Bray Wyatt returned to his original gimmick and defeated Strowman in a non-title Wyatt Swamp Match, which was a cinematic match, at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. The Fiend finally defeated Strowman for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam. After the match, Roman Reigns attacked both men. A Triple Threat Match was made between Fiend, Reigns,and Strowman ending in Reigns pinning Strowman to win the title.
The Fiend formed a bond with Alexa Bliss in September. Wyatt was drafted back to RAW in October.
Randy Orton defeated The Fiend at the TLC pay-per-view in a Firefly Inferno Match when he set The Fiend on fire.
The Fiend, despite being lit on fire, returned in 2021 at Fastlane when he attacked Orton. Orton was able to defeat The Fiend at WrestleMania 37 when Bliss appeared and distracted The Fiend which allowed Orton to pin him. The next night, Bliss declared she no longer needed The Fiend and Wyatt appeared in a Firefly FunHouse segment and said that he was looking for a fresh start. However, he disappeared from TV and was released by WWE on July 31st.
Many rumors circulated at this point. While WWE was cutting many wrestlers from its roster, Bray Wyatt was not expected to be one of them. This led to rumors that he was hard to deal with. Others said that he wanted out due to not being pleased with his creative direction. It was also reported that the creative behind his character was all his idea and he couldn’t stay focused while others said he had great ideas still to come but the writing team didn’t understand him. There were also rumors of him having some kind of illness that prevented him from wrestling. After his WWE release, rumors circulated that he wanted to wrestle on the independent scene and potentially for AEW. Wyatt was largely out of the public spotlight while he was away from WWE and he was eventually signed in September of 2022 and his return was teased on TV for weeks.
At first, fans were very excited for his return. As part of a viral campaign, QR codes were put on the weekly TV shows and many fans scanned the code trying to get clues about his return. He returned to WWE TV on October 10 at Extreme Rules and days later on SmackDown, he gave a heartfelt promo where he thanked the fans for supporting him through his struggles. On the October 28th episode of SmackDown, he was interrupted by a masked man by the name of Uncle Howdy, portrayed by the returning Bo Dallas. Uncle Howdy came to Wyatt’s aid when he got attacked by LA Knight, and two weeks later, Howdy attacked Wyatt.
Wyatt defeated Knight at the 2023 Royal Rumble in a Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match. At the WWE Raw 30th anniversary show in January of 2023, Wyatt interrupted LA Knight in a segment with The Undertaker. Undertaker gave Wyatt his approval and many fans viewed this as Undertaker passing the torch to Wyatt.
Wyatt disappeared from TV again in late February, but this time it was rumored he was suffering from a life-threatening illness. Wyatt reportedly got COVID 19, which exacerbated a heart issue. It was reported that he was making positive progress towards his recovery and possible return, but on August 24, 2023, Wyatt suffered a heart attack and passed away.
On the August 25th episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown, WWE paid tribute to Wyatt and Terry Funk, who passed away a day earlier. The tribute was attended by Superstars who were booked and not originally booked for the show and wrestlers who are no longer with the company. The outpouring of support for Wyatt on SmackDown and on social media shows how beloved Wyatt was. He will be missed by his family, friends, and fans but it is very clear that his legacy will live on forever and he will never be forgotten.
