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The Wyatt Family has cemented its status as one of the best WWE factions of the decade.
Led by Bray Wyatt, the group formed in FCW in 2012 after Wyatt was repacked following his short-lived main-roster run as Nexus member Husky Harris. He was joined by the relatively unknown Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, who later went on to win the NXT Tag Team titles.
The trio were called up to WWE’s main roster in the summer of 2013 and they immediately made their mark by feuding with WWE stalwarts Kane, Kofi Kingston, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, while they were involved in two of the best WWE rivalries of 2014 (Wyatt vs. John Cena and the Wyatt Family vs. The Shield).
After Wyatt allowed the rest of his family to go their separate ways in mid-2014, the original faction has reunited on multiple occasions, including with additional members (Braun Strowman in 2015 and Randy Orton in 2016), and Harper and Rowan even joined forces without their leader in 2017-18 to form the successful Bludgeon Brothers tag team.
In WWE’s storylines, Wyatt has often tried to recruit new allies – or “followers”, as he would say – in an attempt to bolster the villainous faction’s numbers, with Daniel Bryan being the most notable example, but did you know that WWE has seriously considered adding other members to the group throughout the years?
In this article, let’s take a look at five Superstars who nearly joined the Wyatt Family.
#5 Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn held the Divas Championship for 153 days after defeating Eve Torres for the title in her hometown of Houston, Texas on Raw in January 2013.
Around the same time that she lost her title against AJ Lee at Payback in June 2013, Bray Wyatt and the rest of the Wyatt Family was set to debut on the main roster after spending one year in NXT to establish their characters.
Speaking on The Agenda Podcast in December 2017, former WWE writer Tom Casiello revealed that Kaitlyn was pitched to be part of the faction upon their call-up to Raw and SmackDown, with her likely playing the role of Sister Abigail.
However, for reasons that have not been explained, she did not join the group and she ended up leaving WWE in January 2014.
#4 Eli Cottonwood
Eli Cottonwood took part on the second season of the game show version of NXT in 2010. With John Morrison as his mentor, he competed in four matches on the show, winning two and losing two, before being eliminated in week eight.
Some of the participants from the series went on to join WWE’s main roster, including Titus O’Neil and Michael McGillicutty (Curtis Axel), but Cottonwood went back to FCW, where he became Bray Wyatt’s first sidekick after “The Eater of Worlds” began his transformation from the Husky Harris character.
At 7ft tall, Cottonwood played a similar role to Luke Harper and Erick Rowan by accompanying Wyatt to the ring for his matches and by standing alongside him as he cut eerie promos from backstage.
However, before the Wyatt Family officially formed, Cottonwood was granted his release from WWE in June 2012, leading Wyatt to recruit Harper and Rowan as his new faction members.
#3 Gangrel
Gangrel is one of the eeriest WWE Superstars of all time. The former Brood member often made his entrance via a ring of fire on the stage area, while he would regularly join forces with Edge and Christian to give their rivals a “blood bath” before or after matches.
The gimmick fit in perfectly with WWE’s edgy programming in the Attitude Era, so it would be interesting to see how an outlandish vampire-esque character would be received as part of the modern-day product.
According to the man himself, that could very well have happened if Bray Wyatt had his way.
He told The Roman Show in 2017:
“I was talking to Bray Wyatt. He wanted me to come in, but the thing is WWE doesn’t own the rights to the name of Gangrel so that got shut down. It would have been fun. I probably would have come in as a manager. But I always wrestle. It’s never too late.”
#2 and #1 Judas Devlin and Baron Corbin
Speaking in an interview with Solo Wrestling in 2017, former NXT Superstar Judas Devlin revealed that both he and Baron Corbin tried out to be members of the Wyatt Family.
He said:
“I actually did a few promos with Bray Wyatt in front of the camera with Dusty [Rhodes]. They tried a few people, Baron Corbin kinda tried out for it as well. Ultimately, I think I could [have gotten] that spot, but then I got injured.”
Interestingly, Corbin joined WWE at a time when Luke Harper and Erick Rowan had already formed the Wyatt Family with Bray Wyatt, so Devlin’s comments suggest that “The Eater of Worlds” could have had even more family members by the time he made it to the main roster in 2013.
Devlin was released from his WWE contract in 2014 after suffering a serious spine injury, which was reported at the time as potentially being career-ending. He returned to wrestling in 2016 as the Vibora character in Lucha Underground, while he now goes by the name Luchasaurus for various promotions.
As for Corbin, it certainly would have been intriguing to see how he factored into the Wyatt Family if he joined the villainous group. As it turned out, he has gone on to force a successful singles career for himself, even defeating the retiring Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 35.
