Windham Rotunda, often called WWE star Bray Wyatt, died abruptly at age 36, WWE introduced on Thursday.
Particulars of Rotunda’s loss of life had been scarce initially, however Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com reported that Rotunda suffered a coronary heart assault as a consequence of different coronary heart points “exacerbated” by a bout with COVID-19. Rotunda final wrestled towards LA Knight at this yr’s Royal Rumble in January, he had been absent from WWE programming since.
Born right into a lifelong wrestling household, Rotunda started his WWE profession in its developmental system, Florida Championship Wrestling. Rotunda, then often called Husky Harris, was part of the Nexus storyline in 2010, feuding with John Cena and dealing with CM Punk.
Rotunda’s true rise to fame got here shortly after a rebranding within the wake of the Nexus story. Throughout his return to developmental, now often called NXT, Rotunda developed his Wyatt character, a backwoods bayou-inspired persona, and led a faction often called the Wyatt Household within the early 2010s. Rotunda, alongside the late Jon Huber (Luke Harper), Erick Rowan and finally Braun Strowman, was a main foil for the Defend steady (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose).
Rotunda’s entrance was an immersive expertise for the group at each area and present, as he carried a lantern throughout his sluggish, purposeful stroll to the ring — with solely followers’ cellphone digital camera’s lighting the group — drawing some comparisons to that of WWE legend The Undertaker. In truth, whilst his profession modified, Rotunda was all the time thought of a non secular successor to the enduring determine.
Rotunda’s evolution as a personality was unmatched creatively, as following a short hiatus from WWE, he launched a Mr. Rogers-esque persona alongside his “Fiend” alter ego. Rotunda would alternate between a pleasant Wyatt, accompanied by puppets, and the sinister, damaging “Fiend” for a number of years in what was inevitably the final run of his profession.
The creativity and expertise each inside and outdoors of the ring made him a fan-favorite all through his whole profession. He was an outside-the-box thinker when it got here to skilled wrestling, evidenced past his characters in numerous promos, vignettes and even matches.
Rotunda received 5 championships all through his profession, together with the WWE Championship and WWE Common Championship (twice), the corporate’s high two particular person titles. He wrestled Cena, The Undertaker, and Randy Orton, amongst others at WWE’s greatest occasion, WrestleMania, all through his time with the corporate. Rotunda’s lone victory got here at WrestleMania 36, in a psychologically thrilling contest towards Cena.
Rotunda is survived by his companion, former WWE ring announcer JoJo Offerman, their two kids collectively, his brother Taylor Rotunda (former WWE star Bo Dallas), father Mike Rotunda (former WWE star IRS), uncles Barry and Kendall Windham, and two kids from a earlier marriage.
Rotunda was a third-generation WWE expertise, as his late maternal grandfather, Robert Windham was higher often called Blackjack Mulligan.
Different figures from the wrestling world, together with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (who briefly shared the ring with Rotunda at WrestleMania 32), expressed their sympathies on X, previously often called Twitter:
