Bray Wyatt talks WWE 2K15
Windham Lawrence Rotunda is known today by millions of WWE fans as Bray Wyatt, the leader of the villainous Wyatt Family. Long before he became one of the more popular WWE villains, Rotunda toiled in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) working alongside his brother Taylor Rotunda (who’s known to WWE fans today as Bo Dallas). The Rotunda Brothers spent years working in the minor leagues of professional wrestling, winning two FCW Tag Team Championships along the way. After being featured in the second season of WWE NXT, Windham (aka Husky Harris) continued to experiment with different “characters” before hitting pay dirt with the evil cult leader Bray Wyatt.
Once WWE rebranded FCW into WWE NXT, the global audience was introduced to a very different wrestling heel. Having worked his way up through the rings of professional wrestling, Windham talks about the role the new WWE Performance Center in Florida plays for preparing the next generation of WWE Superstars for the grind of pro wrestling – and how WWE 2K15 puts gamers in the minor leagues -- in this exclusive interview.
What video games did you play growing up?
Mortal Kombat. That was the first time you got to escape into that violent video game world and it’s like “Whoo!”
What are your thoughts on the WWE Performance Center and the role NXT plays for wrestling today?
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This thing is -- I don’t know if the people watching TV get a chance to see it -- but if you just look at this place and see what it is; it’s enough to take your breath away. There’s never been anything like this. Mainly where I came from where I started, it was in a warehouse, and there was not a lot of AC going on in there, and troubleshooting and all this. But the technology and the things they have here -- between the weight room and the commentating room and all this stuff -- it’s unparalleled. It’s like, there’s nothing like it in the world. I mean it’s comparable at best to like an NFL football team that I’ve seen, but even that pales in comparison.
What does it take to break into the WWE from NXT?
There’s no easy way of saying it, but when you get in, you get out of it what you put into it, man. So the more you’re willing to just completely let this place and everything engulf you is the only way to guarantee success. And even then you never know, maybe it just wasn’t your time. So this is the best of the best that the Performance Center offers, and it’s tough. It’s tough to make it here and once you get here and you’re surrounded by all these people and all the elements, it makes it even harder.
What do you think of how realistic the WWE video games are today with PS4 and Xbox One?
WWE 2K15
I can only speak on my behalf, but the way 2K was able to capture how realistic these things look and how realistic they feel, the entrances and the actual gameplay is unbelievable, man. I have the feeling when you’re watching it, just at a quick glance, it doesn’t even feel like you’re playing a video game. It looks like it’s Monday Night Raw and that level of intensity really is a rewarding feeling for a game player.
What are your thoughts on the new MyCareer mode in WWE 2K15?
The MyCareer mode is just accurate. They’re playing it simple. It’s like you have to start out from the bottom and get yelled out by Bill DeMott and if you can survive that then you get to slowly make the crawl towards the big lights, man. And take it from me, if you get that far the juice is worth the squeeze.
How popular are video games with WWE superstars?
I kind of live in my own little world. I’m not too up to par on video games, but I see there are some guys that like to play like Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston. They’re into video games and I’ll see a few other guys playing all the time, but it’s really not my world, man.
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