Windham Rotunda, known better as WWE wrestler Bray Wyatt, has died at age 36.
Rotunda died unexpectedly on Thursday, according to WWE CCO Triple H.
In a post to Twitter, Triple H wrote: “Just received a call from WWE Hall of Famer Mike Rotunda who informed us of the tragic news that our WWE family member for life Windham Rotunda – also known as Bray Wyatt – unexpectedly passed earlier today. Our thoughts are with his family and we ask that everyone respect their privacy at this time.”
Dwayne Johnson took to Twitter to share his condolences. “Always had tremendous respect and love for him and the Rotunda family. Loved his presence, promos, in ring work and connection with @WWE universe,” he wrote. “Very unique, cool and rare character, which is hard to create in our crazy world of pro wrestling.”
Rotunda came from a family of wrestlers, including his grandfather Blackjack Mulligan, his father Mike Rotunda and his younger brother Bo Dallas. Rotunda made his debut in the ring in February 2009 and later made his television debut in June that same year. From 2013 to 2019, Rotunda led WWE’s Wyatt Family and would enter the arena with a lantern to light his way and await a crowd chant of his signature catchphrase “follow the buzzards.”
Rotunda went on to create an alter ego to Bray Wyatt called the Fiend and in 2022 debuted another character called Uncle Howdy, said to be inspired by the same-name character from 1983 film “Hysterical.”
Rotunda is survived by his four children.