411’s Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal Report

-I have been looking forward to this one since it was announced. This is obviously going to be an emotional documentary and I have prepared myself. Let’s get to it!

-Run Time: 2:02:39
-Rating: TV-14

-Thankfully, they do the cool thing where you get 3 minutes of commercials to start and then the documentary doesn’t get interrupted.

-We start with a shot of the Point in Pittsburgh, PA. I was just there for March Madness a few weeks ago. Way to suck me in, in the opening two seconds. Taylor Rotunda (Bo Dallas), who sounds like Bray, reads the famous words of Bray about wrestling being more than a love story. He is walking in a visual effects studio and on the desk is a lantern, Fiend mask, Uncle Howdy Mask, and various Fun House puppets.

-Opening with talking heads John Cena, Hulk Hogan, Seth Rollins, JoJo, Ric Flair, Alexa Bliss, HHH, among others. This is going to be rough!

-This is being narrated by Mark “The Undertaker” Calaway. We are back in Western PA with Taylor meeting up with Jason Baker. He is a film director and special effects creator. He had the honor of creating all of Windham’s ideas. Taylor says they owe Windham something big and something to honor his legacy.



-“This Film Contains Multiple Unreleased Interviews. There Are the Unheard Tapes of Windham Rotunda, AKA “Bray Wyatt””

-Brooksville, Florida: Windham from 2010 in NXT talks about his time growing up as a kid. His grandfather is Blackjack Mulligan, and his uncles are Barry and Kendall Windham. His father is Mike Rotunda. Here’s Mike and he says he was wrestling in Florida and was put in a team team with Barry Windham by Dusty Rhodes. Barry Windham says his sister, Stephanie, came to visit and he could see her and Mike eyeballing each other. Stephanie Rotunda, Windham’s mother, says she wasn’t supposed to be around the wrestlers, but married Mike 6 months later and they have been married 40 years. Good for them man!

-Mike and Barry became WWF Tag Team Champions as The US Express and competed on the first WrestleMania.

-May 23, 1987: Windham Rotunda is born. Mike says he was wrestling Ric Flair in Florida and when he got home nobody was the house. They were at the hospital and Steph had an emergency c-section because Windham was so big. He was nearly 10 pounds and he was named him Windham because it was Stephanie’s maiden name. We get family photos of baby Windham and I want to smile and cry at the same time. WINDHAM DRESSED AS A GHOSTBUSTER AND BEETLEJUICE! The Beetlejuice costume is sweet! There is a photo of me also dressed somewhere in my house as Beetlejuice and my costume was hand made by Grandmother. Mike says that Windham knew every word to Bettlejuice and Barry says Windham was addicted to Goosebumps books. Who wasn’t?

-Taylor Rotunda, Bo Dallas, was born and Windham was no longer an only child. Three years later Mika Rotunda was born and she says Windham and Taylor were her protectors. Taylor says they once convinced Mika that there was an invisible man living in their living room.

-Natalya remembers playing with the kids as they grew up together. Mike was one of The Anvil’s best friends, so it was natural their kids were friends.

-1991: Mike becomes IRS and we get a video package on the character. Undertaker notes that even he shared the ring with IRS. Hulk Hogan remembers seeing Windham as a kid having his eyes fixed on his dad as he was stretching and getting ready. Windham remembers being seven and watching his dad take a Pit Stop from The Nasty Boys and his mom had to hold him back. That’s when he knew he wanted to be in the WWE.

-Windham (2010) says he was heavy set and had to be tough. He was a great athlete for his size with good speed and agility. He was into football and amateur wrestling. His sister notes he was a draw at wrestling at 17. He won the Heavyweight State Title and was All State in Football. He graduated in 2005 and played football at a Junior College for two years and then transferred to Division I, Troy University. You have to be legit to get a chance to play at D1 no matter what team. His dream was to play for The Raiders!

-Mika says she was also overweight, and was the only Freshman to make homecoming, so she asked if Windham would walk her down the field. They show a photo and it’s fantastic. Taylor says when he was a Senior in High School he was in the State Tournament and Windham told him he would only come see him when he made it to the Championship Match because he knew he would be there. Taylor got injured and felt he let his brother down. He went home and Windham was waiting for him in the driveway and walked to his brother and hugged him. Taylor breaks down some telling the story, and yeah. Windham whispered to him, “none of that shit matters.” It was a love of family and that is what mattered to him.

-Windham was pushed to backup duty at Troy and his mom says that is when Windhman realized the NFL wasn’t going to happen. Taylor was 18 and signed with WWE. Windham went to see his brother and decided he wasn’t going back to school. He wanted to be in the WWE as well.

-“The Following Contains Footage From The WWE Archives That Has Never Been Seen Before.”

-In 2008, Windham joined his brother in FCW, WWE’s Developmental Territory. Taylor and Windham got a house together in Tampa and they started a tag team under the names of Bo and Duke Rotundo. We see footage of those early shows as a tag team. Mika says she was sixteen and got her license and the first place she drove was to the Brooksville Armory to watch her brothers wrestle. They have footage and we see Mike watching from the back as a proud father.

-Dusty on commentary as he calls Duke green, but he is a big kid that will get there. They win the FCW Tag Team Titles in 2009 and we see the famous picture of them with the titles posing with their father.

-John Cena says he offered his gym, Hard Knocks South, as the first developmental strength training facility for FCW. He used to see Windham all the time. Windham was always in the top group and he always had the guys laughing every time. John knew that Windham was on to something. They show old tapes of Windham at promo class and yeah, the dude just had it.

-NXT: This was the first version with pros being paired with rookies. I believe this was Season 2, and Windham was given the name Husky Harris and was put with Cody Rhodes. Mom thought the name wasn’t complimentary and Wade Barrett says Windham didn’t like the name. Cena can only imagine how Windham felt about the name and says that’s a name he isn’t sure even he could make work. Windham’s voice says when he thinks of Husky he thinks of a terrible time with a sad little boy. It was someone else’s imagination they tried to push on someone. Nattie says the character made Windham want more and pushed him to want more.

-Personally, Windham had been with his girlfriend Samantha for three years and on Nov 14, 2010 they welcomed their first daughter, Cadyn. Samantha Pixley says Windham was on the European Tour when she was in labor in the hospital. He listened to the whole thing on a phone and she would not let anyone see Cadyn, until Windham got back. She breaks down a little telling the story. He loved his little girl and it changed him.

-HHH felt Windham was miscast as Husky Harris and wanted to put him back in Florida to see what he could do with him. Taylor says that Windham was so happy to go back to FCW and he had all these ideas he was running by his brother. He was telling him about Waylon Mercy, and I mean, yeah you could see that easily. He also told Taylor about Cape Fear and how he wanted to take that demeanor. The next week they had promo class and it blew everyone’s minds. Bray Wyatt was born!

-Taylor says Windham had a crazy motherfucker of a friend named, Brae White, and he got in a car wreck where his head went through the windshield. He lost feeling in his face so would go around head-butting everything. A lot of his characteristics went into the Bray Wyatt character. These early Bray Wyatt promos in promo class are something else. Mom says he also had a cousin named Wyatt, so he mixed everything together. Sami Zayn says everything jumped off the page and Corey Graves said it blew everyone away. Sami says most promos in those classes were 60 seconds and 90 seconds if you asked. Windham was given 6-7 minutes because Dusty knew he had something special and wanted him to work it out. Dusty calls Windham a unique kid and we see him giving feedback to Windham.

-Chris Chambers, former WWE executive, says Dusty called him and told him to check out the new character from Husky Harris. Chris told Dusty it was a movie character and fantastic.

-Windham had the idea that he needed a family, but his brother was already an on screen character. Enter Jon Huber, aka, Luke Harper. Oh man! Jon, from 2018, says he had talked to Windham and before he could say a word, Windham had rattled off 10,000 different ideas. They immediately bonded as Chambers talks about shooting those early Wyatt Family vignettes in the woods by the river. Mom says they were filmed by their home near a river. They were next to a zoo with big cats and you could hear them during some of the filming, so Windham played off of it.

-HHH says there was something special that could resonate. Bray Wyatt makes his debut in July of 2012 in NXT and Luke Harper is the first son of the Wyatt Family. Erick Rowan is the second son and he felt it was cool. He had a Viking Gimmick, and asked what he was wearing. Windham told him to wear a mask and Erick had a bag full of masks and he pulled out a lamb mask. Windham told him that was perfect. Mom says they had the rocking chairs and would scratch them and make them look weathered for when they needed to film in the barn. Erick says they were having a blast and would watch old interviews of criminals on death row and note how they would speak.

-Windham married Samantha and on Feb. 7, 2013, his second daughter, Kendyl was born. Stephanie elected to be induced so Windham could be there for the birth of the second daughter. The family knew Windham was born to be a great father.

-We get some outtakes with The Wyatt Family making each other laugh during vignettes. Funny stuff!

-We see HHH working with Bray in NXT. HHH says they were bringing The Wyatt Family up and they needed something to work in an arena. HHH had the idea for a lantern and Bray had the idea for the lights to go out.

-RAW: July 15, 2013: The Wyatt Family gets the call up and Windham isn’t sure if they understood what they had. They knew it worked in FCW, but this was different. Spoiler: It Worked!

-Big E says Windham was such a captivating talker and did it without having to scream and yell like most wrestlers. Hulk Hogan says you could feel what Windham was doing was translating through the TV. We get highlights of the awesome Shield/Wyatt Match from Elimination Chamber. That match is so spectacular!

-Within a few months, Bray Wyatt was put in a rivalry with John Cena. Cena says the main focus of Bray Wyatt was chaos. He was a person that wanted to see the world burn. Obviously, Heath Ledger Joker references there. We see the crowd chanting “This is Awesome” as Cena is tied in the ropes with the lamb mask on his face.

-WrestleMania XXX: Cena says it was really special! Taylor says he and Windham had always said getting to WrestleMania proved they made it. He knew Windham would get there, but they didn’t know he would get there so fast. Mika remembers watching and thinking, “that’s my big brother.” Mom and Dad could only watch and say wow. That was the first time Mom saw him and thought it was bigger than life. Mike was a proud father to see his kid rewarded for working so hard. Cena gets the win and we see them congratulate each other in Gorilla after the match.

-The Lantern: Jason and Taylor look at the very first lantern and Jason says Windham could make anything iconic. We go to MSG in 2015 during a live show and the fireflies were out and Taylor start to cry as he recalls looking out and seeing the sea of lights. There had never been anything like that before in WWE. Windham says it was created by the WWE fans and it is part of what you come to see at a WWE show. Sam Roberts says it was more than fan participation and it was more that the fans were buying in to what Bray was selling. Ric Flair says Bray found his niche.

-They talk about Windham meeting his fans and how he wanted to leave the fans better than when he found them. We see a fan dressed like Bray Wyatt and Windham just looks so honored. Oh man, that fan had to have taken his passing so hard.

-Big E has never seen anyone become immersed in a character as much as Windham was with Bray. We see some green screen tapings and stuff like that is always cool. Finn Balor says he saw Windham in the back against a wall, going over his promo over and over again. He was blown away and wished he had that much commitment to his character.

-The Undertaker Feud: “I am Bray Wyatt, the new face of fear.” Windham was called in by Taker and was asked if he is ready to do this. Windham told him yes, as it was everything he wanted.

-WrestleMania 31: Mom says nobody could touch Undertaker and Windham had his action figure. Erick loved it and said it was like Freddy vs. Jason or Kong vs. Godzilla. Taker says Windham proved he was a legend in the making and says the match did more for him than words can explain. He was struggling with his confidence and Windham helped him so much. Windham puts over Taker and all he has done for the business.

-2015: Bray Wyatt was box office and was Windham was becoming a trusted mentor behind the scenes. Braun Strowman says he had only been in the business a few months, Windham saw him and knew immediately he needed to be with him. Braun talks about learning about life from Windham and more than just what to do inside a wrestling ring. Becky Lynch has similar stories and talks about the warmth and humility Bray showed to everyone he talked to. Big E says Windham loved people and loved seeing people smile and laugh. Seth Rollins says he was a please to be around as a human being. Cena puts over the friendships Bray had with the rest of the roster and he just wanted everyone to have a good time. He had a draw to him and people loved being around him.

-WrestleMania 32: Bray Wyatt doesn’t have a match, due to injury if I remember, but he had a segment with The Rock and The Rock put him over huge on the mic.

-Elimination Chamber 2017: Bray pins AJ Styles to win the match and become WWE Champion for the first time. Great moment and I cheered like crazy! I love when guys who work hard get the Title for the first time and the moment sets in for them. Mike notes he was the first in the family to do it which is cool because his grandad, uncle, and dad never did it. Oh man, the photo with him and Harper hugging in the back. Mom says she was there and she cried. “It was very, very cool.” Windham knew he would get there and it was just a matter of how and when. Ric Flair says getting to the top is huge, but staying there is the challenge.

-Randy Orton says he and Bray were very close and especially during that run together. They were telling great stories and having a lot of fun together. Randy says it is tough on the road after you have kids. It is hard to balance the work and home life.

-WrestleMania 33: Bray’s reign is short lived as Randy Orton wins the WWE Title. Stephanie says things weren’t what they used to be and they ended up divorced. “Our lives just grew apart.” Mom says the divorce and that time of his life were devastating.

-Windham let things get to him professionally as well and we see him getting annoyed at vignette tapings. HHH says the hardest thing was getting Windham to explain how his ideas would work in the ring. They were intriguing and spectacular ideas, but “ding ding, now what?” I have often heard that criticism and it is valid as some love the characters, but once the bell rings it did not translate as well. HHH says that Windham was so creative and outside the box, it was hard to pull him back to a specific genre.

-The Wyatt Family has split and Bray was in neutral. He was on TV, but not in a prominent role.



-Back to Jason Baker who was doing things for The Bludgeon Brothers and Bray was jealous of the stuff they were getting. Taylor says there was a lot going on in Windham’s life and leaned on his friends to deal with the stress. Braun says they were together 4-5 days a week and they would laugh and cry together.

-JoJo Offerman, Windham’s fiance, says she started as a wrestler and became an announcer. They respected each other’s work and became great friends. When they were able, they started dating. Becky says she lived with JoJo when they were in NXT and she never would have thought JoJo and Windham could be together, but then you see them together and it made sense. “They are these two beautiful souls.” Braun notes you can’t fight fate and Taylor says JoJo meant the world to Windham.

-2019 JoJo and Windham welcome a son, Knash into the world. She says Windham was so happy as he didn’t think he could have boys and thought he would have girls his whole life. Two years later another girl is born, Hyrie. Taylor says their house was a scene out of a movie as it was loud and happy. JoJo changed his life for the better. We see Bray with his four kids on a birthday.

-Early 2019 Windham has the idea for a new character. JoJo says they were laying in bed and Windham told her he had this idea. We go back to Pittsburgh and Windham calls Jason at 2 AM because he has been sent home due to creative having nothing for him and he knows what that means.

-We see some early sketches of the various characters. Windham says he remembers the out there characters in wrestling and mentions Papa Shango. Taylor says that he and Bray were influenced by Stephen King at a young age and they were into horror movies.

-Jesse shows Taylor the sketches he had for the original Fiend mask. Taylor says he grew up loving Rock and Austin, while Windham was into Kane, Taker, and Papa Shango.

-Pittsburgh 2019: Oh wow, I did not know the original Fire Fly Fun House was filmed in Pittsburgh! Bruce Prichard was there to film the early Fun House vignettes and says the place was Bray’s imagination. We get some great behind the scenes stuff and I love seeing things like this. They note the hard part is containing everything Bray wants to do. His range of interest is so wide and he drew from everything.

-The Puppets: Huskus was a representation of what Bray went through with his weight. Rabbit was people’s opinion that Bray rambled too much in his promos. Mercy was an image to Waylon Mercy. Abby was Sister Abigail, the imaginary sister of Bray Watt.

-The Firefly Fun House premieres on RAW and I legit thought someone turned the channel on the TV in my house when I heard the theme song. When Bray popped up in the sweater, I couldn’t stop watching. Alexa Bliss saw it and thought it was brilliant. Erick enjoyed the homage to the Pee Wee Playhouse. Ric Flair says it put him in the genius category. Orton says it was Mr. Rogers mixed with Tales from The Crypt. He says whenever it would air, the roster would gather around a monitor to watch. Hogan puts over that Windham had the charisma that so many guys didn’t have. Alexa says knowing Windham you knew it was going to go dark and it would be scary.

-The Fiend: It was a brand new character that lived in Bray’s head and could take over his body to become real. Graves says it felt wrong coming from The Fun House, but you couldn’t help but watch.

-SummerSlam 2019: Finn says he showed up and saw what the character was going to be and thought it was so cool. That debut was amazing and the “Holy Shit” chants were justified. Alexa says The Fiend is her favorite WWE character of all time. Braun laughs and says Windham created 10 million dollars of merchandise over night. My wife was not a fan and would make me turn it, if my son was around to watch.

-We skip the Universal Title run and jump to WrestleMania 36. COVID hit and they had to have Mania in the Performance Center. They knew The Fiend would not work in an empty arena. John Cena says the idea was just that he and Windham would have a Firefly Fun House Match. John asked what that means and was told, “we don’t know.’ Cena said great!

-We see footage of them working on the match and Cena looks so happy doing this. John had the idea of doing something meta and Windham immediately got it and started pitching his own ideas. Cena would throw ideas back and Windham would make them better. CENA IN NWO GEAR! They had two days to prepare for it and somehow pulled it off. I know some hate it, but I loved it and couldn’t stop laughing at times. Sami says it was memorable and they will still be talking about it for years to come.

-Alexa Bliss joins The Fun House Family, and I was all for this as well. She says Windham taught her to open her mind more creatively and step her game up. She says it was the most fun she had during her career.

-Oh no! Jon Huber passes away in Dec of 2020. Man! He was 41 years old and Windham from 2020 is crying as his brain wouldn’t let him believe it was true. “I’m struggling.” Erick knows he was hurting because he was also hurting a lot. Windham says nobody can fill the void that Jon left behind, “but I swear to God, I will try,” JoJo says it was heavy for Windham and he carried it with him.

-Bruce says Bray had what he wanted to do and he would fight you on it. He didn’t like when others wanted to mingle with his characters. HHH says there is a clear line between Windham and his characters, but there were pieces of all of them in him. He was a whirlwind of ideas at all times and it was harder and harder to get him to focus on one idea and then not change it.

-Inferno Match: Bray remembers seeing the look on Bray’s face as he was being covered in goop to keep him safe from the fire. Mom says that Windham got burned and it was extremely frustrating for him. Windham jokes, “Is this how Jim Carey felt when he was doing The Grinch?” Bruce says that they didn’t think things through with the burned Fiend character as it was hard for Windham to move and wrestle in it. No kidding!

-Back to Pittsburgh as Jason says Windham hated the burned Fiend character and it all lead to WrestleMania.

-WrestleMania 37: WWE returns to a show with fans in attendance. They made the call to have The Fiend get back to himself as The Burned gimmick did not work and they could not continue it. There’s your reason for why it was dropped. Alexa turns on The Fiend causing him to lose the match, and Alexa says it wasn’t what the fans wanted to see. JoJo says it was very frustrating for Windham. HHH says creative minds can be misinterpreted differently, and he isn’t sure of the answer, but it fell apart.

-Sam Roberts says the WWE was still dealing with fall-out from The Pandemic and started releasing wrestlers. Taylor was released first and then Windham. Mom says she was shocked and looking back she can see it destroyed him. Mika says wrestling was his life (outside his family) and his outlet and it was gone.

-Windham found a new passion with art and JoJo shows the space where Windham would do his art. It’s untouched since his passing and she shows off one of the first pieces he did, which was of her in spray paint. There is a beautiful picture of his daughters in a street and he was in the middle of doing it. He would often stop and start and do things over. JoJo tells the story of how they got engaged and one piece reminds her of that time and they are pieces she can’t let go it. Just some great stuff! His sister laughs that he would work on things for three nights in a row and she would tell him to go to sleep.

-Windham and Taylor were also working on a reality TV pilot about hunting monsters and cults. The more they hung out, it made them talk about wrestling. They got excited and realized they wanted to go back and wrestle.

-Bruce Prichard says there is not a lock on the door to WWE. HHH made the call about Windham coming back and the first conversation went from talking about maybe coming back to discussing ideas for a return. JoJo says Windham was in the gym 3-4 hours every day and was preparing for his return.

-Nattie says that Windham reaches out to TJ Wilson and told him to keep it quiet, but he needed to work out in a ring again. Windham had the excitement back and wanted to get in the best shape of his life. Taylor reached out to see where he stood. HHH brought in Rob Fee as a director of character development and he was in awe of the energy Windham was bringing back with him. It became a three man workshop of ideas for his return.

-The White Rabbit: HHH says they came up with idea to put in Easter Eggs to lead to the return. Bray would find crazy bits of lore and Rob would turn it into something. QR codes would pop up and it brought viewership up 25%. It allowed the fans to wildly speculate. They had rabbits in the crowd and used latitude and longitude to send fans on a wild hunt. They knew they had to pay it off soon and it led to Extreme Rules.

-Extreme Rules 2022: Windham is in a trailer sketching The Uncle Howdy Mask and talks about the feeling of being on the cusp of bringing these creations to life. JoJo says Windham was nervous and kept calling while he was pacing. He wanted to make sure it was being done the way he wanted it done. Windham says he worries about someone not liking this or someone not liking that. Hunter had the idea to put people in the Fun House Characters so they would be in the crowd and have someone dressed as The Fiend as well. They wanted to use an extra, but Windham wanted Jason as he was the one he trusted to pull off the character. He deserved to do it, and Jason says the honor was not lost on him. Windham is back in the trailer talking while you can see the nerves. He is drawing to help keep himself calm.

-Windham is greeting people in Gorilla as the show seemingly ends and then the lights go out in the arena. “He’s Got The Whole World in His Hands.” That crowd pop! It is making me smile all over again. We had him back! The door bursts open and the crowd chants, “Holy Shit.” Bray takes off the Uncle Howdy makes, says “I’m Here,” and the place explodes. Windham says he felt like he was hovering and he has never felt anything like it. He looks so happy! Braun says it blew the roof off the place. HHH tells him they will make it bigger than it has ever been, and Bray says he is down.

-Back to Pittsburgh and Jason says he has never heard anything that loud in his life. Taylor says Windham sparked a fire under him like he has never felt.

-SmackDown: Bray Wyatt returns on an emotional night and you can tell it meant the world to him. Again, I can’t stop smiling! Big E puts over the rawness of the promo and how different it was. JoJo says Windham forgot how much he meant to people. Windham says if he didn’t have passionate fans, he would not be here. He has fans that are so into what he does, that it is part of their life too. The fans are what brought him back. He was getting a second chance and had more perspective. Bruce says Windham wanted to take the fans on a journey where he was like one of them, but different.

-Bray had a family, The Fiend had a fun house, but Windham needed his brother. Bruce says they wanted to use Taylor and it came from a nightmare Windham had as a child. That is where The Uncle Howdy character came from, and it meat a lot for the brothers to work together. Taylor says it was his job to go to work and play with his brother. Mika says it was awesome for them to be able to work together. Taylor’s voice cracks as he says their dream was to get to WrestleMania together and that dream grew stronger and became more real. That period where they worked together meant everything to him and says it was too good to be true.

-HHH says that Windham had a second lease on life and he had so much joy. He would call HHH back after meetings to thank him for this chance, and it made HHH want to work harder and make this right for Windham.

-Feb 26, 2023: House show in Illinois with LA Knight vs. Bray Wyatt. Knight says that Bray told him his calf or knee had started to seize up on him. That was the final match for Windham!

-March 2023: The Bray Wyatt character disappeared from TV as Windham had tested positive for COVID and was admitted to the hospital because of his heart. They did testing on his heart and it showed it was weakened. JoJo says it kept making him feel off. Taylor didn’t think it was serious as that was his big brother and nothing could hurt him. Windham assured everyone he was fine. He was on medicine and was cleared to do light cardio and things would get better, but then take a few steps back.

-Taylor says they were trying to get a rattlesnake out a garage and Windham was pouring sweat. He said he wasn’t feeling good and needed to take a nap. It crossed Taylor’s mind for a brief second, but Windham said he was fine. He thought they would be back soon to being monsters because this was his big brother. Windham had a vest put on that would shock his heart when needed. He promised he would wear the vest.

-Aug. 24, 2023: Windham had a checkup with his doctor and told his mom he would likely need a pacemaker. He told his mom he would be fine. Sam called Windham to see if he wanted to pick the kids up for school. JoJo says Windham went to sleep around 2 PM to take a nap and the alarm was going off at 3 PM. She touched his leg to wake him and he would not move. She screamed for her mom and called 911 while her mom called Windham’s mom. She was told Windham was having a heart attack and she didn’t want to believe it and wanted him on the phone. She then called Taylor, and I have had to pause this a few times to get myself together. JoJo is crushing my soul as tears in her eyes as she says, “please come back to me.” Meka is crying as well as she is trying to tell her daughter everything will be okay, but in her mind she knew it wouldn’t be.

-They get to the hospital and are put in a room. Taylor says it is something you see a million times in a movie, but you don’t know how bad it is until it happens. Time slowed down as they are told that Windham is gone. He can see the reaction of everyone in the room as his parents crumble down and his sister had a baby in her arms. He had never been so sad, but something came over him and he knows it was Windham telling him not to crumble. He knew Windham wanted him to be there for mom and to hold her up. This is so heart breaking! His mom just kept yelling for Mike to fix this and do something. Barry says his sister called him and seeing Barry break down is just I don’t know. Braun loses it as JoJo called him. Braun says he was getting off a plane and dropped to his knees. He felt like something was missing from him. JoJo made the call to Sam and had to let her know that Windham was gone. JoJo: “How am I going to explain this to my children? They are 3 and 4 and they lost their dad.” Taylor says it was the worst day of his life. His mom says he didn’t have the vest on and she doesn’t know what happened. Windham Rotunda passed away at 36 years old!

-SmackDown: We see HHH addressing the roster before the show and that had to be so hard. HHH says it feels like he just hasn’t seen Windham for a while. He calls it a crazy and doesn’t have the words. He tells the roster to cherish each other. Sami has a part of him that is still in denial even doing this documentary. Seth says he didn’t believe it and thought it was bullshit and even know he has times he doesn’t think it’s real. “It sucks. It still sucks.”

-We see The 10 Bell Salute as Erick says he had different feelings in his head. Alexa cries as she notes he was a light in everyone’s life. Braun says he misses him. Mike says he touched a lot of people and was loved by millions.

-Following his passing, Fans and Superstars paid tribute to Bray all across the country. LA Knight says he struggled on SmackDown and it nearly broke him. We see Becky breaking down at the end of RAW. “There is no-one like Windham Rotunda.” Seth honors him at a live event and says the only therapy he could get was inside the ring. JoJo says it was touching and Mika says he touched lives all over the world. Mom was overwhelmed when she saw how much Windham was loved all over the world.

-Sept. 6, 2023: A service is held in Brooksville, FL. Mom says it was the hardest and worst thing in the world to plan a funeral for your son. They had red lights with black all over the place and it was a Windham Funeral. Randy, HHH, Undertaker, Roman are some of the main roster guys I seen there. There’s Dustin Rhodes embracing Taylor! We see Taylor giving a eulogy as the entire family is dressed in Red. They have some of Windham’s artwork on display. His urn was a sculpture of a flame. Meka says she could feel Windham’s comfort as she stood up there to speak. Windham says he wanted to leave a mark that makes him a first ballot Hall of Fame, but when he goes in the dirt he wants to be known for more than he did in a wrestling ring.

-Back to Pittsburgh as we learn Windham had one final creation to show. They made a new Fiend Mask with a new Lantern and gear. What would be the next evolution of The Fiend and we see the final form. Wow! Windham loved Easter Eggs and we are told that the Fiend Lantern had stitches on the eyes, but they were Roman Numerals for Nash’s Birthday: V XVIII (5/18). That is awesome! The pinstripes on the new Fiend has each of his children’s names. The stitches are Roman Numerals for his wedding anniversary. There is a second upside down mask on the back that would appear when he walked backwards. It is a 3D scan of JoJo’s face. I’m in awe of the attention to detail with this design. There were mockingbirds on the boots which is also an homage to JoJo as he called her mockingbird. Jason says he is crushed this is the last thing he got to work on with his best friend. He breaks down as he wishes he could have told Windham how much he meant to him. Mom says the real Windham was much more entertaining than any of the characters. They got that Windham and he is missed a lot.

-Jan 2024: Five months have passed and you can still see Windham in his children. Oh man, you really can. The way they smile! We meet his children and the two oldest introduce themselves. JoJo says all four kids take after him in some way. I am smiling and crying at the same time as I think of my two boys.

-Mike says that they will get to see him again. Taylor says his fire for the business has to burn brighter as he has to carry the legacy. He says Bray would tell you he is an artist. Now we get the “Whole World in His Hands,” opening that started his video package. JoJo says he was the best at it no matter if it was being a son, father, or brother. We go back to Windham’s famous words about what wrestling really is. “Nothing matters except the moment we are in, and that is how Windham Rotunda lived.” FInn says he inspired the fans and the boys in the back to push this business. Seth says nobody has ever taken the risks he has. John Cena says he is the template for taking chances and being brave. JoJo: “The greatest human I have even known. Hands Down.” Mika: “There will only be one Windham.”

-Credits with Taker talking about meeting the boys when Mike would bring them around and then he was in the ring with Windham at WrestleMania. He is recording his VoiceOver and has a shot of Jack with another one poured for Windham.

-In Loving Memory of Windham Rotunda 1987-2023!

-The screen cracks and we see a lantern that flickers on with Uncle Howdy standing behind, saying, “run.”

-That was a lot to take in and like all WWE documentaries was extremely well done. There is something for everyone here and it flew by. All the backstage stuff was wonderful and the stories of how they tried to bring all these characters to life. Of course the main take away is how much Windham loved his family and how he was adored by them. The telling of his passing is hard to sit through, and as I stated, I had to pause a few times. I am going to watch this one again later after RAW Talk just to take it in without trying to recap everything I am seeing. The ending of course leads to the idea that Taylor is coming back as Uncle Howdy at some point. Definitely something you see watch just to get an idea of Windham the person and how his mind worked and how it sometimes worked at such a pace that it hindered how he worked with others. The wrestling stuff is the vehicle we all know him, but the family stuff is what matters most. My continued thoughts to his family as they continue with life without what was a special human being. Thank you of reading!