Wikipedia

Hornswoggle

American professional wrestler

Dylan Mark Postl (born May 29, 1986) is an American midget professional wrestler. He is better known by his ring name Hornswoggle. Postl is best known for his time working for the WWE. He was the last holder of the old WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Postl originally wrestled under the name of "The World's Sexiest Midget" Shortstack.

Hornswoggle
Hornswoggle in August 2019
Birth nameDylan Mark Postl[1]
Born (1986-05-29) May 29, 1986 (age 38)
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Hornswoggle
Hornswoggle McMahon
Little Bastard
Mini Delirious[2]
Mini-Gator[3]
Shortstack
Swoggle[3]
La Vaca[4]
La Vaquita[5]
The Big Deal
Hardcore Wonder
AJ Swoggle[6]
Billed height4 ft 5 in (135 cm)[7][8]
Billed weight142 lb (64 kg)[8]
Billed fromDublin, Ireland
Trained byKen Anderson[9]
Debut2004

Career

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Prior to working for WWE, Postl was known for his work with NWA Wisconsin where he won its X Division Championship.

World Wrestling Entertainment

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Postl signed with World Wrestling Entertainment in May 2006. He is the fourth wrestler from NWA Wisconsin to sign with WWE. The others were Daivari, Ken Kennedy and CM Punk.

Postl first played the leprechaun partner of the Irish wrestler Finlay on SmackDown! during the May 26 episode. After Finlay’s victory over Paul Burchill, a little man (Postl) crawled out from under the ring and jumped on Burchill. Finlay pulled him off, only to slam him back down onto Burchill again. For the next few weeks he continued to appear from under the ring after matches.

Eventually, SmackDown! commentator Michael Cole began calling him the Little Bastard. The name became popular and became his "official" name. Commentator JBL refused to call him "Little Bastard". JBL said, "he might have parents". He instead called him a leprechaun. This was confirmed on an edition of SmackDown! by Finlay.

Little Bastard soon became meaner. He started attacking during Finlay's matches even though it upset Finlay. Many times, Finlay either shoved Little Bastard back under the ring or was forced to tackle him before he could hit the person he was wrestling. At one point, Little Bastard attacked Finlay, biting Finlay when Finlay tried to stop him from attacking Gunner Scott.

Little Bastard was an important part of Finlay winning the United States Championship when he tossed him a shillelagh to knock out champion Lashley to win the match.

On February 23, his name was changed to Hornswoggle on WWE's website and all references to the name "Little Bastard" were removed. The name change became official on the March 2 episode of SmackDown!. Postl attacked JBL and Michael Cole. Afterwards, Finlay told Cole that Little Bastard's name is Hornswoggle. Despite this, Cole sometimes still called Hornswoggle "Little Bastard".

On July 22, 2007 at The Great American Bash Hornswoggle won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. The other people in the match and commentators did not know that he was a participant in the match until the pin and he was given the belt.[10] This made him the first person with dwarfism to win a Championship in WWE history. Hornswoggle is both the lightest and the shortest wrestler to win the Cruiserweight Championship in WWE history. He is also the smallest wrestler to win any title in WWE. On the September 10 episode of Raw, Hornswoggle was revealed to be WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon's illegitimate son. The storyline stopped on March 3, 2008 when it was confirmed Hornswoggle was Finlay's son.[11]

Hornswoggle and Finlay were drafted to ECW on June 25, 2008 as part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft. On the July 9, 2012 episode of Raw, Hornswoggle was revealed as the anonymous Raw General Manager, who ran the brand from June 2010 to July 2011. Postl was released from WWE on May 6, 2016, ending his time there after 10 years.[12] Afterwards, he sometimes appeared for the company: on April 27, 2018, in the Greatest Royal Rumble match (eliminating Dash Wilder, before being eliminated by Tony Nese),[13] and on January 27, 2019, at Royal Rumble, chasing Zelina Vega during the Women's Royal Rumble match.

Free Agent

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Since his release, Postl wrestles on the Independent circuit. He also wrestled for Impact Wrestling as Swoggle from 2016 to 2020 and for Ring of Honor in 2019 and made a cameo appearance on the November 18, 2020 episode of AEW Dynamite.

Filmography

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Year Title Roles Notes
2014 Muppets Most Wanted Russian Prisoner
2014 Leprechaun: Origins Tuatha Dé Danann/Leprechaun credited as Dylan "Hornswoggle" Postl
Web series
Year Title Roles Notes
2013 Wreckless Eating Himself 1 episode
2013–2015 The JBL and Renee Show Himself, The Bear recurring role
2015 Swerved Himself 3 episodes
2018 Where Are They Now? Hornswoggle 1 episode

Other media

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Postl made his video game debut as Finlay's manager in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 and last appeared in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011.

Championships and accomplishments

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Hornswoggle was the last holder of the original WWE Cruiserweight Championship.

Notes and references

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  1. ↑ @DylanPostl (March 6, 2015). "The latest adventure today. Who says Arthroscopic Shoulder Decompression surgery wouldn't be fun? #RoadToWeeLC2picp" (Tweet). Retrieved February 7, 2021 – via Twitter.
  2. ↑ "PCO-Dan Maff War Caps Wild, Wacky Unauthorized". ROH. November 4, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2021. The mysterious luchadors scored the win after Cobbo hit a standing moonsault on Mini Delirious. Per the match stipulation, which stated that the loser of the fall must unmask and shag his wife, Mini Delirious revealed himself to be Swoggle
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Hornswoggle". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Listing schedule for the WWE Network for August 25, 2014". Wrestleview. August 25, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  5. ↑ "WWE Main Event Results – 8/19/14 (Big Show vs. Rowan)". Wrestleview. August 20, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  6. ↑ "AJ Styles reaction to Hornswoggle Impact parody revealed". Wrestletalk. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
  7. ↑ please do not change height or weight WWE "Tale of the Tape". WWE Magazine (16): 85. October 2007.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Hornswoggle". WWE. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Wrestlers Database - Swoggle". CAGEMATCH.
  10. ↑ "WWE.com" 22 July 2007 - A leprechaun's pot o' Cruiserweight gold
  11. ↑ Adkins, Greg (March 3, 2008). "Family Outrage". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  12. ↑ "Damien Sandow, King Barrett, Santino Marella, Hornswoggle, Alex Riley and other Superstars released". WWE. May 6, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  13. ↑ Woodward, Hamish (January 27, 2023). "What Happened To Hornswoggle? Why Was The WWE Legend Fired In 2015? - Atletifo". Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  14. ↑ "ACW Wisconsin Fifth Anniversary Celebration « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - the Internet Wrestling Database".
  15. ↑ "BLP Tag Team Champion". Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  16. ↑ "海外絶賛流出中のアイアンマンヘビーメタル級王座の動向＜3月31日分＞". DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Heroes & Legends Wrestling Fan Fest". heroesandlegendswrestling.com.
  18. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Award Winners – Rookie of the Year". Wrestling Information Archive. Archived from the original on June 16, 2008. Retrieved May 5, 2008.
  19. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2021". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Hornswoggle's title reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved February 4, 2008.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Meltzer, Dave (January 26, 2011). "Biggest issue of the year: The 2011 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards Issue". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Campbell, CA: 1–40. ISSN 1083-9593.
  22. ↑ "2007 Gooker Award". WrestleCrap.com. WrestleCrap. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2008.
  23. ↑ "What was the Worst of 2009?". Retrieved January 28, 2010.

Other websites

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