Mike Rotunda remembers his son Windam (Bray Wyatt).
On August 24th, earlier this year, the wrestling world tragically lost Bray Wyatt at the age of 36. Wyatt had been off WWE television shortly before WrestleMania 39, battling an illness and heart condition. He was engaged to former WWE ring announcer JoJo Offerman, and the pair had two children together, with Wyatt also having two children from a prior relationship.
Mike Rotunda (FKA Irwin R. Schysters in WWE), Bray’s father, recently appeared on WrasslinTalk to remember his late son, where he revealed that the company have since put Bray on a Legends contract.
“It’s been really hard. We miss him every day. [Gets choked up]. Growing up in the business, you always book stuff during the week because you’re going to be wrestling on the weekends and TV. Windham and Jojo were supposed to get married yesterday. We miss Windham horribly, every day. Windham was the first one and we would bring him on the road at six months old. They would come with me and stay on the road, wherever I was wrestling, and it’s so hard to wake up out of this nightmare and he’s still not there. I have to give WWE credit. They’ve done awesome helping our family out with a lot of different stuff. They put Windham on a legends contract and all the proceeds go to…Windham has four children. Luckily, we have them. He was a jolly fellow. He loved to laugh, he was loud. He was always laughing and he lit up a room. He lit up the wrestling business. People come up to me and have a story with Windham, they say he took the time to sit there and bullshit with me for ten or fifteen minutes when he’s supposed to be signing autographs. So many people come up and support him by wearing his stuff, and they have a story about him. He was that kind of person. We miss him badly. He made people feel good about themselves, which is a gift. It’s hard. I don’t think we’re ever going to get over this. It’s very hard. The worst part about it, I can’t wait until this year finishes. My mom had a stroke and I spent three years going to a nursing home every day and my sister and myself watched her take her last breath. Windham and Taylor [Bo Dallas] came up and visited my mom for a few days, and my daughter wasn’t able to come because she just had a baby and wasn’t able to travel. We lost my mom and two weeks later, we lost Windham. This year…we’re going to celebrate the new year. They’ve come out with a collection of memorabilia and shirts. I think they have more in the works. You can go on WWE Shop and get all his stuff. Windham was one of the top merchandise selling guys they had for quite a while. This is really going to help because fans buy stuff and I’m sure they have more stuff planned down the road. They put out a huge line of shirts. I’m not sure of all of what they’ve come out with and are doing, but people can search his name, and that would really help the kids because they’re not going to have their dad anymore. We’re trying to set trusts up for them and have them taken care of. It’s greatly appreciated by us and WWE has been more than gracious in the stuff they’ve tried to help with. It’s appreciated by our family.”
-Mike Rotunda
Fans can find and purchase Bray Wyatt’s merchandise by clicking here, with all net proceeds going to his family.
Everyone here at WrestlePurists continues to extend their condolences to Windham’s friends and family at this time.
