Why the Boogeyman was fired from WWE in 2009
Marty Wright was living his dream while in WWE but he got a rather late start. But after trying his heart out and debuting a gimmick which would reach iconic status he never really had a chance to get it off the ground before being fired from WWE in 2009. But what happened?
Creating himself out of nightmares wasn't Wright's first idea of how he would become a WWE Superstar. He made his first attempt at joining WWE as a contestant on Tough Enough in 2004. But Wright lied about his age when he joined while claiming to be 30 years old when in reality he was a decade older. He survived the first day of the gruelling tryouts but was dismissed due to disclosing false information.
But Boogeyman's passion for the business was evident which was why he received another shot in OVW during Jim Cornette's days of running WWE's developmental territory. Boogeyman's presence in OWV was actually the reason why Cornette was later fired after Santino Marella acted like he was afraid of Boogeyman on camera so Cornette slapped the taste out of his mouth multiple times backstage.
However, the controversy surrounding Cornette's dismal didn't hinder The Boogeyman's trajectory toward the top. Boogey's vignettes soon started airing on WWE television and they were super creepy. Once The Boogeyman debuted and smashed that first clock over his head during his entrance, he immediately captured the fascination of the WWE Universe... and then the bell rang.
Boogeyman was never quite known for his in-ring skill. He was more of a gimmick than anything. He ate a huge mole off Jillian Hall's face and never won a single title in WWE even though he was Pro Wrestling Illustrated's 2006 Rookie Of The Year.
JBL tried to put him over at the 2006 Royal Rumble in a match that was over in two minutes. His next feud was with Booker T and it was very creepy and worm-filled, while their match at WrestleMania was extremely short and Boogeyman later tore his left bicep taking him out of action.
On September 20, 2006, Boogeyman was released by WWE. But that decision didn't stick and he was re-hired two weeks later.
He floundered a bit after the mystique of his gimmick wore off and they soon introduced a little person as his sidekick known as Little Boogeyman. But their partnership was ended soon enough after some enhancement talent glory and occasional win on Saturday Night's Main Event.
Boogeyman wrestled his last match on SmackDown Live after Mark Henry squashed him as part of his Path Of Destruction program. Henry subsequently took care of Little Boogeyman with a splash on the little guy; he was never seen again.
But the bigger Boogeyman was moved to ECW where he did a couple of things but it never amounted to much. His age soon caught up with and at 43 years of age he suffered a torn calf muscle which put him out of action for a bit.
He lost a lot of momentum on ECW and started appearing in on-screen non-wrestling roles on Raw with the cast of the movie Jackass and on some other pre-taped segments. He came back to ECW for a few matches but it just wasn't the same.
After a decent run with the company that started with lying about his age in the first place, Boogeyman was finally released from WWE on March 4th, 2009.
Boogeyman had the passion but he was injury prone and never really caught on in the ring. WWE tried to surround him with amazing talent to hide his flaws, like JBL, CM Punk, John Morrison, and Booker T, but it just never clicked for Boogeyman.
But that's not the whole story for Boogeyman because he re-signed with WWE under a legends contract in 2015. Now Boogeyman can pop up at anytime WWE sees fit, which is always an extremely comfortable thought to keep in the back of your mind.