10 Things WWE Fans Need To Know About Hornswoggle

For nearly a decade, WWE fans were treated to the antics of Hornswoggle, whose gimmick amounted to being a leprechaun who lived under the wrestling ring. An absurd idea to be sure, Hornswoggle spent 2006 to 2016 as a staple of WWE television, appearing in comedic angles and matches — so much that many fans consider him a symbol of the promotion’s worst indulgences when it came to goofy, often sophomoric comedy.

RELATED: Hornswoggle Was The Worst Part Of WWE For Years

That said, such prominence makes ‘Swoggle a figure worth knowing about for WWE fans, who might not know much about him aside from the major moments in his career. Those will be covered, but let’s also take a look at other things fans should know about Hornswoggle, including where he ended up after WWE.

10 Started Out In The Backyard

The wrestler now best known as Hornswoggle wasn’t someone who answered a WWE casting call with no knowledge of the business. Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Dylan Postl grew up a huge fan of wrestling, and was determined to become a wrestler himself from a young age, though issues with his physical health appeared to stand in the way. Nevertheless, Postl found himself inspired by independent wrestling, and ended up starting a backyard wrestling promotion with his friends.

9 Trained By Ken Anderson

Dylan Postl’s efforts in the background ended up drawing crowds, as well as attention from more established indie promotions in the area, particularly NWA-affiliated All-Star Championship Wrestling. Postl was among the backyard wrestlers ACW scouted to bring in as young boys, and trained in ACW’s school under Ken Anderson, who’d later join up with WWE as Mr. Kennedy. While training, Postl insisted on not being trained to learn what’s still called the “midget wrestling” style and instead wanted to learn to wrestle as a cruiserweight.

8 Debuted In WWE Alongside Finlay

About two years after his debut, Dylan Postl made his WWE debut on a late May 2006 episode of SmackDown, emerging from under the ring to attack Paul Burchill after a match with Finlay. Dressed in a leprechaun costume and covered with dirt, Postl would be known as “Little Bastard, and would function as the Irish Finlay’s sidekick.

RELATED: 10 Things Fans Should Know About Finlay

The “Little Bastard” ring name would last less than a year, and end up changing to “Hornswoggle” in February of 2007.

7 The Final Cruiserweight Champion

After tag team ventures with Finlay as well as his old trainer Mr. Kennedy, Hornswoggle scored a major milestone as a solo wrestler when he won the Cruiserweight Championship from Chavo Guerrero at The Great American Bash 2007 in a six-way “Cruiserweight Open.” His only championship in WWE, Hornswoggle was able to retain the belt against Jamie Noble on two occasions. However, after 65 days, SmackDown boss Vickie Guerrero stripped Hornswoggle of the title due to kayfabe concerns about his safety following the below revelation, and the belt quietly disappeared.

6 Vince McMahon’s Illegitimate Son

In 2007, it was revealed that WWE boss Vince McMahon had an illegitimate son he didn’t know about but who was a WWE star, kicking off a big storyline about finding out this mystery son’s identity. When plans for it to be Mr. Kennedy were derailed, WWE opted for what would be the ultimate go-to joke for fans guessing the solutions to pro wrestling’s mysteries: they revealed that Hornswoggle was Vince’s son. However, this soon led to the revelation that Hornswoggle was actually Finlay’s son.

5 Member Of D-Generation X

After being split from Finlay in a roster draft, Hornswoggle ended up as a singles competitor on Raw, where he ended up in a feud with D-Generation X over ‘Swoggle’s unauthorized wearing of DX themed clothing. However, after taking Triple H and Shawn Michaels into the world under the ring and subjecting them to “Little People’s Court,” DX agreed to let Hornswoggle into the group as their mascot. However, his association with the group would only last about a month.

4 Revealed As The Anonymous Raw General Manager

From 2010 to 2011, after various changes in authority figures, WWE rolled out a new boss who’d make important in-storyline decisions: the Anonymous Raw General Manager. Represented by a laptop on a podium, commentator Michael Cole would be called upon to read out the mysterious figure’s edicts to the wrestlers and the live crowd.

RELATED: Every Raw General Manager, Ranked

The Anonymous Raw General Manager was quietly replaced over the summer of 2011, but a year later was revealed to be Hornswoggle, albeit as a self-aware joke about the illegitimate son angle.

3 Learned To Talk From Santa Claus

Since his first appearance, Hornswoggle lacked the ability to speak, relying on grunts to communicate. However, that all changed in the winter of 2011 in the most ridiculous fashion possible. On a late November episode of SmackDown, Hornswoggle came out victorious in a special battle royal where the winner had their wish granted by Santa Claus. As a result — with some verbal assistance from Sheamus — Hornswoggle asked Santa for the ability to talk, and from then on was able to actually speak on WWE television.

2 The WeeLC Match

In 2014, Hornswoggle ended up once again becoming a mascot of a WWE stable, this time with the hapless faux rock band 3MB, with Drew McIntyre, Jinder Mahal, and Heath Slater. This would lead to what Hornswoggle considers his best match ever: the gimmicky “WeeLC” match, held on the Extreme Rules 2014 pre-show. A chaotic little-person themed version of the TLC match, Hornswoggle (backed by 3MB) took on El Torito (backed by Los Matadores) in a chaotic, shockingly fun comedic hardcore match.

1 Showed Up In Impact Wrestling

After being released from WWE in 2016, Hornswoggle — now using the ring name Swoggle — continued his wrestling career by not only wrestling on the indies, but also showing up in Impact Wrestling from time to time. Initially showing up in 2016, Swoggle spent much of 2017 feuding with Rockstar Spud (later known as Drake Maverick in WWE). In the years since, Swoggle has made several surprise appearances in the Impact Zone, including in November 2020, when he dressed as AJ Styles under the name “AJ Swoggle.”