Wikipedia

The Wyatt Family

professional wrestling stable

The Wyatt Family was a professional wrestling stable in the WWE. The original members of the stable were Bray Wyatt (the leader), Erick Rowan, and Luke Harper. They were joined by Braun Strowman in August 2015. Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton were also members for a short time.

The Wyatt Family
The Wyatt Family
(Rowan, Wyatt, Harper)
Statistics
MembersBray Wyatt (leader)
Luke Harper
Erick Rowan
Braun Strowman
Daniel Bryan
Randy Orton
Name(s)The Wyatt Family
DebutNovember 7, 2012
DisbandedMay 9, 2017
Years active2012–2014
2015–2017

The stable played a backwoods cult with Bray Wyatt as their leader. Harper and Rowan won the NXT Tag Team Championship in May 2013, while Wyatt and Orton won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Tables, Ladders and Chairs in December 2016 (Harper also defended the titles under the freebird rule[1]).

On December 26, 2020, Harper would die from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.[2] On August 24, 2023, Wyatt would die from a heart attack.[3] This left Erick Rowan as the last living original member of the Wyatt Family.

Career

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NXT

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Wyatt debuted his character in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) and it was drew comparisons to Max Cady of the 1991 movie Cape Fear and Waylon Mercy (a character portrayed by WWF alumni Dan Spivey).[4] After FCW was renamed NXT, he formed The Wyatt Family in November and introduced Luke Harper as his first "son" and Erick Rowan as his second "son".[5] Harper and Rowan competed in the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament to crown the first champions. They defeated Percy Watson and Yoshi Tatsu in the first round and Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty in the semi-finals.[6][7] They lost to Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey in the finals.[8] Wyatt returned from a torn pectoral muscle and had a match on the February 21 episode of NXT where he defeated Yoshi Tatsu.[9] Harper and Rowan won a triple threat elimination tag match on the May 2 episode of NXT to earn a shot at the championships. Wyatt also had a match against Chris Jericho later in the show but was defeated.[10] Harper and Rowan won the NXT Tag Team Championships after they defeated Neville and Bo Dallas (who was filling in for an injured Grey) on the May 8 episode of NXT (taped on May 2).[11] Harper and Rowan held the titles for 49 days and were defeated by Adrian Neville and Corey Graves on the June 20 episode of NXT (aired on July 17).[12]

WWE

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The Wyatt Family debuted on WWE's main roster and attacked Kane after his match with Christian on the July 8 episode of Raw.[13] The Wyatt Family would then send cryptic messages to Kane asking him to "follow the buzzards".[14] Kane challenged Wyatt to a Ring of Fire match at SummerSlam and Wyatt accepted his challenge.[15] They made their pay-per-view debut at SummerSlam where they defeated Kane in the Ring of Fire match, following interference from Harper and Rowan.[16] On October 6, 2013 at Battleground, Wyatt defeated Kofi Kingston in a match.[17] Their winning streak came to an end when they were defeated by Cody Rhodes and Goldust on the October 11 episode of SmackDown.[18] They then feuded with Daniel Bryan and CM Punk and faced them at Survivor Series but were defeated.[19] The Wyatt Family faced Daniel Bryan in a 3-on-1 handicap match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs where they defeated him.[20] They defeated Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes, and Goldust in a 6-man tag team match on the December 23rd episode of Raw and were defeated by the team of Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, and John Cena at Tribute to the Troops.[21][22]

Daniel Bryan faced all three members of The Wyatt Family in a Gauntlet match on the December 30th episode of Raw. Bryan defeated Harper and Rowan by pinfall and Wyatt by disqualification.[23][24][25] After the match, The Wyatt Family beat down Bryan until Bryan finally joined them.[25]

Two weeks later, on the January 13, 2014 Raw, Bryan turned against the Family, attacking the other three members in the ring.[26] A few days before that Raw show, thousands of fans at a Michigan State University basketball game repeated Bryan's "Yes!" chant. This received large Internet exposure and major coverage on ESPN. One writer for Yahoo! Sports thought that WWE had Bryan turn against the Family because of the Michigan State incident.[27]

Timeline

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Championships and accomplishments

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1 Wyatt, Orton, and Harper defended the title under the Freebird Rule.[1]

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Wyatt Family to defend SmackDown Tag Team Titles under the Freebird Rule". WWE. December 7, 2016. Archived from the original on December 7, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  2. ↑ "AEW's Brodie Lee passes away at 41 due to lung issue". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Windham Rotunda, also known as Bray Wyatt, passes away". WWE. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Big crowd cheers on WWE favourites in Toronto". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on 2013-03-08. Retrieved 2013-12-29.
  5. ↑ "James's WWE NXT Report 12/12 - Week 25: Rollins defends NXT Title, Paige in action, Overall Reax". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  6. ↑ "James's WWE NXT Results 1/23: Tag Tournament begins, HBK appearance, Big E. in main event". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  7. ↑ "James's WWE NXT Results 2/6 - Week 32: Tag Tournament continues, Bo Dallas's main-roster debut carries over, Overall Reax". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  8. ↑ "James's WWE NXT Results 2/13 - Week 33: First NXT tag champions crowned, Paige vows to take over the show". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  9. ↑ "WWE NXT Results - 2/21/13 (Big E. vs. O'Brian)". WrestleView. 22 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  10. ↑ "WWE NXT Results - 5/2/13 (Jericho vs. Wyatt)". WrestleView. 3 May 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  11. ↑ "James's WWE NXT Report 5/8 Week 45: Wyatt Family captures Tag Titles, Ohno turning face?, Sandow in action, Paige vs. Summer Rae feud continues, Overall Reax". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  12. ↑ "WWE News: NXT Spoilers for summer episodes - first NXT Women's champ, Flair, more, plus NXT TV in the U.S.?". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  13. ↑ "The Wyatt Family Makes its Raw Debut". WWE. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  14. ↑ "Caldwell's WWE Main Event Results 7/17: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of Wyatts finding more victims, Fandango vs. Christian, Divas tag match". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  15. ↑ "Caldwell's WWE Raw Results 8/5 (Hour 2): Cena responds to Bryan, Shield appears, Punk vs. Axel match". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  16. ↑ "Bray Wyatt def. Kane (Ring of Fire Match)". WWE. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  17. ↑ "Bray Wyatt def. Kofi Kingston". WWE. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  18. ↑ "SmackDown Results: Rhodes & Goldust hand The Wyatt Family their first-ever WWE loss!". WWE. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  19. ↑ "CM Punk & Daniel Bryan def. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan". WWE. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  20. ↑ "The Wyatt Family def. Daniel Bryan". WWE. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  21. ↑ "Raw results: Good Santa delivers season's beatings, Wyatts hand Bryan a lump of coal and Cena marshals Christmas battle against The Shield". WWE. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  22. ↑ "Tribute to the Troops results: Honoring America's bravest". WWE. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  23. ↑ "New Year's Raw results: Lesnar rings in a painful New Year, Bryan follows the buzzards: Daniel Bryan def. Luke Harper". WWE. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  24. ↑ "New Year's Raw results: Lesnar rings in a painful New Year, Bryan follows the buzzards: Daniel Bryan def. Erick Rowan". WWE. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "New Year's Raw results: Lesnar rings in a painful New Year, Bryan follows the buzzards: Daniel Bryan def. Bray Wyatt via Disqualification". WWE. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  26. ↑ Caldwell, James. "CALDWELL'S WWE RAW RESULTS 1/13: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of live Raw – Big show-closing angle involving Daniel Bryan, Hall of Fame, Rumble hype, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  27. ↑ Michael, Patrick (January 15, 2014). "Did Michigan State University Change the Course of WWE History?". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on January 19, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  28. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2014". The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on November 8, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  29. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2015". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2014". The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on November 8, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  31. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2014". The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on November 8, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  32. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2016". The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  33. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2017". The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  34. ↑ "WWE Wrestler(s) of the Year". Rolling Stone. 14 December 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  35. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (January 27, 2014). "Jan 27 2014 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 2013 Annual awards issue, best in the world in numerous categories, plus all the news in pro-wrestling and MMA over the past week and more". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Campbell, California: 34. ISSN 1083-9593. Archived from the original on August 27, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  36. ↑ "NXT Tag Team Championships". WWE. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  37. ↑ "WWE Championships". WWE. Archived from the original on June 29, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  38. ↑ "SmackDown Tag Team Championships". WWE. Archived from the original on December 26, 2016. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  39. ↑ Benigno, Anthony; Taylor, Scott. "Randy Orton won the 30-Superstar Royal Rumble Match". wwe.com. WWE. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 29, 2017.

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