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THIS ONE FEELS DIFFERENT, YET FAMILIAR: NAVIGATING THE PASSING OF WINDHAM ROTUNDA

Sometimes, the hardest part of professional wrestling is caring about it.

This has been a pretty awful week if you loved professional wrestling.

Yesterday, less than 24 hours after having to say goodbye to Terry Funk, I walked into a movie theater, looking to turn my brain off and think about anything but the passing of Terry, who I deeply loved as a person and a performer. 

Two hours later, I turned my phone back on and the world had exploded over the passing of Windham Rotunda, Bray Wyatt.

Of all people, my first thought was Brian Pillman, who died in October 1997 at the age of 35. 

Pillman was the first person in professional wrestling to “let me in” when I was in my early 20s and when he died, 35 seemed so young, yet so much older than me.

When I heard of Rotunda’s passing, my first thought was now how 36 feels so young compared to my own age, hurtling towards 49.

Then as I did when I learned Pillman was gone, I just felt awful for Rotunda’s children, because their lives were going to be changed forever and some of them were too young to truly comprehend that.

Since then, Pillman and Rotunda’s careers have begun to fuse in my brain. 

Each was intensely creative, breaking barriers and doing things that had never been attempted in the business before. 

Then, their health took a turn sideways, Pillman due to the car wreck he never truly recovered from, Rotunda from illness.

Each of them gave a lot to professional wrestling fans.  Each cultivated their own cult of personality, carved out of their versatility and ability to emote and act in ways that stood out among the masses who performed in professional wrestling.  They also had a very die-hard live or die group of fans who felt these talents had changed their lives forever.

Over the last 12 hours, in scanning through social media, the outpouring in the wake of Rotunda’s passing has felt different from so many other deaths we’ve experienced in recent years.  The fact he passed so young, especially given the nature of the Bray Wyatt character, will undoubtedly feed into the legend of who he was in the years to come, no different from a Jimi Hendrix or a Kurt Cobain or to a much lesser extent, a Brian Pillman.

The world of 2023 is much different from the night Pillman passed in 1997.  Social media created a more intricate, complicated parasocial relationship that fans have with their chosen celebrities as they live vicariously through every photo, post and comment made by and about their heroes.  

Windham Rotunda, dancing back and forth across the lines of the character of Bray Wyatt, weaved quite the web online, tantalizing fans who wanted deeper insight into the persona and wanted to know what was going on beyond it into the world of Rotunda himself.

All of that played off Rotunda’s chameleon-like ability to morph into so many different facets of the Bray character - the swamp master, the cult leader, the Fiend, the Firefly Funhouse host - all fed into popularity across different facets of professional wrestling fans, many of whom found a deep connection and insight into his cryptic promos, and everything from his costuming to his cadence to his lantern-lit stroll to the ring.  He was their phoenix in the sky, blazing a new trail, leading them to the promised land.

For Rotunda’s fans, there was something legitimate beyond just another performance and that’s obvious by the outpouring of grief online.  I’ve seen and have been sent numerous accounts that fans have posted online, not just about their interactions with Windham Rotunda at live events or signings but crossing paths with him in public and even private DMs they have shared showing his support for them in their emotional moments of need, writing about depressions, suicidal thoughts and more, with Wyatt responding with kindness, comments on support and all around positivity.

I never spoke with Windham Rotunda beyond a few minutes chatting during a WWE 2K red carpet, but I did spend a lot of time talking with his grandfather, the legendary Blackjack Mulligan, and I’d like to think Blackjack would have been extremely proud of the man Windham became, not because of the character he portrayed but the class and love he obviously showed his audience when he was able to have such interactions.  He was a different type of performer in a different world than Blackjack Mulligan presided over, but he made his mark in a far deeper, impactful way than anyone could have predicted the first time they saw Husky Harris or Duke Rotunda on their TV screens.

There is an entire generation of Windham Rotunda fans hurting today and I feel for them, because I know what it was like being that young and learning of Brian Pillman’s passing, but I’ll provide the same sage advice someone told me then - the interactions you had and what enriched you out of those performances never stop enriching you, even if the person has passed on.  You got what you needed in those moments, and those moments of joy remain for you as long as you keep them as pure as they were when they were created.

Windham Rotunda was a performer who was beyond versatile, who bounced back from moments and early characters that were clunkers and who found his voice in WWE.  I can’t say I knew the man, but given what I’ve seen in the last day about how good and giving he was to those he worked with and those he entertained, I’d like to believe he’d want everyone who cared about him to be just as versatile in life and bounce back, embracing the good he brought them and finding their own voice in life.

Sometimes caring about pro wrestling is the hardest part about it, but the good part is we get to connect, as viewers, with someone’s creativity, with their performances, with their rise and fall and rise again in the upside down universe that exists in and around the squared circle.  For the fans of Bryan Wyatt, that led them to Windham Rotunda, the man.    While it certainly hurts today, there will be a day where they can take a deep breath, watch his body of work and smile at what he brought to their lives.  

It’s been a pretty rough week for pro wrestling, one can only hope for better days ahead.  Until then, all we can do is appreciate what we were gifted by those daring enough to perform and share their lives with us, and to stand by their families, who have suffered losses greater than even the most die-hard fan can ever understand.  That doesn't discount the grief and sadness those who loved Bray Wyatt are feeling today, because in your own way, you loved him as well, and that feeling can't be discounted, not when you spent money to support him, not when you met him, not when you watched him on television and not now that he's gone.  

I wish you all the best and hope you find your best way to navigate a very complicated, dark day.  It's not easy and I hope you can find strength in all of what you love and loved, including professional wrestling.  As we all do, let's not forget to take all that strength and love and focus that energy on assisting Windham Rotunda's family.

WWE will donate the proceeds from the sales of Bray Wyatt merchandise on their website.  Listings for the merchandise now notes: "In the wake of Bray Wyatt’s death, WWE will donate all net proceeds to support JoJo Offerman and his children."  You can order the merchandise from WWEShop.com at this link.

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