Bray Wyatt Released from WWE Contract
Bray Wyatt, one of the most prominent members of the WWE roster over the last decade, is no longer with the company.
WWE announced on Saturday that Wyatt (real name Windham Rotunda) has been released from his contract. “WWE has come to terms on the release of Bray Wyatt,” WWE wrote in a statement on its website. “We wish him the best in all his future endeavors.”
The 34-year-old Wyatt hadn’t appeared on WWE programming since the Raw after WrestleMania 37 this April. Wyatt lost to Randy Orton at WrestleMania the previous night. The finish of that match involved Alexa Bliss, who had been aligned with Wyatt on WWE television, turning against him.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that Wyatt was told that budget cuts were the reason for his release. Meltzer added that, prior to his release, Wyatt was preparing to return to WWE shows this August.
Wyatt, the son of Mike Rotunda and the grandson of Blackjack Mulligan, made his in-ring debut in 2009 after signing a WWE developmental contract. After briefly debuting on the main roster as Husky Harris in 2010, Wyatt arrived on Raw as the leader of The Wyatt Family in 2013. The group also included Erick Rowan, Braun Strowman and the late Luke Harper.
Strowman was released by WWE during a round of roster cuts this June. Rowan was released in April 2020.
Wyatt introduced a new character in 2019, a split personality between his “Firefly Fun House” host and supernatural “The Fiend” personas. Wyatt's first match as The Fiend was against Finn Bálor at SummerSlam 2019.
During his time with WWE, Wyatt held the WWE championship once, the universal championship twice, and the Raw and SmackDown tag team titles one time each. He had WrestleMania matches against John Cena, The Undertaker and Orton.
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