Halloween Horror Nights’ Wyatt Sicks Maze: All the WWE Easter Eggs Revealed
Halloween Horror Nights’ creative director took USA Insider on a behind-the-scenes tour of WWE Presents: The Horrors of The Wyatt Sicks, detailing the HHN maze’s many Easter eggs.
Warning: the Wyatt Sicks are going outside the ring.
Specifically, at Halloween Horror Nights for Universal Studios’ annual medley of frights, with a WWE collaboration bringing countless Easter eggs and the spooky aura of professional wrestling’s rising stars — Uncle Howdy, Rambling Rabbit, Mercy the Buzzard, Huskus the Pig Boy and Abby the Witch — into the bicoastal theme parks.
"When brands let us play with their brand, that's the best possible scenario,” HHN creative director John Murdy explained to USA Insider during a behind-the-scenes tour of WWE Presents: The Horrors of The Wyatt Sicks at Universal Studios Hollywood. "The more I learned about the WWE, the more I learned that everything is layers upon layers upon layers.”
It’s a rather quick turnaround considering the current incarnation of Bo Dallas and the Wyatt Sicks debuted only last summer during a now-infamous introduction on Monday Night Raw. Murdy’s counterpart for Orlando’s HHN, Michael Aiello, lit up watching this first appearance from the alter-egos of Erick Rowan, Dexter Lumis, Joe Gacy and Nikki Cross.
Murdy recalled, "As soon as The Wyatt Sicks debuted on Raw that night, he was sending me text messages going, 'Check this out.'"
The final result sees The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks inviting guests inside the family’s Louisiana compound, a menagerie of horror-fueled rooms dedicated to Uncle Howdy and his acolytes, who quickly became a fan-favorite stable of characters due in no small part to their emotional backstory.
Before Bray Wyatt’s (real name Windham Rotunda) shocking death in 2023, he laid the foundation for the Wyatt Sicks faction fans know today, establishing Uncle Howdy (portrayed by Bo, Bray’s brother Taylor Rotunda) and a group of hand-puppet characters who were later turned into the Sicks’ real-life fighters.
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Ahead of drawing up plans for the maze, WWE officials sought the blessing of Bray’s loved ones, who were “thrilled” his dream would become a reality — with Bray having previously floated the idea of an HHN collaboration to Aiello.
At the same time, Taylor — who Murdy said was “over the moon” upon hearing the news—further sanctioned the HHN experience by recording new audio for Uncle Howdy that’s heard throughout the California and Florida mazes.
As Murdy told USA Insider, “They were absolutely honored to have us do this, so we take that responsibility very seriously.”
While there’s plenty of deep cuts for diehards — with Murdy hat-tipping WWE’s recommendation for trademark Wyatt Sicks symbols to appear throughout—HHN mazes are always crafted to entertain guests whether or not they’re familiar with the central theme. "It's trying to bring those characters to both the WWE fans,” Murdy noted, “but also non-fans alike and bring them into the fold.”
Upon stepping into the maze, a potential side quest begins for the Wyatt Sicks’ true believers: counting just how many of Uncle Howdy’s lanterns loom ominously across their trek—a winding series of macabre scenarios set to the soundtrack of Bray and Code Orange’s “Shatter” entrance theme.
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To no surprise, HHN attendees learn the Wyatt Sicks are less than pleased to find trespassers disturbing their natural habitats, which includes a nightmare attic nest for Mercy the Buzzard — plus a tea party gone very, very wrong in Rambling Rabbit’s Alice in Wonderland-themed dining room.
The overlap of WWE and horror fans is a well-documented venn diagram, despite 2000’s The Undertaker: No Mercy being the last time professional wrestling took up shop at Halloween Horror Nights. The Wyatt Sicks, along with its fanbase, seemingly proved — and in record time — the organization’s return to Universal Studios required the right set of behind-the-scenes visionaries.
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"Bray Wyatt was kind of a creative genius,” Murdy surmised. "Because he thought very cinematically in his approach to everything."
WWE Presents: The Horrors of The Wyatt Sicks is among the many Halloween Horror Nights mazes at Universal Studios Orlando, and the haunted experience debuts Sept. 4 at Universal Studios Hollywood.
