Hornswoggle

[hawrn-swog-uhl]

Dylan Postl (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 ECW brand. In WWE, he was the last Cruiserweight Champion before the belt was decommissioned.

Career

NWA Wisconsin (2004–2005)

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

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 on SmackDown!, as the leprechaun partner of the Irish wrestler, Finlay (Dave 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. 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 (Michael Coulthard) 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 (Brent Albright). Little Bastard helped Finlay win the United States Championship when he tossed him a shillelagh to knock out champion Lashley (Franklin Lashley) and pick up the win.

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. As part of the storyline, Bastard threatened to sue WWE for invasion of privacy when the picture was taken. Postl also requested that he receive a public apology from commentator Michael Cole for giving him the name "Little Bastard.

Hornswoggle (2007)

At No Way Out, Finlay and Postl defeated The Boogeyman (Marty Wright) and Little Boogeyman. 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.

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. The name change became official on the March 2 episode of SmackDown! when Postl attacked John "Bradshaw" Layfield (John Layfield) and Michael Cole. Afterward, Finlay intimidated Cole and told him that Postl's name was Hornswoggle. Despite this, Cole continued to occasionally refer to Postl as "Little Bastard". On March 30, 2007, he helped Finlay beat Mr. Kennedy (Ken Anderson) 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. 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. 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. Before the match, Mr. Kennedy apologized for hurting Hornswoggle. Finlay accepted his apology and formed a team with Kennedy.

Hornswoggle won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship after he pinned Jamie Noble (James Gibson) 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. 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 Noble over the belt. The next week on SmackDown!, Hornswoggle retained the title when he defeated Noble by countout. He attacked Noble in the following weeks by shoving a pie in his face, spraying him with a fire extinguisher, pushing him into Kane (Glen Jacobs) and causing him to get chokeslammed, and locking him in a large box.

Mr. McMahon's illegitimate son; Finlay's legitimate son (2007–2008)

On September 10, in conclusion to the Mr. McMahon (Vince McMahon) "illegitimate son storyline" on Raw, Postl was revealed to be Vince's son in a storyline that was eventually awarded the 2007 WrestleCrap Gooker Award for worst gimmick, storyline, or event in wrestling. 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. The Hornswoggle/Noble rivalry ended on the September 28 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. 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 (Dalip Singh Rana) at Survivor Series. At the event, Khali defeated Hornswoggle by disqualification when Finlay attacked Khali on Hornswoggle's behalf. 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.

Hornswoggle appeared in the Royal Rumble match, hiding under the ring upon entering until he came out and eliminated The Miz (Mike Mizanin); Finlay appeared to protect Hornswoggle and took himself out of the match. On the February 18 edition of Raw, Hornswoggle had a scheduled steel cage match against his kayfabe 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 watched. Following this, WWE.com announced that Hornswoggle had kayfabe suffered internal injuries, including bleeding of the brain and spinal trauma. On February 25, JBL claimed that Hornswoggle is not Mr. McMahon's son, but in reality is the son of Finlay. 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. 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. JBL won the match by hitting Finlay with the kendo stick in the shins and following up with the Clothesline from Hell.

On April 18, 2008 he made his SmackDown! re-debut by defeating Matt Striker (Matthew Kaye) after a tadpole splash. 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 (Darren Matthews) in the first round after being beaten by submission in 19 seconds. As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Hornswoggle was drafted to the ECW brand along with Finlay. At Night of Champions, Hornswoggle and Finlay challenged The Miz and John Morrison for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but failed to win.

Finlay and Postl were granted another shot at the WWE Tag Team Championship at The Great American Bash but came short.