Brooksville’s Taylor Rotunda Returns to WWE

The lights turned down in the closing minutes of WWE Monday Night Raw on June 17, revealing a darkened door and a lit lantern atop a smoke-filled stage. Fans immediately recognized these tributes to late wrestler Bray Wyatt, whose eerie theme music resounded through the American Bank Center Selena Auditorium in Corpus Christi, Texas. This would be the debut of the “Wyatt Sicks,” an ominous-looking group of five wrestlers wearing creepy masks and led by “Uncle Howdy,” dressed in black with a top hat and long, white dreadlocks adorning his head.

The show ended with Uncle Howdy picking up the lantern, surrounded by the other Wyatt Sicks members, and declaring, “We’re here” as he blew out the lantern, another nod to the Bray Wyatt character.

Just like that, Taylor Rotunda was back in the WWE. The 34-year-old from Brooksville, a 2008 graduate of Hernando High, where he starred on the wrestling team, and a third-generation professional wrestler is the man portraying Uncle Howdy, the alter ego of his wrestling persona, Bo Dallas. A former NXT and tag team champion during his career in the WWE, Rotunda had last appeared as Dallas in November 2019. He was released from the company in April 2021 but returned as Uncle Howdy in December 2022.

Uncle Howdy was a character who haunted and also aligned with Bray Wyatt, whose real name was Windham Rotunda, Taylor’s older brother.

However, the storyline was dropped a few months later as Windham Rotunda was dealing with a real-life illness. On Aug. 24, 2023, Windham Rotunda suffered a heart attack and passed away at 36 years of age.

Since then, Taylor Rotunda has appeared in a documentary about Wyatt released on Peacock in April and, along with his sister Mika, inducted their father, Mike Rotunda and uncle Barry Windham, who formed the tag team called The U.S. Express, into the WWE Hall of Fame.

His return as Uncle Howdy, alongside the Wyatt Sicks, has delighted fans who are happy to see his storyline continue. Thus far much of the gimmick has featured grainy, VHS-style videos of Uncle Howdy performing chilling interviews with Dallas, with Rotunda playing both sides of the conversation.

The WWE declined a request from the Hernando Sun to interview Rotunda. However, as Dallas, he spoke bluntly about his brother during the first of these videos that appeared on the June 24 episode of Raw.

“How did it feel when your brother died?” asked Uncle Howdy.

“Like the most important thing in my life was taken away from me,” an emotional Dallas responded. “Like nothing was ever going to matter again.”

“Don’t you think you’re exploiting your brother’s legacy?” Uncle Howdy followed.

“All I ever wanted my whole life was to be like my brother,” Dallas answered. “I looked up to him and I wanted to be him. I worked my entire career, my life so I could have the opportunity, so I could work there next to him. And we were going to rule together. And we had finally made it, we were there and we had it. And then it was taken away from me.

“There is no one on this Earth that feels more hurt than me from his loss. Not one person on Earth feels what I feel. But what am I supposed to do, let him become a mausoleum? Let everybody forget about what he stood for, what he fought for, what he believed in?”

Sporting a longer beard reminiscent of his brother and only further highlighting their resemblance, Rotunda has gained the support of fans who are thrilled to see him keep the Wyatt legacy at the forefront of the WWE.

“I teared up when the camera got to Bo Dallas/Uncle Howdy and the crowd gave a massive pop,” posted wrestling news source PW Chronicle from its X account on June 17. “You just know what this moment means to him and the whole (Rotunda) family.

“Bray/Windham is definitely watching over with a big smile on his face.”