It’s starting to look like that the WWE and Bray Wyatt had big plans for the year before a still-undisclosed injury derailed all of it for the third-generation WWE superstar.
Before Bray Wyatt vanished prior to WrestleMania, it appeared that the WWE was reviving one of Wyatt’s old storylines: The Wyatt Family. However, as is the fate of many wrestling narratives, this new take on an old tale was left hanging in the balance, forever untouched and unexplored due to unforeseen circumstances.
The first whispers of this plan began in January. Per reports from Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, a creative strategy was pitched for Wyatt’s popular Firefly Fun House – a new-style version of the Wyatt Family. The angle would have featured Eric Young and Bo Dallas, Wyatt’s real-life brother, who had been depicting Uncle Howdy on WWE TV, a masked figure that made its debut in January.
At the time, the creative trajectory was to take Firefly Fun House’s puppet characters and animate them into tangible and real-life personas. This decision was primed to shake the foundation of the show, fundamentally altering the landscape of wrestling storytelling.
This new chapter was set to launch after WrestleMania, but fate had other plans. Bray Wyatt was mysteriously sidelined with an undisclosed illness, leaving both him and Bo Dallas absent from television. Their absence acted as an unforeseen hurdle to the execution of this storyline. The timing was rather unfortunate as Young, who had just returned to WWE in November, was poised for a comeback but left feeling creatively and morally unfulfilled, leading to him requesting his release.
Alexa Bliss, Wyatt’s former on-screen partner, was also speculated to join this Wyatt Family revival. However, she had to put her involvement on hold due to her pregnancy. Bliss’ exit marked yet another blow to the plot, further complicating the feasibility of the Wyatt Family storyline.
Wyatt’s removal from WWE TV due to his undisclosed illness resulted in the scrapping of a much-anticipated match against Bobby Lashley at WrestleMania, adding to the pile of creative plans that didn’t materialize.
With Wyatt’s return being uncertain and Bliss on maternity leave, the Wyatt Family’s revival is now improbable.
In an era where wrestling storylines often blur the lines of reality, the Firefly Fun House offered an unconventional narrative device that blurred the lines between reality and fantasy. But the curtains closed on this storyline before it could fully open. It serves as a stark reminder of the unpredictability of the wrestling industry, where storylines can change overnight, dreams can be deferred, and opportunities can vanish in an instant.
Now, fans are left wondering what could have been. They are left to imagine a wrestling world where the Wyatt Family was resurrected, where Eric Young stood tall, and where Alexa Bliss returned to her dark roots. It’s a tantalizing glimpse into a parallel universe, a missed opportunity that will forever linger in the annals of wrestling folklore.
It’s a shame too, because The Undertaker is a huge fan of the Wyatt Family. But, perhaps, The Deadman knows something that we don’t? Maybe, just maybe, the emergence of these reports, which comes shortly after The Undertaker gave Wyatt’s original shtick his vote of confidence, is part of a concerted effort to hype Wyatt ahead of his imminent return. After all, this wouldn’t be the first time that people in and out of the WWE universe started dropping hints of his comeback before it all became official. But, of course, this is all purely speculation. The fact of the matter is, Wyatt’s physical conditioning at the moment still prevents him from coming back into the ring.
Whether this will change anytime soon or not remains unclear. The good news is Bray Wyatt and Uncle Howdy are headed to WWE 2K23 on July 19.
