| The Wyatt Family | |
|---|---|
| |
| Billing information | |
| Members | Bray Wyatt (leader) Luke Harper Erick Rowan |
| Former members | Daniel Bryan |
| Debut | November 7, 2012 |
| Disbanded | - |
| Federation(s) | WWE |
| Wrestling information | |
| Alignment | Heel |
| Finisher | Sister Abigail |
| Accomplishments | 1 time - NXT Tag Team Champions (Luke Harper and Erick Rowan) |
The Wyatt Family is a professional wrestling stable in WWE. The stable - which has the gimmick of a backwoods cult - consists of leader Bray Wyatt, and his followers Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan.
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.
Main Roster (2013-Present)
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 after Bray Wyatt defeated Daniel Bryan earlier in the night the Wyatt's attacked John Cena after his match against Randy Orton. Both Harper and Rowan would enter the Royal Rumble match at No. 22 and 25, respectively only to be eliminated by Roman Reigns and Batista respectively.
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 the disqualification win and costing the Shield a chance to enter the Elimination Chamber match at the eponymous event. Therefore, a six-man tag match was instead set up between the Shield and the Wyatt Family at the event.
Wrestling Details
Wyatt's finishing moves
- Sister Abigail (Swinging reverse STO, with theatrics)
Harper's finishing moves
- Discus clothesline
- Truckstop (Spinning side slam) - NXT
Rowan's finsihing moves
- Running Splash
- Chokeslam
Entrance Themes
- "Live In Fear" by Mark Crozer