Shattered: Remembering Bray Wyatt, One Year Later.
I was sitting in the recreational area of my college campus in February of 2013. At the time, I wa deeply depressed because I had failed out of college, so I kept coming to campus to see my friends and hang on to what little sanity I had left.
One of the things that kept me going around this time was pro wrestling. I just kept telling myself "no matter how bad things are, you still have wrestling to look forward to. So, on this day, I'm browsing the internet, reading up on all the latest wrestling news, mostly about rumors going into WrestleMania 29.
I stumbled across an article on Bleacher Report. It talks about top prospects in NXT, and who you should look out for in the future. It featured many names that fans are familiar with today: Xavier Woods, Adrian Neville, El Generico, etc.
The top of the list was someone I had seen before. The article praised his ability as a character, and that his promos were must see TV every week on NXT. He looked like something straight out of the movie "Deliverance." As I peaked closer, I asked myself "That can't be Husky Harris."
But it was. He had completely transformed since the last time I'd seen him, which was back in 2011. The more I read, the more interested I became. I started to look up some of this promos, mostly from his time in FCW. I couldn't believe it.
This man was singing. He was going on with these apocalyptic riddles. He didn't feel or look like anything going on in wrestling at the time. I remember being so impressed that I looked to my friends who also enjoyed wrestling and told them that "they will absolutely love Bray Wyatt when he comes to the main roster."
That was my introduction to the man who would become the Eater of Worlds, the New Face of Fear, The Fiend, and the White Rabbit. As a wrestling fan for 26 years, I've always been drawn to things that seem out of the norm. Sure, I grew up a die hard WWE fan, so I basically enjoyed all of it. But, I also seemed to give more of my attention to things that were completely different than anything else going on.
For instance, in 2004, I was a huge fan of Mordecai. I had no idea that that character was actually bombing pretty hard, but 11 year old me thought Mordecai was cool as hell. Things that don't seem traditional in wrestling, I have gravitated towards.
Bray Wyatt was anything but traditional. And yet, he was the prototypical pro wrestling character. He was larger than life. He had the gift of the gab. He could captivate an entire arena of fans.
When he made his main roster debut in July of 2013, he set himself apart immediately. There was simply no one like Bray Wyatt. I believed that if WWE actually got behind this guy, he would be one of the biggest stars in wrestling.
In my opinion, I don't think the higher ups in WWE saw Bray as anything more than a utility player. Sure, he had plenty of moments early on - getting to have high profile feuds with Daniel Bryan, The Shield and John Cena - but the latter feud sadly bumped him down from being a major deal to just another guy.
That's the story of Bray in WWE, unfortunately. He'd take one step forward, and WWE almost actively made him take three steps back. And yet, it's a testament to his ability as a performer that Bray has an amazing legacy today despite all the terrible booking he received.
Following the Cena feud, he'd soon find himself feuding with Dean Ambrose, and I was fortunate enough to see them have a Street Fight at a WWE live event in Pittsburgh at the end of 2014. I screamed when he came out, and I am 99% sure that he looked at me and nodded approvingly. And you think he didn't, you're wrong.
Bray would get a highly anticipated feud with The Undertaker leading into WrestleMania 31 - Taker's first match since the end of his Streak the year prior. He made no TV appearances for this feud, so Bray built the feud by himself.
He gave some of his most captivating promo work around this time, and he looked set for a major run following WrestleMania. Instead, he'd just lose to Taker, no different than any other guy.
Then, he'd do the same thing in a feud with Roman Reigns. Great promos in the build, but he'd lose the feud. Then, he'd feud with Undertaker again, and lose. Bray unfortunately fell victim to shitty booking in WWE.
They made him look like a chump countless times. I attended WrestleMania 32 in April of 2016, and I got to see The Rock and John Cena squash The Wyatt Family in an unnecessary segment. He would be involved in a fantastic storyline with Randy Orton, but he'd fail to win at WrestleMania 33.
He looked like a chump against Finn Balor in 2017, and he'd really look like a chump against Woken Matt Hardy in 2018. From there, a lot of people wondered if the Bray Wyatt character was salvageable.
Come 2019, Bray has completely reinvented himself as the host of the Firefly Funhouse, and he'd soon introduce the world to "The Fiend." In my opinion, this is the best version of Bray Wyatt. It's creepy, it's disturbing, and it's badass.
Starting at SummerSlam that August, Bray began a total path of destruction. He was the hottest act in WWE, during a time when creatively, they were dog shit. He was the top merch seller, and fans were excited to see so much confidence put into his character.
Naturally, WWE failed him again and very nearly derailed his momentum for good. Bray competed inside Hell in a Cell with Seth Rollins in October. The company booked themselves into a corner - Bray was an unstoppable monster, and Rollins was the Universal Champion. The company didn't want either to look weak.
What did they do? They booked a disqualification, IN HELL IN A CELL. It was one of the dumbest decisions in modern wrestling and it made everyone involved look like a fucking idiot.
Despite that, Bray continued to keep his momentum and was still the hottest wrestler in the company. The character work he put in was fantastic. The effort was there, and it should've been rewarded.
Instead, Bray was fed to Goldberg at Super Showdown in February of 2020. A booking decision so asinine and devoid of common sense, that I stopped actively watching WWE. I haven't come back to it since.
Bray would move on to the legendary Firefly Funhouse Match with John Cena at WrestleMania 36, which stands as one of wrestling's greatest cinematic matches. A putrid feud with Braun Strowman followed. And then at Payback that summer, Bray would lose his 2nd Universal Title to Roman Reigns. Roman's gargantuan 4 year run as the Tribal Chief started here.
From there, another Randy Orton feud happened, and like the previous time they feuded, nothing came of it and Bray once again looked like a chump. The fact that this company had let Bray down so many times is ridiculous. Shitty booking kept him from being so much more.
In the summer of 2021, Bray was shockingly released by WWE. It made no sense to have a creative genius under your roof and then let him go like that. He was radio silence for over a year, until something incredible started to happen.
At WWE shows, off air, the vocals for "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane would play for the live audience only. This went on for weeks, and combined with several QR codes that would appear on TV, it meant that something big was coming.
At the conclusion of the Extreme Rules event in October of 2022, Bray made his return to the company to what can best be described as a thunderous ovation. It was the start of the Uncle Howdy era, which....well, we'll never know exactly where that was going.
His final match was the Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match at the 2023 Royal Rumble against LA Knight (Yeah). It was a weird one. It looked pretty though. Not long after, Bray was off TV, dealing with a health issue. It was said that he making progress and close to a return. That sadly never came.
On August 24th, 2023, news broke that Windham Rotunda had passed away. I was sitting at work, on my lunch, when I saw the news. It literally took my breath away, and my chest briefly hurt. All I could say out loud was, in a surprised voice, "Bray Wyatt just died."
I was devastated. As a fan, you come to love and appreciate the work your favorite wrestlers do for their art and their craft. I did that for Bray Wyatt for over a decade. He was the first up and comer I followed from NXT. I used to sit and read his transcribed promos. I used to write stories growing up, and the last one that I wrote before I lost my confidence, I wrote a villain that was very much inspired by the Bray Wyatt character.
I was fortunate enough to see him in person during the 3 times I attended a WWE show. I have on video the entirety of AT&T Stadium lit up solely from cell phones when he made his entrance at WrestleMania 32. I got a tattoo of The Fiend mask on my arm last year.
Bray Wyatt is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. I don't even care if he's a "What if" in wrestling. Despite shitty booking, Bray has left behind an incredible legacy of wrestling lore to be deciphered and examined for decades to come.
He was a trailblazer. He dared to be different. He was fucking weird. He was fucking beautiful. He could've been so much more than he was, but that's not his fault. He was simply too good for the era he was in.
I'm incredibly sad that he's gone, but I am fortunate that I got to experience him in person, and on television. He gave me memories that I'll never forget, and he created art that will stand the test of time.
Though he's gone, his work continues in the form of The Wyatt Sicks, led by his brother Bo Dallas as Uncle Howdy. Is that group the first instance of a tribute act in pro wrestling? Perhaps.
But that speaks to what Bray Wyatt accomplished in pro wrestling. Despite the odds, the bad booking, and the lack of confidence by higher ups, he moved forward to create a lasting image in the legend of pro wrestling forever.
As the theme song says, when things break, things shatter. With Bray gone, I'd like to think that his influence will shatter the future of pro wrestling in the most positive of ways. I can see that happening, because all you have to is, you know, let him in.