10 things you probably didn't know about Bray Wyatt

Bray Wyatt is a rare gem that has come out of WWE’s PG-era garbage can filled with comedic and over-the-top gimmicks. From the start itself, it seemed like Wyatt's was a gimmick stuck in the wrong era but despite this, the WWE fans had and still have high hopes for him.His career started off with a feud against Kane and he has been on the rise ever since. Names like Daniel Bryan, John Cena and Undertaker helped Bray get to where he is now, but there are still a lot of things to be known about the ‘Eater of the Worlds’.As Bray prepares for yet another chapter in his WWE journey as champion, here is a look at some of the lesser known facts about him.

#10 Bray was a state wrestling champion

Amateur wrestling is a great base for anyone trying to make it into the professional wrestling business, and Bray had this advantage. In 2005, Bray was attending the Hernando High School and there he won the state wrestling championship.

The weight category that he competed in was the 275 pounds one, and his win was a great achievement indeed. Bray soon built on that and took the path that his entire family decided to take (we’ll see that in a bit).

#9 He earned a football scholarship

Apart from being the state wrestling champion in high school, Bray also earned a football scholarship at Troy University. He played as a defensive tackle and guard during his footballing days.

Before getting his scholarship at Troy, he played for the College of Sequoias for two seasons. This earned him a second team All American honour as sophomore offensive guard, which in turn made it easier for him to make it to Troy.

Bray stayed in Troy for two whole years and decided to take up professional wrestling as a career in 2009. It was back in his footballing days that he earned the name ‘Army tank with a Ferrari engine’.

#8 He is a third generation superstar

Bray Wyatt has wrestling coursing through his veins. Although his family is not as famous as the McMahons or the Harts, they have earned enough respect in the wrestling business for their contributions.

Bray’s maternal grandfather Blackjack Mulligan was a wrestler back in the 50s and 60s while Bray’s father, Mike Rotunda had his run in the 80s. Bray's uncles Barry and Kendall Windham were in the business too.

Rotunda would probably be the most recognizable figure of the family for most WWE fans out there, as he was known widely for his IRS gimmick. Barry on the other hand had memorable runs in WCW and was part of the legendary Four Horsemen.

#7 He left his studies for wrestling

After all the scholarships and wrestling championships, Bray decided to quit his studies and take up wrestling. Bray did his high school in Hernando High School and graduated back in 2005. He then pursued a bachelor’s degree at Troy University, where he earned the football scholarship.

However, he fell 27 credit hours short during his course, so he decided that his career belonged somewhere else. In 2009, he joined WWE and started off his wrestling run in the WWE’s developmental circuit, which was named the Florida Championship Wrestling back then.

Four years later, he was on the main roster – just like that.

#6 Erick Rowan and Luke Harper were his sons

Though it sounds ridiculous on paper, this was WWE’s idea of taking Bray to the next stage. They presented Luke Harper as the first son of Bray Wyatt while Erick Rowan was portrayed as the second one. The whole kayfabe sons angle stayed around in NXT for quite some time but later WWE decided to stop acknowledging the whole thing for some reason or the other.

Maybe they realized how messy the idea was? The Wyatt Family reference stayed with the three men even after this, and the addition of Sister Abigail into the mix made matters spookier than they already were.

#5 Best and Worst match of 2014

2014 was a roller coaster year for Bray Wyatt. He had a memorable feud with Daniel Bryan at the start and then moved on to a feud with John Cena, which according to the fans derailed Bray’s momentum. But what most of them didn’t notice were the accolades that this feud bought Bray Wyatt.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter presented their Worst Worked Match of the year accomplishment to Cena and Bray for their clash at the 2014 Extreme Rules. At the same time, Pro Wrestling illustrated presented Bray and Cena with the best Match of the Year award for the match at Payback. Now that is what you call a roller-coaster feud.

#4 His names from the past

Just like most of the other superstars out there, Bray also had his fair share of alternative gimmicks. He started off his wrestling career wrestling under the name of Alex Rotundo but later decided to change it to Duke Rotundo. His initial tag team run with Bo Dallas came during this period and afterwards, Bray took up the infamous Husky Harris gimmick.

Once Orton punt kicked the gimmick into irrelevance, Bray took up the Axel Mulligan character. This however failed to make it to television, and Bray was once again stuck with Husky Harris.

The whole scenario changed when Bray finally arrived at the cult leader character in Bray Wyatt.

#3 Stunner was his old finishing move

The WWE fans might know Stunner for two reasons. It was an iconic move back in the Attitude Era thanks to Steve Austin’s heroics, and later, it was re-introduced into the PG era by John Cena. Although Cena is now using a variation of the stunner, it is the same basic move.

Apart from Cena and Austin, Bray is another name who used the Stunner. And he did not use it for a filler move; he used it as a finisher. This happened back during his Axel Mulligan days and since they were short-lived, not many people know about the deadly combination of Bray Wyatt and this move.

#2 Bo Dallas is his brother

On television, Bo Dallas and Bray Wyatt are two characters separated by light years. In real life however, they are brothers by blood. This is actually a fact that most of the hardcore fans out there know but then again, since it is not something that is likely to come up on the surface, it deserves a place in the list.

Bo Dallas is the younger brother of Bray, and the brothers were a successful tag team back in FCW. Together known as the Rotunda Brothers, Bray and Bo held the Florida Tag Team Championship twice, which to this day remains the only title reign that Bray has had in his career.

#1 The character was his creation

If you thought the excellent gimmick that gave you the destruction of Adam Rose, Fandango and many more came from the creative team, think again. The Bray Wyatt character was the brainchild of Bray himself, and the traits he used for the character were inspired from Robert De Niro’s character in Cape Fear.

Bray also drew heavy inspiration from former wrestler Waylon Mercy who had a similar gimmick. The character debuted in 2012 and won his initial match against Aiden English. WWE soon made Luke Harper and Erick Rowan join hands with Bray, and the rest as we know is history.

Bray is still going strong in the roster despite some forgettable booking decisions and hopefully, he will live up the potential that he actually has.