Hornswoggle Opens Up About Personal Details Discussed In His New Autobiography, His Future
Former WWE wrestler Hornswoggle aka Swoggle has lived quite the life both inside and out of the ring. He recently published his autobiography Life Is Short And So Am I and he talked about that experience when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.
"It's surreal. I've been saying to my buddies and my dad that it's another crazy thing that I thought I would never check off my bucket list. But it's here and it's being checked off. It's awesome," said Swoggle.
"I've always thought about doing one but I'm lazy to be blunt. I always put it off but after I got released Ian Douglas reached out to me to see if I wanted to do a book. We worked on it for nine months to a year and he went to the publishers and re-did it to make it even better. And here we are."
Swoggle added that he had help from two ghost writers – one who lives in Detroit and one who lives in Europe – so the editing process took a bit longer. He said it was important that the book sounded like him and like you were talking to him.
Swoggle discusses some deep family issues that he experienced and he talked about his parents' reactions when he spoke to them about those issues.
"I went to my dad and stepmom about it and was like, 'Hey guys. It's too rough.' They both didn't know what to tell me and said it's your book. To be honest, even as rough as it is, I took some stuff about my real mom out of it because it was too 'pot-shotty,' said Swoggle.
"It was a rough upbringing at times with her and my relationship with her for 25 years is nothing. But I also wanted to put it out there in that it was a huge speed bump in my life. But I'm over it and I'm doing pretty damn good."
One of those dark issues is the suicide of Swoggle's half-brother Clint who was also a big influence to Swoggle as a kid.
"My real mom had two kids, my half-sister Tara and my half-brother Clint. When I was growing up Clint was a big wrestling fan and he instilled that into me. I was immediately encapsulated with everything pro wrestling," recalled Swoggle. "When he was 16, and after my parents divorced, he didn't take that well and his relationship with our mom was strained at times. Because of the divorce and his demons, he committed suicide at 16 years old.
"It's one of those things where it happened but I'm gonna try to not to let it affect me. How long can you cry and be sad about it? I remember the fun moments we had together and you can't let something like that affect you and not be able to enjoy life."
One of the brighter things discussed was Swoggle and his friends as kids starting a backyard wrestling federation. They even managed to land a local TV spot to showcase them backyard wrestling.
"One of the guys involved worked at the local TV station and put us in a timeslot. It was crazy; we were 12, 13-year-old kids messing around in the backyard," said Swoggle who added that every time he brings a girlfriend home to meet his parents, they will show the tapes to embarrass him.
"Landon, my son, I think he's seen a little bit of it but if I went the rest of my life without watching it, I think I'd be okay with that."
He also revealed his backyard wrestling name as "The Hardcore Wonder "although he doesn't remember how he got it.
Swoggle is just 33 years old so he would seemingly have many more years in the business. But he stated that he has just one more goal before he calls it quits.
"Japan?I can stop and retire when I get to Japan. I don't care if it's one show, that's all that's left for me. I just need to wrestle in Japan once and that would be the cherry on top. That's a goal of mine and my No. 1 is to make it over there," stated Swoggle who was also asked if he wants his 9-year-old son Landon to follow in his footsteps of being a pro wrestler.
"Every week we go to my training camp and he asks for a ring day. He's bouncing off the ropes and jumping and wrestling with me. He loves it. He's been around wrestling his whole life.
"Would I like it? It would make me smile a lot but I'm not gonna push it on him by any means. If he wants to be a scientist or astronaut or lawyer, that would be amazing. But if he decides to try wrestling, that would be pretty cool."
Swoggle's autobiography "Life Is Short And So Am I" is now available for purchase. To order a copy please visit: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Short-So-Am-Wrestling/dp/1770414843.
Swoggle's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of Tuesday's episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In it Swoggle discusses his new autobiography "Life Is Short And So Am I", opening up about the personal issues in his life, his pro wrestling future, his friendship with Ken Anderson, biting Vince McMahon's bare ass, his strained relationship with CM Punk, AEW vs NXT, his Cruiserweight Championship run, meeting Ultimate Warrior hours before he passed and more.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.