Universal’s John Murdy Explains Why Wyatt Sicks House Is a Natural Fit For Halloween Horror Nights

Halloween Horror Nights will feature a Wyatt Sicks haunted house, and Universal Studios creative director John Murdy says it’s a natural fit. As reported back in July, Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood will feature The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks for their 2025 Halloween Horror Nights festivities and Murdy spoke with Theme Park Insider about the WWE collaboration. You can see some highlights below:

On Universal partnering with WWE on the haunted house: “This genre of horror is continually evolving and changing. Let’s bring things into our world that might not be explicitly horror, but have horror aspects to them. And that’s something I think the WWE, for me personally, really falls into.”

On Universal Orlando creative director Mike Aiello pitching the house: “So I said, actually, this presents a really interesting, creative dynamic. You guys [in Orlando] are the experts. I’m going to take the position of, I’m a fan of Halloween Horror Nights who knows nothing about this, and I’m going to come at it from that perspective. And then I’m going to become an expert.”

On the WWE group and its origins: “I had to do all of that research – literally, every match, every promo, everything from Bray Wyatt’s entire journey, all the way through what his brothers have taken on with The Wyatt Sicks. But coming through that research, what I really gained an appreciation for is what a talent Bray Wyatt was. He came at it like a horror movie filmmaker. I know he wanted to be part of Horror Nights because he was talking to Mike before he passed. So when this came back around and we were able to get together with Rob Fee at WWE, I really wanted to create something that was a tribute to Bray.”

ON paying tribute to Wyatt: “It has a weird emotional part to it, but I wanted to create it like the horror movie he never got to make, or the haunted house that he never got to experience. By the time I was done with it, I was like, wow, I have a totally different appreciation for all of it,” Murdy said. “If you go down the rabbit hole of details and what means what in the WWE, it’s insane. Every stitch on his themed mask means something. It’s incredible. So we just wanted to honor that legacy. I’m really curious to see how it plays for fans and non-fans alike.”