Credit: WWE.com
Bray Wyatt created a masterpiece of horror in his decade-plus with WWE, first as the cultish leader of The Wyatt Family, then as the foreboding face of the Firefly Funhouse and the masked monster The Fiend.
With Luke Harper and Erick Rowan in the Wyatt Family, he carefully crafted a prophetic character who promised to deliver his followers from their pasts and bring them a better life. It was a persona inspired by Robert DeNiro’s Max Cady in Cape Fear and WWE’s own Waylon Mercy, but enhanced with Wyatt’s creativity.
The dangerous trio targeted Daniel Bryan, The Shield, John Cena, Kane, and The Undertaker, wasting no opportunity to spread their word against the best WWE had to offer.
WWE’s creative impatience was never going to allow Wyatt to see his vision through, though, and by 2018, frustration had set in. The second-generation star knew he needed to reinvent himself or wallow in mediocrity, disappear into the void, and eventually land on the unemployment line.
He did just that, introducing the WWE Universe to The Firefly Funhouse, a Mr. Rogers-inspired children’s show featuring puppets created from his imagination and based on different elements of himself.
It was his masterpiece, a layered, deeper dive into Wyatt’s psyche that coincided with the emergence of his darkest alter-ego, the aforementioned Fiend.
Under the Jason Baker-designed mask, Wyatt legitimately scared some fans while inspiring awe in others as he entered arenas, the epitome of a nightmare come to life. While it hampered his in-ring production, the character captivated fans and was unlike anything they had ever seen.
It was The Undertaker dialed up to 11, with an iconic look and aura to boot.
It had crossover appeal within the horror community and fans of WWE waited to see when, where, and how The Fiend would pop up next. Unfortunately, his time with the company was short-lived as Wyatt was inexplicably released in 2021 amid creative frustrations with his boss.
Fast-forward to 2022 and Wyatt returned under a new regime headed by Triple H and began his most personal story to date, featuring the debut of Uncle Howdy.
Sadly, fans would never get to see that story come to life as Wyatt tragically passed away on August 24, 2023, at the age of 36.
He was a force of nature creatively, a master of horror and as he elegantly put it, “the color red in a world of black and white.” The only thing scarier than the monsters he unleashed on WWE is what he still had to offer the company from a creative standpoint.
A mind unlike any other, with a knack for bringing characters from the abyss alive, Wyatt is sadly missed and someone whose legacy will live forever in his creations, including The Wyatt Sicks.
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