Bray Wyatt was reportedly informed by WWE talent relations executive John Laurinaitis that his release from the company was due to budget cuts.
Several WWE stars have received their releases due to finances in recent months, including Aleister Black and Braun Strowman. According to the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, Wyatt is the latest high-profile name to be released for that reason.
Meltzer also reported that the 34-year-old was preparing to return in August after almost four months away from WWE television. He had even been booked on some WWE shows.
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Sportskeeda Wrestling’s Greg Bush and Jeremy Bennett discussed Wyatt’s departure immediately after WWE announced the news. Watch the video above to find out more about his exit, as well as reactions from some of his former WWE co-workers.
Wyatt last appeared in WWE on the post-WrestleMania 37 episode of RAW in a Firefly Fun House segment. Prior to that, performing as The Fiend, the two-time Universal Champion lost a six-minute match against Randy Orton at WrestleMania following a distraction from Alexa Bliss.
Bliss, whose WWE character aligned with The Fiend in 2020, has continued to appear on RAW in recent months. However, there has not been any storyline follow-up to her apparent betrayal of The Fiend at WrestleMania 37.
Bray Wyatt’s WWE accomplishments
Bray Wyatt has been one of the most prominent stars on WWE programming over the last decade. After initially appearing in WWE as Husky Harris, Wyatt reinvented himself by aligning with Erick Rowan and Luke Harper to form The Wyatt Family.
The former Wyatt Family leader went on to feature in marquee WrestleMania matches against top WWE stars including John Cena, The Undertaker, and Randy Orton. He also won the WWE Championship, SmackDown Tag Team Championship (w/Harper and Orton), and RAW Tag Team Championship (w/Matt Hardy) before undergoing another character transformation.
In 2019, Wyatt debuted two new characters: “Firefly Fun House” Bray Wyatt and “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt. The split-personality characters revived Wyatt’s career and propelled him back into the main-event picture as a singles star.
As The Fiend, Wyatt won the Universal Championship twice before feuding with Randy Orton in what turned out to be his final WWE storyline.
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