When Bray Wyatt returned at Extreme Rules, the expectation was that he would go back to his dark, villainous ways, a perception that was only enhanced by Wyatt carrying a lantern and removing a mask. From a strictly behavioral standpoint, it was like not that much had changed.
But Wyatt is nothing if not clever at reinvention, and with a new regime in charge of WWE creative, there has been more of a tendency to zig when fans expect them to zag. In that vein, Wyatt has shown a side of himself the past few weeks that is new: Just plain old Bray, speaking from the heart. He’s also reportedly listed internally as SmackDown’s top face, which is logical since fans are so happy to see him back.
That doesn’t mean Wyatt won’t be a tortured soul, however. After some of his promos were interrupted by a mysterious figure with a distorted voice, fans learned on the most recent SmackDown that Bray’s tormenter had a name: Uncle Howdy, a moniker WWE had trademarked not long before.
The interesting part is that it definitely was Wyatt’s voice speaking for Uncle Howdy. That’s made the question of his true identity an even more compelling puzzle. Will this be a case of Wyatt literally being his own worst enemy? Or is there something else going on here?
Let’s take a quick spin through the most common guesses as to who Uncle Howdy might be.
Uncle Howdy is the dark side of Wyatt’s own persona
This seems like what WWE wants us to think right now, and the seeds for it were planted in Wyatt’s own past. After all, he had a split personality before when he manifested The Fiend, who could be the person Uncle Howdy referred to when he said Bray “sent him away.”
Obviously, Wyatt can’t get in the ring against himself, so the idea here would be that Bray would continue to do the voice of Uncle Howdy in promos, but then if they ever met in the ring, someone else would stand in. Or perhaps Howdy is never intended to be an actual wrestler but more of a supernatural manager of sorts, someone who will send other people after Wyatt.
Call this split personality concept the leader in the clubhouse for now, but again, Wyatt and WWE appear to be having fun playing with assumptions so you can’t bank on this as the final reveal.
Uncle Howdy is Wyatt’s real life brother, the artist formerly known as Bo Dallas
Besides Wyatt himself, who could justifiably claim to know him so well that they could accuse him of lying to the world? How about Taylor Rotunda, Wyatt’s actual brother, who was known during his prior time in WWE as Bo Dallas?
The fun thing about this possibility is that along with it working from a logical standpoint (and yes, even a supernatural-tinged story should have some elements of logic to it), it allows WWE to create another potential star. In other words, Wyatt by himself is great, but if Triple H and company can get people interested in Dallas as Uncle Howdy too, that’s doubling the effectiveness of this saga.
Uncle Howdy is a returning Randy Orton
This fun suggestion has been bandied about in a number of places around the internet, with some fans even thinking Uncle Howdy sort of looked like Orton. The Viper has been on the shelf for some time due to a back injury that’s been said to be serious enough to possibly jeopardize his in-ring career, but again, he could play the role without necessarily facing Wyatt in a match.
Orton has a long history with Wyatt in all of his previous incarnations, and even kind of vanquished The Fiend by setting him on fire. It’s not that big a stretch to think he could still find ways to mess with Bray, just with their previous face/heel roles reversed. This one isn’t really likely to be the truth, but you can’t deny it’s fun to consider.
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