Mortal versus immortal. That is a never-ending debate many of us have with ourselves and others.

When we think of mortal, we think of ourselves. We are everyday people with everyday objectives. As for immortals, they are the ones we look at and acknowledge that they will live forever, even long after us.

Professional wrestling is about creating immortal characters played by mortal men and women. If the person plays the character well, the lines are blurred, and for some, like me, at times, you forget there is a human behind the character who goes through the same things we do (good and bad days, wellness, sickness, etc.).

That moment of realizing the mortal man behind the character happened last Thursday, when questions popped up of “What” and “That isn’t true, is it?” Throughout the professional wrestling community as what some would call the most underrated yet mischievous character, Bray Wyatt, and the man who played him, Windham Rotunda, passed away at the age of 36.

Rotunda, for many, will be remembered as the cult leader of the notorious group- The Wyatt Family. Picture it: three to four men with long hair and beards, white and black sheep masks, dirty Hawaiian shirts and a lantern that carried the light through the mysterious bayous of Louisiana.

Others remember him for his most recent and final gimmick, The Fiend, where he suffered from a case of dissociated personality disorder.

One minute, he was Bray Wyatt, a recovering former cult leader who embraced a more goofy, amiable projection of Mr. Rogers, to The Fiend, a freakish alter ego monster who used his horror-themed ideologies to keep pushing Wyatt to swim in the darkness he once swam in so comfortably. The Fiend was always the one who begged his enemies to “Let Him In.”

Whichever version of Wyatt you preferred, the commonality was that it was always Rotunda’s original character, just amplified and molded to illustrious and more frightening heights than before.

He was excellent at transcending his personality to match the deep and dark battles within himself. Gimmicks like that are hard to come by and to keep consistent in professional wrestling, let alone maintain interest within the fans.

Rotunda, a third-generation wrestler, had big shoes to fill as his grandfather (Blackjack Mulligan), father (Mike Rotunda) and two uncles (Barry and Kendall Windham) opened the portal and challenged Windham and his brother, Taylor, to leave a bigger legacy than they did.

Prior to his in-ring career, Rotunda was a state wrestling champion and former football athlete specializing in defensive tackle and guard. Thereafter, he wandered over and honed his craft at

World Wrestling Entertainment from 2009 until his passing, hoping to exceed his family’s legacy.

Common with any creator, Rotunda tried out personas like Husky Harris, a no-nonsense guy who had no problem charging his targets with his incomprehensible strength. But, the lack of reactions from fans inspired Rotunda to continue testing the waters and expand his creative horizons.

Like Francisco de Goya as he created his “Black Painting” series, Rotunda delved into the dark side and pulled out Bray Wyatt, who made his earthly premiere in 2012.

Comparing one of Goya’s specific black paintings, “Saturn Devouring His Son,” to Rotunda’s character, Wyatt, you could see the resemblance of frantic psychopathic yet disheveled behavior Wyatt carried in his matches and vignettes (videos used to introduce or add more character development).

Wyatt was a man who wanted to rid the ills of society. In doing so, he called on his henchmen (Erick Rowan, Luke Harper and Braun Strowman) to do his bidding as he sat on his unorthodox throne – a rocking chair.

The Wyatt family was a masterpiece, and from there, Rotunda’s trajectory gained a cult-like following with the WWE Universe (the company’s fans).

No matter who Rotunda was pretending to be, his gimmicks always centered around offering eternal verities. Each character he constructed pinned the Biblical good versus evil vibes on his challengers, where he was always right.

His goal was to reveal his opponent’s weaknesses and free their “true selves.”

There’s so much more to wrestling than two rivals physically duking it out. Rotunda was the one who pulled back the curtain and asked fans to look past the in-ring action and pay attention to the cinematic moments happening outside of the ring that build the in-ring angles.

Rotunda inspired a new generation of pro wrestling. He left behind a resume that will never be seen again in our mortal time.

Not only did he capture the fans with his unconventional characters, but he also caught a few title wins along the way, including the WWE Championship, Universal, RAW Tag Team and SmackDown Tag Team titles, all while doing what he loved doing most: creating an illusion that a mortal man was immortal.

No matter what role Rotunda played, his get-up always included fireflies that carried the light to the ring for him. Now, those fireflies are carrying Rotunda home, where all the ultimate battles between his good and evil characters can finally end and peaceful rest for them all will be bestowed.

Brie Coder can be reached at bmcoder@eiu.edu or 217-581-2812.