Ex-WWE Writer Recalls Pitching Bray Wyatt Vignettes To Vince McMahon

Former WWE writer Nick Manfredini recently looked back on the creation of the Bray Wyatt character and pitching him to Vince McMahon. Manfredini was a writer and producer for WWE from 2010 through 2023, and he worked with Windham Rotunda on creating the latter’s WWE character. He spoke with Freddie Prinze Jr. on Wrestling With Freddie about trying to keep the character secretive in order to protect it from other forces in WWE.

Manfredini also recalled pitching the Firefly Funhouse vignettes to Vince McMahon and McMahon’s reaction. You can see highlights below:

On the Conception Of The Character:

“So I will say this. The Bray Wyatt character, the original one. The Firefly Funhouse, the Fiend. That was not a WWE product. That was me and Windham and then Jason Baker, you know, that brilliant artist that we worked with for the Funhouse stuff. He created the mask and the puppets and all that stuff. So it was not a, ‘Hey, do this, this came from creative, this came from whatever. The Fiend and Funhouse, I tried to keep everything as secret as possible. I didn’t want anybody getting involved, tweaking it. We just kind of did it on our own. Came up with this idea, pitched it.”

On Pitching It To McMahon:

“Getting it past Vince was a little tricky. So that was a fun experience, having to go over the original vignettes with him and having him go read through it. And, ‘What the — sociopath?’ He’s reading through the vignettes. He loved the puppets, though. He loved the idea of the puppets.

“I remember the first time he read them, he just goes, ‘Well, why isn’t he wearing the mask the entire time?’ And I was like, ‘F**k, that’s the whole point is the dark side and the light sit of this character. So that would have obviously squashed the whole thing.”

On How He Got McMahon’s Approval:

“I forget what happened, how I explained it to him. But it might have been that he just wanted me out of the office. He was just confused and was just like, ‘Get out.’ Because you know, if you push back to hard with him, he’s just gonna double down and make it his. So you had to be very careful how it was pitched. And I think I handled it well. And he was like, ‘Just go do it.’ And we got it.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Wrestling With Freddie with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.