{"id":97960,"date":"2021-08-10T13:11:14","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T17:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=97960"},"modified":"2021-08-10T13:27:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T17:27:56","slug":"we-want-wyatt-what-raw-crowds-chants-really-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/08\/10\/we-want-wyatt-what-raw-crowds-chants-really-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We Want Wyatt\u2019: What Raw Crowd\u2019s Chants Really Mean"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Protect the gimmick\u2019 was the word of law for decades in the life of the pro wrestling industry. Pro wrestlers were held to their persona by their public, who, until the curtain was pulled back by 90s incidents like Vince McMahon, Jr.\u2019s <\/strong>steroid allegations and the Montreal Screwjob,<\/strong> largely believed the characters and shenanigans of the squared circle were powered by reality. Loathed heels like Roddy Piper<\/strong> faced violent attempts on their lives, while wrestling dynasties like the Harts <\/strong>and the Von Erichs<\/strong> <\/a>hammered their offspring into telegenic babyfaces made for mass appeal. After the excesses and scandals of the latter 20th<\/sup> century, such strict adherence to kayfabe ended, but a wrestler\u2019s gimmick is still their brand, and marketing their appearances and merchandise is often how they make a living after they unlace their boots for the final time.<\/p>\n

Windham Rotunda, <\/strong>formerly known as Bray Wyatt, <\/strong>seemed to be the Millenial answer to The Undertaker<\/a>, <\/strong>who even after the fall of kayfabe delighted his loyal following by seldom wavering from his inspired gimmick, that of a magically animated undead mortician whose essence resides in an urn, and is nearly invincible and immortal. As Bray Wyatt, Rotunda upped the ante, spinning a backstory for his voodoo-dabbling swamp cult leader character that would not be out of place in a heavy metal concept album or Rob Zombie horror film. It seemed that Rotunda knew his audience, the demographic that had listened to spooky rock acts like Marilyn Manson and the Insane Clown Posse in their early 2000s youth, and gave them the edgy chills they were accustomed to with his haunting entrance and theme, and spinning his character into the Fiend, a terrifying alter ego whose face resembled modern DC comic iterations of the Joker, and like The Undertaker was ominous and undead. As cult leader Wyatt, whimsically sinister keeper of the Firefly Funhouse, and the grotesque Fiend, Rotunda\u2019s characters were always unpredictable and formidable, turning Daniel Bryan <\/strong>into his follower, <\/strong>psychologically terrorizing John Cena, <\/strong>making zombies true to the original Caribbean folkloric mold, that of a person enslaved to another via dark magic, out of Randy Orton<\/strong> and Bray Wyatt.<\/strong><\/p>\n