Earlier tonight, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque shared the tragic news that Windham Rotunda, better known to WWE fans as Bray Wyatt, has passed away. Rotunda was just 36 years old.
Tributes have been pouring in from across the wrestling world praising Rotunda for his kindness and creativity from stars like Alexa Bliss, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Big E, Cody Rhodes and William Regal. WWE posted a graphic in remembrance of the late star on their X account, confirming his passing occurred on Thursday, August 24th 2023.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful has now disclosed the exact nature of the star’s cause of death with permission from Rotunda’s family. In a post on X, Sapp shared that the former WWE Champion contracted COVID-19 earlier this year and the disease worsened a heart issue that Rotunda had already been contending with.
Recently, the star was said to have made positive steps towards both a recovery from his medical issues as well as a return to WWE. Tragically, however, Rotunda suffered a heart attack earlier today and subsequently passed away as a result. Sapp went on to echo the wishes of Rotunda’s family to respect their privacy at this time.
Rotunda’s last match on WWE programming occurred this past January at the Royal Rumble where he defeated LA Knight in a Mountain Dew Pitch Black match. Rotunda went on to compete in a series of live event matches following the Royal Rumble and wrestled the final match of his career at a live event in Rockford, Illinois on February 26th. There, he once again defeated Knight – this time in a Lights Out Street Fight.