In this WrestleTalk News, the mystery at WWE house shows over the weekend, Bray Wyatt returns
and a top star confirms they’re done with AEW.
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Until AEW’s entire main event scene gets released for that backstage brawl, the biggest
possible free agent signing in the whole industry right now is one Windham Rotunda, aka Bray
Wyatt.
It’s been over a year since he was shockingly released by WWE last July, and with Triple
H now in control of his former contractor, it’s heavily speculated that Wyatt will
be making his eagerly anticipated wrestling return imminently.
Which is why when anything even remotely spooky spooky happens, wrestling Twitter in unison
posts: Bray Wyatt return confirmed.
Like three weeks ago on Raw, when a few people spotted a dude’s arm poking through a door,
which sparked several days of fantasy booking speculation.
That we’re putting so much emphasis on tiny background details is actually a huge credit
to the Triple H regime so far.
He’s quickly established that things matter again, peppering his shows with easter eggs
and subtly foreshadowing teases.
I recognise that a crashed car may not be subtle in most TV programmes, but it is in
wrestling.
Which is why the last three days of WWE live events has been so intriguing.
Starting on Friday night, in the commercial break of SmackDown, WWE played the Jefferson
Airplane song White Rabbit.
It’s not just a great song.
Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, it’s also become cinematic shorthand for mysterious
psychedelic journeys of self-exploration, played in the LSD scene in Platoon, Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas and in the recent Matrix reboot.
It’s important to note that it was an acapella recording of the song, too, not the original
version - implying this was an intentional effort and not just the sound engineer accidentally
hooking up his Spotify account to the venue speaker system.
At the same time, red lights starting flashing from the entrance ramp.
This was just for the live crowd only, and none of it was broadcast on TV.
Then, the next night at a house show in Bakersfield, the exact same thing happened.
This time, people lent into the spooky spooky, potentially Bray Wyatt-y vibe, and shone the
torches from their phones - reminiscent of the old Wyatt Family firefly entrance.
And again at another live event last night at the Oakland Arena.
But maybe everyone is following the wrong rabbit.
Karrion Kross, who also recently returned to WWE, was known as the White Rabbit when
he wrestled in Lucha Underground.
One fan tweeted Kross about that, suggesting it could be him behind these house show teases.
Which Kross himself replied with: Hole emoji, rabbit emoji, red question mark
emoji, egg timer emoji.
You want me to do what with a hamster?
But then the plot thickened slash became even more confusing…
Reacting to another post thanking him for killing the Bray Wyatt WWE return rumours,
Kross tweeted: “Call me a killer, guilty as charged.
However, I wouldn’t look to me as a suspect for any of this.
I’m an innocent killer.
People are reaching for answers and have no idea what to grasp for.
Keep watching and have fun.
That’s what I’m doing.⏳” Meanwhile, Kyle A. Scarborough, the artist
and designer who heavily collaborated with Wyatt in developing his Fiend gimmick, has
tweeted: “Feed your head” - which is the climactic line of the White Rabbit song, along
with a hideous sketch, signed by Scarborough, of a man wearing a gruesome White Rabbit mask,
a black cloak, bloodied hand, and missing arm.
This could potentially be the graphic design for a new Bray Wyatt gimmick on his WWE return.
Bray and Alexa Bliss took inspiration from Alice and Wonderland during their run together,
even doing a version of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at one point.
And Rambling Rabbit was one of the main characters in Bray’s Firefly Fun House roster of puppets.
He was usually murdered by the end of every episode.
Perhaps, similar to the recent horror reboot of Winnie the Pooh, Rambling Rabbit could
have murdered all the other puppets in revenge, becoming the dominant force in Wyatt’s head,
more vengeful and eviller than even the Fiend.
Wrrrrestling!
Or it’s just Kyle trolling us all, as it’s unlikely the artist would spoil Wyatt’s
big WWE return gimmick with a post on Twitter.
It’s important to note that, timing wise, these teases started the exact same day the
the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that talks between Wyatt and WWE had “stalled”.
Again, that either debunks the return theory, or strengthens it if you just believe it’s
a tactic to throw us off the rabbit’s trail.
What do you think the White Rabbit teases are all about?
Let me know in the comments.
And also go check out our three part The Fiend Explained video essay series over on partsFUNknown,
which dives deep into Wyatt’s fascinating lore of the character, and might provide you
with some clues of what he’ll do next.
Link’s in the video description below.
Hopefully Wyatt does return to WWE.
Not just because he’s one of the most creative minds in the business, but also because wrestling
just got a little less spooky spooky.
Following their defeat at All Out earlier this month, Malakai Black seemingly broke
character and embraced his fellow House of Black members, and then waved his hands to
the crowd.
Not the most consistent thing for an Aleister Crowley inspired goth to do.
This came just several days after PWInsider reported Malakai had requested his release
from AEW.
Fightful later added that many in AEW now believed Black to be done with the promotion.
At Saturday’s Prestige Wrestling indie show, where he fought Kidd Bandit, Black cut a promo:
“Please allow me to take a few weeks, maybe a few months to just recalibrate myself, get
everything in perspective.
I promise you this is not goodbye.
This is just we’ll see each other soon.”
Now, Malakai himself has confirmed the reports, posting a statement on Instagram…
“All, Firstly thank you all for your messages, know
they are being read and appreciated.
With all the turmoil going on in the landscape of Professional Wrestling took the time to
think of my words but also needed to wait until conversations between mine and AEW’s
camp had come to a conclusion.
Firstly, dislike reading parts of my private conversations between myself and AEW in regards
to my mental well being on the internet.
These conversations were private and not meant to be shared with the public.
As by now most people realize I am a very private person and do not feel the need to
have stuff like this out on the internet.
If you’ve been following me longer than a cup of coffee you’re aware I’ve spoken
about them prior but would like to be the one deciding when this finds it’s way to
the public and not through someone else’s mouth, as with anything through the lips of
someone else: that story gets distorted.”
This is presumably in reference to the PWInsider report that first mentioned that Black was
struggling with his mental health.
It implies he was unhappy with how that information made its way to the press, and thus, unhappy
with AEW.
He continues: “I did indeed ask for my release, the last
2 years of my life have lended to a lot of set backs.
Both me and my wife have been affected by uncontrollable actions from the outside that
resulted in loss of life, medical set backs, career jeopardizing, the suicide of a close
friend and a close family member almost losing their life, then experiencing an injury that
I was sure was the end of my career.
I spend every week going through several sessions of rehab, dry needling and therapy just to
be able to walk and compete.
Now this being the tip of the iceberg and with the combination of the promises in my
professional field that were not upheld which resulted as a combination of all of these
to a complete demoralization of life and career.
This decision had been in my mind for the past six months.”
It’s unclear whether these ‘career promises’ not being met were about his time in WWE or
AEW.
He was plagued with creative frustrations on the main WWE roster, but after an initially
very hot start in AEW, his House of Black soon became stuck in what felt like the same
Rampage feud for eight months.
Some of this is presumably down to Black’s injuries, but it’s disheartening to see
someone who could conceivably be placed as a World Championship contender shortly after
joining end up fighting for AEW’s equivalent of the European title just a few months ago.
Black finished, reiterating his Prestige promo about taking “a few months to recalibrate”
- hopefully implying he won’t be out of wrestling for long - and again mentioning
his unhappiness about certain details being made public, specifically in regards to his
mental health, saying “if it didn’t come from me, it didn’t happen” and denying
he used that as leverage to get himself a conditional release.
With him leaving AEW seemingly unhappy with how they conducted themselves regarding their
‘private’ talks, it makes his return far more competitive, especially with his former
NXT boss Triple H now running the main roster.
Before his release, Black was under a five year deal with AEW.
What will his next wrestling gimmick be?
We’ve got an Explained video essay about the history of Aleister Black’s character
too!
Watch it all over on partsFUNknown with our Bray
Wyatt series.