After two months of anticipation, the WWE finally unveiled its new Bray Wyatt tribute faction led by Uncle Howdy on “Monday Night Raw.”
The group that showed up at American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, after the lights went out includes former Wyatt Family member Erick Rowan, Dexter Lumis, Joe Gacy and Nikki Cross. They were Wyatt’s “Firefly Funhouse” characters Ramblin’ Rabbit, Mercy the Buzzard, Huskus the Pig and Abby the Witch, respectively.
The new faction’s name is the “Wyatt Sick6.”
How it played out was a beautiful and gory tribute to the world Wyatt created and his past return, and it paid off the online clues leading fans here promising a reckoning and massacre.
The backstage area, including Gorilla position, was turned into an eerie horror movie scene with bodies and blood everywhere as the camera panned to reveal each member.
The only recognizable person taken out was Chad Gable. It appeared Gunther and Carmelo Hayes may have been, too, but they were not shown as clearly.
Eventually, the group made its way out to the arena, led by Howdy — who has Bray depicted on his glove — as he yelled, “We’re here,” before blowing out the lantern.
Lumis, Gacy and Cross are seemingly perfect members as each has already portrayed characters in WWE — a mute serial killer, a charismatic cult leader with The Schism and a deranged faction member with Sanity, respectively — who fit the supernatural vibe.
A final spot could be held for Alexa Bliss, who had a baby in November, or Braun Strowman, a former Wyatt Family member or it could be left open out of respect for Wyatt himself.
Speculation about the group fans called the Wyatt 6 began with the final moments of the documentary “Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal,” released by WWE on April 1 remembering the life and career of Windham Rotunda, who died of a heart attack at the age of 36 in August 2023.
At the film’s end, his younger brother Taylor — who previously was Bo Dallas in WWE — emerges in his Uncle Howdy garb with Wyatt’s signature lantern.
Howdy, a character we learned was rooted deep in Wyatt’s creative mind, was a major part of his storyline during his last WWE run — including his final appearance on SmackDown in February 2023 where the two attacked Hit Row.
What followed Howdy’s appearance in the documentary was two months of QR codes that randomly appeared on Raw and SmackDown, likely spearheaded by Rob Fee, WWE’s director of character development.
The QR codes led fans to images, videos and puzzles about the group and its arrival. WWE also allowed Howdy to take over its Twitch channel and website to build anticipation for the group’s arrival.
The final clues made it clear they would be revealed on Monday in Corpus Christi.
They were similar to the White Rabbit clues that WWE used to hype Wyatt’s return to the company at Extreme Rules in October 2022. But he wrestled just one televised match against L.A. Knight at the Royal Rumble. He eventually contracted COVID-19 and developed heart complications that contributed to his death.
WWE gave fans a reveal Wyatt would have been proud of. Now the hard part is making it all mean something even more special moving forward.