Although Bray Wyatt went on to become one of the biggest stars in WWE, he endured something of a stop-start run with the company early in his career.
After signing with WWE in 2009 Wyatt appeared in Florida Championship Wrestling before the promotion transitioned into NXT. Wyatt performed under a couple of ring names before settling on Husky Harris. Under this moniker the star arrived on the main roster as part of the Nexus, before being sent back to developmental. Although he initially struggled to find his way, it was during this period that he created his Bray Wyatt character.
Ricky Steamboat Recalls Bray Wyatt’s Struggles In Developmental
While Wyatt was attempting to find his feet in FCW, wrestling legend Ricky Steamboat was working as a coach with the promotion. Speaking in a new interview with Bill Apter for Sportskeeda, Steamboat recalled Wyatt’s struggles after being sent back to developmental.
“He could adapt. He got called up, and I don’t remember his first couple of characters, but the higher-ups didn’t the character, so they sent him back down. So he came up with the idea to be a different character, and he would be called back up to take a look, but they didn’t like it, so they sent him back down. Then I think it was around the third time when he did this Louisiana type swamp guy, Bray Wyatt, and that clicked,”
Bray Wyatt made his most recent return to WWE at Extreme Rules having been released back in July 2021. Although he has begun to wrestle at live events, Wyatt is yet to return to the ring in a televised match.
During the conversation Steamboat also opened up about why he decided against wrestling in Ric Flair’s final match. The WWE Hall of Famer had initially claimed that he was happily retired, but has now admitted that he was worried something might happen to Flair after discovering he has been fitted with a pacemaker.