When Bray Wyatt made his most recent WWE return in the fall of 2022, he didn’t come alone.
Wyatt’s initial appearance during Extreme Rules 2022 included both previous versions of his former gimmicks, as well as life-size versions of his Firefly Fun House puppets. Combined with some cryptic social media hints (and with Bray, are there any other kind?), they had some fans convinced we were going to see a stable called the Wyatt 6 with henchmen for Bray based on those puppets.
Instead, we got just one new character: Uncle Howdy, a menacing masked figure played by Wyatt’s real life brother, Bo Dallas. But as it turns out, there really were plans to expand into something like the theorized Wyatt 6.
According to Fightful Select (subscription required), there were pitches to involve both Eric Young, who recently was granted his requested release from WWE, and someone Wyatt had worked with before in a “new-style version of the Wyatt Family.”
Young was to be involved in a new-style version of the Wyatt Family with both Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas, who had been portraying Uncle Howdy on WWE TV. We’re told the creative plans were set in January, and would have kicked off after WrestleMania. However, Bray Wyatt was sidelined with an undisclosed illness, and neither he and Bo Dallas have yet to return to television. By the time the angle would have started, Young asked for his release, citing moral and creative reasons tied to working with Vince McMahon as a reason he wanted to leave.
There were also pitches for Alexa Bliss to join before her maternity leave, which were nixed when it was obvious she wouldn’t be around for all of 2023.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Young, Bliss or anyone else would have ended up playing the Firefly Fun House characters come to life. However, Fightful’s report also suggests there was an idea several years back for Mike Bennett (now performing in AEW’s Ring of Honor) to join forces with Wyatt, potentially playing the mythical Sister Abigail.
It doesn’t take all that much imagination to get from ideas like that to a full-fledged Wyatt 6, especially with the teases at Extreme Rules. With Young gone and Bliss out until after she gives birth, not to mention Wyatt’s own status uncertain, it’s likely this is an idea whose time has passed. But it’s still interesting to note that there was some fire to this particular smoke, enough to make Wyatt’s most loyal fans wonder what might have been.