WWE star Windham Rotunda, better known by his in-ring name Bray Wyatt, passed away on Thursday at age 36 per WWE chief content officer Paul Levesque (better known as Triple H).
Rotunda passed away from a heart attack, following a battle with COVID-19, according to Fightful.com.
I was given permission to reveal that earlier this year Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt) got COVID that exacerbated a heart issues.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) August 25, 2023
There was a lot of positive progress towards a return and his recovery. Unfortunately today he suffered a heart attack and passed away.
Wyatt had been absent from WWE television for several months due to an undisclosed health issue and was reportedly nearing clearance for a return.
A third-generation wrestler following his grandfather Robert Windham (Blackjack Mulligan) and his father Mike Rotunda (I.R.S), Wyatt decided to pursue a career in pro wrestling in 2009 following a college football career at Troy. He spent multiple years in WWE’s developmental system, even making brief appearances on Monday Night Raw in late 2010 and early 2011. Later that year, he was sent back down to FCW/NXT and in 2012, he developed his now iconic Bray Wyatt character. Along with fellow wrestlers Erick Rowan and the late Luke Harper, the “Wyatt Family” stable quickly gained popularity and the group made their way back up to Monday Night Raw in the summer of 2013.
For the next decade, he would become a staple of WWE television and one of the most popular stars in the entire company, winning the company’s world title multiple times among other accolades. Known for his creativity, he managed to re-invent his character numerous times during his WWE. The most notable instance came in 2019 when he debuted the Firefly Fun House and “The Fiend”, a sinister masked alter ego of Wyatt’s who captured the aesthetics of a horror movie villain.
He would be released by the company in July of 2021, but made his return just over a year later in September of 2022. Debuting a new alter ego character named “Uncle Howdy”, he entered a feud with rising WWE star L.A. Knight and that’s who he wrestled in his final televised match at Royal Rumble 2023 this past January. He was next set to face Bobby Lashley at Wrestlemania 39 in April, but was taken off WWE television due to the undisclosed illness.