The December 30th episode of SmackDown opened with Bray Wyatt coming to the ring to address his actions the previous week.
Seven days earlier Wyatt appeared to finally snap and took out a cameraman with the Mandible Claw completely without warning or provocation. Commenting on the incident, Wyatt said that he didn’t consider himself a bad person, but at the same time he doesn’t regret the bad things he’s done to get where he is. Although with that being said he wasn’t proud of attacking the cameraman and wanted to apologise.
This brought out LA Knight who mocked Wyatt and claimed that Uncle Howdy was someone the star paid to spook him and everyone else two weeks ago. This prompted Knight to challenge Wyatt to a match at the Royal Rumble. Wyatt accepted and said it was time to show the world just how cruel he could be.
It was later announced that the bout will be the newly advertised Pitch Black Match.
Just as the match was made another Uncle Howdy video played on the big screen before the mysterious figure appeared in person. After a slow walk to the ring, Howdy removed their hat and climbed into the ring. The figure initially stood between Wyatt and Knight before moving to stand next to the former.
However, just as it appeared that an alliance had been formed Howdy delivered a Sister Abigail to Bray Wyatt to leave him laying. A bemused Knight left the ring and could be hearing shouting “what the hell was that?!” as the bizarre scene played out.
Bray Wyatt Attacked By Mystery Figure
However, some fans were quick to question whether the mystery attacker really was Uncle Howdy. The attacker on SmackDown was wearing a mask and their facial hair was styled very differently to how Howdy had been presented previously.
Fair point to the people saying this doesn't seem to be Uncle Howdy. pic.twitter.com/7SwOABmOMG
— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) December 31, 2022
It could be the case that WWE have simply altered the character’s look slightly now they are getting physically involved in the ring, but others have claimed that the figure could be a different character altogether.