I love Bray Wyatt because Windham Rotunda has completely and utterly transformed himself in a way that few wrestlers ever do. The son of Mike Rotunda (a star in his own right) and the brother of fellow WWE star “Bo Dallas,” here’s a look at Bray early in his career:
And here’s a look at him in his NXT persona/his first WWE character, Husky Harris (what a horrible name, by the way):
Husky Harris was released not long after the “Nexus” angle was killed off. And I think he probably deserved to be. He wasn’t that compelling. He was just another legacy wrestler with so-so skills.
But when Windham came back… what a transformation. It’s claimed that his change was so complete, his commitment to his character so deep, that Vince McMahon not only didn’t recognize him but insisted that he was being lied to when people told him that Bray Wyatt was Rotunda.
The reason why Bray’s character works is a trifold of key wrestling elements:
- The character is so compelling. Rotunda IS Bray Wyatt. His personality isn’t Windham Rotunda turned up to 11 like an Austin or a CM Punk. He has become Bray Wyatt, a mix of ECW’s Raven, Cape Fear’s Max Cady, vaguely resembling Waylon Mercy, a lesser character performed by Dan Spivey. Bray owns it, though. He’s just so, so good at the character, so totally swallowed up in the performance.
- His entrance, the music, the spectacle of the lantern, the “fireflies” in the audience, etc. all work perfectly to fire up a crowd, to get everyone involved. He’s the heel, but he gets amazing reactions.
- In some ways he invokes the mystique of LOST, and he often refers to “Sister Abigail” the apparent sister of Lucifer, and in doing so he puts a twist on the supernatural elements that made the Undertaker and Kane such sensations for the WWF.
Bray is fun to watch, with surprising sharp and speedy moves inside the ring for a man his size. But unlike so many of his young peers, Bray can tell a story in the ring like a seasoned veteran. While I’m still disappointed that he lost his big feud ending match to John Cena, the way he kept goading Cena to succumb to his hate was the seed for his amazing feud with Randy Orton, one I am sad to say I assume will end with Bray dropping the title this Sunday.
Look at how he works in these clips, though. The movements, the delivery of lines, the odd charm. Bray Wyatt is such an interesting character. He deserves the title run he’s enjoying right now.