Hornswoggle Recalls Playing Cards With John Cena & The Big Show Overseas
Liam Alexander-Stewart of Inside the Ropes recently sat down to chat with wrestling legend, accomplished author, actor and stand up comedian Dylan Postl FKA Hornswoggle, during the interview, Postl discussed a range of topics including fatherhood, tales for the road, the only moment in wrestling he regrets and who he sees as the most entertaining wrestler in the world.
Whilst speaking to Inside The Ropes, Dylan Postl FKA Hornswoggle recalled how during international tours legendary WWE Announcer Tony Chimel would arrange card game tournaments for the staff to bond over including everyone from the ring crew to multi-time WWE Champion John Cena.
Whilst talking about the legendary Fit Finlay Chicken Rib, the man formerly known as Hornswoggle would discuss why he believes many WWE Superstars were afraid to play pranks of him due to his relationship with notorious tough guy Fit Finlay.
“I think people at times were afraid to pick on me because of my relationship with Fit, like he is and will always be my dad, my wrestling dad. I have three dads, I have my real dad, I have Fit and I have Tommy Dreamer and I have three of the most opposite of each other dads ever. But I love it that way.
So I wasn’t I wasn’t the target a lot, and if I was, it was usually by Fit, but I was always the one, like coercing others to pull them on each other. I had influence. I was 100 percent the shit-stirrer of the locker room, 100 percent.
I’m OK with that. Again, I’m putting smiles on faces, whether it’s someone at someone else’s expense. I’m putting smiles on faces. I’m making everyone’s day better.”
Postl/Hornswoggle would continue, recalling Tony Chimel’s legendary Gin Rummy tournaments hosted whilst the WWE toured internationally leaving the WWE Roster often away from home for months at a time:
“The thing is, we’re on these especially these overseas tours where we’re gone about 17, 20 days. You need something about seven, eight days in when we just film TV overseas and we still have a second half of the tour.
It’s one of those things and we need to we need that reset button something to motivate us, all right. Hey, we would we had these we played cards a lot, Gin [Rummy]. We had Gin tournaments.
Tony Chimel, the famous ring announcer, backstage hand, producer, everything, He would put together Gin tournaments and we had like 16 players. It was a big thing to win these tournaments, a big deal because there was like everyone from ring crew guys and referees to John Cena would play in these things. And obviously the higher calibre player you knocked out, the more glory.”
Finally, the former WWE Cruiserweight Champion would reveal who the worst loser was during these games naming and shaming AEW Dark Elevation commentator Paul ‘Big Show’ Wight:
“There was a good amount of times where Big Show was known to throw a deck of cards out of anger or he was known to rip one card so that deck was ruined.
Big Show wasn’t a good loser at cards, but we loved playing with them just to get them wound up.
I would rather someone be a horrible loser because if someone is a horrible winner. Now you feel double awful about yourself. At least if I beat the person and they’re they’re a horrible loser. I still feel good about myself.”
During the same interview, the one time son to Vince McMahon, Hornswoggle would discuss his own son and how he has developed a love for the Wrestling Industry and has developed a natural gift of gab despite his young age:
“If he [My Son] can’t sell my merch, he gets so mad he just loves to sell my merch to sell the ACW merch at our shows. He ran every year for ACW Wisconsin. We do a rumble every year, just like every promotion. We run a raffle with it. My son ran the raffle last year, so fans buy a ball and if their ball wins, they get the money, essentially illegal gambling. We don’t need to go to the feds about that. But my son ran it last year. He filled up three boards of this raffle. I said I said, oh, you filled-up the first one. He goes “No, no Dad that was the third one I finished”, I go you did three he goes “yeah, people wanted in” and I’m thinking I have my 10-year-old son at the time running a gambling ring. And he just doesn’t see it like it’s the best!
He just likes he loves helping out. He just loves helping out any way you can and he loves going to the school and just try and stuff there with his wrestling buddies. It’s just it’s he’s enthralled. He really is.
There are times I just look at him and my buddies go, that’s you like literally that’s you how you were and it’s cool and scary and completely frightening and like everything mixed into one such a mix of emotions. But he’s such a better human already than I could ever be. I love him.
Local shows that I drive to whenever they’re within driving distance, I have him come with me because he just loves he loves being on the road with me and he’s just he love he’s at that age now where I can he can be at the merch table by himself and I can wrestle. I come back to him and he just loves it, he tells me and I’m like, well, I’m in the match. I’ll look for him and he’ll give me a thumbs up or thumbs down of how I’m doing. He knows my usual, like, my house show match and I can see it I’ll look at him while I’m doing it and he’ll be able to call it to me from the merch table. So he’s just it’s the best.”