Hornswoggle spent a decade in the WWE as is considered the greatest “midget wrestler” in the companies history. A former Cruiserweight champion, DX member and Raw general manager, he spent much of his career in the spotlight and was a fan favourite with everybody until his release in 2016.
In this article, we’ll look at Hornswoggle’s debut, his last match before he was fired and the shock return he made during one of the greatest matches of all time,
Hornswoggle’s WWE Debut
Hornswoggle’s debut match in WWE was a tag team match at No Way Out 2007. It was a year after he first appeared as the manager/leprechaun for Finlay, a Northern-Irish wrestler who was famous for being one of the toughest in British Wrestling history.
The match pitted Finlay and Hornswoggle against The Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman, a dwarf dressed like Boogeyman to be the opposite to Hornswoggle.
The match was built around Hornswoggle’s immense fear of The Boogeyman (and his smaller sidekick). He hid behind Finlay as the pair walked to the ring, before launching himself down the ramp and hiding beneath the ring while the match went on.
It was not until the Boogeyman got the upper hand that he found his courage and tagged himself into the match, confronting Little Boogeyman as he prepared to “worm” Finlay.
Hilariously, as Hornswoggle took off his hat and jacket and prepared to attack his opponent, Finlay laid a huge big boot into the face of Little Boogeyman. The crowd were on their feet to see the two dwarves face off, so the way the arena went silent after the kick was funny to watch back.
The match ended when The Boogeyman chased Hornswoggle away while chewing a handful of worms. While he was distracted, Finlay nailed Little Boogeyman with a shot from his shillelagh – a wooden Irish club – and pinned him for the victory.
Hornswoggle’s WWE debut ended in victory, but not down to him at all and it only highlighted the extreme cowardice he suffered from in his early matches in the WWE.
His Last Match Before Being Fired
Hornswoggle’s last televised match in WWE was a 16-man tag team match on Smackdown in 2014. The match was a battle between two authority figures in the WWE – Teddy Long and John Laurinaitis.
The two men picked eight men for each other their teams for this Team Teddy vs Team Johnny match, a rematch of sorts from Wrestlemania 28.
Hornswoggle teamed with Bo Dallas, Cesaro, Damien Mizdow, Goldust, Heath Slater, Hornswoggle, Stardust & Titus O’Neil. This rag-tag team of hopeless midcarders and Cesaro were recruited to be part of Team Johnny. They faced off with Team Teddy, which consisted of Diego, El Torito, Fernando, Jack Swagger, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Mark Henry & Sheamus. The more star-studded Team Teddy picked up the win, in a match that continued the Slator-Gator vs Los Matadores rivalry.
On the Raw show prior to this, Hornswoggle had dressed like an alligator to wrestle against El Torito. This was one of the worst matches ever and killed both men’s career in the WWE. The fans hated the bout, chanting “boring” and “this is stupid” as the pair rolled around the ring, dressed as animals.
Neither would wrestle after the 16 man tag match again and were released by the WWE in 2016.
Hornswoggle Royal Rumble Return
Two years after his release, Hornswoggle returned to the WWE. It was only for a one-off appearance but the crowd loved it. The match took place in Saudi Arabia in front of a packed house, ready for a huge match.
The event was The Greatest Royal Rumble, with the main event being the titular match. What made it the greatest was that it had 50 entrants, 10 more than the previous biggest match in history.
Hornswoggle entered at number 12 in the Greatest Royal Rumble in his WWE return after two years.
He eliminated Dash Wilder of the Revival when he entered the ring, getting his first Royal Rumble elimination since 2008. He lasted exactly one minute in the match before being thrown out by Dolph Ziggler and Tony Nese, ending his appearance rather promptly.
He made another appearance during the women’s Royal Rumble in 2019. In the match won by Becky Lynch, Hornswoggle appeared from beneath the ring to assist in the elimination of Zelina Vega, as well as chasing her around the ring during a hilarious moment in the match.