According to Erick Redbeard, a series of funny coincidences led to him wearing a sheep mask in WWE.
Once a member of WWE's Wyatt Family alongside Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper (Brodie Lee), Redbeard (then Erick Rowan) sported an unforgettable sheep mask. During a recent interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Erick explained how the iconic look came to be.
"I was doing all these different gimmicks, and I tried a Viking gimmick. I was told that would never make any money, which is funny three or four years later, there’s the Viking Raiders and they’re great. So I tried all these different things, and I did all these promos with Windham and Jon.
Windham went to a Halloween shop and got all these masks—and one was a sheep mask. I tried all the masks on promo day, and I tried all these different mannerisms and characteristics. But back then, Dusty Rhodes didn’t want me to cover up my face. He said I was ugly enough without the mask [laughing], meaning I had a unique face.
Fast-forward, I debuted with the Wyatts in NXT. No one told me I was debuting that night at Full Sail. I had blue jeans, but I didn’t want to do that because that’s what Jon was wearing and I didn’t want to wear trunks, but I was lucky to have that jumpsuit in my trunk. It’s funny how things come together. When we filmed our Wyatt Family vignette, I decided to bring all those masks. So it just happened to be a series of funny coincidences."
The Wyatt Family's initial run lasted from late 2012 until late 2014. They would reunited in 2015 and would stay together for two more years, even introducing Braun Storwman as a member of the group.
Adam Scherr (formerly Braun Strowman) and Erick Redbeard are set to reunite for a tag team match against Bully Ray and nZo (formerly Enzo Amore) tonight, January 22, at WrestleFest XXVI. They have not teamed together since 2016.
Erick Redbeard has worked Independent dates and made an appearance on AEW Dynamite for the Brodie Lee Tribute Show in December 2020 following his WWE release in April 2020.
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