Post by Sephiroth on Sept 1, 2014 7:27:49 GMT -5
K, there have been a few threads that involved everyone speculating about the character and his backstory. To be fair, certain elements have never been completely explained, in particular the whole "Sister Abigail" character he referenced early on. So here is a thread to explain at least some of the character for those who are confused.
Now, the first influence that most wrestling fans who grew up in the 90's will quickly recognize is the Waylon Mercy character that was briefly played by ring veteran "Dangerous" Dan Spivey
Spivey played the character with a southern accent, debuting it in a series of promos where he delivered rambling monologues, but would end by saying "Lives are gonna be in Waylon Mercy's hands, know what I mean?" and then laugh in slightly sinister fashion. Upon debuting in the ring, he acted as a southern gentleman, shaking hands with his opponents and the referee-but once the bell rang he would flip out and maul his opponents in brutal style. Wyndham Rotunda has openly stated he was a fan of the character and that it was a definite influence on him as he created Bray Wyatt.
Second comes the character that inspired Waylon Mercy itself-Robert DeNiro's interpretation of the character Max Cady from the movie Cape Fear
In the film, DeNiro portrays the character as a psychotic ex convict who is out for revenge on the lawyer who put him in jail. In several scenes he makes reference to being raised as a child in a religiously fanatic, backwoods environment, such as suggesting "Granny used to handle snakes in church" and quoting apocalyptic biblical scripture. He also suggests his stalking of this lawyer is an almost religious mission of retribution, since the lawyer used dirty tactics to send him to jail. In one of his early NXT promos, Bray Wyatt quotes some of DeNiro's lines near verbatim:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD3-dWA-JG4
However, there is also some influence from another interpretation of the character Max Cady, namely its original portrayal by Robert Mitchum in an earlier version of the same film
There also seems to be some influence from another of Robert Mitchum's memorable characters, preacher Harry Powell from the movie Night of the Hunter
In this film, Mitchum portrays a serial killer who pretends to be a preacher, with the words "love" and "hate" tattooed on his knuckles. He also delivers apocalyptic biblical verse and implies that the killings he commits are somehow justified by God. I believe in some early appearances Bray Wyatt actually had the words "love" and "hate" written on his fingers.
Further, the character seems to draw off the notorious cult leader and killer, Charles Manson
Manson famously assembled a cult that he dubbed The Family, who were so thoroughly under his power that they carried out several very brutal murders seemingly without a second thought, all at his command. Witnesses during the trial of Manson and his followers often described them as "zombies," which is very likely the effect Rowan and Harper are going for in their bug eyed stares and parroting of Bray's words.
Finally, I suspect there is some influence from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. As any horror movie buff can tell you, in the movie a group of hapless teenagers stumble onto family of psychotic cannibals. A number of the promo videos of the Wyatt Family were pretty clearly meant to evoke the image of a community of crazies living in isolation. And for a while, I believe as a result of an injury, Bray did adopt a look clearly meant to evoke images of Leatherface
I hope this has been education and informative for you all.
Now, the first influence that most wrestling fans who grew up in the 90's will quickly recognize is the Waylon Mercy character that was briefly played by ring veteran "Dangerous" Dan Spivey
Spivey played the character with a southern accent, debuting it in a series of promos where he delivered rambling monologues, but would end by saying "Lives are gonna be in Waylon Mercy's hands, know what I mean?" and then laugh in slightly sinister fashion. Upon debuting in the ring, he acted as a southern gentleman, shaking hands with his opponents and the referee-but once the bell rang he would flip out and maul his opponents in brutal style. Wyndham Rotunda has openly stated he was a fan of the character and that it was a definite influence on him as he created Bray Wyatt.
Second comes the character that inspired Waylon Mercy itself-Robert DeNiro's interpretation of the character Max Cady from the movie Cape Fear
In the film, DeNiro portrays the character as a psychotic ex convict who is out for revenge on the lawyer who put him in jail. In several scenes he makes reference to being raised as a child in a religiously fanatic, backwoods environment, such as suggesting "Granny used to handle snakes in church" and quoting apocalyptic biblical scripture. He also suggests his stalking of this lawyer is an almost religious mission of retribution, since the lawyer used dirty tactics to send him to jail. In one of his early NXT promos, Bray Wyatt quotes some of DeNiro's lines near verbatim:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD3-dWA-JG4
However, there is also some influence from another interpretation of the character Max Cady, namely its original portrayal by Robert Mitchum in an earlier version of the same film
There also seems to be some influence from another of Robert Mitchum's memorable characters, preacher Harry Powell from the movie Night of the Hunter
In this film, Mitchum portrays a serial killer who pretends to be a preacher, with the words "love" and "hate" tattooed on his knuckles. He also delivers apocalyptic biblical verse and implies that the killings he commits are somehow justified by God. I believe in some early appearances Bray Wyatt actually had the words "love" and "hate" written on his fingers.
Further, the character seems to draw off the notorious cult leader and killer, Charles Manson
Manson famously assembled a cult that he dubbed The Family, who were so thoroughly under his power that they carried out several very brutal murders seemingly without a second thought, all at his command. Witnesses during the trial of Manson and his followers often described them as "zombies," which is very likely the effect Rowan and Harper are going for in their bug eyed stares and parroting of Bray's words.
Finally, I suspect there is some influence from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. As any horror movie buff can tell you, in the movie a group of hapless teenagers stumble onto family of psychotic cannibals. A number of the promo videos of the Wyatt Family were pretty clearly meant to evoke the image of a community of crazies living in isolation. And for a while, I believe as a result of an injury, Bray did adopt a look clearly meant to evoke images of Leatherface
I hope this has been education and informative for you all.