TJ Wilson has fondly recalled working with Bray Wyatt.
On August 24th the wrestling world was rocked by the tragic and untimely death of Bray Wyatt. The star was incredibly popular among fans, and it quickly became clear that he was equally beloved backstage.
Appearing on the Out of Character podcast, WWE Superstar-turned-producer TJ Wilson, shared his own memories of Wyatt.
“Bray was an unbelievable person. Right before I got on here, I was watching the confessionals or whatever that WWE put out on YouTube. Just to see everyone speaks so highly of him the beauty of it is it’s all true. We aren’t having to exaggerate and pretend like let’s pretend Bray was a good person. He was a phenomenal person.
Somebody said like even when Bray was mad, which was very rarely, he would still have the locker room laughing because when he got salty, he was maybe extra funny when he was salty, which I have a little bit of that or maybe a lot of that in me too.
Bray man, he just was special. It wasn’t just his creativity for himself. He would help everybody all the time. I remember I did my NXT run and when I was back on the main roster, I was doing a promo talking about cats and facts on Main Event in a match with Truth or something. Bray pulled Nattie aside and then came and found me and pulled me aside. He said, ‘Hey, man. You got something here, but I want to help you with your cadence.’
I’m not some promo master. I got better at them working with Dusty [Rhodes], but I’m not a master. So like, if a guy like Bray Wyatt is going to help me, I will take that help any day of the week. I think his superpower is that he just had a great relationship with everybody. If you were talking to him, he made you feel like you’re the most important person in the world for those moments you’re talking to him.”
Bray Wyatt Worked With TJ Wilson Before WWE Return
During the conversation, Wilson revealed Wyatt came to work out with him before re-signing with WWE. Wilson added that Wyatt was excited to get back to work and felt that he was on the brink of doing something special.
“He texted me and said, ‘Hey, I think I’m ready to get back in the ring a little bit.’ This is last August, actually. I said, ‘Yea no problem.’ So we’re going back and forth and he was like, ‘When are you training?’ I said, ‘I’m training at this time, at five or six, but if you want to meet at noon, if you want to meet at one, I’ll meet you anytime.’
At first he was like, ‘Okay, let’s kind of do it privately’, and then he was like, ‘Actually, I’ll just show up at your practice.’ He did and he was so helpful with every person there. He kept pulling guys aside and giving them little bits of advice.
He pulled me aside and he said, ‘Man, I love what you’re doing here. Our minds combined, we’re gonna do some special things. This is a chance to do some very special stuff in the business. Then at that point, I don’t know if he was either kayfabing me or not. At this point, he was telling me he hadn’t quite re-signed yet and he wasn’t sure what was in the works. Then he did obviously re-sign.
I remember I had a little talk with him maybe a few weeks after he re-signed and I was like, ‘Man, I’m so excited for this run’, and he said, ‘Yes. This is going to be the run.’ I wholeheartedly believe if physically he had been good, I think he was about to really blow people’s minds.”
In the weeks since his passing, a number of WWE and AEW stars have paid tribute to Bray Wyatt, while Tony Khan provided a private jet for stars to attend the funeral service.
H/t to WrestlingNews.Co