Over the years, Bray Wyatt has been through a lot. He has had to deal with being written off television, losing and gaining followers, and spending long periods of time off programming for no real reason.

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Wyatt has always shown flashes of excellence throughout his career, wrestling some truly fantastic matches and always doing wonders on the mic. While not every version of his character has delivered, Wyatt has always looked like he has given it his all. The creation of the Firefly Fun House and The Fiend is a testament to Wyatt's creativity, which has never been in doubt. Without further ado, here's every version of his character, ranked from worst to best.

UPDATE: 2023/09/09 14:30 EST BY ANDREW KELLY

The recent passing of Bray Wyatt really rocked the professional world a great deal. This loss of one of the most inventive and creative entities in the history of the business is a huge blow for sure. This event has given fans a chance to look back over the career of Bray Wyatt with so much more love and respect, especially when you see just how many gimmicks he managed to get over and turn into a draw. Simply put, he was a genius at it. It only makes sense now to take a more extensive look at both the good and bad gimmicks and versions of Bray Wyatt over the course of his career, looking at what he did during that time, what he accomplished, and the legacy he left behind.

9 Husky Harris

Husky Harris joined NXT in June 2010, as a part of the first season of the show, with Cody Rhodes as his pro. Harris stuck around on programming for a few weeks before eventually getting eliminated on the August 17th episode of NXT.

Then in November, he debuted as a part of The Nexus. He failed to stand out as a valuable member of the faction, though he did stay with the group till January 31, 2011, and eventually became one of the few successes coming out of the group. After he successfully passed initiation to become a part of CM Punk's New Nexus, Harris teamed with Michael McGillicutty to take on Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov for the WWE Tag Team Championships. After they lost the match, Harris was attacked by Randy Orton, who punted him in the head, writing him off television. That marked the last appearance of the Husky Harris character. While he wrestled as Harris on FCW, the character did not make another appearance on WWE programming.

*Husky Harris may have been arguably the worst gimmick of Wyatt’s career, but the way it went on to influence his future gimmicks made it hugely important to Wyatt’s overall story. For instance, “Huskus The Pig Boy” and the “Muscle Man Dance” called back to the weight issues Wyatt had at the time and what he was told by management in terms of that. There were many references to this time of Wyatt’s run all throughout his time in the business. In terms of matches, Harris didn’t have too many standout ones, but he did put in quite a good showing in the 2011 Royal Rumble match, where he felt like one of the more dominant members of The Nexus as he protected CM Punk throughout the bout.

Length Of Gimmick: 6/3/2010 - 4/2/2012

8 FCW’s Duke Rotundo

Before he was Bray Wyatt or even Husky Harris, Windham Rotunda made his in-ring debut in early 2009 for WWE’s developmental territory at the time, Florida Championship Wrestling. Once he made his way to FCW television, the future Bray Wyatt adopted the name Duke Rotundo, forming a tag team with his real-life brother, Bo Rotundo, better known as Bo Dallas. Together, the Rotundo Boys were able to score two runs with the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship, with their first reign lasting 119 days.

*In many ways, this version of Bray Wyatt felt like a very real throwback, harkening back to the style and gimmicks of his former family members (of which he comes from a lineage including Blackjack Mulligan, Barry Windham, and IRS). Seeing Wyatt with bleach blonde hair and wrestling in a conventional tag team style is certainly bizarre and surreal to look back on today. The FCW Tag Team Titles would be his only accomplishment in the developmental brand, though he did challenge for the top title on more than occasion when he branched out from tag team competition.

Length Of Gimmick: 4/9/2009 - 27/5/2010

7 Deleter Of Worlds

After losing a number of big matches in a row, Bray Wyatt eventually entered a feud with Matt Hardy, awakening his immensely popular 'Broken' persona. His feud with the now 'Woken' Matt Hardy culminated in an Ultimate Deletion match as the main event of the March 19 episode of Raw in 2018. Wyatt disappeared from programming after being pushed into the Lake of Reincarnation by Hardy. He returned at the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34, helping Hardy win the match. He turned face in the process for the first time in his career.

The two teamed up and won the vacant Raw Tag Team Championships at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. However, The 'Deleters of Worlds' lost the championships in their first pay-per-view title defense at Extreme Rules to Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas of The B-Team. Soon after losing the gold, Hardy took time off to deal with his injuries, with Wyatt being taken off programming as well.

*In terms of the main roster versions of “Bray Wyatt”, his time with Matt Hardy was one of the more underwhelming for sure. The whole feud and partnership with Hardy was a weird one, with it being a clear case of Vince McMahon not quite understanding how to handle larger-than-life gimmicks in the present day. The “Broken” or "Woken" Matt gimmick was a giggling mess and Wyatt felt like a sidekick to him at times during this alliance. It was nice to see Wyatt as a babyface for sure, but their Raw Tag Team Championship reign was underwhelming and quite short-lived.

Length Of Gimmick: 4/8/2018 - 9/15/2018

6 The New Face Of Fear

Wyatt embarked on a singles run after letting Rowan and Harper go their own way. He entered a feud with Dean Ambrose, which culminated in a Wyatt victory on the January 5 episode of Raw in 2015. After winning that feud, Wyatt had a strong run in the Royal Rumble.

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Following the Royal Rumble, Wyatt began referring to himself as 'The New Face of Fear', trying to take the spot at the top when it comes to spooky gimmicks. At Fastlane, Wyatt challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania 31, which he lost. After the loss, Wyatt had a one-off match with Ryback at Payback, which he won, before eventually re-uniting The Wyatt Family.

*There was a lot of hope for Bray Wyatt after his re-emergence at the Hell in a Cell 2014 PPV, though he did have some hurdles to overcome as not everyone was enthralled with him distracting Dean Ambrose with a hologram. The whole feud with Ambrose was held back by weird instances like that, such as Ambrose losing their match at TLC due to a TV exploding in his face. The positives of this time come solely with his Undertaker feud, as Wyatt carried the whole thing due to Undertaker being off TV. His mic skills and the performances he was dishing out during the Road to WrestleMania were truly special, and proved that he could be a singles main eventer. In hindsight, he should have probably beaten The Deadman, though they still have an entertaining battle. He actually did go on to challenge Ryback on house shows for the Intercontinental Title during this period too, marking his first real attempts at a singles title in WWE.

Length Of Gimmick: 10/16/2014 - 7/19/2015

5 2022 WWE Return

After his aforementioned 14-month layoff from the company, Bray Wyatt finally returned to WWE after fans were teased for weeks with clues and easter eggs. This returning Bray Wyatt — bolstered by his cool new theme music by Code Orange — proved to be a much more human take on Wyatt compared to his previous iterations. A babyface who wears his vulnerability on his sleeve, Wyatt’s obviously dealing with some issues that are still being explored, and so far has been taking his time revealing much to the audience.

*This was by far the most “real” version of Bray Wyatt that fans ever got to see, with him finally embracing the love shown to him by the audience. It wasn’t long until darker undertones seeped in, and he underwent a mental struggle due to the influence of “Uncle Howdy”. Wyatt went on an inner battle with his demons, and this led into what would be his final full WWE feud against LA Knight. Although their eventual match together was mired due to the Mountain Dew Pitch Black stipulation, the feud overall was entertaining. A rivalry with Bobby Lashley ahead of WrestleMania 39 was then dropped due to Wyatt being taken off TV because of health issues. It wasn’t all perfect, but it was very fascinating to this new side of Wyatt, and with the popularity he had, it was set for big things.

Length Of Gimmick: 10/08/2022 - 08/24/2023

4 The New Wyatt Family

At Battleground in 2015, the Eater of Worlds defeated Roman Reigns in singles competition with a little help from his former stablemate, Luke Harper. With Erick Rowan re-joining the group once he returned from injury, The Wyatt Family was reunited once more. Wyatt also introduced the WWE Universe to the black sheep of the family; the monstrous Braun Strowman. It didn't do too much to help though, as Wyatt lost his feud with Roman Reigns, and the family was soundly defeated by the Brothers of Destruction as well. A pointless feud with the League of Nations and The New Day gave way to Wyatt and Rowan being drafted to SmackDown, while Strowman went to Raw, as WWE prepared him for a singles run. Soon after, Rowan was removed from the group after losing to Dean Ambrose, and was replaced by Randy Orton, who joined the group after giving into Wyatt's mind games. The relationship between Harper and Orton fractured, eventually resulted in him being exiled from the group as well.

Orton and Wyatt then made it to the last three of the Royal Rumble. Orton won the match after eliminating Roman Reigns, who had eliminated Wyatt before him. Wyatt then put on a fantastic performance in the Elimination Chamber, winning the WWE Championship for the first time in his career. His reign didn't last long though, as he lost the gold to Orton at WrestleMania 33 in a terrible match, but not before the Viper burned down The Wyatt Family compound. Wyatt was then moved back to Raw, and ended up losing a ton of matches, which eventually led him to Matt Hardy. Wyatt's Championship win was the highlight of this run.

*Although this may not have been the best iteration of the Wyatt Family, it was certainly the most successful stretch for the faction, who dominated SmackDown at the back end of 2016. Bray Wyatt would even win his very first title in WWE as he won the SmackDown Tag Team Titles with Randy Orton after defeating Heath Slater & Rhyno. Wyatt and Orton as a pair in particular were a dominant force, emerging victorious as the sole survivors for Survivor Series 2016 in the Raw vs. SmackDown men’s five-on-five tag team elimination. This was the end of the Wyatt Family as an act in WWE, which is a shame given that Wyatt was often at his best with his stablemates around him.

Length Of Gimmick: 7/19/2015 - 2/12/2017

3 Cult Leader Of The Original Wyatt Family

The Bray Wyatt character made his first appearance in FCW in April 2012. Once FCW became NXT, Wyatt made his NXT debut on July 11, 2012, where he beat Aiden English in singles competition. After recruiting Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, The Wyatt Family was born in November of that year. After a great run in NXT, The Wyatt Family was called up to Raw, with them making their debut on July 8, 2013. Feuds with Kane, Kofi Kingston, and Daniel Bryan followed. They then entered into a highly anticipated feud with The Shield, before setting their sights on John Cena.

That feud destroyed whatever credibility The Wyatt Family had. After beating Chris Jericho, Wyatt set Harper and Rowan free, marking the end of this odd faction.

*The Wyatt Family version of Bray Wyatt really helped to establish him in WWE, and it led to him becoming a star in WWE, and someone who many thought would be an absolute world beater in the company. A combination of bad booking and injuries got in the way, but back then he certainly experienced a surge in popularity, making the act one of the most over in the company. This could be especially seen in their showdowns with The Shield, which drew massive crowd reactions, and the first chapter of his rivalry against John Cena. In terms of match quality, their clashes at WrestleMania and Payback were both great. Arguably Bray Wyatt’s greatest ever match came during his period when he took on Daniel Bryan at the 2014 Royal Rumble PPV, which stole the show on what was an underwhelming show for sure. The inspiration for this gimmick came from Waylon Mercy, even down to the Hawaiian shirts!

Length Of Gimmick: 3/22/2012 - 9/16/2014

2 Firefly Fun House Bray Wyatt

In April 2019, WWE started airing a number of vignettes featuring Mercy The Buzzard, Abby The Witch, Ramblin' Rabbit and Huskus The Pig Boy, in addition to a few other puppets. Wyatt appeared as the host of the Firefly Fun House; essentially talking about his past failures in a lighthearted manner.

But it was via the Firefly Funhouse iteration that Wyatt would accomplish one of the greatest creative achievements in his WWE career by deconstructing the character of John Cena through the experimental, cinematic Firefly Fun House match at WrestleMania 36. While it was only loosely a wrestling match, it gave fans something they’d never seen before, and might not see again.

*Bray Wyatt’s notoriety in WWE and the gimmick he is most remembered for may very well be the period in which he swapped between Firefly Funhouse and The Fiend versions of himself. His children’s show host character was influenced by Mr. Rogers, and it was easy to see these themes in his performance. It brought out a whole new side of Wyatt and it was truly a breath of fresh hair. In terms of this side of his character, he didn’t wrestle all too often, only coming for matches in his sweater and pants for matches against Braun Strowman at Money in the Bank 2020 and The Miz at TLC 2019. It was in the Firefly Funhouse where he not only revealed the blue version of the Universal Title, but also “The Fiend” version of the belt.

Length Of Gimmick: 4/22/2019 - 4/11/2021

1 The Fiend

Over time, the Firefly Fun House segments turned sinister as Wyatt told viewers that all they had to do was let him in. The Fiend then appeared; the absolute manifestation of darkness and evil. With a sinister new entrance theme and extremely violent move-set, The Fiend wrestled a great match against Finn Balor, making him the most dangerous being in pro wrestling. As the host of Firefly Fun House, Wyatt has been allowed to flex his creative muscles. He re-introduced fans to his 'Eater of Worlds' character during his feud with Braun Strowman and destroyed John Cena in the surreal Firefly Fun House match at WrestleMania 36.

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'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt is by far, the best version of his character. As "Fun House" Bray, Wyatt is always smiling and making jokes, before slipping into the darkness of The Fiend with ease. Meanwhile, The Fiend is pure evil. Wyatt took all the failures of the past and turned them into absolute gold. This incarnation of his character allows Wyatt to work three different versions of himself, and each one is portrayed perfectly. As cool as The Fiend was, his presence in WWE sort of petered out by the end and not just because of his surprise release. In August of 2020, he ended up being a transitional Universal Champion between Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns and ended this run feuding with Randy Orton.

*Although “The Fiend” version of Bray Wyatt was mired with some bad booking, notably at Hell in a Cell 2019 against Seth Rollins in which their match ended in a no contest, and again when he was squashed by Goldberg. Even despite these setbacks, The Fiend was constantly over with fans and was a major merchandise seller, with everything “Fiend” related selling like hotcakes on WWE’s shop. The Fiend managed to score Wyatt two Universal Championship reigns, and his best matches came against the likes of Daniel Bryan, with whom Wyatt has always had great chemistry with. The power of this character and how it managed to survive bad booking is a big part of the argument for it being the best version of Wyatt. Wyatt would also bring in Alexa Bliss during this time, who had a popular run alongside him.

Length Of Gimmick: 5/13/2019 - 4/11/2021