Bray Wyatt Biography

Windham Lawrence Rotunda (born May 23, 1987) is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Bray Wyatt and is the leader of The Wyatt Family.

He previously wrestled for WWE as Husky Harris, most notably as a member of The Nexus. His younger brother Taylor Rotunda also performs in WWE, under the ring name Bo Dallas. Alongside his brother, he has held the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship twice.

He is a third generation professional wrestler, following in the footsteps of his grandfather (the late Blackjack Mulligan), his father (Mike Rotunda), and two of his uncles (Barry Windham and Kendall Windham).

Early life

Rotunda attended Hernando High School, where he won a state wrestling championship at in 2005. He graduated from high school in 2005. He also played football as a defensive tackle and guard. Rotunda played at the College of the Sequoias for two seasons, earning second-team All-American honors as a sophomore offensive guard. He earned a football scholarship to Troy University, where he played collegiate football for two years. He left Troy 27 credit hours short of earning a Bachelor's degree after deciding to become a wrestler.

Professional wrestling career

World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE

Florida Championship Wrestling (2009-2010)

Rotunda debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in April 2009 with a victory, using the name Alex Rotundo. He later changed his name to Duke Rotundo. In June 2009, Rotundo began teaming with his brother, Bo. At the FCW television tapings on July 23, The Rotundo Brothers defeated The Dude Busters (Caylen Croft and Trent Barretta) to become the number one contenders to the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. That same night, they defeated Justin Angel and Kris Logan for the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. They went on to successfully defend the championship against Dylan Klein and Vance Archer and the team of Curt Hawkins and Heath Slater. At the FCW television tapings on November 19, The Rotundo Brothers lost the championship to The Dude Busters.

The Nexus (2010-2011)

On June 1, 2010, Rotunda was announced as a competitor in the second season of NXT under the name Husky Harris, with Cody Rhodes as his mentor. Harris made his debut on the June 8 episode of NXT, competing in a tag team match with Rhodes against Montel Vontavious Porter and Percy Watson, which they lost. Harris turned heel on the June 22 episode of NXT by attacking announcer Matt Striker, just as Rhodes had done the previous week. The following week on NXT, Harris lost to Montel Vontavious Porter in a singles match, and was ranked seventh out of the eight rookies in the first poll. In the second poll, Harris moved up to sixth place, narrowly avoiding elimination. On August 9, the rookies appeared in a six-man tag team match on Raw, which Harris' team won when he pinned Kaval, but his team lost a rematch the following night on NXT. In the poll later that night, Harris climbed to fourth place out of the six rookies. Harris was one of two rookies eliminated from NXT on August 17 and, following his elimination, Harris and Rhodes attacked Kaval, resulting in a brawl also involving Montel Vontavious Porter and Kofi Kingston. Harris reappeared in the season finale of NXT with the other eliminated rookies and joined in on the attack on the NXT winner, Kaval.

While on NXT, Rotunda continued wrestling in FCW while retaining the Husky Harris ring name. In September 2010 following his elimination from NXT, Harris began a feud in FCW with Percy Watson when he attacked Watson while teaming with him in a tag team match, which led to Watson being pinned for the loss. When Harris and Watson faced off in a match, they were both counted out as they brawled out of the arena, which led to a no disqualification match that Harris lost. The feud ended in October with Harris defeating Watson in a lumberjack match.

At the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in October, a disguised Harris and Michael McGillicutty interfered in a match between John Cena and Wade Barrett, and helped Barrett win, forcing Cena to join Barrett's faction The Nexus per the pre-match stipulation. Harris' and McGillicutty's identities were revealed on the following day's episode of Raw, though Barrett claimed he had not asked for their help and refused to make them full-time members of The Nexus. The following week on Raw, Harris and McGillicutty cost Cena a match against The Miz, prompting Barrett to give them the opportunity to win membership in the Nexus. On the October 18 episode of Raw, Harris and McGillicutty failed to earn a place in The Nexus when they lost to Cena and Randy Orton in a tag team match. In spite of their loss, Harris and McGillicutty were inducted into The Nexus on Raw the following week. In January 2011, CM Punk took over The Nexus and had each of its members put through an initiation. Harris passed his initiation, a lashing from the rest of the group, and was allowed to remain a member of The New Nexus, alongside Punk, McGillicutty and David Otunga. Three weeks later, on the January 31 episode of Raw, Harris and McGillicutty unsuccessfully challenged Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov for the WWE Tag Team Championship and, after the match, Orton attacked them as revenge for costing him the WWE Championship, and punted Harris in the head, which was used to write Harris off television "indefinitely".

Return to FCW (2011-2012)

Following the punt by Orton on Raw, Rotunda returned to FCW and in March 2011 adopted the gimmick of the hockey mask-wearing Axel Mulligan, but the character never made it to FCW TV, and Rotunda continued to play the Husky Harris character on FCW TV. In August 2011, Harris became embroiled in his brother Bo's (then FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion) feud with Lucky Cannon and Damien Sandow; the two brothers later teamed up to defeat Cannon and Sandow in a tag team match. Later, Harris voiced his displeasure of Bo's relationship with Aksana, and when Bo suffered a legit injury, his title was vacated and a tournament set up to determine the new champion; Harris defeated Big E Langston to make it to the final, a fatal four-way match against Dean Ambrose, Leo Kruger and Damien Sandow. During the match, which was won by Kruger, Richie Steamboat was at ringside to aim for Ambrose, but performed a superkick on Harris instead. The following week, Aksana managed to get Steamboat to attack Harris again; Harris also won a triple threat match against Ambrose and Sandow to earn a match for the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship against Kruger, which Harris lost when he was distracted with Steamboat's interference. As a result, Harris and Steamboat began feuding, with their first match ending in a no contest. Kruger later defeated the pair in a triple threat match to retain his title, and the following week, Harris defeated Steamboat in a No Holds Barred match. After the pair continued to frequently attack each other, they were suspended for 30 days. Upon their return, Harris defeated Steamboat in a bullrope match to end their feud. On February 2, 2012, Harris and Bo defeated Brad Maddox and Eli Cottonwood to win the vacant FCW Florida Tag Team Championship for the second time. They successfully defended the championship against Antonio Cesaro and Alexander Rusev, but lost their titles to Corey Graves and Jake Carter on March 15.

The Wyatt Family (2012-2014)

In April 2012, Rotunda debuted a new character, Bray Wyatt, who initially associated himself with Eli Cottonwood while in FCW. When WWE rebranded FCW into NXT Wrestling, Wyatt debuted on the July 11, 2012 episode of the rebooted NXT, taped at Full Sail University, where he defeated Aiden English in a singles match. Wyatt is portrayed as an evil cult leader who believes himself to be more monster than human. The character drew comparisons to Max Cady of the 1991 film Cape Fear and Waylon Mercy. In July, Wyatt suffered a torn pectoral muscle and required surgery. Despite the injury, Wyatt continued to appear on NXT by founding a faction known as The Wyatt Family in November, with Luke Harper as his first "son" and Erick Rowan as his second. Wyatt had his first match back from injury on the February 21, 2013 episode of NXT, defeating Yoshi Tatsu. Wyatt suffered his first loss on the March 13 episode of NXT, when he was defeated by Bo Dallas. On the May 2 episode of NXT, Wyatt was defeated by six-time world champion Chris Jericho. On the May 8 episode of NXT, Harper and Rowan defeated Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey to win the NXT Tag Team Championship. The Wyatt Family went on to feud with Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno, with Wyatt defeating Graves on the May 22 episode of NXT. The following week, Wyatt eliminated both Graves and Ohno during an 18-man battle royal to determine the number one contender to the NXT Championship, although he was later eliminated by Neville. On the June 19 episode of NXT, The Wyatt Family defeated the team of Graves, Neville and Ohno. On the July 10 episode of NXT, Wyatt pinned William Regal when The Wyatt Family faced Graves, Neville and Regal in a six-man tag team match. On the July 17 episode of NXT (which was taped on June 20), Harper and Rowan lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to Neville and Graves.

From the May 27 episode of Raw, WWE aired vignettes promoting the upcoming debut of The Wyatt Family. The vignettes showed The Wyatt Family's backwoods origins and Rowan wearing a lamb mask. On the July 8 episode of Raw, The Wyatt Family made their debut by assaulting Kane. The Wyatt Family continued their attacks on wrestlers like R-Truth, Justin Gabriel, Drew McIntyre, Heath Slater, and Jinder Mahal while sending cryptic messages to Kane asking him to "follow the buzzards". Following another assault, Kane challenged Wyatt to a Ring of Fire match at SummerSlam, where Wyatt won following interference from Harper and Rowan. After the match, Harper and Rowan again attacked Kane and ended the segment by carrying him away. Wyatt's next target was Kofi Kingston, who he defeated at Battleground.

The Wyatt Family's next feud began when they attacked CM Punk and Daniel Bryan in late October, leading to Punk and Bryan defeating Harper and Rowan at Survivor Series. The Wyatt Family continued their feud with Bryan as Wyatt attempted to recruit Bryan, and the trio defeated Bryan in a handicap match at TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs. On the final Raw of 2013, Bryan defeated Harper and then Rowan in a gauntlet match so that he could face Wyatt, whereupon Harper and Rowan interfered for a disqualification and beat him down. A frustrated Bryan finally gave up and gave in to join The Wyatt Family. However, after Bryan joined them, The Wyatt Family could not find success. This caused Wyatt to punish Bryan, leading to Bryan attacking all the other members of The Wyatt Family on the January 13 episode of Raw to signal him breaking free of the group. At the Royal Rumble, Wyatt defeated Bryan in a singles match, and later at the event, along Harper and Rowan cost John Cena his WWE World Heavyweight Championship match against Randy Orton. The Wyatt Family then proceeded to attack Cena and left him lying in the ring.

On the January 27 episode of Raw, The Wyatt Family attacked Bryan, Cena, and Sheamus during an Elimination Chamber qualifying match against The Shield, thus awarding Bryan's team the disqualification win and costing The Shield a chance to enter the Elimination Chamber match. A six-man tag match was instead set up between The Shield and The Wyatt Family at the event, where the Wyatts won the match at Elimination Chamber, disabling Dean Ambrose in the stands and throwing Seth Rollins through the Spanish announce table before pinning Roman Reigns. They later interfered in the Elimination Chamber match, leading to John Cena's elimination.

After Elimination Chamber, Wyatt turned his attention fully to feud with John Cena, with Wyatt wanting to prove that Cena's heroic act was a facade characteristic of "this era of lies" while also trying to turn Cena into a "monster". Wyatt went on to accept Cena's challenge for a WrestleMania match, with Cena successfully resisting the urge to become a "monster" and overcoming interference from Harper and Rowan to defeat Wyatt at WrestleMania, thus marking Wyatt's first pinfall loss on WWE's main roster. The feud continued after WrestleMania based on the story that Wyatt was capturing Cena's fanbase, which was exemplified by Wyatt leading a children's choir to the ring on the April 28 episode of Raw, with the children later putting on sheep masks. At Extreme Rules, Wyatt defeated Cena in a steel cage match, after repeated interference from the rest of The Wyatt Family and a "demonic" child. Cena's feud with Wyatt continued with a Last Man Standing match being set up for Payback, where Cena buried Wyatt under multiple equipment cases to win the match and end the feud. On the June 13 episode of SmackDown, Wyatt defeated Dean Ambrose to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which John Cena won.

The following night on Raw, The Wyatt Family attacked a returning Chris Jericho. This led to matches between Wyatt and Jericho at Battleground, where Jericho won, and at SummerSlam, where Wyatt won with Harper and Rowan banned from ringside. The feud with Jericho ended on the September 8 episode of Raw, when Wyatt won a steel cage match by escaping the cage.

Singles competition (2014-2015)

Beginning on September 29, vignettes were shown of Wyatt "setting Harper and Rowan free". Wyatt returned alone at Hell in a Cell in October, during the main event match between Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, costing Ambrose the match. In the following weeks, Wyatt would taunt Ambrose while offering to "fix" him like he had done with Harper and Rowan. Wyatt eventually defeated Ambrose at Survivor Series by disqualification after Ambrose used a steel chair to attack Wyatt. The following month at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, Wyatt defeated Ambrose in a TLC match. Wyatt would once again defeat Ambrose on the December 22 episode of Raw in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight. The feud culminated in an ambulance match on the January 5, 2015 episode of Raw, which Wyatt won, effectively ending their feud.

At Royal Rumble, Wyatt competed in the Royal Rumble match entering at number 5, and he lasted for almost 47 minutes, eliminating six other contestants before being eliminated by Big Show and Kane. Following the Royal Rumble, Wyatt began a series of cryptic promos, referring himself as "The New Face of Fear", and at Fastlane, a casket would be brought to the ring by druids, with Wyatt revealed to be inside, who would issue a challenge to The Undertaker for a match at WrestleMania 31, which Undertaker accepted, but Wyatt was unsuccessful in defeating The Undertaker.

Following WrestleMania, Wyatt launched another series of enigmatic promos, which were revealed to be directed to Ryback on the April 27 episode of Raw, after Wyatt attacked Ryback following his match with Bo Dallas. On the following SmackDown, Wyatt would again attack Ryback following his match. This would lead to a match between the two at Payback, which Wyatt won.

Return of The Wyatt Family (2015-2016)

At Money in the Bank, Wyatt would interfere in the Money in the Bank ladder match where he attacked Roman Reigns (who had defeated him in a qualification match on Raw) as the latter was close to retrieving the briefcase. This led to a match between the two at Battleground, where Wyatt defeated Reigns with the help of former Wyatt Family member Luke Harper, reforming the team (without Erick Rowan, who was injured at the time, but would eventually rejoin the group later). At SummerSlam, Wyatt and Harper lost to Reigns and Ambrose. On the August 24 episode of Raw, Wyatt introduced a new Wyatt Family member named Braun Strowman, who choked out both Ambrose and Reigns. At Night of Champions, Wyatt, Harper and Strowman defeated Reigns, Ambrose and Jericho in a six-man tag team match.

At Hell in a Cell, after Wyatt was defeated by Reigns in a Hell in a Cell match to end their feud, The Wyatt Family would later attack The Undertaker and carry him backstage, reigniting their feud. The next night on Raw, Wyatt was confronted by former rival Kane, who was attacked by the Wyatts and also carried backstage. On the November 9 episode of Raw, The Brothers of Destruction returned and attacked The Wyatt Family. At Survivor Series, Wyatt and Harper lost to The Brothers of Destruction in a tag team match.

At TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs, The Wyatt Family defeated Team ECW in an eight-man tag team elimination tables match. Wyatt was scheduled to face Brock Lesnar (who The Wyatt Family eliminated from the Royal Rumble match) at Roadblock, but at the event Wyatt revealed that he would be facing Lesnar alongside Harper in a two-on-one handicap match, which they lost with Wyatt never returning to the ring. It was reported that Wyatt was likely replaced in the match due to a serious back injury he was legitimate suffering from. The Wyatt Family appeared at WrestleMania 32, where they confronted The Rock, who defeated Rowan in an impromptu match in 6 seconds, and the Wyatts were then fended off by the returning John Cena and The Rock.

On the April 4 episode of Raw, The Wyatt Family attacked The League of Nations, starting an unexplained feud between the heel factions. On the April 11 episode of Raw, Wyatt tagged with Roman Reigns to defeat League of Nations members Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio. On April 13, during a singles match against Reigns at a live event in Italy, Wyatt suffered an injury to his right calf, and was thus pulled off WWE's European tour. His injury resulted in the suspension of the feud between The Wyatt Family and The League of Nations.

The Wyatt Family returned on the June 20 episode of Raw, subsequently getting into a feud with the WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day, who interrupted Wyatt during his return speech. The New Day would later confront The Wyatt Family at their compound before The Wyatt's would go on to defeat them at Battleground in a six-man tag team match. During the June 19 episode of SmackDown Bray Wyatt alongside Erick Rowan were drafted to SmackDown while Braun Strowman was drafted to Raw.

Feud with Randy Orton (2016?present)

On the August 16 episode of SmackDown Live, Wyatt walked away from Rowan after the latter lost his match against Dean Ambrose, leaving Rowan's sheep mask on Wyatt's rocking chair. The following week, Wyatt confronted Randy Orton. On the August 30 episode of SmackDown Live, Wyatt called Orton "damaged", and issued a challenge to him for a match at Backlash, which Orton accepted. however, Wyatt would attack Orton before the match with Wyatt winning the match via forfeit as Orton was not able to compete and answer the referees count of ten. Wyatt would then be made to face Kane in a No Holds Barred match which he would go on to lose when Orton would interfere in the match and executed an RKO on Wyatt. Orton then challenged Wyatt to another match at No Mercy which he accepted and won with the help of the returning Luke Harper. On the October 25 edition of SmackDown Live, Orton interfered on Wyatt's behalf in his match with Kane, leading to speculation that Orton has joined the Wyatt Family. However, this has been neither confirmed nor denied by WWE or Orton.

Personal life

Rotunda is married and has two daughters.

Rotunda is a fan of the Oakland Raiders and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • As Axel Mulligan
    • Stunner
  • As Bray Wyatt
    • Sister Abigail (Swinging reverse STO, with theatrics)
  • As Husky Harris
    • Running senton
    • Swinging reverse STO
• Signature moves
  • Body avalanche
  • Drop suplex
  • Running body block
  • Running crossbody
  • Running senton
  • Short-arm clothesline, sometimes while running
  • Uranage
• Managers
  • Cody Rhodes
• Wrestlers managed
  • Braun Strowman
  • Erick Rowan
  • Daniel Bryan
  • Luke Harper
• Nicknames
  • "Accuser"
  • "The Army Tank with a Ferrari Engine"
  • "Destroyer"
  • "The Eater of Worlds"
  • "The Man of 1,000 Truths"
  • "The New Face of Fear"
  • "Seducer"
• Entrance themes
  • "Smoke & Mirrors " by TV/TV (used as Cody Rhodes' rookie in NXT)
  • "We Are One" by 12 Stones (used while a part of The Nexus)
  • "This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (used while a part of The New Nexus)
  • "Live In Fear" by Mark Crozer (April 22, 2012-October 25, 2016)
  • "Voices" by Rev Theory (October 26, 2016-present)

Championships and accomplishments

• Florida Championship Wrestling
  • FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Bo Rotundo
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Feud of the Year (2010) -
  • Match of the Year (2014)
  • Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2010) -
  • PWI ranked him No. 6 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2014
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Best Gimmick (2013) The Wyatt Family
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (2014) vs. John Cena at Extreme Rules on May 4