Hornswoggle On Vince McMahon, John Cena Being There For Him, Who The Smartest Man In Wrestling Is
As previously reported, Dylan Postl, formerly known as Hornswoggle in WWE, was recently a guest on The Steve Austin Show. Among other things, Postl talked about Ken Anderson and Fit Finlay's impact on his professional wrestling career, his friendship with John Cena, being an Ultimate Warrior fanatic, and working with Vince McMahon.
According to Postl, he owes his professional wrestling career to Ken Anderson and Fit Finlay, as he was trained by Anderson and worked closely with Finlay for years. Postl went on to say that Finlay is the smartest person in the professional wrestling business.
"I owe Ken and Fit my career, fully, to be honest. Fit went to bat for me a lot of times, saying about how they use me or don't use me, about how special and meaningful I was to the company. He saw a lot in me that even I didn't see. He saw how the kids just loved me, absolutely loved me, and I was such a kid-friendly character and they just loved me, that he always went to bat for me and I appreciate that. [Finlay is] the smartest man in wrestling. I would fully go on record and say [he is] the absolute smartest man in wrestling, top to bottom, when it comes to finishes and anything. He just has that brain that if you can't come up with something, or if he can't even come up with something, he'll say, 'give me five minutes' and he [has] got it. He [has] absolutely got it. And I was with him, him and I, for six years straight, and it was absolutely amazing. No one ever will have that stuff, that opportunity that I had, working so close with him and that means a lot to me."
Postl claimed that he has probably six to ten close personal friends from the professional wrestling industry, and recalled John Cena calling him when his son, Landon, was born.
"John Cena, he called me at 3:30 in the morning when Landon was born. It was the craziest thing ever. He called me just to touch base and see that everything was healthy. And, yeah, he [has] been there [for] a lot rough times with me when I had rough times on the road and stuff like that. He [has] always been there, and, whatever I needed, he was there for me."
When asked who was his favorite professional wrestler, Postl admitted to being a major Ultimate Warrior fan.
"The one that got me into the [professional wrestling] business was the greatest wrestling technician of all time, The Ultimate Warrior. Ultimate Warrior, he was my hero growing up. I absolutely loved him." Postl added, "there was no better entrance in history than The Ultimate Warrior. It was the greatest entrance between the music that had that guitar riff, and that face paint, and the tassels, and the gear. It was the greatest! I hated [Hulk] Hogan. I hated Hogan growing up because he was just too white meat for me. He was just a guy in a ripped shirt, and a bandana, and a silly moustache in my mind. But my guy, Ultimate Warrior, had face paint. Your guy didn't wear face paint or tassels. My guy did. Looking back on it, it's silly to think about, but, man, I was a fanatic. So at WrestleMania 30, when he was going into the [WWE] Hall Of Fame, man, I finally got to meet him and it was a dream come true."
On the subject of working with McMahon, Postl said that he got the impression that WWE's chairman likes being treated as a coworker rather than the boss.
"I was still so intimidated by him, I really almost feel mad at myself about that because I didn't really ever ask him stuff about the [professional wrestling] business and about how he viewed things and that kind of stuff. And what happened because I viewed him so much like, 'oh, my God. He's my boss.' I can't say the wrong thing, I can't ask him this stuff. But, I think, and I could be completely, 100% wrong, but Vince always wants to be viewed almost like a coworker instead of a boss. He wants you to be able to approach him with things and he likes being approached with ideas and things like that because, let's be honest, he can't think for every member of the WWE roster. He can't, so he likes to be approached like that. And I always heard whenever people would call him 'Mr. McMahon', [he would say], 'no, I'm Vince. That's who I play on TV is Mr. McMahon.' And that always kind of stood out to me. Like, okay, he really sees himself at the same level as everyone."
In addition to these topics, Postl discussed being released by WWE, failing to comply with WWE's wellness policy, and more. Click here to check out the podcast. If you use any of the quotes that appear in this article, please credit The Steve Austin Show with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Steve Austin Show