Former Troy football player, WWE wrestler Windham Rotunda − AKA Bray Wyatt − dies at 36

Windham Rotunda, a former Troy football player and WWE wrestler who performed under the name Bray Wyatt, unexpectedly passed away Thursday, chief content officer at WWE and hall of fame wrestler Paul Levesque — better known as Triple H — announced.

Rotunda was 36.

"Our thoughts are with his family and we ask that everyone respect their privacy at this time," Levesque said in a post to X, the website formerly known as Twitter. The official Troy football account also made a post in honor of Rotunda.

Rotunda, who came from a pro wrestling family, made his debut in February 2009 as part of Florida Championship Wrestling, which was a developmental territory used by the WWE at the time. He used multiple stage names before landing on Bray Wyatt in April 2012.

One of the highlights of Rotunda's wrestling career came in February 2017, as he defeated a handful of notable wrestlers like John Cena and The Miz to win the WWE Championship in an Elimination Chamber Match. He also held the Universal Championship twice.

Rotunda's grandfather, Robert Deroy Windham, wrestled under the name Blackjack Mulligan. His father, Mike Rotunda, and uncles, Barry and Kendall Windham, were in the buisness, as was his brother, Taylor Michael Rotunda, who performed under the name Bo Dallas.

Before his pro wrestling career, Rotunda wrestled and played football at Hernando High School in his hometown of Brooksville, Florida. He first went to the College of the Sequoias in California for two years before transferring to Troy ahead of the 2007 season.

Rotunda's grandfather played college football at Texas Western College, which is now known as UTEP. He had a brief stint with the New York Jets.

Richard Silva is a reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Windham Rotunda: Former Troy football player, WWE wrestler dies at 36