WWE's Bray Wyatt talks about WrestleMania, the Wyatt Family and more

The one and only Bray Wyatt sat down with philly.com before Monday Night Raw took place in Rosemont, Ill.

Later that night Wyatt faced Dean Ambrose in the main event, but he has an even taller task in front of him Saturday night in Toronto when he faces Brock Lesnar at WWE Roadblock.

Before any of that, however, Wyatt spoke to us about maturing since his main roster debut back in 2013 and the big plans he has for himself and the rest of the Wyatt Family moving forward, as he heads into his third consecutive WrestleMania.

Here's the transcript:

Vaughn Johnson: What is it like on the day of a television taping? What is the atmosphere like when you have all of this preparation to do?

Bray Wyatt: Well, the road to WrestleMania is always chaotic. The season of WrestleMania is when all of the intense stuff happens. It's kind of a coin toss as to what type of craziness goes down. It's a very intense place to be around this time of year, but it's also the most exciting.

VJ: You've been on this proverbial road to WrestleMania two times before. What has it been like for you personally these last couple of years as you headed into some big matches with John Cena and The Undertaker?

Wyatt: I've learned a lot of things and I think one is patience. As I start growing up a little bit, I've definitely learned patience. Patience is a virtue and I think going into this one I'm more collected. I'm not throwing myself out there. It's more of me waiting for my moment to strike. I'm the snake in the grass this time and not the feeble mouse running around and that's the biggest lesson I've learned.

VJ: You talked about being more patient this year. Why were you a little more impatient in past years?

Wyatt: I mean most men would be crazy to call out The Undertaker. Let's just throw that one out there. Especially at that time, The Wyatt Family was disbanded. I kind of went in headfirst and I said, "I fear no man," which is still true, but maybe I bit off a little more than I could chew. That's not to say that I can't beat The Undertaker, not to say that I won't still beat The Undertaker, but definitely next time I'll go in a little more calculated.

VJ: Usually by this point, the fans have a good idea of what direction you're heading in, as they like to make guesses as to what is going to happen next What is it like for you at the moment?

Wyatt: That's the beauty of being Bray Wyatt. I said it in one of the first lines I ever said when I came up here was that, "I am open to the world's interpretation," and I will be a very forceful part of WrestleMania. I guarantee that. Where will I be? You'll just have to wait and see.

VJ: What has these last couple of years been like for you? You went from essentially obscurity to big matches with some of the biggest names in the history of the business.

Wyatt: When I was a child, if I could have saw what I was doing as an adult I would have been extremely proud. When we (the Wyatt Family) were in NXT, we were very, very hungry to get up here and we always wanted to see ourselves in these types of rivalries with Undertaker and John Cena and Chris Jericho and Brock [Lesnar]. It was no surprise to us where we would be, but I think the WWE Universe is seeing the Wyatt Family as a very viable threat and we see ourselves being here for a long, long time to come and keeping that threat alive.

VJ: What does it mean that the Wyatt Family has been together as long as it has even with the group disbanding in 2014?

Wyatt: Well, it's that old adage of, "You don't know what you have until you lose it." I think that from [Erick] Rowan's and [Luke] Harper's standpoint, they needed to go see the world for what it was for them, see what they could do with the limelight solely on them and not on us as a unit and they did great I thought. I was very proud of them.

But when you look at them in terms of being that viable threat, it's just not the same when you're not a cohesive unit. When we come together is when we're at our best. We all feel the same way, especially since we've added Braun Strowman as well. He's just a monster in his own right. That's what we wanted to be. We're the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and we believe that.

VJ: What is it like having Braun Strowman as part of the family and kind of showing him the ropes?

Wyatt: The thing with Braun is that when Braun walks into a room, everyone looks and goes, "Oh my god, what is what?" Just having him as a physical threat is highly impactful and then you look at this guy is legitimately one of the strongest men on planet — legitimately. There's a certain level of fear and caution people have to take when they find themselves surrounded by the Wyatts and that's exactly what we aim for. Braun fit in just like he was supposed to be here all along.

VJ: Braun is the biggest guy in the group, but entire group is big.

Wyatt: The first thing that people say to me when they see me in public is, "Wow! You're a lot bigger than I thought." I'm 6-3, 300 pounds. They make me look like a tiny, tiny man and that's saying something. To my knowledge, I don't know that there's ever been a faction that has been as large and imposing as we are with four people. That's something we're proud of.

VJ: What is it like to be part of a group that has such a unique feel? There really isn't another group in wrestling history that people could accurately compare you guys to.

Wyatt: People have tried. I've heard all kinds of names and legends in the past thrown at us and we didn't put ourselves together thinking that we were going to be looked at like these guys or these guys. We were our own thing and it was so impactful when we were doing it down in FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling) that people were starting to notice all over the world. These four guys just somehow belong together and that vibe people have taken it on their own like the fireflies and the music we come out to. It's all created it's own aura, but it was never forced upon anyone. The people made it what it is.

VJ: How does it feel now that you're going into now your third WrestleMania? Like I said, you came from out of nowhere and now you're already on your third.

Wyatt: It's intense and it's been a whirlwind. It's happened fast. You almost have to sit back sometimes and force yourself to enjoy the moment that you're in and we've had to do that.

Going into my third one, I've learned a lot. I've learned a lot from the past few and I'm very proud of what we've accomplished thus far. Now we're at the stage of our careers where we'll start looking to expand. We'll start looking at winning titles and conquering and making this place ours. That's our mindset.