Glenn Schouw
Durban — White Rabbit. First thoughts – for children Easter, adults’ Playboy deodorant and WWE fans Bray Wyatt.
Yes, Wyatt returned to WWE at the conclusion of Extreme Rules last weekend and social media went berserk.
Videos on YouTube crossed over 1.2 million views, Instagram numbers were over 400 000, and Facebook reached around 500 000 views, such is the popularity of the 1.93m and 130kg superstar.
After weeks of mysterious vignettes, Bray Wyatt returns in jaw-dropping fashion at the end of WWE #ExtremeRules. pic.twitter.com/wsRKqCNFdp
Wyatt was released last year after a WrestleMania 37 match with Randy Orton, following a fallout with former WWE chief Vince McMahon. Last month there were rumours that Wyatt had been in talks with Triple H.
Wyatt’s friend and fellow superstar Braun Strowman returned to the WWE Universe last month. Strowman also had issues with McMahon.
Wyatt caught the imagination of WWE fans worldwide when he emerged in 2019 and won the Universal Championship on two separate occasions against Seth Rollins and Strowman.
This was how Wyatt was confirmed as the White Rabbit after two weeks of teases – the WWE dropped hints – even hiding QR codes for fans to scan in television segments that then led them to interactive mini-games that revealed more clues.
Moments after Matt Riddle submitted Seth Rollins in the Fight Pit main event at Extreme Rules, the lights went out.
In the eerie darkness Wyatt’s voice could be heard singing his signature “He’s got the whole world in his hand” and spotlights hit people dressed as each of his former “Firefly Funhouse” character and Wyatt’s former Fiend character.
The live versions of his characters – Huskus The Pig Boy, Ramblin’ Rabbit, Mercy The Buzzard and Abby The Witch. A man was also dressed as The Fiend and a decapitated head was also shown.
The crowd got wilder as a door appeared and a video package of a ransacked Firefly Funhouse was shown with puppets covered in cobwebs. A TV in the room flickered and a white-masked figure appeared on the screen.
The door in the arena then opened to a blue light. A figure emerged holding Wyatt’s signature lantern, before removing the mask. Wyatt then blew out the lantern and a logo similar to the one he uses as his Twitter profile hit the screen to further confirm who it was.
In the aftermath of his comeback, a fan on social media shared a video of his daughter trying to contain her excitement while reacting live to Wyatt’s return at Extreme Rules. “My daughter stayed up all night for Bray Wyatt and wasn’t disappointed,” tweeted the fan.
Upon noticing the video, Wyatt explained why he returned to the WWE.
“This is why,” Wyatt wrote on Twitter. “I missed you too. All of you.”
Bets are that Wyatt will return as a good guy, a babyface, compared to a bad guy, a heel, which dominated his past.
It appears he has left “FireFly Funhouse” and The Fiend behind, and is reverting to an updated version of his original “Eater of Worlds” WWE character.
Wyatt is considered one of the top creative minds in wrestling. Before he was cut last year Wyatt was the third or fourth highest-paid performer in WWE with a basic salary of $4million per year.
IOL Sport