The booking of Bray Wyatt in WWE has continued to leave more questions than answers.
On the latest Friday Night SmackDown, ‘The Eater of Worlds’ was interrupted by a masked figure on-screen, who was reported as being Uncle Howdy. The figure noted that Wyatt would never be able to run away from him and claimed that Bray still needed a mask, referencing his Fiend persona.
Who, exactly, is behind the Uncle Howdy persona remains to be seen, but Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp has noticed some correlations between the character and WWE Hall of Famer Barry Windham. Windham, 62-years-old, is an acclaimed performer in his own right, as well as the real-life uncle of Bray Wyatt.
Uncle Howdy looks an awful lot like Bray's uncle Barry Windham pic.twitter.com/ZypUyBviBm
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) October 29, 2022
Speculation is also running rampant that Bo Dallas could be behind the masked figure. Dallas, Bray’s brother, has been rumoured to return to WWE for a number of weeks to assist in Wyatt’s ongoing arc, though it was first believed that he’d portray The Fiend.
Rumoured Identities Of Bray Wyatt-Affiliated Characters
Although this is the first mention of Barry Windham being involved in the Bray Wyatt storyline, it isn’t the first for Bo Dallas. The one-time NXT Champion was reported as being on WWE’s list of Superstars to bring back, specifically to play a role in this storyline.
Per Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, other names thrown around for the identity of the characters are Joe Gacy, Grayson Waller, Alexa Bliss, and Erick Redbeard. They’re rumoured to be behind the masks of Huskus The Pig, Mercy The Buzzard, Sister Abigail, and the Ramblin’ Rabbit, respectively, which leaves Bo Dallas as The Fiend.
At present, there is no clear indication of who Bray Wyatt’s first official feud will be against. Fightful Select issued a report that detailed why, exactly, WWE wasn’t hotshotting him into a story with Roman Reigns, noting that the company has learned a lesson from pushing Wyatt straight to the top, despite his proven popularity since returning.