Dylan Postl

Dylan Mark Postl (born May 29, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE under the ring name Hornswoggle. He debuted in WWE in 2006, allied with Finlay. Hornswoggle won the Cruiserweight Championship in its first stint, and then was revealed as Vince McMahon's bastard son, and was exposed as the Anonymous Raw General Manager who had controlled the Raw brand from June 21, 2010, to July 18, 2011. He also competed in Impact Wrestling.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2004–2006)

Postl started his career in the Fox Valley Wrestling Alliance (FVWA), under the ring name Hardcore Wonder. In 2005, Postl appeared with National Wrestling Alliance territory NWA Wisconsin as "The World's Sexiest Midget" Shortstack, where he won the NWA Wisconsin X Division Championship. He also won the SSW Tag Team Championship with Devin Diamond, from The Pretty Hott Thangs (Ryan Kross and Josh Maxim) on May 19, 2006, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. He relinquished the title after signing a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment.

World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2006–2016)

Finlay's leprechaun and Cruiserweight Champion (2006–2007)

On May 26, 2006, Postl made his televised debut in Bakersfield, California on ''SmackDown'' as the character Little Bastard, the leprechaun partner of Northern Irish wrestler Finlay. After Finlay's victory over Paul Burchill, an extremely hyper, dirty, mysterious little man (Postl) in a leprechaun costume scurried out from under the ring and jumped on Burchill, laughing maniacally. Finlay pulled him off, only to slam him back down onto Burchill again and again. For the next few weeks, Postl continued to appear from under the ring after matches and attack Finlay's opponents. He soon became more and more aggressive and started attacking Finlay's opponents during matches, much to Finlay's dismay. At one point, he attacked Finlay, biting him when Finlay tried to stop him from attacking Gunner Scott. Little Bastard helped Finlay win the WWE United States Championship when he tossed him a shillelagh to knock out the Champion Bobby Lashley and pick up the win.

On February 23, 2007, the character's 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. On the March 2 episode of ''SmackDown!'', Hornswoggle attacked John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and Michael Cole. Afterward, Finlay intimidated Cole, warning him to refer to Little Bastard as "Hornswoggle." On the March 30 episode of ''SmackDown!'', Hornswoggle helped Finlay beat Mr. Kennedy by performing a senton bomb off a stepladder onto 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, Kennedy hit Hornswoggle with a Green Bay Plunge off of a ladder when Hornswoggle tried to interfere on the behalf on Finlay. On the April 6 episode of ''SmackDown!'', Finlay attacked Kennedy after his match and challenged him to a handicap match with Hornswoggle as Finlay's partner. Before the match, 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 in a Cruiserweight Open at The Great American Bash. 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. Hornswoggle then began a storyline 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 and causing him to get chokeslammed, and locking him in a large box.

Vince McMahon's illegitimate son (2007–2008)

On the September 10 episode of ''Raw'', the storyline involving Mr. McMahon's illegitimate son culminated with the reveal that Hornswoggle was the illegitimate son. Hornswoggle's feud with Noble ended on the September 28 episode 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. Mr. McMahon began giving Hornswoggle matches against competitors that were much larger than him to show his son "tough love." Hornswoggle was placed into a match against The Great Khali at Survivor Series. At Survivor Series, Khali defeated Hornswoggle by disqualification when Finlay attacked Khali on Hornswoggle's behalf, turning both Hornswoggle and Finlay face. This was the first time that Finlay appeared together with Hornswoggle since the beginning of the Hornswoggle and Mr. McMahon storyline. At Armageddon, Finlay defeated Khali with the help of Hornswoggle.

On the February 18 episode of ''Raw'', Hornswoggle had a scheduled steel cage match against his father, Mr. McMahon. During this match, Hornswoggle was whipped with a leather belt by 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 the attack, as a part of the storyline, WWE.com announced that Hornswoggle had suffered internal injuries, including bleeding of the brain and spinal trauma. On the February 25 episode of ''Raw'', JBL claimed that Hornswoggle was not McMahon's son, but "in reality asthe 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. Hornswoggle 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''.

He made his in-ring return on the April 18 episode of ''SmackDown'', defeating Matt Striker after a ''Tadpole Splash''. 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 John Morrison and The Miz for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but failed to win.

Association with D-Generation X (2009–2010)

On April 13, 2009, Hornswoggle was drafted to the Raw brand, without Finlay, as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft. Hornswoggle then entered into a feud with Chavo Guerrero, in which they competed in a series of comedy gimmick matches each week determined by the weekly Guest Host for ''Raw'' (Texas Bullrope Match, Blindfold Match, Falls Count Anywhere, etc.). The program began on July 7, 2009 on ''WWE Superstars'' and continued on to ''Raw''. Hornswoggle won every match in this feud.

Hornswoggle's next storyline began the October 26 episode of ''Raw'', when after several weeks of wearing D-Generation X (D-X) clothing, Hornswoggle received legal notification that he was no longer allowed to wear it. Later on in the night, he got his revenge by helping the ''Raw'' guest hosts, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, put D-X against each other and John Cena for the WWE Championship at Survivor Series. On the December 21 episode of ''Raw'', Hornswoggle tried pressing charges against D-X for assault on him, but later dropped them when D-X agreed to make him D-X's official mascot. On the January 18, 2010 episode of ''Raw'' backstage, Hornswoggle and Triple H confronted Big Show, The Miz and Jon Heder. Triple H made the match a six-man tag team match: D-X and Hornswoggle against Big Show, The Miz and Heder which ended after Hornswoggle pinned Heder.

Brand switches and Anonymous Raw General Manager (2010–2011)

As part of the 2010 WWE Supplemental Draft on WWE.com, Hornswoggle was drafted back to the SmackDown brand. On October 8 episode of ''SmackDown'', Hornswoggle was named the official mascot for the SmackDown team at Bragging Rights. On the July 9, 2012 episode of ''Raw'', Hornswoggle was revealed as the Anonymous Raw General Manager, who previously ran the brand from June 2010 to July 2011.

On the season premiere of ''NXT Redemption'', Hornswoggle was revealed as the pro for Titus O'Neil. After their tag team victory over Darren Young and Chavo Guerrero, Young attacked O'Neil. They later had a match against each other which Hornswoggle won. Hornswoggle was later confronted by O'Neil's previous NXT mentor, Zack Ryder. Ryder lured Titus out of the ring by pretending to attack Hornswoggle, but he quickly re-entered the ring and ambushed Titus as he climbed back in, cementing the victory. Weeks later, Hornswoggle was sent gifts from a secret admirer, assuming it to be Maryse. He responded by giving her gifts, only to be shot down. On July 26, AJ Lee revealed herself as the admirer by kissing him. AJ then accompanied Hornswoggle on both ''NXT'' and ''SmackDown''. Sometime later, Hornswoggle became jealous of O'Neil hugging AJ and eventually sent her a letter ending their relationship, as he no longer wanted to be on ''NXT'' and preferred to stay on ''SmackDown''.

Various alliances final storylines and departure (2011–2016)

On November 29, 2011, holiday edition of ''SmackDown'', Hornswoggle won a battle royal, by lastly eliminating Sheamus, to receive a wish from Santa Claus (Mick Foley). With help from Sheamus, Hornswoggle wished for the ability to verbally communicate. With this ability, Hornswoggle became the special guest ring announcer for the David Otunga and Sheamus match on the following week's ''SmackDown''. On January 6, 2012, episode of ''SmackDown'' he defeated Heath Slater in an Over-the-Top Rope Challenge. Later that month, Hornswoggle formed an alliance with Justin Gabriel, feuding with the former Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes and Heath Slater, he also accompanied Gabriel to the ring at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in a losing effort against United States Champion Jack Swagger. On March 23 episode of ''SmackDown'', Hornswoggle was added to Theodore Long's WrestleMania XXVIII team as its personal mascot.

He made a return on October 12, 2012, when he was found with a Randy Orton doll. Ricardo Rodriguez wrecked it and continued looking for the real Orton. After a period of inactivity, he returned to ''Raw'' in November, associating himself with The Great Khali and Natalya. He was injured ( storyline) by Big E Langston on January 11, 2013 episode of ''SmackDown'', after Khali and Natalya lost to Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee. He returned on March 17 episode of ''Raw'', to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, only to be interrupted by Bad News Barrett.

On the April 15, 2014 episode of ''Main Event'', Hornswoggle turned heel for the first time since 2007 after revealing himself as the mascot for 3MB (Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal). In the following months, he faced El Torito

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