Bray Wyatt made a memorable return at last weekend’s Extreme Rules. After weeks of teases, He finally arrived and fans were delighted to witness ‘The Eater of Worlds’ back in the company. He was released from the company last year amid the pandemic. The reason was cited as ‘budget cuts’ and it was not well received by the fans.
Why was Bray Wyatt released?
According to Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Bray Wyatt was being paid in the range of $4 million a year. He rose to the third or fourth highest-paid wrestler in the business as a result. Ringside News had reported that Wyatt was ‘difficult to get along with,’ and being ‘outspoken was never an issue.’
Ringside News additionally reported that Bray Wyatt was ‘hard to find when needed.’ Also, ‘when he had time off due to medical, there was always an issue with his appointment.’ That led to even more frustration. Things finally came to a head, and he was let go. Wyatt’s reputation as a ‘money maker’ was further tarnished because it was difficult to evaluate him when he left.
“To say he was a ‘money maker’ is based on what formula since we wasn’t part of the company’s return to live events? So, he was a money maker based solely on his merch? Not as his contract level!”
Ringside News also reported that many people in WWE saw Wyatt’s character as burying talent. The outlet had asked around about this situation and they told that internally, ‘most everyone here agrees with the thought his character killed everyone he worked with.’
“He killed babyface Rollins and babyface Miz and there are analytics that document this. Plus, the push went to his head and he thought he was modern day Undertaker. Except once Taker got on top, he started making any other top star he worked with. Bray doesn’t know how to do that and the gimmick doesn’t lend to it.”
