WWE

The wrestling world is still in shock at the sudden passing of Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt) on August 24 at the age of 36.

Many fans and wrestlers have paid their tributes to Wyatt over the past weeks, including Seth Rollins, who paid emotional tribute to Wyatt both on a Twitter video and on Monday Night Raw.

Speaking about Wyatt on WWE After the Bell, Rollins discussed what he believes young talent can learn from Wyatt.

He said (transcription via Wrestling Inc.):

“I’ll keep it in the wrestling bubble, that’s the lesson to all young talent or talents who are trying to find their footing in our industry, don’t let setbacks force you to feel like you failed, or that you need to give up or give in, or any of that. You can be successful. You just have to figure yourself out. You’ve got to figure out who you are, what your character is. You can do all these things, you just have to believe and you have to work and you have to process and it takes time and that’s okay.

“I know Windham was frustrated during that period of time, but he just let his creative juices flow. He had ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes there, and he had his friends and his brothers and his people, and everybody was rooting for him.”

Rollins defended his World Heavyweight Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura at WWE Payback last night.

Wyatt, real name Windham Rotunda, passed away aged 36 on Thursday, August 24.

WWE recently released a 35-minute video of several stars talking about the death of Wyatt and the impact that the real-life Windham Rotunda had upon them. You can watch that video below this article.

The Friday, August 25 episode of SmackDown featured multiple tributes to Wyatt, and after the show, several WWE stars got matching tattoos of Wyatt’s logo.

The Monday, August 28 Raw followed suit, as the video package that was played on SmackDown was shown on Raw too, with Wyatt’s entrance music being played in the arena and a spotlight being shone on a rocking chair on the stage.

Seth Rollins, who emotionally paid tribute to Wyatt at a house show over the weekend, also went the extra mile on Raw.

He started his in-ring promo by saying Yowie-Wowie, a catchphrase of Wyatt during The Fiend era, and there was another reference as well.

Rollins’ WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt was modified to have a Rollins logo on one sideplate, and a Fiend mask logo on the other.

As the show went off the air, Lynch held up her “Bray” armband and broke down in tears, and after the show she shared a heartwarming story about Wyatt with the audience.

The aforementioned video package was also played during the following night’s NXT, with commentators Vic Joseph and Booker T noticeably joining in with the crowd in holding up their “fireflies” in Wyatt’s memory.

WWE has added the following note to the item descriptions for Wyatt merch on the WWE Shop website:

In the wake of Bray Wyatt’s death, WWE will donate all net proceeds to support JoJo Offerman and his children.

You can find said merch at this link.

On Thursday, August 24, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful reported:

I was given permission to reveal that earlier this year Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt) got COVID that exacerbated a heart issues.

There was a lot of positive progress towards a return and his recovery. Unfortunately today he suffered a heart attack and passed away.

Our thoughts and condolences continue to be with the family, friends, and everyone affected by the passing of Windham Rotunda.

• Seth Rollins
• Bray Wyatt
• wwe

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