In the lead-up to WrestleMania 39, two of the more eagerly anticipated matches on the card were Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens versus The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and the return of Bray Wyatt, who hadn't wrestled a match since the Royal Rumble, in an odd-couple match against Bobby Lashley.

For Zayn and KO, the match went over like gangbusters, with the long-time friends securing arguably the biggest win of their careers together mere miles away from where they made a name for themselves in PWG, but fans weren't afforded the same Hollywood magic from the “Eater of Worlds,” as Wyatt's match was pulled due to complications from his heart condition and his life would come to an unfortunate end before WWE could re-run the match.

So, with WWE putting together a video to celebrate the career and life of Windham Rotunda, the man behind The Fiend, it was interesting to see what Owens and Zayn had to say about their fallen friend, whom the duo shared the ring with on 14 occasions over their respective careers.

Though Owens earned the worst loss of the pair when he took an L to The Fiend in the Thunderdome, he still has an incredible love for the man behind the mask, as he was incredibly gracious to the former Ring of Honor Champion even before he signed with the promotion.

“The first contact I ever had with Windham, I think, really describes the kind of guy he was with everyone, because I didn't know him, I had never met him. It was through Twitter direct messages, probably 2014. He had been tearing it up already in WWE for a little while with the Wyatt Family, and like I said, I didn't know him. I knew of him, Sami Zayn had told me he was a good guy, stuff like that but we never met, never talked, nothing like that,” Kevin Owens told the WWE Universe.

“And for some reason, he followed me on Twitter one day and I just sent him a message after a match he had with Daniel Bryan at the Royal Rumble. I told him it was a great match, good stuff, just really enjoyed his work. And whenever I message somebody that doesn't really know me or whatever, it's the first time opening a communication, I just write, like, ‘I'm sorry to, you know, message you out of the blue, don't mean to bug you,' and he wrote back, ‘Get out of here with that.' I felt like we knew each other already and we didn't but that's how he was. And the first time I met him, that's how he made me feel, too, it felt like I was catching up with an old friend that I'd known for a decade even though we'd literally just met.

“And, you know, I've heard people say and read people's recounts of meeting Windham as an extra in WWE just backstage just trying to stay out of people's way, and Widham would go out of his way to make them feel welcome here. And that's the kind of guy he was, just a really loving, caring guy, a genuinely good soul, and that's him as a person as a performer, obviously the most unique and creative mind I've ever been around. And so creative, so unique that sometimes even I didn't get it, but man, everyone out there got it. Everyone. And he was always so passionate about what he was doing. He's a true example of what we should all be.”

Though the duo were never afforded a chance to work a program together in any long-term capacity, it's safe to say Owens and Wyatt would have been all about it, as they apparently had the chemistry of old-timey rivals despite having once wrestled a handful of times.

Sami Zayn shares his feelings for Bray Wyatt and his family.

After Kevin Owens finished his segment of the video, Sami Zayn took his turn in front of the camera, and he was far more conflicted about his feelings, as he's still coming to terms with the loss of Bray Wyatt.

Despite their lack of onscreen interactions, as Zayn, like Owens, only wrestled Wyatt seven times, he acknowledges that the loss will hurt everyone in the WWE Universe and in the Rotunda family for a very long time.

“I don't think I can say much about him that hasn't already been said before, but what a sweet guy he was. It's very weird to talk about him in the past tense. Just what a sweet, sweet, sweet guy he is and was. He really did have a light about him, he could lift up an entire room. I don't know, there's too many personal stories with him; personal moments. I don't know, there's too many to go over, I just don't know what to say. This is a loss in some respects for me, for everybody who knew him, for everyone in the locker room, because like I said, he had a way with everybody and he lifted everybody up,” Sami Zayn said.

“But I also find it difficult to talk about what he meant to me because I know how much more he meant to other people. So my condolences and grief is directed towards them, towards Bo, his brother Taylor, just what a great, two great guys. To JoJo, to his father, to his kids, it's just, like, I don't feel like I'm allowed to almost accept any of the gried for me, because it should be directed towards them. That's another one of the many complicated feelings I've got going on at the moment. But I'm just so sorry for all of them. I can't imagine, and I could only imagine there's nothing I can say to really make it better but we all loved him. We all loved him, we all really loved him and we'll all really miss him.”

Would it have been cool to see Bray Wyatt and Uncle Howdy go after the Undiespited WWE Tag Team Championships, or would that have never worked as the duo would have instead found themselves on the opposite side of the Vs. symbol, with Rotunda instead planning to have the duo become foils, not friends? Unfortunately, fans may never know.