Bray Wyatt, former WWE champion, dead at 36

Windham Rotunda, a former World Wrestling Entertainment champion and a third-generation professional wrestler known as Bray Wyatt, died Thursday at the age of 36, the company announced.

Rotunda’s death was announced by WWE’s chief content officer Paul Levesque, the former wrestler known as Triple H, on X, formerly known as Twitter. WWE also confirmed the death in a statement on its website.

“Known for his captivating performances and incredible in-ring presence, Wyatt was a defining Superstar of his generation and accomplished many feats in WWE, including becoming WWE Champion in 2017,” the statement said.

Rotunda was the brother of Taylor Rotunda, known as Bo Dallas, the son of Hall of Fame wrestler Mike Rotunda and grandson of Robert Windham, known as Blackjack Mulligan.

Tributes from fans and wrestling colleagues flooded social media Thursday evening.

Dwayne Johnson, an actor and former WWE wrestler who performed as “The Rock,” said on social media that Wyatt had a “very unique, cool and rare character, which is hard to create in our crazy world of pro wrestling.”

Rotunda is survived by his partner, Joseann Offerman, a former WWE announcer, and his children, Chris Legentil, a WWE spokesperson, said.