Tonight’s post-Extreme Rules edition of WWE SmackDown on FOX was headlined by an in-ring segment featuring Bray Wyatt, his first blue brand appearance since The Fiend defeated Kevin Owens on the October 9, 2020 episode.
Wyatt made his big WWE return at Extreme Rules last Saturday night, then delivered a cryptic pre-recorded promo on Monday’s RAW, where it was announced that he would be on SmackDown this week. Tonight’s SmackDown saw Wyatt appear as himself, to deliver his first words to the fans since coming back.
The following details come from our live SmackDown recap. Footage can also be seen below.
Back from the break and it’s time for Bray Wyatt’s first SmackDown appearance since The Fiend defeated Kevin Owens on October 9, 2020. Ominous music starts up and eventually transitions with a hip-hop/rock beat and lyrics. The door from Extreme Rules is kicked open, and the light shines through. Out comes Wyatt with his lantern as fans cheer and light up the Smoothie King Center with fireflies. Wyatt enters the ring as his new theme continues.
The music suddenly stops as the crowd erupts. Wyatt is standing in the middle of the ring, with the lights still low. Fans chant “welcome back!” and Wyatt takes the mic. He says he’s incredibly grateful and really, really nervous to be here. He never thought this would happen. Wyatt says this is just him, a version of him that he never got to introduce to the fans before. Just him being him, genuine him for the first time. Wyatt chuckles and fans pop.
Wyatt just wants to share how this past year of his life – he lost a lot of things, he lost… he tells a fan he loves them, too. He lost his career, his self confidence, two people who were very, very close to him. Wyatt is a bit emotional and his voice is shaky, almost cracking. He says he also lost his way, and got to a point where he thought everything he’d ever one in WWE was all meaningless, nothing he ever did has mattered to anyone, and he was wrong. He was wrong.
Wyatt says once he was done feeling sorry for himself he decided to go into the world again and see people everywhere. They said thank you, when are you coming back home, and every once in a while it would be someone he met who was truly remarkable, and you know who you are. He says these people come to him and say, ‘Bray, I just want to thank you, man, because I was in a time of need and I lost people that were close to me, and I lost my self confidence, and I felt weak, and I felt vulnerable, and in this wicked state, I found your words, Bray, and I just wanted to thank you, man, you saved my life, Bray.’
Fans pop. Wyatt says the truth is he doesn’t think about things like this. A “thank you Bray!” chant starts up. Wyatt says one thing about this is, he can sit here right now today and look everyone in the eyes and say they were there when he was weak, vulnerable, and run-down, so he just wanted to say thank you, you all saved my life. Fans pop again.
Wyatt says fans wouldn’t leave him alone, every time he tried to get away and hide, they found him, they’re the reason… the Wyatt moth logo suddenly appears on the big screen. The Wyatt face mask (reported to be called “Uncle Howdy” internally) with the distorted voice from Extreme Rules and RAW appears on the screen. The masked character tells Wyatt to come with him, your life is done, forget the future, forget the past, life is over. The character continues and says you have no idea who you are dealing with… oh, but you will. The character laughs and repeats the line – oh, but you will.
The Wyatt moth logo suddenly appears on the big screen again as SmackDown goes off the air.
The official WWE and WWE On FOX Twitter accounts both posted the “#ThankYouWyatt” hashtag after SmackDown, as seen below.
It’s been reported that Wyatt will be a focal point of SmackDown moving forward, and a regular blue brand character as the company hopes his presence on Friday nights will lead to an increase in ratings. It was also reported that the Wyatt mask is being referred to internally as “Uncle Howdy,” but that name has not been confirmed by WWE. It was revealed this week that WWE recently filed to trademark “Uncle Howdy” and “Uncle Harper” for general use.
For what it’s worth, WWE has not added Wyatt to the SmackDown roster as of this writing. He is still listed as an Alumni Superstar, but that should change soon.
Below are related shots from Wyatt’s return to SmackDown tonight:
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
Follow Marc on Twitter at @this_is_marc. Send any news, tips or corrections to us by clicking here.