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John Cena remembers the late Bray Wyatt as a next-level character: "I love his mind and how he thought"

John Cena said working with Bray Wyatt was special because of his creativity and character work.

News by Joseph Pete, Contributing Writer

Published on Tue Sep 09 2025

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The third-generation wrestler Bray Wyatt captivated WWE with his southern gothic horror, cult-like leadership of the intimidating Wyatt Family stable, terrifying Fiend character, and demented recurring segmentThe Firefly Funhouse before he died in 2023. John Cena fondly recalled working with Wyatt during his appearance at Fan Expo Chicago. He describes the Firefly Funhouse match they had at Wrestlemania in 2020 as special.

"Working with Bray was special because of his personality," he says. "He had the strength to instill fear, and it was still wrestling. Normally, one person goes out there, and he's a tough person. A second person goes out there, and he's tougher. Every once in a while, there's a character like Undertaker or Kane or Bray Wyatt who you are supposed to be scared of. Bray's personality and the way he portrayed it was a modern-day version, a believable version of what you should be afraid of."

Wyatt's creativity and character work led to unique concepts like the Firefly Funhouse Match, Cena says.

"I remember when they told us we're doing Wrestlemania and the world's changing and COVID's happening. By the way, you have a Firefly Funhouse Match. I literally turned and I said, 'What's a Firefly Funhouse Match? ' No one knew. It's a cool thing. I love those situations. I complain that you have nothing for me, creative people. Here are your strengths and talents. How do you feel about this weird idea about a fever dream? He was in it. He was in a lot of cool stuff we got to do," Cena says at FAN EXPO Chicago.

Cena expressed admiration for Wyatt.

"I love his mind and how he thought," he says at FAN EXPO Chicago. "I also love his character. Nobody else was doing that."

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