Windham Rotunda’s time under the World Wrestling Entertainment umbrella was a mixed bag with many ups and downs. He experienced multiple championship victories but it took a gimmick change to get him there. Debuting under the original NXT game show format as Husky Harris did the son of Mike Rotunda and grandson of Blackjack Mulligan no favors, and as a third-generation superstar, he was clearly destined for much more. No pun intended but Wyatt became a cult favorite with fans in the WWE, so where or when did it all go wrong. How was a guy with so much potential misused time and time again?
How It Started
As previously mentioned Windham Rotunda debuted on TV in the game show version of NXT as "rookie" Husky Harris, his pro on the show was Cody Rhodes. However, his real debut came in the WWE developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (which is what became NXT) where he would go by the name Alex Rotunda. He would go on to capture the FCW Tag Team Championship, with his real-life brother Bo Rotunda on two occasions as the "Rotunda Brothers". After he portrayed Husky Harris until 2012. It was when FCW has rebranded NXT, that Bray Wyatt would be born.
Becoming Bray Wyatt
The Bray Wyatt character debuted on the July 11th, 2012 edition of NXT winning a singles match. However, he ended up injured and was out of action until November of 2012. It was during that time that "The Wyatt Family" was born, and he would start appearing on screen with Erik Rowan and Luke Harper. This faction would prove to be very successful and all three men involved would go on to win titles while a part of it. His final appearance under the cult leader version of Bray Wyatt would come in late 2018 after he lost the Raw Tag Team Titles while teaming with Matt Hardy.
The Downfall Of The Fiend
In April of 2019, Wyatt would start to appear on screen playing a creepy host of a children’s cartoon show. These segments would later be referred to as "The FireFly Fun House". During one of the segments, he cut a cardboard cutout of his former version of Bray Wyatt in half with a chainsaw. Now going by the moniker "The Fiend" he would sport a red and black mask with very disturbing facial features on it. In the early days of the gimmick, he would go on to great success even capturing the Universal Title twice. However, that success would not last long as he was later once again misused by WWE Creative and on April 12th, 2021 he would make his final on-screen appearance for the company.
What's Next
On July 31st, 2021, Rotunda was released by the WWE, after 12 long years with the promotion. There were rumors of it being an attitude problem, but the real reason for his release is widely unknown to everyone but himself and the people around him. There has been tons of buzz around Rotunda and where his next move will be. A lot of speculation is coming out that he will sign with AEW, where his longtime friend, Brodie Lee (Luke Harper) was signed before his unfortunate and untimely passing. Whatever the case may be, whoever signs Rotunda, is sure to have a ready-made star on their hands, as he is fantastic in the ring and on the mic.
]]>The Inquisitr
