Bray Wyatt Once Attended Jury Duty In Character
If kayfabe is dead, nobody told 'The Eater Of Worlds'
The internet and social media have made it borderline impossible to maintain kayfabe these days. From Braun Strowman hanging out with Roman Reigns at Disney World to Becky Lynch and Charlotte posing for smiley backstage photos, Twitter and Instagram have destroyed what's left of the line between real and fake, and the damage can never be undone.
Some wrestlers remain dedicated to keeping the tradition alive, however, including Bray Wyatt. According to an excerpt from Jon Robinson's new "NXT: The Future Is Now" book, the former WWE Champion is so dedicated to maintaining kayfabe that he once attended jury duty dressed as his character:-
“Bray began with my real-life lunacy,” says Wyatt. “I’ve always been an against-all-authority kind of child. I was a big fan of Rage Against the Machine, they were a big influence on my life as a child, so when I started working with Dusty Rhodes, I began losing my mind on a very real level. I became obsessed with this character.”
When Husky Harris failed on the main roster, he went all in with the Wyatt persona. “I was going to jury duty in my hometown, and Dusty made me go to jury duty as Bray,” Wyatt says. “Dusty told me, ‘This is the perfect exercise. Become Bray.’ I literally went to jury duty as Bray Wyatt. I was so immersed in the character that I didn’t break once. Obviously, I didn’t get picked for jury duty, but I had the white pants, Hawaiian shirt, the whole nine yards. There were no fragments of Husky Harris. Husky Harris was dead, and he was to stay dead. I was Bray Wyatt. We were one.”
Though Wyatt's court appearance probably didn't involve lighting cuts, animal masks, and insects being projected onto the floor, the image of him sitting among the jurors in full costume is still pretty hilarious. Here's hoping he didn't resort to babbling about buzzards and Sister Abigail when questioned, however.
While Wyatt's actions aren't too different from an actor staying in-character while filming a movie, he'd have made for quite the sight in a stuffy courtroom environment. Full credit to him and Dusty for devising such a unique method of character development.