Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal (2024)

1. - Wrestling is not a love story.

2. It's much more.

3. It's hope.

4. An excuse to be a kid again.

5. And nothing matters except the moment we are in.

6. A great man once said that.

7. That man is my brother,

8. Windham Rotunda.

9. But you know him as Bray Wyatt.

10. Tell me this wasn't meant to be.

11. He knew where he was going from the beginning.

12. - There's something going on.

13. - Is that—you know who it is.

14. It's Bray Wyatt!

15. - Bray Wyatt was chaos.

16. The ultimate villain.

17. - I am Bray Wyatt, the new face of fear.

18. - He had the charisma that so many guys don't have.

19. - Can you feel that?

20. - That "it" quality.

21. - You hold 100,000 people in the palm of your hand.

22. - You've got it all.

23. - When it comes to creativity, Windham had no peers.

24. - Can I see what that looks like?

25. - He was not scared to push the limits.

26. - Yowie-wowie!

27. - He was a genius.

28. - Dreaming of all these ideas, it's such a cool feeling.

29. - He changed a whole industry.

30. - He put his heart and soul out on his sleeve.

31. It's one of the geniuses of him, but it's also

32. one of the things that was difficult to work with him on.

33. - When you hit creative roadblocks, you reform.

34. And that's what he did.

35. - It's time to rewrite my own story.

36. The ridiculously hard times are what strengthened me.

37. When I was weak, when I was vulnerable, when I was down,

38. you were there.

39. This is the best I've ever felt.

40. - He was bigger than life, and he was loved by millions.

41. - He had so much more that he wanted to do.

42. - I want to leave a legacy behind for everyone

43. that ever loved me.

44. - Creativity.

45. It comes from many places and takes many shapes.

46. The place is Western Pennsylvania.

47. The shape is a character forever known as Bray Wyatt.

48. - Jason.

49. - What's going on, buddy?

50. My name is Jason Baker.

51. I'm a special makeup effects artist and film director.

52. - Wild looking at all this.

53. - I know.

54. I had the honor of creating most of Windham's costumes

55. and all of his insane ideas.

56. - You look and see all the things he's done

57. and accomplished.

58. - I wish he was here to share it with us.

59. - Now it's up to us to give him something

60. he deserves that will let him live on forever.

61. We owe him something big.

62. - It's going to be wild.

63. - Something to truly honor his legacy.

64. - I grew up in a little town called Brooksville, Florida.

65. Small little town.

66. You know, everybody knows your business.

67. Everybody knows who you are.

68. Everybody knew who my family was growing up, obviously.

69. - Come on and let's fight.

70. - Blackjack Mulligan is my grandfather.

71. - Blackjack Mulligan.

72. What a monster.

73. - My uncles are Barry and Kendall Windham.

74. - Barry Windham. Kendall Windham.

75. Two second-generation wrestlers.

76. - And my father is Mike Rotunda.

77. - Outstanding athlete out of Syracuse.

78. A tremendous wrestler.

79. - I was wrestling down in Florida,

80. and Dusty Rhodes was the booker.

81. And he put Barry and I as a tag team together.

82. - Barry Windham joining Mike Rotunda.

83. - His sister Stephanie came down to visit.

84. - My sister had come to stay with me.

85. Mike, of course, being my best friend, was always over.

86. You know, I noticed that

87. they were kind of eyeballing each other.

88. - I wasn't supposed to really be around the wrestlers.

89. Said I wasn't interested.

90. And then I married him six months later.

91. And we've been married 40 years.

92. - Over the next few years, the couple

93. traveled the world together as Mike became a champion.

94. - Over the hip.

95. Shoulders down.

96. Yes, indeed!

97. We have new tag team champions,

98. Barry Windham, Mike Rotunda.

99. - And competed in the first-ever WrestleMania

100. in New York City.

101. - Rotunda now gets the Sheik up.

102. Well-executed suplex.

103. - Eventually, they settled in Brooksville.

104. And on May 23, 1987,

105. Windham Lawrence Rotunda was born.

106. - I was wrestling in

107. Championship Wrestling of Florida,

108. and I wrestled Ric Flair that night.

109. So I get home, nobody's at the house.

110. My mother-in-law and Steph were at the hospital.

111. They ended up doing an emergency C-section

112. because Windham was a big kid.

113. - He was almost 10 pounds.

114. Windham was named from the beginning

115. 'cause it's my maiden name.

116. He was like the little Gerber baby.

117. Bright, blue eyes and smiley

118. and curly little blonde ringlets of hair.

119. He was beautiful.

120. When he was a little bitty, like, two and three,

121. he would stand in front of the TV,

122. and he knew "Ghostbusters,"

123. "Beetlejuice" line-for-line.

124. - He would watch these movies,

125. and he would voice pretty much the whole movie

126. at that young age.

127. - I remember when he read all the Goosebumps books.

128. He was addicted to 'em.

129. But he was just such an imaginative,

130. imaginative character, and he was always

131. the center of attention wherever he went.

132. - Windham wouldn't be an only child for long.

133. When he was three years old, he got a brother, Taylor.

134. - Windham was always somebody I looked up to.

135. Most little brothers do look up to a bigger brother.

136. But Windham...

137. I wanted to be just like him.

138. - And three years later,

139. he got a little sister too: Mika.

140. - Brothers are awesome, and I had the two best.

141. I have felt that way my whole life.

142. Windham and Taylor were my protectors

143. and they were my friends and my confidants.

144. - We were all really, really close.

145. But in our younger years, me and Windham

146. played practical jokes.

147. We convinced her at one point that there was

148. an invisible man living in her closet.

149. Anytime she was about to tell on us, we'd be like,

150. do you want us to call on—hmm?

151. - Those kids played hard with each other.

152. I remember them, like, roughhousing

153. in our living room.

154. We were really close to Mike and Stephanie

155. and Windham and Taylor growing up.

156. Mike was one of my dad's best friends.

157. Those kids, they were vibrant.

158. They, all three, have so much personality.

159. - As the Rotunda children grew up, their father

160. developed a new identity in the ring.

161. - My dad was IRS, Irwin R. Schyster.

162. - I told you tax cheats before, everyone pays their taxes!

163. No one will rest in peace until all your taxes are paid.

164. - Even I shared the ring with IRS.

165. - Look at this!

166. Yeah!

167. - I remember seeing young Bray Wyatt

168. just hanging out back watching his dad,

169. just mesmerized, you know, watching his dad stretch

170. and work out in the ring.

171. You know, you could tell he wanted to be in the ring.

172. - I remember one time in particular,

173. I saw my dad was in a tag match with Ted DiBiase

174. against The Nasty Boys.

175. - Oh, God. Look at this. Uh-oh.

176. - Will it be the pit stop?

177. - I wanna see this.

178. - They put my dad in the corner,

179. and they stuck their armpits in his face.

180. And I remember being backstage

181. and my mom having to hold me back

182. because I was a little 7-year-old kid

183. and I was about to run in this ring.

184. That's where it started.

185. I knew that I had to get in there.

186. I wanted to be just like my dad.

187. I wanted to be in the WWE.

188. - By the early 2000s, Windham used his size

189. to excel in high school sports.

190. - Growing up, especially if you're heavyset like I was

191. when I was a kid, you had to learn

192. how to be tough at a real young age.

193. As soon as I was old enough, any contact sport

194. I could get my hands on, I was into it.

195. - He was a good football player.

196. Played both ways.

197. Made all-star teams.

198. - He really, really was an unbelievable athlete.

199. He ran a 4.840.

200. And the strength he had and the agility for the size

201. that he had, just unbelievable.

202. - Windham was an anomaly— everything, but especially

203. amateur wrestling and high school.

204. By the time it was time for his match,

205. the gym would quiet down.

206. And when he would wrestle, the whole gymnasium

207. would just stop to watch what he was doing.

208. He was a draw at 17.

209. - Windham won the heavyweight wrestling state title

210. and was all-state in football.

211. In 2005, he graduated and chose to continue

212. playing football 3,000 miles away.

213. - I went and played junior college football

214. at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California.

215. - Windham excelled and was named an All-American

216. offensive lineman.

217. Two years later, he transferred to Division I

218. Troy University in Alabama.

219. - I think that's where I really learned to be tough.

220. You know, it pushed me to the edge.

221. To play in Division I football ain't no joke.

222. - Being a college athlete was incredibly challenging.

223. It's a full-time job.

224. When you're coming up in a family

225. of professional athletes

226. and you see this devotion, you don't know anything

227. other than to give everything you've got.

228. He dreamt of playing for the Oakland Raiders.

229. And like, that's where he wanted to be,

230. and that's what he wanted to do.

231. - While Windham worked towards a future in the NFL,

232. he often made the 6.5-hour drive home to see his family

233. in Brooksville.

234. - I was 15, and I was very self-conscious

235. because I was really overweight.

236. And the only thing that made it better was Windham.

237. And I called him and I told him,

238. I'm the only freshman on homecoming court.

239. And I said, I know you're in the middle of football season.

240. It would mean everything if you could just

241. walk me down the field.

242. He showed up with a bouquet of flowers.

243. And I was so scared.

244. But when your big brother, who's your hero,

245. who's your favorite icon, shows up

246. just to walk you down the field, it vanishes.

247. - When I was a senior in high school,

248. I was going to the state championships.

249. And my brother was a state champion.

250. And I wanted to be just like him.

251. He wanted to come and see me.

252. But he said, I'm only going to come and see you

253. in the finals because I know you're going to make it

254. to the finals and I know you're going to win.

255. And that's all I need to see.

256. So long story short, I went into the tournament

257. and I suffered an injury and I was unable to compete.

258. And the only thing running through my head

259. was I let my brother down.

260. Finally got home, and Windham was already

261. waiting in the driveway

262. sitting on the back of his tailgate.

263. And before I even made it to him,

264. he made it to me with a big hug.

265. And...

266. He whispered into my ear...

267. "None of that shit matters."

268. None of that shit matters.

269. That's really who Windham was.

270. It was the love of his family and making sure

271. I felt OK after I felt like I let him down.

272. That's what mattered to him.

273. - By 2008, Windham was relegated

274. to a backup role on the Troy University football team,

275. and his playing time was limited.

276. - That was kind of a hard time for him because, of course,

277. his aspirations were pro football.

278. And it dawned on him that that wasn't going to happen.

279. - That same year, his 18-year-old brother Taylor

280. signed with WWE and joined their developmental system.

281. - I was having my first match,

282. and Windham drove down from Troy.

283. I got done and went and met him after.

284. And he's like, "I'm not going back to school.

285. I want to do this with you."

286. - That decision would change the course of Windham's life.

287. - In 2008, Windham walked away

288. from the Troy University's football team

289. and joined his brother Taylor

290. in WWE's developmental system, FCW.

291. FCW! FCW! - Slow down, folks.

292. - Windham came from college football.

293. And then kind of overnight, was just with FCW.

294. And yeah, everything was new and everything

295. was scary and exciting.

296. But I think what gave him comfort

297. was that his brother was there.

298. - He moved down to Tampa, and we got a house together.

299. And we loved it.

300. It was one of my favorite times of my life.

301. We did everything together.

302. We went to work together.

303. We talked about work.

304. And we ended up starting to tag together.

305. And we were Bo and Duke Rotundo.

306. And that was our life.

307. - I was 16.

308. I got my driver's license.

309. And the first place I ever drove

310. was to the Brooksville armory to watch my brothers.

311. - From Brooksville, Florida,

312. Bo and Duke Rotundo!

313. - Proud papa. Proud mama.

314. My parents were both really proud of the boys.

315. - They didn't get any roads paved for them

316. or silver spoon handed to them.

317. They had to come in like everybody else.

318. - What an opportunity here to see two

319. homegrown guys, man, right here.

320. Duke and Bo, man, this is going to be

321. a really special outing for them.

322. Big ol' Duke just a roughhouse.

323. He's a little green still, but he's got the get-go will.

324. - This is a really, really tough business.

325. But to have someone

326. that you can trust with absolutely anything

327. is unheard of in this business, and I had that.

328. You are looking at the most explosive tag team

329. in FCW, the Rotundo Brothers.

330. - And it's high time that we bring those titles back

331. to their new rightful home, Brooksville, Florida.

332. - We have new tag team champions,

333. the Rotundos, Bo and Duke.

334. - Right away, the Rotundo Brothers

335. impressed a WWE legend.

336. - I had offered my gym Hard Nocks South

337. as the first developmental strength territory.

338. So I used to see Windham all the time.

339. We separated them into groups

340. based on their athletic ability,

341. and Windham was in the top group.

342. But he was the only guy that would have

343. everyone laughing all the time.

344. He would come up with sketches in the gym, bring costumes.

345. - It puts the lotion on its skin,

346. or else it gets the hose again.

347. - Do you want to get dipped in water?

348. - Yeah.

349. - You can't swim with Saran wrap on.

350. - Bad boys don't get headbands.

351. - It's one of those things you see on and be like,

352. he's on to something.

353. - Look into these eyes, boy.

354. A demon lives behind these eyes.

355. A demon that you created.

356. - I mean, you could go back and find old tapes of Windham

357. at promo class.

358. You could take any one of those characters

359. and put them right on TV.

360. - Windham's magnetic personality and work ethic

361. didn't go unnoticed.

362. Within a year, the 23-year-old would be

363. featured on a new show called "NXT."

364. - "NXT" was a game show where, essentially,

365. you had up-and-coming wrestlers who would compete

366. to be the next breakout star.

367. And then we had a group of what were termed to be

368. pros who were acting as judges.

369. - And Windham got a new name.

370. - I don't believe Cody Rhodes is that enthused

371. about his rookie Husky Harris.

372. - Well, he was called Husky Harris.

373. - I thought it was a little— you know,

374. it wasn't complimentary by any means.

375. - I know Windham really didn't like the name.

376. He felt it was poking fun at his physique

377. more than anything.

378. - What can you say about

379. Husky Harris that you can't see?

380. - He's husky.

381. - Come on, baby!

382. - Husky Harris?

383. I don't know, man.

384. I can only imagine how frustrated

385. he must have been with that.

386. I don't know if, in my most creative hour,

387. could I have made this work.

388. - She wants me. Hmm.

389. - Oh, God.

390. - Terrible.

391. When I look back at the Husky Harris,

392. I just see that sad little boy.

393. It was just a terrible, terrible time.

394. And it was a figment of someone else's imagination

395. that they tried to push on a person.

396. - I feel like he knew in his heart that wasn't what

397. his destiny was supposed to be.

398. That Husky Harris character, it allowed him to want more.

399. It drove him to want more.

400. - While Windham wanted more professionally,

401. personally, he was thriving.

402. Windham had been dating his girlfriend Samantha

403. for three years.

404. And on November 14, 2010,

405. they welcomed their first daughter, Cadyn.

406. - He was on the European Tour.

407. And it started getting closer and closer.

408. And I called him and said, I'm going to go to the hospital.

409. I'm going. He's like, oh, God.

410. It was hours that he was just on the phone with me.

411. Sorry.

412. And she was born.

413. And he heard the whole thing.

414. I refused to let anybody see her until he saw her.

415. And she was about two, three days old.

416. And he was like, oh, my God.

417. He didn't know how to hold her.

418. I said, like a football.

419. You're good.

420. - She was a happy-go-lucky little girl and beautiful.

421. And she looked just like him.

422. - For sure, it changed his life.

423. It gave him direction and a purpose

424. because it wasn't just about him anymore.

425. It was about his beautiful child.

426. - At that time, Paul Levesque, also known as Triple H,

427. was head of creative for WWE Developmental.

428. - Windham was in the company as Husky Harris.

429. Didn't feel like it was working.

430. Didn't feel like it was going to work.

431. I think we have him miscast.

432. He's really talented.

433. Let me take him, put him back down in Florida,

434. and let me see what I can get out of him.

435. - He didn't want to be this cookie-cutter—little tights.

436. Windham from day one was like, no way, man.

437. That's not my stuff. I'm different.

438. And he was sent back to FCW.

439. He got in the car smiling, laughing like, listen, listen.

440. The entire 31/2-hour ride, he was just showing me videos

441. and telling me ideas and all this stuff.

442. It was crazy and all over the place.

443. And I'm like, what are you even talking about, man?

444. And he was telling me about Waylon Mercy

445. and we were watching videos of that.

446. - Waylon Mercy, he's a peaceful man.

447. He likes his peaceful surroundings.

448. - Those are the eeriest, strangest-looking eyes

449. I've ever seen.

450. Look at this.

451. - And he's telling me about Robert De Niro's demeanor

452. from "Cape Fear."

453. The next week rolled around and we had promo class,

454. and it blew everybody's mind.

455. - Because I am like God, and God like me.

456. You know, I'm as large as him.

457. He is as small as I.

458. - And just like that, Bray Wyatt was born.

459. - He really attributed a lot of Bray

460. to growing up in Brooksville.

461. - He had a really, really close friend growing up,

462. Brae White.

463. Still to this day, the craziest motherl've ever met.

464. And this is a real person.

465. He got in a car wreck when he was younger

466. and his head went through the windshield

467. and he lost all feeling in his face,

468. so he'd just headbutt anything.

469. And a lot of his characteristics

470. were taken and put into the Bray Wyatt character.

471. - I have never seen so clearly in all my life.

472. - Windham's cousin's name is Wyatt.

473. So Windham kind of mixed it up and came up with Bray Wyatt.

474. - And they say, Bray Wyatt, well, he's crazy, man.

475. He's a psychopath.

476. - He came out, and everything about it—

477. the presentation and just the energy—

478. we were like, oh, this is good.

479. This jumps off the page.

480. - It blew everybody away.

481. You wouldn't even know if he was there.

482. And then all of a sudden, Bray Wyatt would emerge.

483. And it was truly like he walked into a phone booth

484. and came out as Superman.

485. - A lot of times, those promos on promo day

486. will be 60 seconds.

487. 90 if you ask for it.

488. Windham would go up there sometimes

489. for, like, six or seven minutes.

490. I think Dusty gave him just a lot of room

491. to explore and to find that character

492. and to find the voice.

493. - Dusty knew there was something special there,

494. and he wasn't going to let it go.

495. He knew Windham had something that was

496. going to change the business.

497. - Said he was Bray.

498. As we started to enlighten the world

499. who this Bray Wyatt character was,

500. Windham is such a unique kid that he understands—

501. he believes that.

502. That's who he is.

503. That's what makes him so good.

504. - Dusty called me one day and he said,

505. "Kid, remember Husky?"

506. And I was like, yeah.

507. And he goes, "He's got a new character.

508. "You're going to love it.

509. You got to come check it out."

510. And he cut this promo, and it was so bizarre.

511. And Dusty said, "What do you think?"

512. And I'm like, this is a movie character.

513. - Within months, Windham had an idea.

514. He wanted an on-screen family.

515. But his brother Taylor was already an established singles

516. competitor known as Bo Dallas.

517. Enter John Huber, also known as Luke Harper.

518. - I had flown to FCW for the tryout.

519. And then I get a call from Windham.

520. And about 10 minutes later, I hang up the phone.

521. I hadn't said a word.

522. And this guy had—

523. Bray—had rattled off about a million different things.

524. And I was like, oh, my God, that dude's nuts.

525. Like, wow.

526. - Windham and Luke had an immediate bond.

527. They just connected.

528. So initially, it just started as Bray and Luke.

529. We created this environment where,

530. is he really talking to people or is this all in his mind?

531. - Here we go.

532. In three, two, one.

533. Action.

534. - Can you feel that?

535. Come with me, and I will show you a love that is power.

536. - The first shoot, he's on the river.

537. It's in the forest right down from our house.

538. And the guys had to go back in with the alligators

539. and the mosquitoes and everything.

540. - I almost fell on that one, buddy.

541. - Our first house was on 10 acres, and we

542. were next to a zoo that had lions and big cats

543. and started hearing, like, lion roars at night.

544. So unique stuff would happen.

545. And he pulled from that.

546. - I wish you'd quit lying to your children,

547. telling them that there's things out there that

548. won't go bump in the night.

549. What they going to do, man?

550. What you going to do to something like me?

551. What can they do?

552. Run.

553. - There was something special

554. and something interesting there that could resonate.

555. - My name is Bray Wyatt.

556. Pleased to meet you, man.

557. Help me welcome the first son

558. of the Wyatt family, Luke Harper.

559. - This is getting weirder by the second.

560. - What is happening?

561. - At the time, I got this Viking gimmick.

562. And I remember being called into an office like,

563. "OK, we want you as the second son."

564. And I was like, that's cool.

565. What am I wearing?

566. - Bray wanted Rowan to wear a mask.

567. So Rowan had a duffel bag full of masks.

568. And he pulls out this sheep's mask.

569. And Bray was like, oh, I love it.

570. That's perfect.

571. - We are strong.

572. We are dangerous.

573. We are family.

574. - I would bring home these big rocking chairs,

575. and he and I and Taylor and Mike

576. would just mess them all up

577. and make them look rough and beat up.

578. And that's the one they'll see

579. in the scene in the barn.

580. - We were having a blast.

581. Sometimes, we would watch old interviews

582. with people that were on death row

583. because we're trying to see how they speak.

584. Why do they think they're right?

585. Just their mindset.

586. And I think a lot of that plays into, like,

587. what he was able to create.

588. - At age 26, Bray Wyatt was an immediate hit.

589. As Windham's stardom grew, so did his family.

590. He got married to Samantha.

591. And on February 7, 2013, his second daughter, Kendyl,

592. was born.

593. - Because he had missed the first birth,

594. I wanted to do everything I could

595. so he could be there and experience it.

596. Because I feel like that's something

597. that you have to experience.

598. So we elected to be induced with our second.

599. That way, he could be there.

600. - Windham was born to do a lot and to be a lot of things.

601. But being a daddy was number one.

602. When he loved, he loved massively.

603. And he had a whole heart to give to his babies.

604. - We all knew Windham was going to be a great father.

605. I mean, one of his strongest qualities is how much he loves.

606. And he already had plans on where he was going

607. and what he was going to do, but his children,

608. they just further instilled more and more drive in him.

609. - Three, two...

610. - Good. Good. Good.

611. Tell them.

612. Tell them, Bray.

613. - There we go.

614. Deep in the woods.

615. - Real deep dive.

616. - Come on, guys.

617. Start it over.

618. - Preparations were underway to get the Wyatt family

619. ready for an even bigger stage.

620. - As you talk about bringing Bray Wyatt

621. and the family up to Raw or to SmackDown and up

622. into the big show, now, how do you

623. take that, put that into an arena?

624. Let me talk to you 'cause I want you

625. to understand the psychology of it.

626. - Let's go right now. I'm ready.

627. - It's subtle.

628. That's where the lantern came to be.

629. I think, when I threw it at him, he loved—

630. like, all the lights should go out

631. and this creepy ass dude comes out

632. of the swamp holding a lantern.

633. And just slightly beneath your face.

634. But it would give me enough light to see that.

635. Those were the things that we sort of collaborated on

636. a lot and put the character together.

637. - That's fun. I like that.

638. - In the summer of 2013, Bray Wyatt was ready

639. to make his debut on the national stage.

640. - This is Monday Night Raw.

641. The WWE fans in Baltimore are on their feet.

642. - We finally got the call-up.

643. And I don't know if we really understood what we had.

644. We knew the "NXT" crowd had responded so well to us.

645. We never in a million years thought

646. it was going to explode the way it did.

647. We're here.

648. - Bray Wyatt's emergence on Monday Night Raw

649. as the leader of the cult-like Wyatt Family

650. was unlike anything the WWE Universe had seen before.

651. - He was just such a captivating talker.

652. And he was doing stuff that no one else was doing.

653. Because in wrestling, you get so much bombast

654. and you're taught to, like, play to the nosebleeds.

655. But the way he could just deliver something very softly

656. and it would, like, send chills up your spine—

657. - Tomorrow morning when you wake up,

658. you go back to being just another one

659. of those anonymous souls.

660. - That stuff, I think, was mesmerizing.

661. And in many ways, he's portraying this cult leader,

662. but it almost felt real.

663. Like, he was gathering people's interest.

664. - He put his whole heart and soul into that character.

665. And that transcended through the camera and on TV.

666. And you could feel it.

667. This is awesome!

668. - It was eerie, but you knew that it was special

669. because it felt almost like a movie character.

670. It felt like you were watching something

671. that shouldn't be in professional wrestling—

672. that didn't fit.

673. - Oh, my God!

674. - It was very interesting to watch him create something

675. that made sense in our world.

676. - As soon as I saw Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family,

677. I was instantly connected to it.

678. I've always loved characters that have this darkness to it,

679. but a darkness that is there for a reason.

680. - Within a few months, Bray Wyatt was

681. vaulted into a rivalry with a top star, John Cena.

682. - I could be just like you.

683. I could sign autographs and kiss babies

684. and make sure that everyone buys all my merchandise.

685. - The main focus of Bray Wyatt's character was chaos.

686. - I am different than anyone you will ever face.

687. - The ability to just be a person

688. that wants to see the world burn.

689. And man, when you start breaking down

690. the stuff he was saying, it's, like, super deep.

691. - The loneliest man on Earth is the man who sits alone

692. atop his empty castle.

693. Who will be left for you, John?

694. - But he was so entertaining that if you didn't take

695. anything away from it, cool.

696. And if you wanted to dive in the rabbit hole,

697. you were going to some weird places.

698. This is awesome!

699. - So it was like, holy shit, we got something here.

700. - At WrestleMania, John Cena takes on Bray Wyatt.

701. - Windham had made it to the big time, WrestleMania.

702. - New Orleans, a weird voodoo-based town

703. to get the WrestleMania debut of Bray Wyatt.

704. It really was special.

705. - We all had dreams and goals.

706. And me and Windham talked about them endlessly.

707. You know, like, if we can make it to WrestleMania

708. and get a match on that platform, then we had made it.

709. - We all knew he was going to get there,

710. but we didn't know he was going to get there that fast.

711. - To see him go from the lowest of lows

712. to figuring out who he was, catching fire,

713. and then working with one of the greatest

714. of all time, John Cena, at WrestleMania,

715. I mean, it's an incredible story,

716. and especially in such a short period of time.

717. - And here we go.

718. This much-anticipated match underway.

719. Oh! Wow.

720. - Growing up watching our dad

721. and watching our uncles

722. and watching our grandfather,

723. the grandest stage of all is going to be WrestleMania.

724. And I remember sitting there going, that's my big brother.

725. - Bray Wyatt is trying to sway the masses,

726. and I'm not sure it's not working.

727. - The shepherd leading his flock.

728. - We were all excited for him.

729. And even Mike and I were just, wow.

730. Wow.

731. Because it's your kid, and it's, you know,

732. that was the first time

733. I saw him bigger than life.

734. - Cena, second rope. Caught by Wyatt!

735. Oh! That could be it!

736. - What an impact! - Shoulders are down!

737. - Kick out in two.

738. - I was very happy for him.

739. It's a good feeling in your heart as a parent

740. to see your kid work really hard and get rewarded for it.

741. - Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

742. That stopped Cena in his tracks.

743. - What is that?

744. - I've never seen a match quite like this.

745. - 20 years from now, they'll go, wow, this moment

746. happened with John.

747. That's what I'm looking forward to.

748. - AA for Cena.

749. Hook of the leg.

750. John Cena's legacy grows.

751. - It was spectacular.

752. I'm an advocate for, it takes 10 years

753. to establish sort of fluency.

754. And I know Husky Harris didn't work out, but holy shit.

755. When he came back, it was like fluency in six months.

756. That is a meteoric rise.

757. - An incredible scene.

758. And the sea of Fireflies— what Bray Wyatt

759. calls his followers— lighting the arena.

760. - The lantern, to me, is like— this is one of the many things

761. I loved about your brother is that

762. he could make anything iconic.

763. - And this one's, like, the first one too.

764. So it was much simpler. - Yeah.

765. This is it. This is the very first one.

766. - Looking at this, it reminds me

767. of the birth of the Fireflies.

768. Like...

769. to see that as it was happening was—

770. I have a memory—

771. it was Madison Square Garden—

772. and I got to see his entrance.

773. And...

774. - I mean, because that's it, right?

775. Madison Square Garden is the—

776. - It's something I'll never forget.

777. To look out...

778. and see the sea of lights.

779. The Fireflies, we had never seen before in WWE.

780. And I don't know if we'll ever see it again.

781. - We're here.

782. It was created by the fans on their own.

783. You know, they call themselves the Fireflies.

784. And it became their own thing.

785. And now it's become a spectacle.

786. Like, almost a piece of what you pay

787. to come see at a WWE show

788. is the Wyatt entrance.

789. - When you get is not just typical fan participation.

790. You get this idea that everything this character

791. is saying is true.

792. Because every little light that is around

793. this darkened arena

794. represents somebody that's buying in

795. to whatever this malicious character is selling.

796. - He just found a niche.

797. And finding a niche is a really hard thing to do,

798. you know, and make it last for a while.

799. - The matches, the promos, all of it's

800. just avenues that we take to do what we're really doing here,

801. which is connect with the audience.

802. That's it.

803. So if you find a way to do that,

804. that's your ticket.

805. That's how you climb the ladder.

806. And he clearly did.

807. - When people would approach him, they wanted to meet Bray.

808. And Windham gave them who he was and he took his time.

809. - Would you like anything else?

810. Oh, is this for me? - Yeah.

811. - Oh, thank you.

812. - I appreciate everything you do.

813. - Thank you very much.

814. - Whatever you have going on in your life,

815. it matters to me.

816. Even if we have a five-minute interaction,

817. whatever you want to tell me is important to me

818. and I'm going to genuinely listen.

819. And when I walk away from you,

820. I'm going to leave you better than I found you.

821. - Thank you.

822. - Ready? 1, 2, 3.

823. - He's my favorite wrestler of all time.

824. I'm still shaking.

825. Love you, Bray.

826. Don't forget your autograph.

827. - Everything. You really are.

828. - He just had it.

829. And not only it, he had everything else

830. to go along with that.

831. - I'm blessed to be here.

832. - Nice to meet you.

833. All right, man.

834. - I don't think I've ever seen anyone

835. so committed to being a character.

836. And when he was Bray Wyatt,

837. I don't know if anyone was more believable.

838. I don't know if anyone immersed you as much,

839. if anyone made you believe as much as he did.

840. He was just one of the most cerebral performers

841. I think that I'd ever met because his preparation

842. was so real.

843. - And action.

844. - I'm here.

845. You're here.

846. We're all here.

847. - I remember being in the backstage one time.

848. And as I'm walking past, I see, like, Windham

849. out of the corner of my eye like this

850. up to the wall in this little alcove.

851. And he's just going over his promo and going over his promo

852. and going over his promo.

853. And I remember thinking, wow, I wish I could

854. have that type of focus and that type of dedication

855. and that type of commitment to the character.

856. He's such a creative guy.

857. - Windham's commitment to his craft caught my eye.

858. I knew this kid was special.

859. And the time was right for us to meet in the ring.

860. - When I got that message that I was

861. going to have the luxury and the privilege of competing

862. against the Undertaker at WrestleMania,

863. I was immediately like, oh, my God.

864. I am Bray Wyatt, the new face of fear!

865. And then I remember he was in the room.

866. And I remember him kind of—

867. you know, when he does his finger.

868. And he called me in.

869. And he sat me down real calm.

870. And he was like, are you ready to do this?

871. And like, you know, I'm like, yeah.

872. This is everything I've ever trained for.

873. Of course I'm ready for this.

874. - It will be a night forever etched in history

875. and legends will be born.

876. - It was huge.

877. Nobody can touch the Undertaker.

878. I mean, he had his action figures.

879. - You think Bray Wyatt might be having

880. second thoughts right now?

881. - I enjoyed it because it's like watching

882. the Freddy versus Jason live or Godzilla versus King Kong.

883. - Bray Wyatt wanted to dance with the devil?

884. Welcome to hell.

885. - That night on the grandest stage,

886. Windham proved he was a legend in the making.

887. - That, indeed, is the new face of fear.

888. - That WrestleMania match did more for me

889. than I could ever put into words.

890. - Oh, what a WrestleMania moment!

891. - At that time, I was struggling with my confidence.

892. And that night, Windham helped restore

893. not only the Undertaker...

894. - The Undertaker did it!

895. - But Mark Calaway, as well.

896. - He's like your father.

897. And he is responsible for so much

898. of the progression of this business.

899. You know, not just in the ring,

900. but what he did behind the stages

901. to kind of show everyone and lead by his example.

902. - By 2015, Bray Wyatt was box office.

903. And all the while, he was becoming a trusted mentor

904. behind the scenes.

905. - I hadn't been into the business for too long.

906. The second he laid eyes on me, he pulled me off to the side

907. and he was like, "I want you to be a part of us.

908. I don't know how, when, where."

909. He was like, "But holy cow, look at you."

910. - What the—

911. This guy is a monster.

912. Look at the size of him.

913. - From day one, he treated me like I was like a brother.

914. He taught me all kinds of stuff in the ring.

915. But honestly, like, I learned more from him about

916. the real world, I feel like.

917. You know, him being a third-generation wrestler,

918. being in this business,

919. already been on TV, established,

920. and stuff like that, he'd already navigated

921. the wolves in the forest.

922. He was just that guy that just made sure everyone was happy

923. and everyone was well taken care of

924. and felt like they belonged.

925. - I remember coming up and being afraid

926. and being scared and being away from home.

927. And the warmth and the humility with which

928. he talked to you like he was on the same level as you

929. and with just no pretenses about him.

930. - I think he really loved people.

931. And I think he loved positively affecting people.

932. And he loved seeing people smile or laugh.

933. - Even when he was like, you know, had been on the road

934. for two weeks and just wanted to get home and see his kids,

935. like, he was still always in a good mood.

936. He was just such a pleasure to be around as a human being.

937. - Windham's lineage and the fact that the business

938. is in his blood, not only was he this interesting performer,

939. but he had a lot of respect for the business.

940. A lot.

941. And he had a lot of camaraderie with the superstars.

942. He was really fun to be around and always wanted everybody

943. to have a good time.

944. - He could light up a room in an instant.

945. He was the guy who was a chameleon.

946. He was the guy that everybody was best friends with.

947. He had a certain draw to him.

948. - He just had a charisma, a zest for life.

949. Like, you were drawn to him.

950. He was a very magnetic person.

951. - This is the greatest night in live entertainment.

952. - WrestleMania 32.

953. Over 100,000 Fireflies lit up the sky

954. for Bray Wyatt, a spectacle that was recognized

955. by one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time,

956. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

957. - The Rock's had his eye on you

958. ever since you came into the WWE.

959. You got it all.

960. You hold people in the palm of your hands.

961. When the lights went out, you came down,

962. 100,000 people had their phones up.

963. 100,000 people.

964. - He was almost bulletproof at that point.

965. I never saw him exhibit any nerves

966. as he's lining up for these huge main events.

967. You simply couldn't take your eyes off him.

968. - After four years on the main roster,

969. there was a milestone that Bray Wyatt had yet to achieve.

970. - When everything is said and done,

971. I will be leaving the new WWE champion!

972. - Phenomenal form.

973. No, it's blocked by Wyatt.

974. Sister Abigail on AJ Styles.

975. - One, two, three!

976. - Bray Wyatt has done it.

977. In the soul-stealing structure known as the Elimination

978. Chamber, Bray Wyatt has won his first WWE Championship.

979. - The company had put their stamp on him and said,

980. this is going to be our guy.

981. I mean, there's not many better feelings

982. from a performer's perspective when you finally get that.

983. - In this hellacious match, Bray Wyatt rose from the ashes

984. to taste the ultimate glory.

985. The era of Wyatt is here.

986. - He was the first in the family to win,

987. which is pretty good considering your grandfather

988. did it, your uncles did it, your dad did it.

989. And you were the first.

990. So that's cool.

991. - Out of all of us, that I'm the one that did it—

992. my whole entire life, no matter what accolade,

993. what thing I did great, the first paragraph

994. was about everyone else in my family

995. that was not me and all the things they had done.

996. And now it's like, when you look at anything about them,

997. it's a whole paragraph about me.

998. - When you're working with talent,

999. you form a bond with them

1000. and you know the human being behind it

1001. and you know how hard they work at it.

1002. Windham winning a title that had eluded his entire family,

1003. that was so special.

1004. - I was there.

1005. It was huge. I cried.

1006. It was very, very cool.

1007. - If I go back and look at the landscape

1008. of my life and my career here, the ridiculously hard times

1009. are kind of what strengthened me.

1010. I knew that sooner or later I'd get to it,

1011. it was just a matter of how and when.

1012. - It was huge for him.

1013. Getting on top was one thing.

1014. To stay there...

1015. - Being on top means numerous appearances,

1016. new responsibilities, and more time away from home.

1017. - Me and Bray were very close, especially for that stint.

1018. We were working so closely together

1019. and we were really telling some good stories

1020. and having a lot of fun on TV.

1021. - I feel like we're shooting a movie

1022. for SyFy channel right now.

1023. - But being on the road, it's tough.

1024. When guys start having kids and we get a little older,

1025. you know, things change.

1026. It's very hard to balance, especially when

1027. you're a young man.

1028. The work and home life balance, if you will.

1029. It's virtually impossible.

1030. - Oh! RKO!

1031. Randy Orton is champion!

1032. - It was just after WrestleMania in Orlando.

1033. Things were not what they used to be.

1034. He was on the road and traveling

1035. and I was at home with the kids.

1036. And we ultimately got divorced.

1037. Our lives just grew apart.

1038. - He was absent.

1039. Mind, body, and soul.

1040. The divorce in that time of his life was a devastating ordeal.

1041. - Windham's frustrations affected his focus.

1042. - So, guys, remember long at the beginning.

1043. - Just —let's go.

1044. - Yep. In five.

1045. - Windham was very emotionally attached to his work.

1046. When things went great, they were great.

1047. And when they went not so great and they were frustrating,

1048. they were exaggeratedly frustrated.

1049. - You going to cut me?

1050. - Sometimes the hardest thing to talk him into was, OK, yeah,

1051. but how do we make that work in the ring?

1052. I get it. That shit is crazy.

1053. It seems genius.

1054. It's like, man, I'm intrigued by that.

1055. OK. But now, ding ding.

1056. And that was sometimes the trick.

1057. He was so creative and so outside the box

1058. that pulling it back into a particular genre

1059. was hard for him to do.

1060. - While Windham's brother Taylor was finding success

1061. as a WWE tag team champion, Bray's on-screen Wyatt family

1062. was no more.

1063. - Harper and Rowan had branched off

1064. and become a tag team on their own

1065. called The Bludgeon Brothers.

1066. Braun Strowman had become

1067. a bona fide main-event superstar.

1068. The Bray Wyatt character kind of found himself

1069. in a neutral position.

1070. He was on TV, but he wasn't really prominently featured.

1071. - When I was working with Harper and Rowan

1072. doing the Bludgeon Brothers stuff,

1073. he'd come and check it out and give the classic, like,

1074. oh, baby.

1075. Oh, you guys look good. Sexy.

1076. You know, cracking jokes.

1077. But you'd see every time he'd see something artistic

1078. and creative—like, we'd make these things

1079. for Harper and Rowan—

1080. he'd be like, oh, I want that.

1081. What can I do?

1082. And you'd see the gears start turning.

1083. - And that's the thing with Windham.

1084. And like you said, this was around 2018.

1085. And behind the scenes, there was a lot

1086. going on in Windham's life.

1087. And a normal person, with everything

1088. that he was dealing with, could have let everything go

1089. and kind of lost the grip of it all.

1090. But he's always been able to find inspiration

1091. in places I don't think anybody else could.

1092. - As Windham dealt with the stress,

1093. he leaned on his friends.

1094. - We were together four or five days a week.

1095. We cried together.

1096. We laughed together.

1097. We did everything together.

1098. The WWE, it's such a family.

1099. It really is.

1100. Like, we're all together so much.

1101. We're all away from our families and stuff

1102. like that— our real blood families.

1103. We all have a really cool relationship.

1104. - My name is JoJo.

1105. And originally, I started off as a wrestler.

1106. And then I transitioned into a role of the ring announcer.

1107. The following No Holds Barred match

1108. will begin in Bray Wyatt's House of Horrors.

1109. We respected each other's work.

1110. And we slowly became really, really great friends

1111. through that time.

1112. And so when we were both able to, we started dating.

1113. - I lived with JoJo when I was in "NXT."

1114. I never pictured JoJo and Windham together.

1115. Not for a single second.

1116. Like, it never dawned on me.

1117. But then you see them together and you're like, oh, yeah.

1118. Oh, that makes sense.

1119. They're just these two beautiful souls.

1120. - JoJo made Windham happy, and that's all

1121. you can ask for is to be happy in this world,

1122. you know?

1123. - It's just that old saying, you can't fight fate.

1124. And I think fate was just— it just took a little while

1125. for them to find each other.

1126. - He loved her so much and she meant the world to him.

1127. - In 2019, Windham and JoJo welcomed

1128. their first child, a son, Knash.

1129. - When we found out it was a boy—

1130. He was so happy.

1131. He goes, "I didn't think I could have boys.

1132. I thought I was destined for girls my whole life."

1133. - Knash boy is the sweetest little human

1134. that I've ever met.

1135. He looks more like JoJo,

1136. but he has Windham's personality.

1137. - Two years later, they would welcome a little girl, Hyrie.

1138. - We got the yin and yang.

1139. We've got the one that's Windham, the firstborn.

1140. And then the second one is just full of fire.

1141. - One of the things that I loved the most about Windham

1142. in general was how wonderful a father he always was.

1143. - Just going over to their house,

1144. it was like a scene out of a movie.

1145. Just loud and happy always.

1146. - She changed his life for the better.

1147. - Yay!

1148. Time to blow this out.

1149. - Blow it out. - Make a wish.

1150. - Yay!

1151. - Windham's happiness inspired his creative side.

1152. By early 2019, the idea for a new character

1153. started to develop.

1154. - He always joked about how every time he's had a child,

1155. it boosted his confidence to come back even harder.

1156. So we would be at home.

1157. And we're laying in bed and he's like,

1158. "So I have this idea."

1159. - Windham's journey took him to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1160. - For years, Windham was always like,

1161. "Hey, we got to do something.

1162. Let's do something. Let's do something."

1163. And I'm like, well, you have my number.

1164. Call me.

1165. And then out of the blue at, like, 2:00 AM,

1166. I finally got the call from Windham,

1167. in classic Windham fashion.

1168. And he was like, hey, man, I've been sent home.

1169. Creative has nothing for me.

1170. I know what that means.

1171. I got to do something drastic, and I need your help.

1172. - In the spring of 2019,

1173. Windham had an idea for a new character.

1174. - I've always been a huge fan of, like, horror movies.

1175. So naturally, the progression was—

1176. you know, when I started watching wrestling,

1177. it was the horror characters that always caught my eye.

1178. One of my earliest memories was Papa Shango

1179. and The Ultimate Warrior.

1180. - Well, take a look at Papa Shango's face.

1181. He's in a trance.

1182. He's in another world.

1183. And the curse is affecting The Ultimate Warrior.

1184. - That type of stuff is the stuff

1185. that really sticks in my head, you know?

1186. I think that wrestling needs

1187. that kind of dark entity in it.

1188. - When we were children, we weren't hearing

1189. the stereotypical bedtime stories.

1190. We were hearing Stephen King.

1191. - They needed their daily update of where my book was

1192. and what it was doing.

1193. And they would both come to the table

1194. with these, like, characters all with a Stephen King basis.

1195. They have that influence.

1196. I didn't mean to do it, but I did.

1197. - We both were huge fans of horror movies

1198. and the contrast between good and evil.

1199. But not only that, to make what you would think to be good

1200. seem evil and what you'd think to be evil seem good.

1201. - So yeah.

1202. There's a bunch of our old concept.

1203. Good thing I'm a hoarder.

1204. So yeah, man.

1205. Again, working with your brother is

1206. the funnest time I've ever had

1207. professionally and personally.

1208. I remember he just called and he was like, yeah,

1209. I want to come up with this idea.

1210. I want this mask.

1211. - We both loved wrestling,

1212. but I was The Rock and Stone Cold,

1213. and he was Kane and Undertaker and Papa Shango.

1214. You know, anything weird.

1215. He was always attracted to that, I think

1216. because if you look at him, he looks like a monster.

1217. But he had the biggest and best heart.

1218. - I'm obviously paraphrasing, but I remember

1219. he said one time that the only way to judge darkness

1220. is through the absence of light.

1221. So you know, just doing that was like this beautiful thing.

1222. Then he's like, no, let's show the world if you use something

1223. that's dark, you can show the world how beautiful

1224. it is by contrast.

1225. - Are we ready, Bray?

1226. - I'm ready.

1227. - All right. Let's do it.

1228. - This new character needed a new world.

1229. - And action.

1230. - This is the Firefly Fun House.

1231. - I had the opportunity to work

1232. on the first Firefly Fun Houses.

1233. The Firefly Fun House only existed in Bray's mind.

1234. It was not a real place.

1235. He would allow us inside that head.

1236. And you can accept it because it was fantasy.

1237. When you walk in, you want to just say, really.

1238. - Really.

1239. - Then you'll go, really. - Really.

1240. - And then look back at the camera.

1241. - Shooting the Fun House was unlike anything

1242. WWE has done before.

1243. And that was always our intention

1244. was to do something completely different.

1245. And in wrestling, that's tough because

1246. everybody's done everything at some point.

1247. - I'm trying to make it different.

1248. - Yeah. Follow the leader.

1249. Follow the leader. Follow the leader.

1250. - I was blown away by how talented he was.

1251. - See you later! Bye!

1252. Can I see what that looks like real quick?

1253. - Windham's brain is just like a tornado of ideas.

1254. - Could it be warped somehow?

1255. - He has so many different things he wants to do,

1256. wants to say.

1257. And it's just so many different things at once

1258. that the hard part is kind of containing it.

1259. - What about if I deliver the line before

1260. while I'm standing and then the next thing is

1261. the music's playing and it's just

1262. da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da at the end?

1263. - All you have to do is... - Let me in.

1264. - His range of interests were so wide.

1265. He knew something about everything

1266. and he drew inspiration from everything.

1267. - Oh.

1268. And I want to introduce you to some very special friends

1269. that I've met along the way.

1270. - A key component of Windham's vision

1271. included multiple puppets that would enhance his character.

1272. This is my friend Huskus the Pig Boy.

1273. - Join us. Join us.

1274. - Huskus was obviously a representation of Bray

1275. and the stuff that he'd gone through with his weight.

1276. The Ramblin' Rabbit was sort of the personification

1277. of people's opinion of Bray— of him rambling

1278. too much in his promos.

1279. - Oh, OK.

1280. Yeah.

1281. - Mercy was a little bit of an homage

1282. to Waylon Mercy, the character that

1283. Bray drew so much influence from.

1284. Abby was Sister Abigail, an imaginary sister

1285. of Bray Wyatt in his story.

1286. - After several weeks of preparation,

1287. the Firefly Fun House premiered in prime time

1288. on Monday Night Raw.

1289. - Did you miss me?

1290. Oh, how I have missed you.

1291. - When I first saw the Firefly Fun House,

1292. I remember texting one of the writers saying,

1293. this is brilliant.

1294. - Hi.

1295. Did you enjoy my little secret?

1296. - Really enjoyed the Pee-wee's Playhouse

1297. take of the Firefly Fun House.

1298. - Sociopath is the word of the day.

1299. Sociopath.

1300. - He thought of all that stuff himself.

1301. Puts himself in the genius category.

1302. - Let me in.

1303. - It was like Mister Rogers meets Tales from the Crypt.

1304. - Whenever there was a Firefly Fun House going on,

1305. on a screen in the back as the show is going,

1306. there would always be a sellout at one of those monitors

1307. to see what Bray was going to do in that Fun House that week.

1308. - Today, I have something super serious to talk to you about.

1309. Exercise!

1310. - For him to be able to pivot and all of a sudden go,

1311. hi, welcome to the Fun House.

1312. We're going to work out.

1313. He had the charisma that so many guys don't have.

1314. - I really appreciated the Firefly Fun House

1315. because it was the public eye's first opportunity

1316. to see Windham be silly.

1317. - Yowie-wowie!

1318. You found me.

1319. - Knowing Windham, you knew it was going to go dark.

1320. - I will always light the way.

1321. And all you have to do is let me in.

1322. - And it was going to be scary.

1323. - After months of hosting the bizarre program,

1324. in the summer of 2019, Windham would introduce

1325. the WWE Universe to his darker side.

1326. - As tight as it can go.

1327. That's perfect.

1328. Let's go make some nightmares.

1329. - The Fiend.

1330. - Yowie-wowie!

1331. - It was a brand-new character that lived in Bray's head.

1332. However, it could take over Bray's body.

1333. And then The Fiend became real.

1334. - The dichotomy of this sadistic character

1335. in the children's setup, it was so bizarre,

1336. and it felt wrong.

1337. But it was one of those things you couldn't look away from.

1338. - Coming up next here at SummerSlam,

1339. it is the in-ring debut of The Fiend.

1340. It's Finn Bálor versus Bray Wyatt,

1341. who went through this bizarre transformation

1342. in a place called the Firefly Fun House.

1343. - He showed up on the day of SummerSlam,

1344. and I seen what the character was.

1345. I just said, oh, wow.

1346. This is cool.

1347. - We're seeing so many different forms

1348. of intimidation from The Fiend.

1349. - This is just disturbing.

1350. - The thing about professional wrestling

1351. is it's one of the only forms of entertainment

1352. where you have to do it live in front of an audience

1353. with no CGI, no camera effects.

1354. So when The Fiend shows up in the arena

1355. and he's literally a horror movie monster,

1356. I was like, this is unbelievable.

1357. - I love it.

1358. - That's cool.

1359. - Awesome.

1360. Happy for you, brother.

1361. - The Fiend is my favorite character

1362. in WWE, of all time.

1363. Someone had finally pulled off a split-personality character.

1364. - I was like, you genius.

1365. You just printed $10 million worth of merchandise overnight.

1366. - I'm really excited to see The Fiend, Bray Wyatt.

1367. - Seeing all these kids wearing the mask,

1368. just the way it captivated the audience, it was awesome.

1369. - Within months, The Fiend's popularity

1370. skyrocketed and had him on a collision course

1371. with an old foe, John Cena.

1372. - WrestleMania was scheduled to take place

1373. at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa

1374. where the Buccaneers play.

1375. Due to COVID, we were not able to have the audience

1376. and be able to have the show that we wanted to have

1377. in front of an audience.

1378. So we had to take it to the Performance Center,

1379. where we had been doing TV.

1380. And The Fiend did not lend itself

1381. to be in an empty arena.

1382. And we were looking for matches that were unique.

1383. We just got to thinking one day and said,

1384. why don't we have a Firefly Fun House match?

1385. - The story of the Firefly Fun House goes like this.

1386. We are sitting in a conference table

1387. at the NXT Performance Center.

1388. Someone opens the door and says,

1389. "You have a Firefly Fun House match

1390. at WrestleMania with Bray Wyatt."

1391. And I said, well, what's a Firefly Fun House match?

1392. They said, "Well, we don't know."

1393. I said, great.

1394. This is going to be somethin'.

1395. I was like, OK, what story can we tell?

1396. - There's a world that exists

1397. beyond the realm of our comprehension.

1398. - Like, yo, we can make this a meta journey.

1399. So—and the lighting stays the same.

1400. And yeah. - Boom. Boom.

1401. So basically, this is in two of the scenes.

1402. That's in another scene. That's a scene.

1403. And then there's a scene over there.

1404. - If all I got is rapping, I'll use it to my advantage,

1405. 'cause I'm like Husky Harris.

1406. It's a weight that I can manage.

1407. Windham immediately channeled right in, and he got it.

1408. And he was like, and then we do this, and then we do this.

1409. - It's time to rewrite my own story.

1410. - No idea was off-limits.

1411. We start working out.

1412. And I just start working out,

1413. and we have to stay there absurdly long.

1414. - Yeah.

1415. Let me tell you something.

1416. Any idea that I relayed to him,

1417. he could make it better.

1418. And any idea that he brought to me, I was willing to do.

1419. - I need a printout of that.

1420. And I think yeah, everybody should have it just

1421. so you know where I'm coming from.

1422. Give it up for John Cena!

1423. - Watching it back, you'd think we'd had

1424. six months to prepare for it.

1425. But in reality, it was, like, two days.

1426. Somehow, it got pulled off.

1427. - This is going to be spooky.

1428. - You got to see all of these different characters

1429. come to life.

1430. - It's like a mini-movie.

1431. - It used to just be challenging enough

1432. to do something good.

1433. That's hard.

1434. But now in the age of content,

1435. what's harder is to do something memorable.

1436. So full credit.

1437. Because we're still talking about it, and we still

1438. will be talking about it for years to come.

1439. - Following the success of that match,

1440. fans were introduced to a new Fun House character.

1441. - He had all these ideas for me and different ways

1442. that the character could go.

1443. Let him in.

1444. He always had these off-the-wall ideas

1445. that once he explained them,

1446. you're like, that's freaking genius.

1447. Do you like my playground?

1448. He built this for me.

1449. He taught me to open my mind more creatively

1450. and to step my game up.

1451. And I had a lot of fun.

1452. It's fun.

1453. That was the best—

1454. still is the best— moments of my career.

1455. - I think we can do better than that.

1456. By you—by we, I mean me.

1457. - Windham's happiness behind the scenes

1458. translated on screen.

1459. But he was about to experience a heavy loss.

1460. - In December of 2020,

1461. one of Windham's closest friends,

1462. John Huber, tragically passed away.

1463. He was 41 years old.

1464. - I didn't want to believe it was true.

1465. I don't think my brain let me do it—let me believe it.

1466. I'm struggling.

1467. - I know he was hurting a lot.

1468. Because I know I was hurting a lot.

1469. - They were so close. They were like brothers.

1470. When you're in a group together with someone,

1471. you share so much of your lives together

1472. and they talk about their families and their kids

1473. and all those things.

1474. So I know it was a profound loss for him.

1475. - I know more than anybody that no one can fill

1476. the void that he left behind.

1477. But I swear to God, I'll try.

1478. - He always just carried the heaviness around.

1479. And he had a really, really, really hard time.

1480. - Windham struggled

1481. emotionally and professionally.

1482. - Bray was a creative genius for his characters.

1483. To work with Bray was very challenging because—

1484. I don't think that Bray came from a bad place,

1485. but Bray had his visions.

1486. Bray had what he wanted to do and Bray would fight you on it.

1487. - You can't put the sweatband on?

1488. - No.

1489. - What's the transition?

1490. How do I get to the rabbit?

1491. - I'm grabbing him now anyway.

1492. - He didn't like when other people were getting involved

1493. and telling him what to do and telling him

1494. how the character should act and how he should speak.

1495. So it took a toll on him.

1496. - Bray was a tremendous success.

1497. But I think he created something that was

1498. larger than another individual's thought process.

1499. - While there's a clear line between Windham and Bray Wyatt

1500. and The Fiend and all those things,

1501. they're all pieces of him that he put out there.

1502. Sort of his heart and soul out on his sleeve.

1503. He never stopped thinking about it.

1504. - There's something we're missing here.

1505. - It's one of the geniuses of him creatively.

1506. It's also one of the things that was

1507. difficult to work with him on because he was like

1508. this whirlwind of ideas at all times.

1509. Harnessing him into one thing got harder and harder—

1510. keeping him focused on the one idea

1511. at hand, getting him to agree to the idea

1512. that everybody was working on, and then stay committed to it

1513. and not, all of a sudden, show up one day and go,

1514. "Guys, I think we're going in the wrong direction.

1515. We need to start over here."

1516. - As the tension grew, the Bray Wyatt character

1517. was about to undergo a drastic change.

1518. - We had an Inferno match.

1519. I remember seeing the look on his face

1520. as he's getting covered with just all this goop

1521. to keep him safe.

1522. That was a stressful day.

1523. - So frustrated?

1524. Yes, to put it lightly.

1525. - The only way to win is

1526. to light any part of your opponent on fire.

1527. - Oh! The Fiend's on fire!

1528. - Oh, my God! Orton!

1529. Orton just lit The Fiend on fire!

1530. - He got burned.

1531. That was extremely frustrating to him.

1532. - He was very particular with his story

1533. from beginning to end.

1534. You can't pay off something if it took a turn.

1535. He didn't know how to do that.

1536. And I think that was very frustrating for him.

1537. - That was the problem with the burnt Bray.

1538. Because you had to have everything on you burnt

1539. and melted and smoldering.

1540. No one thought about that.

1541. - Let me bring this to you back when I got this shit off of me.

1542. But we ain't going to take pictures.

1543. This is really brutal.

1544. - All of a sudden now you're going from wrestling gear

1545. and a hot mask to a hot mask and hot gear.

1546. - I don't know if I can work like this.

1547. - It was very difficult to move in.

1548. It wasn't as pliable.

1549. It wasn't as easy to maneuver and do everything

1550. that you wanted to do.

1551. - It moves and turns when you grab it.

1552. - Remember this one.

1553. - Wild looking at this,

1554. 'cause we both know

1555. what a hard time he was having at this point.

1556. You know, like...

1557. - You're putting it politely.

1558. He hated this thing.

1559. Your brother knew the responsibility.

1560. I think it weighed a lot on him, and it was hard.

1561. And I felt really bad for him because I know

1562. he gave it his all, he tried 100% to try to carry

1563. you know, not only his character and the brand

1564. and the company and everything, but it just—

1565. - It all led to that WrestleMania.

1566. - Yeah.

1567. - WrestleMania 37, the first time in over a year

1568. that the WWE fans would be in attendance.

1569. - Who are you excited to see?

1570. - Mostly The Fiend.

1571. - I'm really excited to see Bray Wyatt.

1572. I like his mind games that he plays.

1573. - I want to see The Fiend go on and burn Randy Orton

1574. down to the ground.

1575. - Yeah, at WrestleMania, when we finally were

1576. in front of people, you see the transformation—

1577. The Fiend is stepping out of hell and of that burnt.

1578. And now you have The Fiend again, and a pissed-off Fiend.

1579. It was a way to get back to The Fiend.

1580. Because the burn—the whole outfit didn't work,

1581. and it was tough to continue that.

1582. - And The Fiend has been restored.

1583. - I think everyone was just as excited as we were

1584. to see the Fiend back,

1585. and it immediately turned into I turned on him...

1586. - What the...

1587. - Causing him to lose the match.

1588. - And now Orton from behind with an RKO!

1589. - And it wasn't what people wanted to see.

1590. - If you love something that much and you put that much

1591. time and effort, you want it to go the way your vision is.

1592. And that was, like, very frustrating for him.

1593. - At the time, I don't know exactly what the downfall was.

1594. Creative minds can often be misinterpreted very easily.

1595. So you can begin to have disagreements

1596. of how things go, but it can be interpreted

1597. in many different ways— as creative differences

1598. or he's just difficult to work with.

1599. I don't know the exact answer.

1600. I just know that it fell apart somehow.

1601. - At that time, WWE was still dealing with

1602. the fallout of the pandemic.

1603. And they released a bunch of superstars,

1604. one of them being Windham's brother, Taylor.

1605. And then a few months later,

1606. they ended up releasing Windham as well.

1607. You just kept clicking, trying to find the thing that goes,

1608. no, that was fake.

1609. That's not true.

1610. No, of course it's not true.

1611. - We all were shocked.

1612. In retrospect, I can look back and I can look at pictures

1613. and I'll zoom in on his eyes and I see it destroyed him.

1614. That was bad.

1615. - Aside from being invested in his family and his children,

1616. wrestling was his life and that was his art

1617. and that was his outlet.

1618. And all of a sudden, instantaneously was—

1619. that's supposed to be just gone?

1620. - For the first time in over a decade,

1621. Windham was not part of WWE.

1622. In its place, he found a new passion.

1623. - So we're here in our home.

1624. And this room, in particular, was Windham's art room.

1625. It was his space where he created a lot of his magic.

1626. And it has been untouched since he's been here.

1627. So this is it.

1628. This is the mind of Windham.

1629. The first piece he did, and it's of me.

1630. So it's one of the first pieces

1631. he actually completed.

1632. And it's spray paint.

1633. This one right here,

1634. it's Kendyl and Cadyn.

1635. He wanted to recreate the picture that he had

1636. in his phone of his girls.

1637. And it's a beautiful picture of them standing

1638. like that in the street.

1639. He was in the middle of doing this as a gift for them.

1640. I don't know if he ever truly felt like

1641. anything was quite finished.

1642. He did this over a course of two years.

1643. He kept working on this—

1644. stopping, starting over.

1645. But he always kept that part,

1646. which I thought was really cool.

1647. And he kept it because I told him how much I loved it.

1648. I was like, oh, I love those eyes, the face.

1649. I said, you did so good with that.

1650. And he always kept it,

1651. which I thought was really cool.

1652. This one hung in our home in St. Pete.

1653. And it reminds me a lot of when we got engaged.

1654. He surprised me by getting down on one knee in St. Pete Pier.

1655. So this art really ties in.

1656. They're pieces that I won't let go of ever in my life

1657. because it reminds me of that time.

1658. - 100% art is where he really just threw himself into that,

1659. and he loved it.

1660. Just always, oh, come do this with me and let me

1661. show you this latest thing I'm trying out.

1662. - Next thing you know, he would be showing us

1663. these paintings.

1664. Then we're like, you did that?

1665. I cannot believe you did that.

1666. He's like, I've been working on this for three nights in a row.

1667. Go to sleep.

1668. It was amazing to see, once again,

1669. this anomaly of a human.

1670. When he invested into something

1671. that he was going to do,

1672. it was going to be phenomenal.

1673. - While he immersed himself in his art,

1674. Windham also started filming a reality TV pilot

1675. with his brother.

1676. Can I touch it? - Yeah. Yeah.

1677. - We got the opportunity to go shoot a pilot

1678. hunting monsters and cryptids

1679. and conspiracy theories and going after cults.

1680. - I can't believe we're in here, man.

1681. - Our whole lives, we've always been into

1682. the odd things in the world.

1683. - When I was a little kid, when you watched, like,

1684. "The Goonies" and all that stuff,

1685. I remember thinking, oh, man, that's so cool.

1686. I would love to just go around with my friends one day

1687. and do that.

1688. So this is how horror movies end.

1689. - The more we hung out and started working on that,

1690. the more it kind of morphed

1691. back into talking about wrestling.

1692. - I dive in and I think about it to the point

1693. where it almost makes me nuts.

1694. - We got excited again and realized maybe

1695. we don't want to do this.

1696. Maybe we want to go back and wrestle.

1697. The more we talked, the more we collaborated,

1698. the more we needed to make it back.

1699. - In the summer of 2022, after a year away from WWE,

1700. Windham started talking about making a return to the ring.

1701. - There is not a lock on the door to the WWE.

1702. And I think the audience was craving some Bray Wyatt.

1703. - From the first time I got on the phone with him to discuss,

1704. do you want to come back—

1705. like, hey, I'd love for you to come home.

1706. And his part, hey, I'd love to be home.

1707. I think that very first conversation we had,

1708. it went from, hey, what are you thinking

1709. about potentially coming back

1710. to us riffing ideas for an hour and a half.

1711. - He wasn't done.

1712. He wanted to fix things about his legacy

1713. and he didn't want to go out unexpectedly.

1714. He had a lot more stories to tell the WWE Universe.

1715. - He was in the gym a lot.

1716. Like, three, four hours a day.

1717. He really busted his ass.

1718. - In the fall of 2022, Windham, now 35 years old,

1719. was preparing for his return.

1720. - He was coming back.

1721. He was working for it.

1722. - So when Windham was negotiating with WWE

1723. to make his return,

1724. he reached out to TJ and asked TJ,

1725. hey, I need you to keep this to yourself,

1726. but would you and Natty be OK if I started

1727. coming down to your ring?

1728. - Bray was super motivated at that time.

1729. I did want to gauge where he was mentally.

1730. And he said, TJ, I know.

1731. He said, I'm super excited.

1732. And he went from it being kind of a private thing to him

1733. going around and giving each person specific,

1734. individualized advice.

1735. That just shows you how his brain was working

1736. from a creative standpoint.

1737. - You could just feel that excitement.

1738. You felt, like, that childlike wonder.

1739. He really wanted to get in the best shape of his life

1740. and he wanted this to be his best run ever.

1741. - He started talking to me about what my ideas were

1742. and if I should go back.

1743. And I decided I was going to pursue a conversation

1744. with the company again to see where I would stand

1745. and started getting excited again

1746. like it was my first time getting into the ring again.

1747. - About the same time I brought into the company

1748. a guy named Rob Fee.

1749. - I met with Hunter and Bray.

1750. If I would ask him a question and be like, hey,

1751. what do you think about this thing, an hour and a half

1752. later of completely off-the-wall ideas,

1753. we'd land on something.

1754. And I'm like, man, if he's bringing this energy back

1755. to WWE, it's going to be a wild ride.

1756. - It sort of started this kind of three-way collaboration

1757. on this project.

1758. And Bray would call us both and say,

1759. hey, I have this idea.

1760. - Who... - Killed...

1761. - The... - World?

1762. - You... - Did.

1763. - We started coming up with all these crazy, Easter-eggy—

1764. like, how could we riff these ideas to lead to this return?

1765. That was me, Bray.

1766. And Rob was really instrumental.

1767. - It was Bray coming up with crazy bits of lore.

1768. Then he'd be like, here, make this into something.

1769. - Friday Night SmackDown!

1770. - Brought up the first QR code.

1771. It led to a puzzle.

1772. I believe viewership was up

1773. 25% because people were

1774. so excited to see what this was leading to.

1775. - The White Rabbit teases are all that

1776. any wrestling fan wants to talk about.

1777. It was so vague and complicated that

1778. it allowed us to just speculate wildly for weeks at a time.

1779. - We did rabbits in the crowd.

1780. We had latitude and longitudes

1781. in Italy that if you

1782. viewed it from overhead,

1783. was this giant pink bunny.

1784. All the clues were just enough to where it felt like

1785. a Bray thing, but it wasn't for sure.

1786. The final one we did, fire shoots out

1787. and it brings up the date of Extreme Rules.

1788. 'Cause we were like, at this point, you know,

1789. let's stop with them and just show them

1790. exactly what it is.

1791. - October 8, 2022.

1792. The day had finally arrived.

1793. After 15 months, Windham was home.

1794. - I didn't know I could draw a year ago.

1795. You want to see something cool?

1796. I was really proud of this.

1797. It's the first time I ever did this by myself.

1798. This is the concept art.

1799. Sitting at home for a year by yourself and painting

1800. and kind of, you know, thinking about these things

1801. and designing all these ideas

1802. that I'm dreaming of—one day, maybe we can get a chance

1803. to do this stuff—

1804. it's such a cool feeling to be on the cusp of it.

1805. This is always the most exciting part for me,

1806. this joy you get from creating.

1807. And you're stressing me out hovering over me

1808. now that I'm doing it.

1809. This is how I keep calm

1810. kind of in stressful situations.

1811. - He was nervous, for sure.

1812. I was not there for Extreme Rules.

1813. But I remember he would call me

1814. and he'd just be like, ugh.

1815. He'd pace back and forth constantly.

1816. He was like, I can't.

1817. I just can't right now.

1818. And I'm like, OK.

1819. But just to make sure that it was

1820. done the way he wanted it to be done

1821. was so much pressure on him that it made him nervous.

1822. He's like, I got to do this right.

1823. - I always think, oh, no,

1824. so this person is not going to like this.

1825. This person is not going to like that.

1826. - 15,944 WWE fans are here tonight.

1827. We are sold out for Extreme Rules.

1828. - I remember Hunter came on the bus and was like,

1829. we just think it'd be kind of cool to just

1830. show your characters just sort of invaded back

1831. into the world of WWE.

1832. And we're like, yeah, sounds like a plan.

1833. Bruce and Hunter are like, we want The Fiend, as well.

1834. We were just going to grab a random extra or somebody.

1835. And Windham goes, "No.

1836. "Jason, you're the only person I trust

1837. and you're the only person that deserves to do it."

1838. - You got this, man.

1839. - The honor is definitely not lost on me.

1840. - You only get this a couple times in your life, you know?

1841. The feeling of pure bliss, you know?

1842. The nerves.

1843. The bliss.

1844. It's pretty wild, man.

1845. I want to show everybody what all the hard work is,

1846. you know?

1847. It's time, bro.

1848. - Windham emerged just 15 minutes before

1849. his long-awaited return.

1850. - They knew something was going to happen on the show.

1851. And this was after the main event.

1852. So you know, they're like, did we miss something?

1853. Was it wrong?

1854. The logo comes up at the bottom.

1855. You think the show's over.

1856. - Corey, are we still on the air?

1857. - God, what the—

1858. Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!

1859. Holy shit! Holy shit!

1860. - I don't think I've ever experienced

1861. a sensation quite like that.

1862. I felt like I was just hovering out there—

1863. like I wasn't walking.

1864. I've never felt anything like it.

1865. Bro, I seriously—like, I'm on edge right now.

1866. I feel like I was just almost in a car wreck, you know?

1867. Holy shit.

1868. - It literally blew the effing roof off the place.

1869. And I was like, holy cow.

1870. It was a sight for sore eyes.

1871. - We're going to make this way bigger than it's ever been,

1872. all right? - I'm down.

1873. - When you talk about blowing the roof off of a place—

1874. they may still be trying to put it back on.

1875. It was an explosion when Bray returned.

1876. They knew.

1877. They wanted it, then they got it.

1878. - Not everybody gets to spend their 40th birthday

1879. dressing up as their best friend

1880. and helping them come back to their job.

1881. - Biggest thing in wrestling in a very, very long time.

1882. - Yeah.

1883. I've never heard anything

1884. that loud in my life.

1885. It was insane.

1886. - It was so cool. It's just wild.

1887. And just seeing this jacket and his re-debut, coming back.

1888. And he sparked a fire under me like I never felt.

1889. And it was all him.

1890. - Part of professional wrestling is

1891. the theater of the mind.

1892. It's to take you away from reality.

1893. And when you have a character that you look forward

1894. to seeing each week and then they're gone,

1895. you can't wait to have that back.

1896. There was something about him that made people feel better.

1897. And people missed seeing that on TV.

1898. I don't know if y'all can read this on me,

1899. but I am incredibly grateful.

1900. And I'm really, really nervous to be here.

1901. I never thought that this would happen.

1902. This right here, this is just me, OK?

1903. This is a version of me that I've never

1904. got to introduce to you guys before.

1905. This is just me being me—

1906. genuine me—for the first time.

1907. - I felt like people were just so grateful for him

1908. and grateful to have him back.

1909. And then that promo where he was just kind of raw

1910. and spoke more as Windham was so unique and so different.

1911. - I can sit here right now today and I can look all of you

1912. in the eyes and I can say that you were there

1913. when I was weak, when I was vulnerable, when I was down.

1914. So I just wanted to say thank you.

1915. You all saved my life.

1916. - That's my favorite Bray Wyatt promo.

1917. Because not only do they already love him

1918. for his commitment and for everything he's done

1919. and for the rides he's taken them on

1920. with these different characters all these years,

1921. now they get to see a window into him

1922. as the actual person.

1923. When he did that promo, I was like, oh, now we're cooking.

1924. - He forgot how much he meant to people.

1925. When he got reminded of that is what I loved.

1926. - If I didn't have such passionate fans,

1927. I wouldn't be here.

1928. I really wouldn't.

1929. - What's the best part about being a wrestler?

1930. - The best part is—

1931. you know, this may sound corny,

1932. but it's the truth— is the fans.

1933. To have fans that are so into what I do,

1934. it feels like it's part of their life too.

1935. - Oh, my God.

1936. - Are you trying to scare me?

1937. It's them that led me back here.

1938. This is the best I've ever felt.

1939. - He felt like he was getting a second chance,

1940. and he had a lot more perspective

1941. on what that could be.

1942. And so he was excited to bring as much of himself

1943. into that character.

1944. - Bray wanted to take the audience on a journey.

1945. Here I am.

1946. I'm Windham Rotunda.

1947. I'm just a regular guy just like you.

1948. But yet, I'm different.

1949. - My emotions, they don't work like most other people's.

1950. I don't have control.

1951. And sometimes, they can send me to a very, very dark place.

1952. - Bray Wyatt once had a family.

1953. The Fiend had his Fun House.

1954. But this time, Windham needed someone else—

1955. his brother.

1956. - We wanted to use Taylor all along.

1957. And I thought it was a pretty cool concept.

1958. - The whole thing came from this nightmare

1959. that he used to have when he was a child

1960. that would haunt him in his dreams.

1961. That was the catalyst to create

1962. the Uncle Howdy look and design.

1963. - To be able to freely work with him for the first time

1964. as colleagues and as brothers, it was like a dream come true.

1965. Windham had already accomplished

1966. the most unbelievable things

1967. you could do in this business.

1968. And his only goal left was to do it together.

1969. We were both becoming monsters.

1970. I was going to work just to hang out with my brother.

1971. That was my job.

1972. You know, and to play with my brother.

1973. - What is that thing?

1974. - Oh, that's Uncle Howdy.

1975. - Being two little kids again, developing the characters,

1976. and coming up with ideas for them

1977. to be able to work together and complement each other

1978. was awesome.

1979. - Uncle Howdy just launched himself off the top!

1980. - We're going to be in WrestleMania together.

1981. We always had that dream.

1982. And that dream never changed.

1983. It only got stronger and more real.

1984. That time period where we were working together...

1985. - And Sister Abigail!

1986. - It meant everything to me.

1987. - You're welcome, Montreal.

1988. - It was too good to be true.

1989. - All of a sudden, he had this, like,

1990. second lease on life.

1991. Man, it came out of everything he did—

1992. the joy of it.

1993. And you know, as we were doing it, sometimes, we would talk,

1994. and then we'd get done an hour of creative whatever.

1995. And then he'd call me back two seconds later and be like,

1996. hey, man, I just want you to know how much this means to me

1997. and how much fun I'm having.

1998. And it made me want to work harder for him.

1999. It made me want to run through a wall for him

2000. to get this stuff done and to get it where it needed to be.

2001. - February 26, 2023.

2002. - Here I'm getting to stand across from a guy

2003. who had really built a name and a whole aura for himself.

2004. That's huge.

2005. He said that his calf or his knee started to, like,

2006. seize up or something.

2007. And I was like, are you good?

2008. Are you good?

2009. And it was just like, all right, well,

2010. we were trying to work as best we could

2011. to kind of protect him.

2012. - Nobody knew at the time—

2013. not even Windham Rotunda—

2014. that he had just completed his final match.

2015. - March 2023.

2016. The Bray Wyatt character was suddenly

2017. absent from WWE programming.

2018. - I was at TV and found out Windham wasn't there.

2019. And I called him like, where are you at?

2020. And he was at home. He had COVID.

2021. - He went to the hospital.

2022. He tested positive for COVID.

2023. They were like, oh, my God. They admitted him.

2024. His heart.

2025. He had to go do stress and echocardiograms

2026. through this period of time.

2027. - It was a weakened heart.

2028. It was like, the way his heart performed and functioned,

2029. it was not where it needed to be.

2030. It kept making him feel off.

2031. He kept saying, I feel off.

2032. - I didn't think it was that serious.

2033. I mean, to me, he's my big brother.

2034. Nothing can hurt him.

2035. - He didn't share too many details.

2036. He just always wanted to assure everybody that he was fine—

2037. I'm fine.

2038. But I could see that he didn't feel amazing.

2039. - He worked with a cardiologist.

2040. And he was on medication.

2041. He was already cleared to work out, but not a lot.

2042. They'd say just light cardio was fine, so he would do that.

2043. He was doing a little bit better and then

2044. it kept getting better and better and better.

2045. And then a couple times, it kind of backtracked.

2046. - My sister, she was staying at his guest house.

2047. And when she walked in the garage,

2048. there was a rattlesnake.

2049. So we freaked out and drove there.

2050. And we had to lift up some stuff and get to it.

2051. And afterwards— he always sweated,

2052. but it was more than that, and in his eyes.

2053. And he said, I don't feel good.

2054. I just got to take a nap.

2055. And it was, like, 3:00 in the afternoon.

2056. And it crossed my mind.

2057. And I worried for him because he's my brother.

2058. In that moment, I go, are you OK?

2059. And I asked him then.

2060. Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.

2061. But I never really worried.

2062. I never thought, oh, Windham is really sick.

2063. Never for a second.

2064. I was just waiting for the call to come back as monsters

2065. like we both wanted.

2066. - He was still under the doctor's care.

2067. And we were right there to where, oh, he's fine.

2068. He should be able to go back soon.

2069. But he didn't feel good.

2070. And they set him up with a vest that

2071. was actually to where it would shock him if he stopped.

2072. And they released him from the hospital with that,

2073. and he swore he would wear it.

2074. Mike and I picked him up at the hospital

2075. and brought him home.

2076. We watched it get fitted and everything, and he wore it.

2077. And then he went for the follow-up with his doctor.

2078. - Thursday, August 24.

2079. Windham had a morning checkup with his doctor.

2080. - He called me and he said, probably, at some point,

2081. I'm going to have to do a pacemaker or something.

2082. So he didn't tell me there was good news or bad news,

2083. but he was—

2084. Ma, I'm going to be fine.

2085. - It was that morning.

2086. I had called him and he answered the phone.

2087. And he was like, hey, what's up Sam?

2088. I said, well, do you want to get the kids from school today?

2089. And he was like, I would love that.

2090. Yeah, I'm going to pick the kids up from school.

2091. I said, OK, cool.

2092. I think this was, like, 10:00 in the morning.

2093. - He walks in the house, he's excited.

2094. Just, hey, guys, what's up?

2095. All the kids jumping on him and everything.

2096. So he was just really, really happy.

2097. And he's like, I'm going to go take a nap.

2098. And I was like, all right, cool.

2099. He goes to sleep around 2:00 PM.

2100. So I'm doing my thing in the kitchen.

2101. My mom's there.

2102. And then his alarm starts going off at 3:00.

2103. And so then I walked over and I was like, babe,

2104. your alarm's going off.

2105. And then I touched his leg, and he wouldn't move.

2106. And so then like I started shaking him and hitting him,

2107. and he wouldn't move.

2108. And so I screamed for my mom.

2109. I call 911 immediately.

2110. In the meantime, my mom is calling his mom.

2111. - She's screaming, Windham's having a heart attack.

2112. Windham's having a heart attack.

2113. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no.

2114. Put him on the phone.

2115. Put him on the phone.

2116. And I immediately called Taylor.

2117. - She said she didn't know the details.

2118. He just stopped breathing.

2119. - I'm following them with him in the gurney.

2120. And I kept yelling at him.

2121. I'm like, please just come back to me.

2122. I'm like, please just come back to me.

2123. - My car was in the shop,

2124. so I had to call Taylor and say, Taylor,

2125. I need you to come get me and the baby now.

2126. And I remember getting my baby dressed.

2127. And I just kept saying to her, everything's going to be OK.

2128. Everything's going to be OK.

2129. And in the back of my mind, I just knew it's not OK.

2130. - As soon as we walked in,

2131. they pulled us in a room alone.

2132. The doctor walked in.

2133. And it's like something you see

2134. a million times in movies,

2135. but you really don't know what it feels like

2136. until it happens.

2137. He said, we got bad news.

2138. He's gone.

2139. And it's like time slowed down.

2140. I could see the reaction of everybody in the room.

2141. My mom and dad crumbling.

2142. And my sister, she's got her baby wrapped to her chest

2143. and she's falling.

2144. And I've never been more sad.

2145. But something in me—

2146. and I still to this day think it was Windham—

2147. something in me gave me the strength to go, stop.

2148. You need to hold them up.

2149. He gave me strength in a moment where

2150. I would think I would crumble.

2151. And I really believe it was him.

2152. And he was telling me, be there for Mom.

2153. Hold her up.

2154. - Taylor had to pick me up off the floor

2155. and I just remember his hands felt so big.

2156. He just held me, picked me up.

2157. There was nothing we could do.

2158. It was absolute disbelief that this isn't happening.

2159. This is not real.

2160. And I kept looking at Mike going,

2161. Mike, you got to do something.

2162. Fix this. Fix this now.

2163. - It was just heartbreaking.

2164. Somebody sticking their fist in your chest

2165. and pulling your heart out.

2166. - My sister called me.

2167. And all she said was...

2168. Windham is gone.

2169. - My phone rang when I was sitting on the plane.

2170. And I answered it,

2171. and JoJo said, he's gone.

2172. And I said, what do you mean he's gone?

2173. He's dead.

2174. And I literally was walking off the airplane,

2175. I dropped to my knees on the jet bridge.

2176. And I just—

2177. I felt like, all of a sudden, something was missing from me.

2178. - I got a phone call, and it was Jo.

2179. She goes, Windham's gone.

2180. And I screamed.

2181. - All I could think about is,

2182. how am I going to tell my children—

2183. they're three and four— that they just lost their dad?

2184. - People say like, it was a nightmare.

2185. But you don't know what that feels like until

2186. you live a nightmare.

2187. - It was and will forever be

2188. the worst day of my life.

2189. - He didn't have the vest on.

2190. Don't know what happened.

2191. - Windham Rotunda passed away.

2192. He was 36 years old.

2193. Just 24 hours after Windham's passing,

2194. WWE's Friday Night SmackDown program

2195. was set to air live from Louisville, Kentucky.

2196. Life is short.

2197. This doesn't tell you anything else.

2198. It's short.

2199. It still feels— it's still surreal.

2200. I still feel like I just

2201. haven't seen him for a little while, you know,

2202. because he was so larger-than-life as a person

2203. and so big personality-wise and everything was so good.

2204. And for somebody that young, it's just a crazy—

2205. I don't know how to put it into words.

2206. 36 years old.

2207. Cherish it.

2208. Cherish each other.

2209. - Sitting here doing this whole thing about Windham,

2210. and even now, there's still a huge part of me

2211. that's in total denial.

2212. You know what I mean?

2213. Yeah.

2214. - I just didn't believe it.

2215. I just thought it was bullshit.

2216. I just thought it wasn't real.

2217. Sometimes, even now, I still don't think it's real.

2218. Yeah. I don't know.

2219. It sucked. It still sucks.

2220. - Everything we wanted to do

2221. was a tribute to Bray.

2222. Just to say thank you.

2223. - Just a barrage of different feelings in my head.

2224. I miss him.

2225. - He was just a light in everyone's lives.

2226. - He was one of the greatest people I've ever met.

2227. And I wouldn't be where I am in my life

2228. without meeting him.

2229. I miss you. I miss you.

2230. - He touched a lot of people.

2231. He was loved by millions.

2232. - Windham's sudden passing left the entire WWE Universe

2233. in shock.

2234. Honoring his legacy would be a tall task.

2235. Thank you, Bray! Thank you, Bray!

2236. Thank you, Bray! Thank you, Bray!

2237. - Following Windham's passing, in arenas across the country,

2238. superstars and fans paid tribute to Bray Wyatt.

2239. - I know that all of you can feel the spirit

2240. of Bray Wyatt in this building.

2241. - That was the one time where I kind of struggled.

2242. It started to break me.

2243. I had to look at the ceiling to keep everything together,

2244. and just big deep breath.

2245. - This one is for Windham.

2246. Hug the ones that you love.

2247. He was a special human being.

2248. He was a good human being.

2249. There's just not very many people like Windham Rotunda.

2250. There's nobody like Windham Rotunda.

2251. - I'll always think of him for the rest of my career

2252. every single time I see these fireflies.

2253. It was the only therapy that I was able

2254. to get was in that ring.

2255. He was truly a beautiful soul inside of the ring and out.

2256. - It was touching to see so many people care

2257. and know that he touched so many people.

2258. - He really touched lives from all over the world.

2259. - It was just overwhelming—

2260. really overwhelming to see how much he was loved.

2261. I was like, wow.

2262. Wow.

2263. He was loved.

2264. - September 6th.

2265. Two weeks after Windham's passing,

2266. a service was held in his hometown

2267. of Brooksville, Florida.

2268. - To go and plan your son's funeral

2269. is the worst thing in the world.

2270. It was the hardest thing in the world.

2271. - We wanted it to be very Windham down to his urn.

2272. Very much like him.

2273. And it's a flame.

2274. - The smoke going off and the red lights,

2275. it was a Windham funeral.

2276. And it made me smile.

2277. - Seeing everyone together— how important he was

2278. to so many people—

2279. that speaks volumes for the man that he was.

2280. - I did get to go to the funeral.

2281. And there was some closure there.

2282. But at the same time, how can there be closure

2283. on a guy who was just stepping into his prime, really?

2284. - I was hurting more that day than I ever thought possible.

2285. I really don't know how I'm going to get through this.

2286. But I know Windham would have done this for me,

2287. and he would have ended up killing it.

2288. He really would have.

2289. He wasn't just my big brother or my best friend.

2290. He was my idol.

2291. - Windham was Taylor's superhero.

2292. The eulogy that Taylor gave at Windham's service

2293. was unbelievable.

2294. - He is and always will be the most beautiful,

2295. amazing person I've ever known.

2296. I love you so much, Windham.

2297. - I could feel Windham's comfort

2298. as I stood up there to speak.

2299. A couple months ago, I had this unique opportunity.

2300. My dad actually asked me to do it.

2301. He's working on a book.

2302. And he said, you know, set something up with the boys

2303. and interview them and get some transcripts.

2304. Just talking about our family and the values

2305. and how we grew up.

2306. I had no idea that Windham was going to tell us

2307. how he wanted to be remembered.

2308. - I want to leave a mark that makes me

2309. a first-ballot Hall of Famer and makes all my kids proud.

2310. But honestly, at the end of the day,

2311. when I go into the dirt,

2312. I think that I will be remembered

2313. for far more things than just wrestling.

2314. Making sure that my kids and JoJo, everybody,

2315. that they know they can count on me

2316. and that I will be there for them no matter what.

2317. - Windham was gone, but his ideas live on.

2318. He still has one final creation

2319. to share with the world.

2320. - He was here a bunch.

2321. He came, like, three or four times over the summer

2322. spitballing ideas—

2323. I want to do this. I want to do that.

2324. And from there, we started working on the new Fiend.

2325. We made the new lantern.

2326. We threw a little animatronics in there

2327. so the eyes move back and forth.

2328. We made the new mask, started talking about gear.

2329. Windham always wanted something new,

2330. something fresh, something different.

2331. What would the next evolution of The Fiend be?

2332. We 3D sculpted a body form of Windham.

2333. The mask had already been approved by Windham.

2334. This jacket was actually something he had purchased,

2335. and his mother and father had sent it to us.

2336. So we were able to use that.

2337. Windham always loved little Easter eggs.

2338. When we did the original lantern, if you look,

2339. the eyes just look like stitches,

2340. but they're actually Roman numerals

2341. of Knash, his son's, birthday.

2342. So we just kept that tradition going.

2343. The pinstripe, Windham got the idea

2344. to do each one of his children's names.

2345. He loved making you look at something twice to find

2346. something else more about it.

2347. The stitches we did in a way to where they're actually

2348. the Roman numerals of what would have been

2349. his wedding anniversary, which is December 6th.

2350. 12 on this side.

2351. And then here, we have the six.

2352. One of the ideas that Windham had was,

2353. instead of doing the spider walk where he leans backwards,

2354. if we did something where he could lean forward.

2355. His hair would kind of fly up over.

2356. So when he was crawling around,

2357. he would expose the second mask,

2358. which would be hidden by his hair.

2359. Gross, disgusting face on the front.

2360. But then on the back, we'd have this beautiful face.

2361. And to Windham, the most beautiful face was JoJo's.

2362. So we 3D scanned JoJo's face.

2363. And we were able to make a copy of that and then sculpt it.

2364. And we decided to put these mockingbirds on there.

2365. That's another homage to JoJo.

2366. Windham's nickname for JoJo was Mockingbird.

2367. It's devastatingly heartbreaking that

2368. this is the last thing I ever get to work on

2369. with my best friend.

2370. But I couldn't be more proud of my crew and everyone

2371. that came together that helped us bring this to life.

2372. I think it really just hurts the most

2373. that I never got to tell him how much he meant to me.

2374. It never felt work with him.

2375. I just felt like I got to hang out with my best friend,

2376. and I miss that.

2377. If I can give this to his fans which meant the world to him,

2378. then not all of him is completely gone.

2379. So if I get to help my friend live on

2380. in some way or capacity, I'll be OK with that.

2381. I can do that.

2382. - He's not gone, because the art he left

2383. and his ideas will live on forever.

2384. - The real him was much, much more

2385. and much more entertaining

2386. than any of his characters could be.

2387. He was very entertaining always.

2388. And he did that for them, but you know, we got him.

2389. And he's missed a lot.

2390. - January 2024.

2391. It's been five months since Windham passed.

2392. While he is gone,

2393. you can still see him here.

2394. - We can put a little bit of pink on the rainbow.

2395. - Good idea.

2396. - His smile.

2397. His life.

2398. His hope.

2399. - My name is Cadyn Cole Rotunda.

2400. - My name is Kendyl Marie Rotunda.

2401. - I like to play sports.

2402. I just like shoes. It's fun.

2403. I just liked it 'cause like, me and my dad did it together.

2404. So yeah.

2405. - I want to travel everywhere and become an artist.

2406. - He's definitely in all four kids.

2407. They all four take after him in some way.

2408. - Hyrie, I'd probably say chaos.

2409. Cadyn, probably smart.

2410. Knash, he's just a dinosaur.

2411. Just a dinosaur.

2412. - Knock on wood—if you believe in afterlife,

2413. you know, we will get to see him again.

2414. - My fire and love for the business

2415. has to burn brighter than it ever has

2416. because he's given me the strength and passion

2417. to want to carry his legacy on.

2418. If you asked him what he was,

2419. he would say he's an artist.

2420. - The dad he was, the son, the brother...

2421. Everything of who he was,

2422. he was the best at it.

2423. - I'm something completely different

2424. than has ever been in the WWE.

2425. We're here.

2426. - Windham once said, wrestling is not a love story.

2427. It's much more.

2428. It's hope, a spectacle no one can deny,

2429. an excuse to be a kid again.

2430. And nothing matters except the moment we are in.

2431. - Walk by my side, and I will lead you to paradise!

2432. - And that is how Windham Rotunda lived.

2433. - I am the color red in a world full of black and white.

2434. - One of the most unique minds.

2435. Changed the landscape.

2436. - He inspired not only the fans,

2437. but a lot of the boys in the locker room

2438. to push themselves to be more creative.

2439. - There's a love for this industry.

2440. And what he gave to it was something special.

2441. - Nobody ever has taken the risks that he has.

2442. - He opened up a world that no one could ever do.

2443. - I am forever.

2444. - I think he is the template for taking chances

2445. and the template for being brave.

2446. - Do I have your attention now?

2447. - The greatest human I have ever known, hands down.

2448. - One of a kind.

2449. There will only be one Windham.

2450. - OK. Stand by.

2451. Ready to roll.

2452. - I've been very honored to be asked

2453. to be part of this project.

2454. It's kind of bizarre to know

2455. that I worked with Mike.

2456. And then I remember meeting

2457. both boys when they were small kids.

2458. And then actually working at WrestleMania with Windham.

2459. You talk about things coming full circle.

2460. I could always see in Windham that he was so different.

2461. And you have very few people that come along

2462. that actually think outside of the box.

2463. He was obviously taken from us way too soon.

2464. I know what he would have been,

2465. and it would have been really, really special.

2466. - Run.