Mike Rotunda Discusses Late Son Windham's 'Jolly' Personality

Wrestling lost one of its most brilliant and creative minds, Bray Wyatt, the real-life Windham Rotunda, in 2023. Wyatt died on August 24 at age 36 after suffering a heart attack, caused in part by complications due to COVID-19. Wyatt's father, Mike Rotunda, a retired professional wrestler himself, recently spoke about his son's death and how it's affected their family on the "Wrasslin Talk with Mayor McCall" podcast. Rotunda spoke about the joy his son brought to the fans of the wrestling community.

"He was a jolly fellow. He loved to laugh. He was loud. Always laughing and just, he lit up a room. He lit up the wrestling business," Rotunda said. "People come up to me and have a story with Windham and say, 'He took the time to sit there and bulls*** with me for 10, 15 minutes when he's supposed to be signing autographs.' So many people come up and support him with wearing Windham's stuff and just have a story about him. He was that kind of person. He loved, when we have family outings, it's chaos at our house. There's dogs running around and kids screaming, and Windham was in his element in that situation. He just loved it. We miss him badly."

Rotunda said that 2023 has been an extremely difficult year for himself and his family. He not only lost his son, but his mother, Wyatt's grandmother, as well. He said she passed right before Wyatt's death. Rotunda said his family is looking forward to celebrating the new year after the tragedy that was 2023 for their family.

"It's hard. I don't think we're ever going to get over this. It's very hard and the worst part about it, too, I can't wait until this year finishes because I was in up in New York, my mom had a stroke when she was 86 years old," he said. "I spent three months going to a nursing home every day. My sister and myself watched her take her last breath. My wife flew up and Windham actually, Windham... came up and visited with my mom for a few days... So we lost my mom and two weeks later we lost Windham."

Rotunda also spoke about how WWE has helped his son's family in the last four months since his death, including his four children as well as his fiancee, former ring announcer JoJo Offerman. Rotunda confirmed that WWE put Wyatt on a Legend's Contract following his passing. All the proceeds of the contract go to his family.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrasslin Talk with Mayor McCall" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.