Joe Gacy says the Wyatt Sicks were created around a more detailed psychological story than WWE ultimately presented on television.
Speaking with Denise Salcedo, Gacy explained that the concept pitched to the group began with Bo Dallas experiencing a traumatic loss—an implicit reference to the death of his brother, Bray Wyatt.
According to Gacy, the trauma caused Dallas to develop a fractured personality represented by Uncle Howdy. Dallas would then gather other people who had become lost or experienced difficulties of their own, persuading them to form a new family around him. The remaining members were still intended to be recognizable as themselves. Gacy, for example, remained Joe Gacy but was convinced by Dallas to embody Huskus the Pig Boy, one of the puppet characters from Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Funhouse.
Erick Rowan represented Rambling Rabbit, Dexter Lumis became Mercy the Buzzard and Nikki Cross portrayed Abby the Witch. Gacy described the original premise as cult-like without involving conventional brainwashing. The members were supposed to be troubled “lost souls” who willingly accepted the personas Dallas assigned them, allowing his Uncle Howdy personality to transform the Firefly Funhouse characters into a living family.
That distinction would have created two layers for each member: the person audiences already knew and the puppet-inspired identity gradually influencing or overtaking them.
Gacy believes WWE could have explored that concept through individual vignettes showing how Dallas recruited each performer and convinced them to adopt their new role. Those segments were never produced, leaving much of the group’s intended mythology unexplained.
“I don’t think [it] was ever really fully conveyed on TV,” Gacy said.
The Wyatt Sicks debuted in June 2024 as a continuation of Bray Wyatt’s creative legacy. Dallas led the faction as Uncle Howdy alongside Gacy, Rowan, Lumis and Cross. Their final match took place on the April 17, 2026, episode of SmackDown, where the MFTs defeated the Wyatt Sicks in an eight-person Street Fight. WWE released all five members of the group on April 24.
Since leaving the company, Gacy has returned to the independent circuit under the name Joseph Sawyer. He defeated Atticus Cogar at GCW Homecoming Weekend on August 15 to capture the GCW World Championship.
Although the Wyatt Sicks’ run ended before its complete premise reached television, Gacy’s explanation provides a clearer picture of what the group was intended to become: a damaged family assembled by Bo Dallas as a way of processing grief through Uncle Howdy.
