Hornswoggle

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Dylan Postl
Born (1986-05-29) May 29, 1986 (age 38)
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Shortstack
Li'l / Little Bastard
Hornswoggle
Hornswoggle McMahon
Billed height4 ft 4 in (128 cm)[1]
Billed weight138 lb (62 kg)[1]

Dylan Postl (born May 29, 1986), better known by his ring names Hornswoggle, Hornswoggle McMahon or Little Bastard, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment appearing on its Raw & SmackDown! brands as an occasional wrestler. He is also a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion.

Career

NWA Wisconsin

Prior to his appearances on SmackDown!, Postl was best known for his appearances with NWA Wisconsin in 2005 as Shortstack, or "The World's Sexiest Midget" Shortstack, where he won its X Division Championship.


World Wrestling Entertainment

Postl signed with World Wrestling Entertainment in May 2006. He was the fourth wrestler from NWA-Wisconsin to sign with WWE, following Daivari, Mr. Kennedy, and CM Punk. [2] Postl made his first appearance on WWE television in a WWE Unlimited segment featuring Snitsky, Goldust, and Candice Michelle.

Smackdown!

2006

Postl first showed up as the leprechaun partner of the Irish wrestler, Finlay on SmackDown! during the May 26 episode. After Finlay’s victory over Paul Burchill, a mysterious little man (Postl) scurried out from under the ring and jumped on Burchill. Finlay pulled him off, only to slam him back down onto Burchill again.[3] For the next few weeks the as-yet unidentified man continued to appear from under the ring after matches.

Eventually, SmackDown! play-by-play commentator Michael Cole began referring to him as the Little Bastard, which caught on and became his "official" name. Color commentator JBL refused to call him "Little Bastard" (according to JBL, "he might have parents"), instead calling him a leprechaun, which was confirmed in one edition of SmackDown! by Finlay.

Little Bastard soon became more and more aggressive and started attacking Finlay's opponent during matches, much to Finlay's dismay. On numerous occasions Finlay either physically shoved Little Bastard back under the ring or was forced to tackle him before he could hit an opponent. At one point, Little Bastard attacked Finlay, biting Finlay when Finlay tried to stop him from attacking Gunner Scott.[4] Little Bastard was instrumental in helping Finlay win the United States Championship when he tossed him a shillelagh to knock out champion Lashley and pick up the win.[5] He was also instrumental during and after matches, exemplifying this by low blowing opponents during a tag team match.

On November 1, 2006, WWE.com ran an article titled "Little Bastard Exposed". It was an email sent by an anonymous WWE fan, who said he spotted Little Bastard in a Green Bay, Wisconsin parking lot, in the back of a car with an unidentified woman; Little Bastard then went berserk and drove off.[6] He said he was now going to (kayfabe) sue WWE for invasion of privacy when the picture was taken.[7] He then (kayfabe) requested that he receive a public apology from commentator Michael Cole for giving him the name "Little Bastard."[8]

2007

At No Way Out, Finlay and Postl won against The Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman.[9] Prior to the match was the first time Postl talked on WWE television, saying that little people scared him. Later that week on SmackDown!, Little Bastard pinned the Boogeyman with a jumping DDT, in a match pitting himself and Finlay against Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman.[10]

On February 23, his name was changed to Hornswoggle on WWE's website and all references to the name "Little Bastard" were removed. The meaning of Hornswoggle is to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.[11] The name change became official on the March 2 episode of SmackDown!. Postl attacked JBL and Michael Cole. Afterwards, Finlay intimidated Cole and told him that Little Bastard's name was Hornswoggle.[12] Despite this, Cole continued to occasionally refer to Hornswoggle as "Little Bastard", as recently as WrestleMania 23; however, it is now thought to be merely a derogatory nickname instead of his character's ring name.

On March 30, 2007, he helped Finlay beat Mr. Kennedy by doing a senton bomb off a stepladder onto Mr. Kennedy, essentially copying Kennedy's own Kenton Bomb. SmackDown! announcers Michael Cole and JBL immediately coined the move the Lepreton Bomb,[13] although whilst on the ladder Hornswoggle used Jeff Hardy's signature hand gesture.

During the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 23, which Finlay was involved in, Mr. Kennedy hit Hornswoggle with a Green Bay Plunge off of a ladder when Hornswoggle tried to interfere.[14] Finlay then attacked Mr. Kennedy after his match on the next SmackDown! and challenged him to a handicap match against Finlay and Hornswoggle.[15] When the time came for the match, Mr. Kennedy apologized for hurting Hornswoggle. Finlay accepted his apology and ironically formed a team with Kennedy.[16]

Vince McMahon and Hornswoggle McMahon.

Hornswoggle won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship after he pinned Jamie Noble in a Cruiserweight Open at The Great American Bash; he briefly ran across the ring as the bell was rung before going back under the ring making him an official participant in the match, however the other participants and commentators were unaware that he was a participant in the match until the ref counted the pin and awarded him the belt.[17] This made him the first little person wrestler to win a championship in WWE history. He also became the lightest, shortest, and youngest (21 years, 51 days) wrestler to win the Cruiserweight title. Hornswoggle then began a feud with Jamie Noble over the belt. The next week on SmackDown!, Hornswoggle retained the title when he defeated Noble by countout.[18] He has attacked Noble in a variety of ways: shoved a pie in his face[19], sprayed him with a fire extinguisher, pushed him into Kane (causing him to get chokeslammed), and locked him in a box[20].

On September 10 2007, in conclusion to the Mr. McMahon "illegitimate son storyline" on Monday Night RAW, Hornswoggle was revealed to be his son.[21] While appearing as a thorn in McMahon's side on RAW, Hornswoggle still made appearances on SmackDown! as well. Although his partnership with Finlay was quietly de-emphasized, he still continued to feud with Jamie Noble. The Hornswoggle/Noble rivalry would end on the September 28, 2007 edition of SmackDown! when Acting General Manager Vickie Guerrero forced Hornswoggle to surrender the Cruiserweight Championship, citing that his status as Mr. McMahon's son and his diminutive stature would eventually jeopardize his well-being.[22]

After the affair of finding out who the illegitimate son was, Mr. McMahon began giving Hornswoggle matches against competitors that were much larger than he is. His reason for doing this, was that he was showing his son, "tough love." Hornswoggle was placed into a match against The Great Khali at Survivor Series. At the event Khali defeated Hornswoggle by disqualification when Finlay attacked Khali on Hornswoggle's behalf.[23] This was the first time that Finlay appeared together with Hornswoggle since the beginning of the Hornswoggle/Vince storyline. Finlay's attack on Khali started a feud between the two. At Armageddon, Finlay defeated Khali with the help of Hornswoggle. [24]

2008

Hornswoggle appeared in the Royal Rumble match, hiding under the ring upon entering until he came out and eliminated The Miz; Finlay later came out to protect Hornswoggle and took him out of the match. [25]

On the February 18 edition of Raw, Hornswoggle had a scheduled steel cage match against his father, Mr. McMahon. Finlay tried to get involved, but was attacked and handcuffed to the ring ropes by JBL. Mr. McMahon left the ring and allowed JBL to beat up Hornswoggle while an enraged Finlay looked on. Following this, WWE.com announced that Hornswoggle had suffered (kayfabe) internal injuries, including bleeding of the brain and spinal trauma.

On the February 25 edition of Raw, JBL stated that Hornswoggle is Finlay's son and that JBL will make Finlay say that Hornswoggle is his son and has proof to back it up. [26]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

  • South Shore Wrestling
    • SSW Tag Team Championship (with Devin Diamond) (1 time)

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Tale Of The Tape". WWE Magazine (16): 85. 2007. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  2. ^ "Hornswoggle bio". WWE. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  3. ^ Louie Dee (May 26, 2006). "Kiss Him Goodbye". WWE. Retrieved 2006-05-26.
  4. ^ "WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - June 23, 2006 results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  5. ^ Brett Hoffman (July 14, 2006). "Rey's Revenge". WWE. Retrieved 2006-07-14.
  6. ^ "Hornswoggle exposed". WWE. Retrieved 2006-11-01.
  7. ^ "Hornswoggle's complaint". WWE.com. Retrieved 2006-12-21.
  8. ^ "Hornswoggle's letter to WWE.com". WWE. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
  9. ^ Mike McAvennie (February 18, 2007). "Boogeymen come up short". WWE. Retrieved 2007-02-18.
  10. ^ Lennie DiFino. "Checks and balances". WWE. Retrieved 2007-02-23.
  11. ^ "Meaning of Hornswoggle". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  12. ^ "WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - March 2, 2007 results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  13. ^ Lennie DiFino. "Next stop: Detroit". WWE. Retrieved 2007-03-30.
  14. ^ Mike McAvennie. "'Bank' on Kennedy! Kennedy!". WWE. Retrieved 2007-04-01.
  15. ^ Lennie DiFino. "Deadman rising". WWE. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
  16. ^ Lennie DiFino. "Polar opposites". WWE. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  17. ^ Mike McAvennie. "A leprechaun's pot o' Cruiserweight gold". WWE. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
  18. ^ Louie Dee. "Irish eyes smile on Hornswoggle again". WWE. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
  19. ^ Alissa Fuhrman. "Handing notice". WWE. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  20. ^ Alissa Fuhrman. "Hand-slotted reprisal". WWE. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  21. ^ Greg Adkins. "Mini-McMahon". WWE. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  22. ^ "All things big and small". WWE. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
  23. ^ "Friends in low places?". WWE. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
  24. ^ Lennie DiFino (December 16, 2007). "Protective endeavors". WWE.
  25. ^ "Royal Rumble match statistics". WWE.com. February 3, 2008.
  26. ^ http://www.wwe.com/
  27. ^ "Hornswoggle Bio". WWE. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  28. ^ Lennie DiFino (March 30, 2007). "Next stop: Detroit". WWE. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  29. ^ "Hornswoggle's title reign". WWE. Retrieved 2008-02-04.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hornswoggle&oldid=194108088"