The Wyatt Family is a villainous professional wrestling stable in WWE. The stable - which has the gimmick of a backwoods cult - originally consisted of the leader Bray Wyatt, and his followers Luke Harper and Erick Rowan and Braun Stowman.
History
Developmental territories (2012–2013)
The character of Bray Wyatt debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling in April 2012 and initially associated himself with Eli Cottonwood. When WWE rebranded their developmental territory, Wyatt debuted on the fourth episode of the new WWE NXT, defeating Aiden English in a singles match. Wyatt is portrayed as an evil cult leader who believes himself to be more monster than human. The character drew comparisons to Max Cady of the 1991 film Cape Fear and Waylon Mercy.
In July, Wyatt suffered a torn pectoral muscle and required surgery. Despite the injury, Wyatt continued to appear on NXT by founding a faction known as The Wyatt Family in November, with Luke Harper as his first "son" and Erick Rowan as his second. Harper and Rowan entered the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament to crown the inaugural champions, and they defeated Percy Watson and Yoshi Tatsu in the first round on the January 23, 2013, episode of NXT. Following a win over Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty in the semi-finals with Wyatt's interference, Harper and Rowan were defeated in the finals of the tournament by Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey. Wyatt had his first match back from injury on the February 21 episode of NXT, defeating Yoshi Tatsu. The Wyatt Family later assaulted Grey (who had suffered a legitimate injury) while Wyatt prevented Dallas from winning a NXT Championship number one contender match due to Dallas refusal to join the Wyatt Family. Dallas went on to hand Wyatt his first loss on the March 13 episode of NXT. On the May 2 episode of NXT, while Wyatt was defeated by six-time world champion Chris Jericho, Harper and Rowan won a triple threat elimination tag match by last pinning tag champion Neville to earn a shot at the titles. On the May 8 NXT (taped on May 2), Harper and Rowan defeated Neville and Bo Dallas, filling in for the injured Grey, to win the NXT Tag Team Championship.
The Wyatt Family went on to feud with Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno, with Wyatt defeating Graves on the May 22 NXT, and the next week Wyatt eliminated both Graves and Ohno during an 18-man battle royal to determine the number one contender to the NXT Championship, although he was later eliminated by Adrian Neville. On the June 19 NXT, the Wyatt Family defeated the team of Graves, Neville and Ohno. On the next NXT, the Wyatt Family, together with Garrett Dylan and Scott Dawson, attacked Graves, Neville and Ohno; when William Regal tried to make the save, he was also overwhelmed. This led to the Wyatt Family facing Graves, Neville and Regal in a six-man tag match the next week, where Wyatt pinned Regal for the win.
Main roster (2013–2014)
From the May 27 episode of Raw, WWE aired vignettes promoting the upcoming debut of the Wyatt Family. The vignettes showed the Wyatt Family's backwoods origins and Rowan wearing a sheep mask. On the July 8 episode of Raw, the Wyatt Family made their debut by assaulting Kane. The Wyatt Family continued their attacks on wrestlers like R-Truth, Justin Gabriel and 3MB (Drew McIntyre, Heath Slater, and Jinder Mahal) while sending cryptic messages to Kane asking him to "follow the buzzards". Following another assault, Kane challenged Wyatt to a Ring of Fire match at SummerSlam, which he accepted. On August 18 at the pay-per-view, Wyatt defeated Kane in the Ring of Fire match, following interference from Harper and Rowan. After the match, Harper and Rowan again attacked Kane and ended the segment by carrying him away. At WWE Battleground, Wyatt's momentum continued with a win over Kofi Kingston On the October 11 SmackDown, Harper and Rowan suffered their first loss against Cody Rhodes and Goldust.
The Wyatt Family's next feud began when they attacked Daniel Bryan and CM Punk in late October; the feud saw Harper lose his first singles match to Punk. At Survivor Series, Harper and Rowan lost to Bryan and Punk, but the entire Wyatt Family defeated Bryan in a handicap match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, with Wyatt attempting to recruit Bryan in the previous weeks. On the final Raw of 2013, Bryan defeated Harper and then Rowan in a gauntlet match so that he could face Wyatt, whereupon Harper and Rowan interfered for a disqualification and beat him down. A frustrated Bryan finally gave up and gave in to join the Wyatt Family. However, after Bryan joined them, the Wyatt Family could not find success. This caused Wyatt to punish Bryan, leading to Bryan attacking all the other members of the Wyatt Family on the January 13 Raw to signal him breaking free of the group. At the Royal Rumble, Wyatt defeated Bryan in a singles match, while both Harper and Rowan entered the Royal Rumble match and they managed two and zero eliminations respectively before they were eliminated.
Also at the Royal Rumble event, the Wyatt Family cost John Cena his WWE World Heavyweight Championship match against Randy Orton. On the January 27 Raw, the Wyatt Family attacked Bryan, Cena and Sheamus during an Elimination Chamber qualifying match against the Shield, thus awarding Bryan's team a disqualification win and the Chamber match slots. The Shield wanted revenge, so a six-man tag match was set up between the Shield and the Wyatt Family at the Elimination Chamber event, which the Wyatt Family won. Later at the same event, the Wyatt Family's interference caused Cena to be eliminated from the Elimination Chamber match.
On the March 10 Raw, the group confronted Cena and Hulk Hogan, with Wyatt claiming that both Cena and Hogan were "liars", using their heroic personas as facades. This prompted Cena to challenge Wyatt to a match at WrestleMania XXX, which Wyatt accepted. With Cena successfully resisting the urge to become a "monster" and overcoming interference from Harper and Rowan to defeat Wyatt at WrestleMania. The feud continued after WrestleMania based on the story that Wyatt was capturing Cena's fanbase, which was exemplified by Wyatt leading a children's choir to the ring on the April 28 episode of Raw, with the children later putting on sheep masks. At Extreme Rules, Wyatt defeated Cena in a steel cage match, after repeated interference from the rest of the Wyatt Family and a demonic child. Cena's feud with Wyatt continued with a Last Man Standing match being set up for Payback. At the pay-per-view, Cena buried Wyatt under multiple equipment cases to win the match and end the feud. After defeating Sheamus and the Tag Team Champions The Usos, Wyatt Family interrupts by the Returning Chris Jericho as well as The Miz and hits Sister Abigail to Chris Jericho. Bray Wyatt appears after defeating The Miz from Chris Jericho and Bray Wyatt accepts that will face Chris Jericho at Battleground 2014 which is accepted.
Feud with Dean Ambrose and break up
The Wyatt's last televised match while together as a trio aired on the September 17 episode of SmackDown, when all three Wyatt Family members defeated Big Show and Los Matadores. They were then taken off television. From September 29, videos were shown of Harper and Rowan being "set free".
All three members of the Wyatt Family returned to television on their own and apart from each other, confirming the end of the group. Wyatt returned at Hell in a Cell on October 26, attacking Dean Ambrose. Rowan returned on the October 31 episode of SmackDown and later turned face by joining John Cena's team at Survivor Series, whilst Harper returned on the November 10 episode of Raw and aligned himself with The Authority.
Return and Braun Strowman
At Raw, August 24, Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper took on Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose in a Tag Team Match. The lights went out for a minute and a huge man appeared and made short work of Reigns and Ambrose. Bray Wyatt later introduced the new Wyatt Family Member as “The Black Sheep” Braun Strowman.
Erick Rowan return and feud with Undertaker
At Hell in a Cell 2015 Undertaker wrestled against Brock Lesnar. After the match, which Brock Lesnar won, The Wyatt Family appeared (with the returning Erick Rowan) and attacked The Undertaker. The Wyatt Family carried him away after the beatdown. From this moment, the Wyatt Family contains 4 members: Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman.
Face Turn and Feud with The League of Nations
On April 7 episode of Smackdown, the Family turns face for the first time in their WWE career as a faction (second turn for Rowan's case) after they attacked The League of Nations. Next week on Raw, the Family saves their former rival Roman Reigns from the League, as well as Wyatt and Reigns teams up to defeat Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio later that night, thus cementing their face turn.
In wrestling
- Wyatt's finishing moves
- Sister Abigail (Swinging reverse STO, with theatrics)
- Harper's finishing moves
- Discus clothesline
- Truckstop (NXT) / Spinning side slam (WWE)
- Rowan's finishing moves
- Catchprase
- "FOLLOW THE BUZZARDS!!"
- Entrance themes
- "Broken Out In Love/Live In Fear" by Mark Crozer (Use by just Bray Wyatt and entire group)
- "Swamp Gas" by Jim Johnston (Use by tag team of Luke Harper and Erick Rowan)
Championships and accomplishments
- WWE NXT
- NXT Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Rowan and Harper
External links
Bray Wyatt's WWE.com Profile- Erick Rowan's WWE.com Profile
- Luke Harper's WWE.com Profile
Braun Strowman's WWE.com Profile- Cagematch.net Profile
