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WWE Fans Debate Whether ‘Money in the Bank' Vignette Signals Bray Wyatt Return
Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sports7 in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.
Get to know Tim Crean betterUpdated03 Jul 2022
WWE's premium live event, Money in the Bank, had many meaningful moments. Liv Morgan won the women's Money in the Bank briefcase and promptly cashed it to win her first Smackdown women's championship. Theory lost his United States title to Bobby Lashley but, as a surprise entrant in the men's ladder match, took home his own MITB briefcase. Despite all this, the biggest discussion in the WWE Universe after the event is whether “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt is returning to WWE.
Does the ‘Money in the Bank' vignette point to Bray Wyatt or Edge?
In the middle of Money in the Bank on Saturday, July 2, a strange vignette popped up on the broadcast. The eerie video featured quick cuts, a shadowy figure, and lots of creepy imagery.
The sepia coloring of the vignette and the imagery were reminiscent of the Bray Wyatt/Wyatt Family entrance videos mid-Aughts. This sent wrestling Twitter into a frenzy that a Bray Wyatt return is imminent.
This excitement around Wyatt's return also comes from the fact that Windham Rotunda (Wyatt's real name) recently filed for a new trademark for the name “Wyatt 6” (h/t Wrestling Inc.)
However, after closer inspection, many WWE fans now believe that the MITB video relates to the wrestler Edge, not Bray Wyatt.
The WWE-related imagery in the video includes taped-up glasses (The Dudley Boyz), a gold medal (Kurt Angle), crosses (Christian), armbands (Jeff Hardy), and a license plate that says, “Latino Heat” (Eddie Guerrero).
These wrestlers are all (mostly) before Bray Wyatt's time in WWE. However, they do relate to some of the most significant moments in Edge's career.
Edge returning would also be an event the WWE would promote heavily. He's been out of action since his Judgement Day faction turned on him on the June 6 episode of Monday Night Raw.
Fans will have to wait until at least Monday to find out whose return the video is referring to.
Bray Wyatt hasn't wrestled in WWE since 2021
Windham Rotunda, aka Bray Wyatt, hasn't wrestled in the WWE since his release from the company in 2021.
Wyatt initially came to the WWE with an incredible pedigree. His maternal grandfather is Blackjack Mulligan, a star pro wrestler in the WWWF (a precursor to the WWE) back in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mulligan's children (Wyatt's uncles) are WCW legends Kendall and Barry Windham. Their sister, Stephanie, married Mike Rotunda, who starred in the WWF as Irwin R. Schyster (IRS) in the 1990s.
Mike and Stephanie are the parents of Wyatt and his pro wrestling brother, Bo Dallas.
Windham Rotunda started in NXT in 2009 and made appearances in the WWE in 2010 and 2011. However, the wrestler truly hit his stride in 2012 with the debut of Bray Wyatt.
As the leader of the Wyatt Family — which included the likes of Erick Rowan, the late Luke Harper, Braun Stroman, and Randy Orton over time – Wyatt became a WWE champion. Over time, though, Wyatt's gimmicks became more outlandish, culminating in his time as the ghoulish The Fiend.
The WWE released Wyatt in July 2021, and the wrestler hasn't performed in any significant way since.
Whether the Money in the Bank vignette relates to Bray Wyatt or not, it does seem like he is poised to make his return to the ring sometime soon.
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