WWE: New Update on Bray Wyatt's Status
Bray Wyatt has not been seen on WWE programming since late February when he was initially setting up a WrestleMania 39 match with Bobby Lashley. Any signs of Wyatt were suddenly pulled from WWE TV and Lashley pivoted to winning this year's Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, all the while backstage reports kept popping up of Wyatt being unable to compete due to an undisclosed illness. It's been over three months since WrestleMania and there's been neither sight nor sound of the former WWE Champion, and the latest report from Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp indicates the situation has not changed.
Sapp wrote on Monday that WWE officials still waiting for Wyatt to get cleared and a "hopeful for a return whenever that occurs." He also noted there were initially plans for Uncle Howdy (Bo Dallas) and Alexa Bliss (who is now on maternity leave) to be involved with Wyatt onscreen, but there's been no word of new creative plans during Wyatt's absence.
Bray Wyatt's Relationship With Vince McMahon
When Wyatt returned to WWE in October 2022 after being unceremoniously fired the year prior, Vince McMahon was gone from the company after announcing his retirement that July. However, by the end of January McMahon was back in an official capacity as executive chairman and began involving himself in WWE's booking right after WrestleMania 39. Matt Hardy, a former tag partner of Wyatt's, shed some light on the bizarre working relationship between McMahon and Wyatt on an episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy last year.
"Windham (Bray Wyatt) has always had a very strange relationship with Vince, very strange, like, I almost felt like Vince looked at him like a son in some ways," Hardy said. "When he would do things that he liked, he would love him and he would really give him everything that he could possibly give him. He would bend over backwards to try and accommodate him. But then when he did something he didn't like, he hated, like he was going to lock him away for good."
"It was almost like a really weird, a really strange and different duality that Vince shared with Bray," Hardy said. "When he liked him or loved him, he was all about him. But when he disliked him, oh my god, it was really bad and he would like punish him and insult him. To me, it was so strange. It was almost like a parent."
WWE Monday Night Raw Card (July 10, 2023)
- Cody Rhodes Delivers "Special Message" to Brock Lesnar
- Drew McIntyre & Riddle vs. Imperium
- Tommaso Ciampa vs. The Miz (No Disqualification)
- Ricochet & Logan Paul face-to-face confrontation
- Maxxine Dupri "Graduation Ceremony" From The Alpha Academy
WWE SummerSlam 2023 Rumored Card
- Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso
- Intercontinental Championship: Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre
- SmackDown Women's Championship: Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair
- Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships: Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. TBA
- Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar (with some sort of stipulation)
- Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus
- Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
- Ricochet vs. Logan Paul