Former WWE Star Hornswoggle Recalls His 'Zero To Hero' Experience Of Joining The Company

Former WWE star Hornswoggle has detailed his journey to WWE and how he didn't believe it when he was told that WWE was to hire him.

In a recent edition of Road Dogg's "Oh You Didn't Know..." podcast, Hornswoggle discussed how Mr. Kennedy helped him get a foot into the WWE door, and recalls how his first promo didn't go as planned.

"WWE was looking for a midget," he said. "They were trying out midgets to be Finlay's leprechaun and it just wasn't happening. Then Ken [Mr. Kennedy] said to Fit [Finlay], he goes, 'Hey, I got the guy. He's good-hearted, he's a good kid, he can take bumps.' They tried me out in Green Bay actually. There was a Smackdown taping in Green Bay, they pulled me in the promo room to do promos with Fit, asked me to do an Irish accent I failed miserably."

He recalled asking Finlay for his assessment of his promo work, to which the veteran wrestler replied that it didn't go very well. Hornswoggle mentioned his surprise at receiving a callback from WWE. Tommy Dreamer, then involved in talent relations, personally informed him of his hiring, leading the former WWE star to initially think it was a prank and doubt Dreamer's words. He was then informed by the ECW original that he would be one of Finlay's leprechauns on WWE television. 

"I describe it as a full out zero to hero transition," he said about leaving his job at Target to join WWE. "19 turning 20. I was 19, I got hired three days before my 20th birthday, and I started on the road that week."

Hornswoggle recounted how he found himself traveling to the Philippines just weeks after joining the company, despite not having a passport when he signed with WWE. In his 10-year run with WWE, he won the Cruiserweight Championship once, his only title in the promotion.