Windham "Bray Wyatt" Rotunda Tribute Show | SRTU Bonus | 8/30/23

0:00 It's still really to be David. Welcome, everybody. Welcome to this special edition of The Stow Railtoy Show. Jeff Peck, Doctor Trey Franklin, August thirty, twenty twenty three. I wish it was under better, better circumstances as we remember the life and give our thoughts on the tragic passing of Bray Wyatt Windham Rotunda. The news broke Thursday afternoon, late Thursday evening or early Thursday evening. I should say I didn't know about it, doctor Tray, for a good four hours or so. I was playing softball, which I tend to do on Thursday nights. I come home and I didn't go online, no text or anything like that, not even any alert news items popping up. And I'm scrolling through Instagram at like ten o'clock on the East Coast and I see a WE graphic WWE remembers Windham Rotunda aka Bray Wyatt, and my heart immediately sank in my chest. You know, we'll have plenty to talk about here throughout this entire special edition of the podcast. But where were you and how did you find out about the very tragic news. So I had just gotten home from work, getting ready to go on my vacation and

1:30 kind of glancing through Facebook, and I saw somebody posts, you know, r I P bray Wyatt and I was like, wait what And went on a few of the wrestling news sites that I go to. Nobody had posted anything about it yet. Went on ww dot com, nothing was there, and I was like, Okay, maybe it's one of those like a little fake news stories you see pop up from time to time, like you know, like celebrity passings and stuff like that, because everywhere I look, I couldn't find anything. And then about fifteen minutes later, I saw somebody linked to the tweet from Triple H And even then, at first I thought it was a work. I literally thought that, you know, it was them trying to kill off the bray Wyatt character. And you know, you and I had talked a few weeks ago about how he had been ill, but now they were trying to make plans for his return everything else. I thought it was their way of kind of starting over, like refreshing the character.

2:28 Basically, you just clear clear, cleaning the slate. And then the news reports are popping up everywhere, and then I started seeing stuff coming out from wrestlers and everything else, and I was just kind of dumbfounded and just didn't know how to react. I said, there way for my wife to get help from work so we could, like I said, finished getting ready to go on our vacation. And she got home and I was like, did you get on Facebook day? She's like no, and I'm like, bray Wyatt passed and she's like, are you kidding me? I'm like no, that's It's like, I mean, it's been five days. I'm still kind of weirdly numb about the whole thing, but yeah, that's kind of my timeline for finding out about it. Yeah, I obviously had a tough time sleeping on Thursday night going in Friday just thinking about the news. When these things happen, you know, there's a selfish side of it, where it's like, you know, you lose a wrestler, and the fan, you know, being a fan, it's like, wow, that creative light is out now. But I like immediately jumped towards the fact that this guy has four young children, probably all under the age of ten. I would imagine that as old as is probably under the age of ten, and now they're living in a world without their father. Ray Wyatt's girlfriend, Joe Joe Offerman, who worked for WWE for a period of time as a ring announcer, now is widowed, has two children that she's going to be taking care of on her own without her boyfriend end Rock, you know, solid person to

4:03 have there in Windham Rotunda and my heart broke thinking about all that. I mean, it was just and then you just read the tributes like all night long, like I probably did not get to sleep till about like twelve thirty one. I am just reading tributes and tweets. There's always that denial that you know, your point out, doctor Trey. It's like this has to be at work, this can't be really. I mean, he's thirty six years old. I just saw the video of his father, Mike Rotunda irs ermanar scheister at a comic con of sorts, and they're asking about how Bray White's doing and he said he'll be back sooner rather than later. There were reports, you know, this month that he was dealing with not only a career threatening issue, but a life threatening issue, and then this happens towards the end of the month, and it's just was like a fog Sean Sapp of Fightful Select reported that the Rotunda family wanted it to be known that at bray Wyatt had gotten COVID back in March, you know, they were setting up the match with he and Bobby Lashty for Wressellmania, and then bray White just magically disappeared from television and people were pointing, well, it's because Vince's back. And then we come to find out that it was a health issue, and then very much clarified that it was COVID and that this COVID had ascerated aspirated heart issues for bray Wyatt, Windham Rotunda. And then there's a story out today or yesterday from TMZ that reported that bray White had gone to a cardiologist or a doctor of some sort on the morning of his passing.

5:36 They'd given him reportable defibrillator. He unfortunately was not wearing it. Nobody knows if it would have saved his life that day or not, but it was left in his truck. According to police reports, Joe Joe thought it was strange that he was out for a good hour or so. I think it was past his alarm going off. And then by the time they got there, he was passed. Everything's just like, very very shocking. It's a numb feeling. As wrestling fans, unfortunately, we've grown accustomed to this. I immediately when these things happened, I immediately think of how I felt and the day that was when I found out Owen Hart passed away, that was during the live pay per view, how I felt for days after Eddie Garrell passed away, how I felt for a very small window of time when Chris ben Wat passed away, and then obviously when those details got a little bit more clarified, it was, you know, then a weirder numb feeling.

6:38 And then most recently Brodie Lee John Hubert passed away, it was very similar feeling. And here we are Bray Wyatt and it's like, man, you gotta be kidding me, Like he's gone. And the comforting thing and post all this Doctor Trey outside of favorite matches promos, how he made us feel when he was on the microphone or in the ring, or as a character in general, is all the nice things that the people in the world of professional wrestling have shared over the last couple of days. That's kind of how I've gotten through. It seems like he was a very wholesome, real kind individual, and I'm just sad about the entire thing. I really don't like doing these shows, but I feel like we owe it to our listeners into one another therapy wise in a way, to discuss a passing like this, when someone's so instrumental throughout the entire time and his time and professional wrestling, something that we've covered the entire time here on SRTU is is now no longer with us. At such a very young age, He's a year younger than me, thirty six years old. Kind of makes you think puts puts life in perspective a little bit. Yeah, Like I'm forty six, I'm ten years older than Bray Wyatt, and you know, I got Sammy running around the house, I have, you know, my other kids, and all of that stuff kind of kicked in my head and you know, it's it's weird in a way, like, you know, we lost Terry Funk the day before, and you know, being the older guy that I am,

8:09 like I remember Terry Funk from growing up in roadhouse and all those things. But you know, seventy years old had a full life. You know, we see some other guys the Iron Sheet. You guys like that passed me. Ever this year, it's a different feeling when it's somebody in their sixties and seventies and eighties as opposed to somebody in the in the prime of their life. And you know this, this one hit me probably harder than any other one since Eddie grow outside of Tracy smothers because of my bond with Tracy. But like it just it's shocking to the system. It just kind of floors you in a lot of ways. And it's just like, you know, like I skipped SmackDown, I didn't watch SmackDown. I perfectly stayed away from Twitter and everything else for a few days just because I kept hoping against hope that it was something else, you know, But like you said, like it's somebody who you know, with Bray we had heard at times, not that it's hard to work with things, very passionate about his character and what he was doing. And you know, every now and then, you know, somebody ruffles a feather, and I kept waiting for that one for lack of better and that one asshole to come out and say something or you know, like somebody and you're right, like everybody has said such great things about him, and not just the performer or but just like feed to be

9:41 behind the scenes helping helping me out. The story about Becky Lynch saying that, you know, the day she had her TLC match with with Alexa Bliss, and neither of them knew how to set the table properly, and and Bray was out there the entire show, like before the show, showing them how to properly set the tab able up and do all those things. And you know, you just hear these like gracious stories about what kind of person he was. It on one hand, it makes you feel good about the life he led, but then it just makes you feel awful that we lost a really good person. And in today's society, in today's world, those are getting harder and harder to find. So to lose somebody so creative and such a good person at such a young age is it's devastating. And the only solace you can take from it is you know, he's always videos forever the Internet forever, Like you can go now and see whatever you want.

10:43 I mean literally, like the other day, I was, like yesterday, I was at the day off, and I was just kind of unwinding and trying to avoid stuff. And I watched a special on you know, one of the older specials on FCW, and I'm watching in there talking about all the stuff from FFCW, and all of a sudden, I see Appointment talking about the Dusty Rhodes promo classes and you see Seth rollas pop up and he's like, yeah, there was one guy that just got it better than anybody else. It was Bray White. And they started seeing old clips of bray There's Bray and there's Brody Lead right behind him, and Brace doing his promos in front of the class in the Bray White character, and You're just like, guy, it was just so beautiful. So it's it's a little bit of solace knowing that it's not one of those things were like, you know, you passing away with a young kid and there's nothing other than pictures to remember you buy you know with his kids that there's a video and there's gonna be stuff forever that talks about what a great man their father was. What was your favorite time period of Bray White you had, now, Craig me if I'm wrong here, because I feel like I remember this during the period of time when we were doing this during the show. But like you were, you were watching NXD before it was on the network. It was on Hulu or something, right, I forget what it was. I might have at Hulu before Hulu became what Hulu is now. I remember you saying when bray Why like was about to debut, and I think he immediately feud with Kane heading into SummerSlam that year. Like people, there was a buzz already on the internet, but you were watching NXT and and you were, you

12:18 were behind that bus on on brey Why before he ever debuted on on the main moroster right, Yeah, I'm not why. At that point, I was working a show here in Alabama, and I was trying to reinvent my character and I was stealing directly. I was gonna I was gonna bring up the influence he had on you. Like there's a there's a promo actually just popped up on my Facebook feed not too long ago where I was sitting on a beach in Florida and I'm doing the bray Why voice and and you would wear it for Dora too, right, Yeah, I've worned for Dora's I've worned Hawaiian shirts like i've we did where we did, IWA mids South. We did the tryout show about a year after that, and I literally did a bray Wyatt character as a manager. Uh, like the guy was and you know you and I've joked with you for shoot Jeff almost almost a decade and a half. Now, I root for chubby guys as a guy who was, you know, been chubby his entire life. You find a charismatic chubby guy. Yeah, I'm root for that guy. And that was our affinity, my affinity for Kevin Owns, my affinity for Bray White and just how charismatic he was. And uh that that video I referenced that that thing on a peacock, Like Sasha and Charlotte were talking about it and they're like half the time, you didn't know what he was talking about, but you're like, dude, whatever he's talking about him in And that's how I felt watching him in n xt FCW when that transition was taking place, Like I

13:48 didn't know half the stuff he was saying, but it was just so captivating and enthralling, and you're just like I bought in day one. I bought into the bray Wyatt character. I thought I was so unique and so different, even though people were like, you know, it was kind of a take on the Wayland Mercy character. But Bray he just made it his own and just did it in a way that was so different, unique, And I kept waiting for that called the main rosters. I knew he'd be even bigger on the main roster stage than he was an Excy just because of production in the size of the crowd, not knowing he would ever get to the level that he eventually got to. So back to the question there of what time period of Bray Wyatt did you enjoy the most. You have the debut of the Wyatt family and his couple of years in there in the beginning where he's you know, wrestling John Cena at WrestleMania thirty and then at thirty one he's wrestling the Undertaker. Then there's that time period where in my I'm trying to think here where it was Okay, so WrestleMania thirty two he's in the ring with the Rock in a segment, and then Rock takes on Eric Rowan at thirty three. Is the SmackDown time period where Bray wins Thewich Champion Chip he's got Brodie Lee, Luke Harper and Randy Orton in the Wyatt family with him, and then Randy turns on him, lights the house on fire.

15:11 Then they have a match at WRESTLEMANI thirty three at thirty four is I'm doing it via WrestleMania. There's the time period where he is with Woken Matt Hardy for a little bit, then he's off television for a period of time. He returns as the Fiend. You've got that Fiend era the Firefly feon House. Then he gets released and then he returns most recently less than a year ago. I believe it was October of last year, in a very triumphant, amazing return with a great build up. He returns with that character. Then unfortunately, that character obviously does not last long on television because he is off TV by late February. I think really one of the last times he had cut a promo in the ring heading into elimination Chamber, letting the winner of brock Lessner and Bobby Lashley know that they were going to be he wouldn't meet them at Russellman. He had Then they did a little segment on Raw I think afterwards with Bobby Lashley of doing the muscle Man dance, and then we did not see Bray Wyatt until you know, the news broke out of his passing last week. So what is what is your favorite Bray Wyatt time period? So there's two for me and one is pre Sammy and one's post say so I'm kind of torn yourself. I'm talking about your son, just to clarify, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So the early NXT stuff was so good and so experimental and like the stuff with the rocking chairs and all that stuff, and it was just you kind of you know,

16:44 you and I joke or you and not talking about like it's NX. He was finding Metallica before Metallica hit it big, and that's why I felt with bray Whitt was like, oh my god, this is like the coolest thing ever and nobody knows about it again and just waiting for it to kind of off, you know. And honestly, I can't even remember really any of the feuds they had an NXT, Like the Wyatt family was there and they were kind of getting mixed up with different things, but there was never one of those big, long out feuds that you know, we see guys get into later on, but that character was so unique and so different, and the presentation inside you know, full Sale with that crowd was just amazing.

17:26 And the entrance music, like everything about that fit. The entrance music was so different than anything else we had heard post Sammy. It was the Firefly Funhouse because even that character. I mean, the first time we saw the Firefly Funhouse, you and I say on the show and like went like, what the hell was that? Yeah? Yeah, we had no idea what that was going to be. And it was crazy because I think Sammy was about a year and a half old, and every time that music would hit, he would stop whatever he was doing and watch the TV. Did not matter he was playing with toys or eating dinner, and it didn't matter. I could pull it up on YouTube that song is Who's that song would hit, he would stop everything in absolutely be engrossed watching bray Wyatt. And it made me, as a dad kind of like happy because I'm like, oh, this is something we can bond over down the road. So but to me, those two characters, those two versions of bray Wyatt, were so unique and so different from anything else we had seen on TV that it just it captivated me. I mean, could you imagine if the like we always Bray Whittet always kind of compared to the Undertaker, if the Undertaker had an altered ego where he was like the actual like if he was actually doing the If he had the Paul bar gimmick as an alter ego where he was like the super clean cut director of a funeral home, and then the Undertaker was was altered a gimmick, we would have lost we would have lost our minds.

18:53 And that's kind of what Bray did with that Firefly Funhouse Fiend combination. So those two characters was just so uniquely different from anything else we had seen on TV that it's hard for me to kind of pick a side there. Yeah, it's very difficult to find like a time period of Bray's character that you enjoy the most. But there, for me, I got to go back to that SmackDown error when Hero Brody, Lee, Luke Harper and Randy Orton had like this reformed Wyatt family, because that was one of the first times in a while in w Wheat that they had like this slow build angle. It always felt like Randy Orton would turn on Bray Wyatt and it took forever for that to happen. They wanted a tag team championship at one point at the TLC show that Becky Lynch talks about. Then the Elimination Chamber match happens, Bray wins the title and then that heads into WrestleMania because Randy had won the Royal Rumble that year and that match was okay. It had some strange moments, like like I think like a spider was squshed on the mat.

20:04 Remember the mat like took over as this like horror movie screen that was so cool, and it kind of rebooted Randy Orton. Like Orton was one of the top like and I don't mean this in a sense of good guy but faces of the company. Like promotionally and strategically, he was one of the top stars of the company. He took a back seat to the Bray Wyatt character, and it was completely different from what we're used to because Randy Orton would always be out in front, whether it be Evolution or legacy. It was he was always kind of a centerpiece and he was a bit player in the new formed Wyatt family. And that was when they had just did the brand extension again. And for a very brief period of time, like SmackDown, Raw were really cool because they were different and that had a new different feel to it, and it was really enjoyable. And then the second thing was was the Fiend. I've watched the tribute video that aired on SmackDown and also aired on Raw this past Monday, the music video captivating his entire career in life, and there's the part where it shifts to the Firefly fun House phenare and just the subtle things that they would do. It was so hilarious and so funny, and bray White had such great, great comedic timing, whether if he was one that made the point to do these types of things or to or if a writer was doing it. No matter what, it was executed to perfection. And there's this brief cut of the Firefly fun

21:37 House. He's waving and I think it's either Huskus the pig or the rabbit is holding up a sign that says help, and he slowly pushes it down, laughing and then waving, and it was like that type of stuff. I watched it and I was like, man, I just remember how entertaining the Firefly fun House was. It would make you laugh. It would make you feel like like creepy, like you had bugs crawling on you. And it was just ahead of its time. And that's the thing. We've talked about it here time and time again. I said it in the beginning of the show. The selfish part of this all is that one of the most creative lights in professional wrestling history has slowly dimmed down in the past week, and that is heartbreaking. The selfish side is where were things going upon his return to w w WE. Where were things supposed to go after the realm?

22:37 But where were things supposed to go following elimination chamber? Like we're missing that he was silenced by a disease and then silenced in his passing, and we have the memories forever, but it's like the what ifs. You can't sit there and go and not think about the what ifs, Like what was the direction supposed to be? We had read so much right Exa Bliss was starting a turn. W WE had resigned Eric Young and there's been whispers that he was supposed to be involved in some degree with whatever Bray Wyatt was doing. I believe Vincent and Dutch who are now in roh Or a w however you want to look at it. Were kind of rumored to be coming into the company as well to work with Bray Wyatt, and it's just I love to see a good comeback. And his release back in twenty twenty was awful and something that all wrestling fans could agree on was should not have happened.

23:36 And that sucked that he was away from w for that long. And then he finally made the return. Triple H is back in charge, and it's like we're getting way back and we're getting this opportunity to see what's next for him, and it just yeah, it just doesn't doesn't take place, and it's just hard. It's hard from a wrestling perspective to see someone creative, so creative gone, and it's so sad from a human perspective to see someone so genuinely loved and adored a father, a significant other, a brother, a son, a friend like gone like this so young. I mean, that's the thing, Doctor Trey is just like so young. It resonates with guys like you and I because you know, we get these moments in our lives where life is put in perspective, and this is one of those moments.

24:29 In professional wrestling and in life where it kind of sits you on your ass for a good couple of days and you self reflect, and you reflect in general. You think about everything that his family and friends are going through right now, and then you think about your own life and how things are right now, and in an instance, you could be on top of the world like Bray why it was, and a snap of the fingers you could be gone. And it's just it's a sad day. It's been a sad week. It's been a tough week for professional wrestling. I know there's a lot of things celebrated with all elite wrestling, I know, celebrating the life of Terry Funk, celebrating the life of Bray Wyatt. But obviously we're not lying to you. Where I wish we weren't sitting here today, going up, Let's have the Bray Wyatt tribute Shell, Let's get one of the books before we sit down and recorded this week's episode tomorrow and then make it available for download. It's just it stinks. It's I don't know. I just don't think there will never It's easy to say when someone passes doctor Trey, but I think it's safe to say there will never be another Bray Watt and professional wrestling now. When I was listening to what you're saying there and you talked about how ahead of his time he was, and I don't even think that he was ahead of his time. I think he was just on a different level than when anybody else creatively could come up with because I mean like, because of him, really, we started getting into the cinematic matches.

26:00 I mean, you go back to the the was the House of Horrors match with him and Randy Orton that was ahead of its time, you know, like and then all of a sudden, because the pandemic, we had to do more of it. I saw somebody tweet out this week that the match with him and John Cena WrestleMania, the cinematic one they did, it was the only interesting thing John Seen has done in the last ten years, you know, And I'm like, that's I mean, he was he was including Sena's movies, and I was just like, it's kind of kind of a shot. But I was like, in a way, he was right, Like, you know, we got to see a John Cena heal in that match, Like what would have happened if it had gone that row, Like all these questions that we've had over the years about have seen it got answered in that match in a sense, and it was just so crazy and delightful at the same time. And you know, just I would say about this week, I'm like, I don't want to I'm hoping at some point somebody's able to kind of come out and lay out what we were going to get.

27:03 Now. I know we're not gonna get you know, we're not gonna find out like what we're gonna do ten years from now, but just just what was the plan for the Wyatt six or whatever it was? Because I still remember that the Mountain Dew Pitch Black match, and I saw some may people are hating on that match, and I still I went back and watched it yesterday and I was like, I still really enjoyed that, Like it was cool and it was different. And then the ending segment, you know when you see all the Wyatt family characters like kind of looking down, you know, You're like, oh, man, where is this going? I mean, even going back to you know, the rumble, you know, and seeing the characters around the ring and then the crowd and everyone else, I'm like, where were they going with it? Remember you and I said, are going who do you think was that guy? Who do you think that guy was? Or who do you think that guy was? Or who do you think sister Abigail was. It's like the intrigue into it all, Like, I mean, you and I were still going on. I think Husks a joke acy, I think Rambling Rabbit were I think Mercy the Buzzard was Grayson Waller and like that was a thing. And then even when I'll call Howdy debut and we're like, is that bow Dallas? I think it's bow Dallas. Maybe it's not bow Dallas. Like all of these things tying in just to it's kind of like you only got half the movie, you know, even if it's a you know, like Marvel movie post credit scene, just let me know where we're going with this, because it was because right now, I think the hardest part about this, and it's similar to Eddie and similar to Owen, is there's no closure on it. And from a character standpoint, there's no closure. I mean, you go back to this with Eddie Graw like we were. There was rumors that we're gonna get

28:37 Eddie Gramer Shawn Michael's match at a WrestleMania, you know, and how much that sucks Owen Hart, you know, where that was going and Bray being arguably the most creative performer in the history of our business, Like where was where was this buying going with stuff? You know? And how is all this gonna play out? Like I hope we kind of get something down the line where we can kind of go, Okay, that would have been beautiful and we can kind of play it out in our mind's eyes where just to kind of get that little bit of closure on the end, because it just sucks on so many levels right now. And you mentioned earlier like taking stock it was ironic they brought the COVID stuff And I have talked about you off air before, like I'm still blown away that in what the three and a half years of I've never gotten COVID thank God? Right, Yeah, And you know everybody knows how much I travel, Like if anybody was frightening to get it, it would have been me. It. I just talked with my wife out the near day is like I can't believe I haven't gotten it yet, you know, And then all of this comes out and you know, like two of my friends are battling the new straight of COVID right now, and I lost a friend of mine, you know, to COVID, you know, right in the middle of the pandemic that was a diehard wrestling fan and you left behind it, you know, a couple of young kids, and it's like, yeah, it makes you take stock of everything in your life when something like this happens from somebody who you admire and look up to, and you almost because of the way wrestling is now, you almost feel like that you're a part of their life, even though you're like,

30:10 you feel differently connected to a brave wyat uh you know, a professional wrestler than you do an NFL player, a baseball player, like you know, the stuff with Damar Hamlin last year, Like I felt bad for the guy, but it didn't it didn't hurt me. It didn't hit me. This hurts. This hit me hard because I think we just have a different look into their lives they would do any other celebrity or athlete out there in the world today, Wrestling is its own separate dy that we bond to closer, Like we talk about wrestling me in a soap opera. I didn't cry with any of my soap opera characters that I love, Diet Victor Kuriakis, you know, Jennifer Hanson is at it felt bad for her, didn't like get upset, didn't you know people like I grew up watching for forty years with my grandmother. It didn't hurt me. Like when guys like that, when this happens at guys like or Eddie or Owen or even go back to Cherry von Eric, you know those guys and that you know Liz even Ultimate Waire, Like you're just like, man like, how much more did they have to contribute to the business that we all love, not just characterwise, but also on a personal level, you know, going forward, I mean we see all these guys out of the independent scenes. You're doing autograph signings and things like that, and you can go up and you can talk to Alex Luder, you can talk to you know, a Stargist Slaughter. You can actually form a connection with these guys. Now, you get you don't do that with star athletes, but wrestling is its own different entity, and we fill a closeness in a bond to these people that we see on TV in multiple times a week. I think you said it very very perfectly. There.

31:44 There's not much more I can add. I mean, you learn about these people more than you learn about any other actor, actress, sports figure, what have you anybody that you look up to, or anybody that you watch it In an entertainments aspect, you know more about them than anyone. You know about their trials and their tribulations, you know about their struggles. In the case of Windham Rotuna, he started out as Husky Harris on NXT, was with Nexus, and then he was sent back down to developmental to find a new character. I remember reading about him toying with his new character. I think he wore like this Hannibal Lecter mask, and then this character started catching fire and there was this buzz around him, and then he came on the main roster and you watched him grow and become this amazing superstar we champion. You get behind these people more than anywhere else in the world.

32:37 Because I don't know, it's what makes wrestling special to me. It's the reason why I feel so much more connected than any other entertainment form and why when I watch Sammy Zane and Kevin Owens hold of the tag team Champion to close out wrestle MANI this past year that I feel just as accomplished as they do, because twelve years ago I watched them in a thousand seat arena in the Manhattan Center in New York City, tearing it up as Kevin Stein and al jan Erico. We connect with professional wrestlers more than you would in any other type of entertainment value. I mean, if an athlete passes away today, the likelihood of me knowing what their trials and tribulation and their struggles were to climb the charts into who they became or their families is probably pretty slim to none. But I immediately thought of Bray Wide and his family, his connections to his father Mike Rotunda, his brother Bo Dallas, his girlfriend Joe Joe Offerman, and his children. Like it's the same exact thing that I thought of when John Hubert passed away Brodie Lee Luke Harper, Like, I immediately thought about his children because I had watched this little ten minute clip on WA Network about like before he became a superstar and him talking about the importance of of being a role model for his kid in Luke Harper. So it's it's a really that's what makes it a very beautiful and poetic entertainment form.

34:07 And that's why the connection that diehard wrestling fans have with the superstars and the shows and the organizations and the promotions and everything in between is oh so very special. And it's tough. It's a tough day. It's a tough week for professional wrestling fans. It's a tough week profession and wrestling to lose somebody so young in bray Wyatt, Doctor Trey. I think to wrap up this this tribute show, how does Bray Wyte or how do you want bray Wyatt Windham Rotunda to be remembered? That's a that's a fantastic question because it does kind of feel like we talked about Oh, we talked about Eddie. You know, Eddie Hitry had twenty years in the business, Ohol had, Alveray had twenty. I mean, these guys had long careers, you know.

35:02 And then we mentioned you know, Brodie Leeve's last John Hubert and although it hurt, he really hadn't ascended to that next level where Eddie Owen were and then you obviously were braves with Bray. It just feels like it was cut short like it was like there's so much one, there's so much more meat on the bone. But for me, I think I just want Brady Wide to be remembered as you know, maybe the most creative mind we've ever come across and professional wrestling. The way he could articulate an envision where he wanted his characters to go is something we've never seen before. And to have the guts and are in the balls to take risks beyond anything else and we've never seen. And I mean obviously just a good person, a great man, a great father. I mean I don't know about you watch in the SmackDown, like watching the start of the show and watching I was just talking about this earlier today watching Brounze drum and breakdown. Like to see a guy who's six foot ten three or fifty pounds like just break down because that was his best friend. You know, it's like it's just so hard. But for you know, to me, like I said, Bray Wyatt was the most creative mind we have ever seen come across professional wrestling in my lifetime. And I hope people remember him that way. Yeah, even the Becky Lynch the clothes to raw on Monday night with her holding up the arm pan and just

36:32 breaking down crying. I felt like was a representation of all of us. It was culmination of the past couple of days, and her emotion is what every wrestling fan and wrestler felt, what the world of professional wrestling felt. And losing somebody so young, so amazing, so creative, so bright, so energetic, so kind in Windham, roetun and bray Wyatt. I will remember him as one of not the most creative mind in the world professional wrestling. He took something that can be so repetitive and mundane and that you've seen time and time again, whether it's over a five year span you see something that is similar or a ten year span, and he spun it around and created a world and created a character of some things that we never saw before.

37:22 Whenever you thought bray White's character and storyline was going to go left, it went right. And it was so beautiful, it was so entertaining, It was so much fun to watch, and I wish we weren't saying these words, but it's just a complete thank you to everything that he did and brought to our joy and entertainment throughout his entire career. So we wanted to get this episode in the books. We wanted to share our thoughts about bray White, We wanted to give it enough time so that we could give our thoughts and feelings about the entire situation and not feel like there was a time crunch to cover anything from the past week. So we'll get to the world of professional wrestling tomorrow the next time an episode drops here for SRTU. But it was important to get this this show out there, Doctor Trey, There's there's something I want to read that I feel like it is the perfect way to wrap up this show. But before we close up shop on this week's edition of of SRTU, is there anything you would like to add in regard to bray Wyatt. I mean really from I mean you mentioned his family and you know, not to mention like his uncle Barry Wyndham. Obviously he's still out there as well, But I mean some one of the things like when something of this happens, this is reminded like not to take life for granted, to tell the people in your life how you feel about them whenever you

38:52 have the chance. You know, today's I saw it some today, like anybody who die today had plans for tomorrow. Anybody who died this morning had plans for tonight. You know those instances where it's like, man, just let everybody know around you how much you value them, appreciate them, love them, because you never want to leave anything unsaid. You know when it's your time, So just take that to heart. Tell like, hug your kids, hug your family, tell them all you love them. Like, oh, those things kind of come back to the forefront when something like this happens and we have to put you know, wrestling and work and everything else kind of on the back burner and just go you know what, man, I love you. I mean you, and I like you, and I joke off the airlock like we've been on that we've been We've been together longer than two of my marriages combined. You know, I've known you since before you met your girlfriend. Yep. Like we're we're an old married couple.

39:51 And I value and appreciate and you know, love everything you and I have done for twelve years. If I haven't told you that, I want you to know that quest front for all of our listeners that tune in every single week, Like we value and appreciate everything you guys have done to us. You guys are our motivation to keep doing this show for seven hundred plus episodes. You know, like like you and I told you as far as I looked up, we are the second longest running wrestling podcast in the world that I that I could verify against. And honestly, I don't know if number one is even still around, so we may be number one. Who knows, But things like that put it in perspective that you know, those people that you value and appreciate, just let it, me know, just just get it out there, put in the world. It looks you might have the most cold hearted, redneck, toughest nail's friend and you tell them that they may blow you off. I guess what it's going to sink in And that way, if something happens, they know how you felt and they don't feel guilty about it. So just love your friends, love your neighbors, love your kids. Just put it all out there into the ethos and let it go. It's a perfect way to end the show. Their doctor Trey with some beautiful thoughts. So we close with something that is obviously made the rounds. Since bray Wyatt passed away, It's something he posted on Twitter and Instagram back in August of twenty twenty two, and I felt like it was the perfect way to sum up how we as wrestling fans feel about the world

41:23 of professional wrestling and how the world of professional wrestling makes us feel. So we'll read this and then close up shop here on the show. Thank you all for for joining us, Thank you for allowing us these forty plus minutes to give our thoughts and feelings towards the tragic passing of Windimore Done and Bray Wyatt, and and thank you for you know, letting us share how we feel on this podcast today. It's it's therapeutic because it's been it's been tough to go through this, because it's it's not easy, obviously losing somebody so special and made people feel so good in the world of professional wrestling. So Windomton a road back in August twenty twenty two, and I quote, wrestling is not a love story. It's a fairytale for massachists, a comedy for people who criticize punchlines. Punchlines fantasy. Most can't understand a spectacle. No one can deny lines are blurred heroes or villains, budgets or cuts. Business is business, but it can also be a land where dead man walk, where honor makes you elite, where demons run for office, and rock bottom is a reason to rejoice. Woo. It's an escape, a reason to point to blame in anyone but yourself for two to three hours, an excuse to be a kid again, and nothing mad except the moment we are in Wrestling is not a love story. It's much more. It's hope and in a world surrounded and hate, greed and violence, a world where closure may never come, we all know a place that has hot and cold hope on

42:54 tap for better or for worse. End quote. Thank you Bray Wyatt, Rest in peace, Windom Rotunda and uh until next time. Follow the buzzards. He's gone in news. He's gonna die in news. I I stop creating some kind of buzz here. Man, you won't see nothing yet.

43:57 Feel a new face out here. Walk upon my side and I will lead you to clarodops. We're here. See about the dance and feel the magic on the floor. They try to save me at all stop, but they never cared in school. You never had the last time because he no shine he gave us everything and now you never in his mind. Yes, it is the firefly funhouse waiting no money over, no shall she must Yeah, because he was jail going world gold, now sunset and space between the shows.

45:10 Never let it darkness. She couldn't down shine sees that a being the spa in the long I can truly say that I have the whole damns in the world in my head. I would like to welcome you all. Tuesday Hour rock if it's my favorite dew point the Shu great mother understood photograph.

45:54 The resent in my mind was still together. Spear meet I and the color red. In a world for the black and white. I am the eater of worlds. I bray white, am forever you, and I can look all of you in the eyes and I can say thank you.