Road Dogg Lays Out What Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt) Taught WWE Locker Room
The death of Windham Rotunda, also known as Bray Wyatt to WWE fans, not only robbed Rotunda's friends and family of their loved one. The wrestling business lost a truly unique mind according to Brian "Road Dogg" James. On "Oh...You Didn't Know," James said that Wyatt helped kick open a door in the minds of rookies and veterans alike.
"What he taught everybody was, 'Don't limit yourself, it's your imagination,'" James said, "'It's phony-baloney wrestling, it's characters. We're the masters of our own destiny and we can do whatever we want, and then you judge if it's good for business or not."
James believes Rotunda may have had a better handle on his character than The Undertaker, noting that "The Deadman" eventually gave way to the "American Badass" as Undertaker shied away from his supernatural character for a number of years, while Rotunda only embraced the more bizarre and cartoonish aspects of his character.
"But Bray crossed that narrow bridge to make it acceptable almost ... all it is is his enigma, his energy, Bray Wyatt's vibe," James explained. "He made it cool. It was okay for you to go, 'He just appeared over there,' and I didn't go, 'Oh, they just turned the light out and he ran over there,' because it was cool."
James went on to praise the ways Rotunda was able to not only unite the locker room but also the ways that Wyatt's unique stipulations like the Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match at the Royal Rumble set him apart.
"There's 11 matches, do something different. Please don't just lock up and take a headlock. Please do something different, and this was different."
If you use any quotes in this article, please credit "Oh...You Didn't Know" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.