An AEW star has discussed their tribute to Bray Wyatt during a recent match, and how his spirit ‘powered’ the match.
The wrestling world is still paying tribute to the late Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt), who passed away on August 24 at the age of 36.
AEW’s Swerve Strickland paid tribute to Wyatt during his Texas Deathmatch with Hangman Adam Page at Full Gear, wearing red and black striped tights akin to those donned by The Fiend.
Swerve and Wyatt did not spend a lot of time together during their careers, with Wyatt being released from WWE by the time Swerve had his short run on the main roster, but his influence is still felt on him.
Speaking to Sam Roberts on Not Sam Wrestling, Swerve discussed Wyatt’s influence on him, and how Wyatt’s spirit ‘powered’ he and Page’s Texas Deathmatch.
He said:
“I didn’t know Bray as close as a lot of people like Brodie Lee, there were people influenced by him from his time there, but some people have known him since FCW or NXT and they have that personal connection. To me, I remember when The Fiend was really going, there was a lot of chatter that it wasn’t for them, as a fan. I was like, ‘No, this is brilliant work.’ I don’t think people really appreciated the brilliance he was bringing to the screen and a lot of risks he was taking, week by week, which is not easy to do. Weekly television on two shows. It wasn’t just Raw or SmackDown, he was doing both shows with his material. Bringing that to the real world. I really appreciated that and I think he was ahead of his time.
“I just wanted to show appreciation that the love and influence wasn’t lost. I put that as part of my gear, and I was in the locker room with him during my time at 205 [205 Live], he always gave me hugs. He was awesome. At one point, I had to help him with a Fiend mask. It was COVID and we were all in that box together. There were times I had to help him with that. There were times I would see him in Gorilla coming back when they were testing the red lighting after the show and getting that going. I’ve seen a lot of those processes with him. He was always a good brother in the locker room. He was fun, really cool. That was one of those things of, ‘you’ve always influenced me through all of this.’ No matter what, if it was their taste or wasn’t, I’m a horror person, and I was really happy to see a new age of horror brought to the screen in an industry that I love and I was like, ‘Man, that was a revolutionary.’ I wanted to take a little piece of that into what I was doing that night. If anything, I feel like his spirit powered that match.”
“It’s very rare that it hits across the board and gets a ten from every outlet and every fanbase. It’s just impossible in this day and age. Just know, it hit the right people. It hit the notes with people that really cared. The ones that it did hit, it changed their lives. That’s what matters. It definitely did for me. It changed my viewing and the possibilities of what we could really do in this medium and this industry. I’m going to take a piece of that and revamp it in a way that fits me.”
Strickland was victorious in the match with Page, continuing his rapid ascent in AEW.
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