Dylan Postl
[1] (born May 29, 1986) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring names Hornswoggle
or Little Bastard
. He is employed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), appearing on its Raw brand. In WWE, he was the last Cruiserweight Champion before the belt was deactivated.
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SHORTSTACK TICKETS
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Career
NWA Wisconsin (2004–2005)
Prior to joining
World Wrestling Entertainment, Postl appeared with
NWA Wisconsin in 2005 as
"The World's Sexiest Midget" $hortstack
, where he won the
NWA Wisconsin X Division Championship.
[2]
World Wrestling Entertainment (2006–present)
Little Bastard (2006–2007)
Postl signed with World Wrestling Entertainment in May 2006. On May 26, Postl made his televised debut in Bakersfield,Ca on
SmackDown!
as the
leprechaun partner of the Irish wrestler,
Finlay.
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, Postl continued to appear from under the ring after matches and attack Finlay's opponents.
Eventually, SmackDown
play-by-play commentator Michael Cole began referring to him as the
Little Bastard
. 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 helped Finlay win the
WWE United States Championship when he tossed him a
shillelagh to knock out the United States Champion
Bobby Lashley and pick up the win.
[5]
On November 1, 2006, WWE.com ran an article titled "Little Bastard Exposed".
[6] 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.
As part of the
storyline, Bastard threatened to sue WWE for invasion of privacy when the picture was taken.
[7] Postl also requested that he receive a public apology from commentator Michael Cole for giving him the name "Little Bastard."
[8]
Hornswoggle (2007)
At
No Way Out, Finlay and Postl defeated
The Boogeyman and
Little Boogeyman.
[9] [10] Prior to the match was the first time Postl spoke, telling Finlay 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.
[11] [12]
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.
[13] The name change became official on the March 2 episode of
SmackDown!
when Postl attacked
John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Michael Cole. Afterward, Finlay intimidated Cole and told him that Postl's name was Hornswoggle.
[14] Despite this, Cole continued to occasionally refer to Postl as "Little Bastard". On March 30, 2007, he helped Finlay beat
Mr. Kennedy by performing a
senton bomb off a stepladder onto Mr. Kennedy, essentially copying Kennedy's move, the Kenton Bomb.
SmackDown! announcers Michael Cole and JBL immediately referred to the move as the "Lepreton Bomb."
[15] 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.
[16] On the following edition of
SmackDown!
, Finlay attacked Mr. Kennedy after his match and challenged him to a
handicap match with Postl as Finlay's partner.
[17] Before the match, Mr. Kennedy apologized for hurting Hornswoggle. Finlay accepted his apology and formed a team with Kennedy.
[18]
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. The other participants and commentators were unaware that he was a participant in the match until the
referee counted the
pin and awarded him the belt becoming a
fan favorite in the process.
[19] 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 Championship. Hornswoggle then began a
feud with Noble over the belt. The next week on
SmackDown!
, Hornswoggle retained the title when he defeated Noble by
countout.
[20] He attacked Noble in the following weeks by shoving a pie in his face,
[21] spraying him with a
fire extinguisher, pushing him into
Kane and causing him to get
chokeslammed, and locking him in a large box.
[22]
Mr. McMahon's illegitimate son; Finlay's legitimate son (2007–2008)
On September 10, in conclusion to the
Mr. McMahon "
illegitimate storyline" on
Raw
, Postl was revealed to be Vince's son in a storyline. Hornswoggle still made appearances on SmackDown!, as well. Although his partnership with Finlay was quietly phased out, he still continued to feud with Jamie Noble. His feud with Noble ended on the September 28 edition of
SmackDown!
when
Acting General Manager Vickie Guerrero forced Hornswoggle to surrender the Cruiserweight Championship (which was later abandoned), citing that his status as Mr. McMahon's son and his diminutive stature would eventually jeopardize his well-being.
[23] After the affair of finding out who the illegitimate son was, Mr. McMahon began giving Hornswoggle matches against competitors that were much larger than him. 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.
[24] This was the first time that Finlay appeared together with Hornswoggle since the beginning of the Hornswoggle and Mr. McMahon storyline. Finlay's attack on Khali started a feud between the two. At
Armageddon, Finlay defeated Khali with the help of Hornswoggle. In addition, Hornswoggle also faced Khali on the
15th Anniversary of Raw
, but
Hulk Hogan made a surprise return in a one night appearance to come to Hornswoggle's aid.
[25]
Hornswoggle appeared in the
Royal Rumble match, hiding under the ring upon entering until he came out and eliminated
The Miz; Finlay appeared to protect Hornswoggle and took himself out of the match.
[26] On the February 18 edition of
Raw
, Hornswoggle had a scheduled
steel cage match against his
storyline father, Mr. McMahon.
[27] 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 watched.
Following this, WWE.com announced that Hornswoggle had kayfabe suffered internal injuries, including bleeding of the brain and spinal trauma.
[28] On February 25, JBL claimed that Hornswoggle is not Mr. McMahon's son, but "in reality is the son of Finlay".
[29] The next week on
Raw
, Finlay confirmed Hornswoggle was indeed his son, then was forced to watch helplessly as JBL assaulted Hornswoggle in his hospital bed.
[30] Postl returned to live television at
WrestleMania XXIV, accompanying Finlay to the ring for his
Belfast Brawl with JBL, once interfering by hitting JBL with a kendo stick, allowing Finlay to get the shot in with the shillelagh.
[31] JBL won the match by hitting Finlay with the kendo stick in the shins and following up with the Clothesline from Hell.
He made his in-ring return on April 18 episode of
SmackDown
, defeating
Matt Striker after a Tadpole Splash.
[32] On the April 21 edition of
Raw
, Hornswoggle was entered in the
2008 King of the Ring, but he was unsuccessful as he lost to
William Regal in the first round after being submitting to the
Regal Stretch in 19 seconds. As part of the
2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Hornswoggle was drafted to the
ECW brand along with Finlay.
[33] At
Night of Champions, Hornswoggle and Finlay challenged
John Morrison and The Miz for the
WWE Tag Team Championship, but failed to win.
Raw (2009)
On April 13, 2009, Hornswoggle was drafted to the Raw brand, without Finlay, as part of the
2009 Supplemental Draft.
[34] He then formed an alliance with
Goldust, after Goldust saved him when he had a match against
Big Show on
WWE Superstars
. The two officially became a team on the May 25 edition of Raw. Hornswoggle teamed with Goldust in a winning effort against The
Brian Kendrick and
Festus. Hornswoggle and Goldust were later attacked by The Miz after they were shooting T-shirts to the crowd. Hornswoggle and Goldust's partnership was ended as Goldust was traded to ECW. He is currently engaged in a feud with
Chavo Guerrero in which Guerrero is given handicaps to even the odds against Hornswoggle. He is also in an alliance with Mark Henry when Henry defeated Chavo and then Hornswoggle came out and did a tadpole splash to Chavo. They then began to start dancing in the middle of the ring.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- *Tadpole Splash
(Frog splash)
- *Celtic Cross
(Running over the shoulder belly to back piledriver); Adopted from Finlay
- *Lepretaun Bomb
(Swanton Bomb) (2004-2006, still used occasionally)
- *The Knee Dropper
( Low Blow ) ( 2006 - present )
- Signature moves
- *Low–angle dropkick
- *Running seated senton
- *Spear
- * Headscissors takedown
- *Leprechaun DDT
(Jumping DDT)
- *Low Blow
- *Irish Mist
- With Finlay
- *Celtic Cross
by Finlay followed by the Tadpole Splash
by Hornswoggle
- With Mark Henry
- *World's Strongest Slam, bear hug
by Henry followed by the Tadpole Splash
by Hornswoggle
- With Evan Bourne
- *Diving double knee drop
by Bourne followed by the Tadpole Splash
by Hornswoggle
- Wrestlers managed
- *Finlay
- *Goldust
- *Markswoggle
- *Evan Bourne
- Entrance themes
- *"He's Ma Da"
by Jim Johnston (Late 2007–present) [35]
Championships and accomplishments
- NWA Wisconsin
- *NWA Wisconsin X Division Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- *PWI Rookie of the Year (2007) [36]
- South Shore Wrestling
- *SSW Tag Team Championship – with Devin Diamond (1 time)
- World Wrestling Entertainment
- *WWE Cruiserweight Championship (1 time) [37]
Notes
- Hornswoggle Profile
- Hornswoggle Profile
- Kiss Him Goodbye
- WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - June 23, 2006 results
- Rey's Revenge
- Hornswoggle exposed
- Hornswoggle's complaint
- Hornswoggle's letter to WWE.com
- Boogeymen come up short
- WWE No Way Out (Smackdown) PPV Results - 2/18/07
- Checks and balances
- Checks and balances
- Meaning of Hornswoggle
- WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - March 2, 2007 results
- Next stop: Detroit
- 'Bank' on Kennedy! Kennedy!
- Deadman rising
- Polar opposites
- A leprechaun's pot o' Cruiserweight gold
- Irish eyes smile on Hornswoggle again
- Handing notice
- Hand-slotted reprisal
- All things big and small
- Friends in low places?
- Protective endeavors
- Royal Rumble match statistics
- Outrage in a Cage
- Hornswoggle Back Trauma Feared, But Improvement Shown
- The Truth about Hornswoggle, According to JBL
- Family Outrage
- Results: JBL picks up brutal win in Belfast Brawl
- Results: Anarchy in the U.K.
- Official 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft Results
- 2009 WWE Supplemental Draft results
- Title Unavailable
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated Award Winners - Rookie of the Year
- Hornswoggle's title reign