Bray Wyatt dead

[SaitoRyo]

Completely shocking and gutting news to wake up to. 

As with the deaths of Brodie Lee and Jay Briscoe, it hits a lot harder because he was a young father taken in a cruel and unexpected way. No age to go. 

As far as Bray as a performer, he obviously had his hits and misses, but he was really fucking good when he was on/when the creative was right. I really loved that first incarnation of Bray on the main roster, with the Wyatt Family. 

He deserves a lot of credit for taking risks and being bold in his approach, even when not everything landed as he or WWE probably hoped. It's hard to be truly original in wrestling, but Bray certainly was that. 

RIP. 

[air_raid]

Obviously death is always sad and especially when it’s someone so young who leaves (first and foremost) family behind but this is going to be tough too on a generation of fans who as kids will have revered him as a big character in the show like my generation did with The Undertaker. He had a charisma to him, he was capable of some great matches with the right people and the shenanigans reigned in, I was happy I got to see him fight Cena on one of the Mania revenge tours right as it seemed he was a character they were going to get behind for the long term. Regardless of the overall thumbs up/down on his body of work any of us would choose to give, ultimately the build to and execution of the Wyatts vs Shield six man at Elimination Chamber 2014 was something that everyone who saw it will remember and for decades to come will stay have people saying “Remember that? That was brilliant.” Which is something many of his peers would be highly envious of.

[Snitsky's back acne]

Honestly do not believe this.

Absolutely crazy. I couldn't stop shaking my head and saying 'Fuck!' when I read this.

36 is no age and the fact he has a young family is just tragic.

I loved cult leader Bray Wyatt. It was so fresh and different. It's crazy to think two of the Wyatt family are now no longer with us 

I thought the Fiend debut was incredible too.

He was clearly a creative guy with a passion for what he did. This is such a shock.

RIP Bray Wyatt.

[WyattSheepMask]

Jesus fucking Christ, what heartbreaking news to wake up to. I can’t even begin to imagine how his family are feeling. 
36 though. I just messaged a friend about it and how that’s younger than both of us.

I don’t know what they had planned for Smackdown tonight but I hope they just move it all back to next week so they can go full Eddie-style tribute show for him

[Kfogg1991]

I'm fucking flawed by this one I genuinely feel so sad.

 

What a fucking shame and I think this will have rocked a fair number of people.

 

R.i.p bray 

[SuperBacon]

The little moment after the initial opening brawl at EC against the Shield, when Bray goes to the outside and sort of roars at the crowd and the scream that a woman does in the front row, is a wonderful little moment that pops me every time. She sounds genuinely terrified.

Fantastic match.

[The Gaffer]

51 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Blimey. As someone who's been up and down in regards to liking the guy over the years, I feel a bit fucking stupid moaning about him now. Feels a bit ridiculous in hindsight.

Nah, it's all good. There's absolutely nothing wrong with criticising someone's work, and the world would be a much poorer place if we tiptoed around things like that under the proviso that they're going to be gone some day. 

In fact I'll do one better and say this latest evolution of his lore is my least favourite yet. Fuck sakes, Bray. A definite, first ballot talisman of that Network/NXT/post full time Cena era that emerged. For all his apparent character missteps you always got the sense he was one big angle or new spooky look from turning on a dime again and slotting immediately into a high profile feud. 

All of which takes a backseat, of course, to the human element of this but we're here to talk about wrestling, right? And there was always a lot to talk about with Wyatt. 

This still gives me goosebumps. It was a few weeks out from WrestleMania XXX, within days of the Network launching, and for the first time in a long time it felt like "Oh shit, the future's here!" 

[TheBurningRed]

I know The Fiend character eventually fell off, but the whole build up was really great stuff. The Firefly Funhouse segments were really well done with how they slowly got darker each time. The debut against Finn was great as well. 

Rewatched the Funhouse “match” against Cena at Wrestlemania Covid recent. It was unique and one of the better things they done during that time. An easy 15 minute watch with some great moments as Bray put Cena through nightmares. As well as Bray singing the opening line to Nikki Bellas theme to Cena post their break up. 

[TheScarlettChad]

36 is no age. And he at least got to provide for his family for a while. God, you wonder if he knew this could be coming? Scary and sad. RIP Bray. 

[BomberPat]

36, and heart problems exacerbated by Covid, is something that's hitting far closer to home than I would like. Absolutely tragic.

We are, thankfully, past the time when hearing that a wrestler had died young from a heart attack was a regular occurrence, so not only is this a huge shock and extremely sad news, it's just a horrible coincidence that of the handful of wrestlers to have died young in recent years, we've lost two members of the Wyatt Family. 

Whatever you think of his work - and I and others on here have obviously been critical of a lot of his later career - he seemed to be largely well-liked by his peers, and leaves behind a young family, and that's far more important than whatever daft stuff he did in the wrestling. 

[Guest]

Waking up and seeing all the tributes hits hard even tho I was never a big fan. Im 40 and seeing people dying to natural causes who are younger than me hits harder these days than the old drug/drink wrestlers deaths. Living by myself I make the joke about if I died at home on a week off work no one would notice till I was due back, folk hate it but it’s just me being self depreciating. In reality it could happen to any of us at any time. I’m very much on the give people their flowers when they can appreciate them than waiting to talk good about them when they die. It’s uncomfortable but better to have them know and it be awkward, than wishing you did it when it’s too late. Stay safe and give someone you love like or even just don’t loathe a nice message or compliment today 

[Supremo]

The majority of his stuff wasn’t to my taste, but who gives a shit about matches, characters or storylines when news like this breaks. Absolutely heartbreaking. Thirty six, with little kids? Hits really close to home. I’m going to hug my kids a little longer today. I read WWE have announced all net proceeds from his merchandise will be going to his family. Classy move.

If we’re going to touch on his work, this always stuck with me. It came at a time when WWE was at its absolute worst. Just miserable TV that was a chore to get through. Everyone acting like a one note robot. A flat industry in desperate need of AEW to reignite the business. But in amongst all the dross, Roman and Bray somehow snuck in one of the the coolest finishes I’ve ever seen. It’s majestic.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Supremo

[Loki]

28 minutes ago, Gay as FOOK said:

he was one big angle or new spooky look from turning on a dime again and slotting immediately into a high profile feud. 

I was actually idly thinking about Bray Wyatt turning up in AEW just last night.  He had such a presence that despite all the spooky nonsense, it would be exciting to see that guy come out.  He was of the few genuine main event stars that WWE has created since the Cena/Orton/Batista/Lesnar era.

Awful news, of course.  Shocking, thought-provoking, and challenging to one's sense of immortality.

There's something odd going on in the US as regards Covid - I've noticed a few times that people and families almost seem embarrassed to admit they'd caught Covid or someone has died as a result of Covid.  There's a lot of Covid denial and anti-vax going on over there still.

Given he'd been medically cleared, I can't help but wonder whether an attempt to get back into "shape" might have placed undue pressure on his heart.  We all know what wrestlers are like about both heavy gym work and, sadly, shortcuts associated.

 

[Guest]

8 hours ago, chokeout said:

Heart attack after suffering heart complications due to covid earlier in the year.

Hold up, I thought wrestlers were immune to covid? Surely that's why they were able to continue working in Florida throughout the pandemic, and nothing to do with bribing Ron DeSantis?

[d-d-d-dAz]

Let’s not.