The wrestling world is mourning the unexpected and tragic death of former WWE superstar Bray Wyatt (real name Windham Rotunda), who passed away at 36 years of age on Thursday.
WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque, known by his ring name “Triple H”, broke the heartbreaking news on X. Levesque had spoken to Windham’s father, Mike Rotunda, who gave him the news over a call.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com reported that Wyatt’s cause of death was a heart attack. The former WWE and Universal Champion had been dealing with a case of COVID-10 that “exacerbated a heart” problem, Sapp said.
Prayers and messages of support have been pouring in for Wyatt’s family, friends and the wrestling community. A simple search of “Bray Wyatt” through X will bring up plenty of heartwarming stories involving the loving father of four.
An old tale of Wyatt retaining his wrestling persona during jury duty has resurfaced on X. Wyatt detailed the story back in Jon Robinson’s 2017 book, “NXT: The Future Is Now.” Here’s an excerpt from the book, per WhatCulture:
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“Bray began with my real-life lunacy,” says Wyatt. “I’ve always been an against-all-authority kind of child. I was a big fan of Rage Against the Machine, they were a big influence on my life as a child, so when I started working with Dusty Rhodes, I began losing my mind on a very real level. I became obsessed with this character.”
When Husky Harris failed on the main roster, he went all in with the Wyatt persona. “I was going to jury duty in my hometown, and Dusty made me go to jury duty as Bray,” Wyatt says. “Dusty told me, ‘This is the perfect exercise. Become Bray.’ I literally went to jury duty as Bray Wyatt. I was so immersed in the character that I didn’t break once. Obviously, I didn’t get picked for jury duty, but I had the white pants, Hawaiian shirt, the whole nine yards. There were no fragments of Husky Harris. Husky Harris was dead, and he was to stay dead. I was Bray Wyatt. We were one.”
Wyatt had an incredible ability to reinvent his character time and time again during his run on the main roster. Even when he portrayed a heel character, Wyatt was a top merchandise seller and often received plenty of cheers from the fans.
WWE Shop is donating all proceeds from Bray Wyatt merchandise to his longtime girlfriend, JoJo Offerman, and his children.
