page_title: Erick Rowan
section_title: The Wyatt Family (2012–2014)
hierarchical_section_title: Erick Rowan / Professional wrestling career / World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2011-2020) / The Wyatt Family (2012–2014)
caption_attribution_description: English: The Wyatt Family's Erick Rowan roams the halls of WWE Axxess under the guise of a sheep. Originally taken 4/5/14, cropped and centered.
context_page_description: Joseph Ruud is an American professional wrestler best known for his time in WWE where he performed under the ring name Erick Rowan.
  He previously wrestled in Japan, having trained and performed for Pro Wrestling Noah. He signed a contract with WWE in 2011 and was sent to its developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling, before debuting in NXT the following year as a founding member of The Wyatt Family. In WWE, he is a one-time NXT Tag Team Champion, and a two-time SmackDown Tag Team Champion.
context_section_description: After FCW was rebranded to NXT Wrestling, Rowan made his debut on the December 12, 2012 episode of NXT as a follower of Bray Wyatt, who introduced Rowan as his "second son". As a member of The Wyatt Family, Rowan formed a tag team with Wyatt's "first son" Luke Harper, and they defeated Percy Watson and Yoshi Tatsu on the January 9, 2013 episode of NXT. On the January 23 episode of NXT, Harper and Rowan again defeated Watson and Tatsu in the opening round of the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament. Following a win over Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty in the semi-finals after Wyatt's interference, Harper and Rowan were defeated in the finals by Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey. On the May 2 episode of NXT, Harper and Rowan won a triple threat elimination tag team match by last pinning Adrian Neville. On the May 8 episode of NXT (which was taped on May 2), Harper and Rowan defeated Adrian Neville and Bo Dallas (who was filling in for the injured Oliver Grey) to win the NXT Tag Team Championship, Rowan's first professional wrestling championship. On the June 5 episode of NXT, Harper and Rowan successfully retained their championship against Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno, and on the June 19 episode of NXT, The Wyatt Family defeated the team of Neville, Graves and Ohno. On the July 17 episode of NXT (which was taped on June 20), Harper and Rowan lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to Neville and Graves.
  From the May 27 episode of Raw, WWE aired vignettes promoting the upcoming main roster debut of The Wyatt Family. The vignettes showed The Wyatt Family's backwoods origins and Rowan wearing a sheep mask. On the July 8 episode of Raw, The Wyatt Family made their debut by assaulting Kane. Rowan made his WWE in-ring debut on the July 26 episode of SmackDown, where he teaming up with Harper to defeat Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay and Tensai) in a tag team match. Over the next few months, Rowan and Harper competed as a tag team and went on a winning streak over many teams, until Cody Rhodes and Goldust handed them their first loss on the October 11 episode of SmackDown. In early 2014, Rowan took part in The Wyatt Family's feud with The Shield, while also supporting Bray Wyatt in his feud against John Cena. While Cena and Wyatt's feud continued, Rowan and Harper also started a feud with The Usos, unsuccessfully challenging for the Tag Team Championship at Money in the Bank and Battleground.
caption: Rowan wearing his sheep mask as part of The Wyatt Family
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