WWE legend Mike Rotunda joins Barry Windham in the Hall of Fame on WrestleMania weekend – eleven months after the tragic death of his son Bray Wyatt.
It will be one of the most emotional moments of WrestleMania weekend in WWE – because it’s one of the saddest.
League Chairman “Triple H” Paul Levesque revealed Friday that Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham will be inducted into the league’s Hall of Fame together on the eve of the Philadelphia mega-show. WWE is honoring the famed Windham/Rotunda wrestling family, who suffered a tragic stroke of fate last year.
Mike Rotunda was the father of top WWE star Bray Wyatt, who died last May at the age of 36. His brother-in-law Barry – with whom he had formed the duo The US Express in the 1980s in WWE – was Wyatt’s uncle and namesake, who was actually called Windham Rotunda.
Levesque announced the news by posting the video of him telling Rotunda and Windham of the honor in a video call. Rotunda in particular was emotionally moved and shed tears of emotion. The Hall of Fame Class of 2024 also includes Paul Heyman and Japan legend Bull Nakano
From the very first WrestleMania.. to the WWE Hall of Fame.
Mike Rotunda & Barry Windham are a legendary tag team with deep family ties to our business, and their influence will be felt for generations to come.
It was an honor to tell the US Express that they’re WWEHOF bound. pic.twitter.com/PT4m7rQVIt
– Triple H (@TripleH) March 8, 2024
US Express successful WWE duo of the eighties
Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda represent the second generation of the wrestling dynasty: Windham’s father was WWE Hall of Famer Blackjack Mulligan – a companion and friend of Cody Rhodes’ famous dad Dusty Rhodes. Mike Rotunda became part of the family by marrying Mulligan’s daughter Stephanie. The wrestling clan also includes former WCW wrestler Kendall Windham (Barry’s brother) and Bo Dallas, Bray Wyatt’s younger brother.
The now Hall of Fame inductees became famous together in the mid-1980s in what was then the WWF: the two ex-wrestlers formed the patriotic US Express, which topped the league’s tag team division for a while.
In January 1985, they won the titles from the young deceased Dick Murdoch and Adrian Adonis, losing the belts to the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff at the very first WrestleMania in the same year. A second US Express title win ended in defeat to the “Dream Team” of Brutus Beefcake and Greg “The Hammer” Valentine.
One of the most famous elements of the US Express was their entrance: initially, the two ran in to “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen. Later – when WWE founder Vince McMahon no longer wanted to pay for the expensive rights – they were given the self-produced “Real American”, which later became known as Hulk Hogan’s theme.
The US Express now also follows its legendary manager into the Hall of Fame, Captain Lou Albano, who died in 2009.
Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham also successful individually
Rotunda and Windham parted ways shortly after their WWE heyday together, and both went on to have their own successes: Rotunda made a name for himself primarily as a tag team wrestler in WWE, WCW and Japan, and also formed successful teams with “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and the “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase (Money Inc.) in the early nineties.
Rotunda’s character at the time as the evil taxman IRS will be more familiar to most younger fans, and he also had a major feud with The Undertaker after DiBiase retired due to injury in 1993. Rotunda was also active in rival WCW on several occasions, mostly in the role of Michael or VK Wallstreet – inspired by the classic movie “Wall Street” and the character Gordon Gekko played by Michael Douglas. Rotunda was also part of the famous New World Order (nWo) around Hogan, Kevin Nash and his WWE rival Scott Hall (Razor Ramon), who died in 2022. After his active career, Rotunda worked behind the scenes as a producer for many years until the league retired him in 2020 as part of the corona savings at the time
Barry Windham also had great moments after his US Express days, and is particularly remembered for his time with the NWA/WCW in the late eighties and early nineties. Windham – a disciple of the icon Harley Race – was one of the best and most athletic heavyweights in the world at the time and had a series of outstanding matches against the icon “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. His later, rather weak WWE engagements as “The Stalker” and “Blackjack Windham” only gave a pale hint of his former class.
Windham had already been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame alongside Flair in 2012 as part of the famous “Four Horsemen”. The now 63-year-old – who has had health problems for some time – almost didn’t live to see the renewed tribute: He almost died at the end of 2022 as a result of a massive heart attack.
