Dylan Postl, aka Hornswoggle, is one of the most popular faces in the history of WWE. Of course, being Vince’s son, you would be!
PWMania’s Lee Tarrier (leeseedub) caught up with Postl to discuss his new ventures in the podcasting and social media world alongside asking him about his time in WWE, working with Vince McMahon, and IMPACT. Postl also revealed who he sees as a top star in the business today.
You can check out the complete interview below:
Dylan, you’ve ventured into the podcasting world. Tell us all about it?
It’s in the building process but we’re having fun. On the Going Postl podcast, we are giving out new episodes bi-weekly. I talk about what’s happened in my career, random topics from being on the road and I do a series of interviews called Small Talk. The latest one was with Tyson Kidd, I’ve had Kofi Kingston. I’ve had Brad Williams, the dwarf comic, Renee Paquette. I’ve had so many from my best friends to people I’ve worked with to people I’ve never met, like Wee Man from Jackass. So it’s been really, really cool. And it’s a really, really fun thing.
So yeah. In a nutshell, you can find my YouTube and Going Postl at wherever you find your favourite podcasts. Check it out.
Do you think social media and presenting yourself on there is important for wrestlers?
It’s a blessing and a curse. If you read too much into the comments or read the comments at all, if you know me, for more than five minutes, you know, I don’t look at comments. I don’t log into any of that because a) I’m not very good at electronics and technology. So I could probably confine it if you asked me to and it’s just negativity nine times out of 10 but that’s okay, I’m fully okay with it. That’s the world we live in.
Ethan Page is who I call the master of the video diary. And he started doing it so his kids could realise, ‘hey, this is why dad’s been gone.’ I should have done it, frankly years ago. But I’m late to the game, but I’m having fun doing it.
Do wrestlers at major companies like WWE get affected and talk about social media backstage?
You got to realize that, with the negativity, fans are still watching. Yeah, no matter what, they’re still watching. So who cares? They’re gonna watch next week, they’re gonna watch a week after. They have the comments but they’re still watching and that’s what matters most.
You had a really strong programme with Vince. When working with the boss, how does the process work? Is there a lot of interaction off camera?
I talked about it in my book ‘Life Is Short’. I wish I would have asked him more questions like, between takes of waiting go live for a backstage thing, I wish I would have been like ‘hey, so what really happen with Nailz,’ or ‘give me the scoop on Hacksaw and The Shiek’ like just random things that he 100% would have talked about because he’s just open like that, or ‘how was setup for Wrestlemania 9’ like just stuff like that that probably no one cares about but it’s just stuff like that I wish I would have randomly talked to him about he is the most powerful man in wrestling. Especially at that time. I was watching my P’s and Q’s quite a bit.
He was always approachable, completely with me. He was always approachable always had the office door open. For me to pop in and ask something. I feel that when people say unapproachable or standoffish, or the negative stuff it was because he didn’t automatically go with their idea. And nine times out of 10, their idea was to be world champion.
What was your favourite programme when working with WWE?
Vince’s son for sure. Loved it. When they started the mystery of who the son is, we were two weeks in and Stephanie McMahon walked up to me backstage to do this shot and she goes, ‘this is going to be big.’ And I go ‘yeah,’ she goes, ‘it’s gonna be big.’ And I didn’t realise how big it was gonna be. It was the biggest thing I’ve ever done. Just unexpected and every week doing something or multiple things. There was the 15th anniversary RAW, I was on five segments that show like, I opened the show, and then I was the closing shot of that show. It was a whirlwind man and then all the house shows it was just busiest I could have ever been and it was a it was a moment in time where I never like I never expected it to be as big as it got.
How did you feel when you was announced as the anonymous General Manager?
I mean, we actually just talked about this on my podcast, Kofi and I. It was not supposed to be what it turned out to be. It was supposed to be a much bigger angle and a much bigger reveal. But it wasn’t that way. It was unfortunate because it was crickets when the whole thing happened the way it did. But you know what? It got me on television that week. And I’m fine with that.
Who are some of the best you’ve worked with in your career?
Kofi Kingston is by far the nicest, most giving, incredible human I have ever been around. If anyone has ever said a bad word about him, which I’ve never heard, it’s definitely on them. Him and Brian Myers were my travelling partners. We were two and a half men, the three of us and it was just every weekend on the road. And those two guys I really, really hold as best friends to this day because they’ve always been there for me. And I’ve always been there for them. Kofi, he’s one of the good guys. I’m so happy with everything that he’s done in WWE and accomplished and, just the stuff he does is incredible.
Did you know your time was coming to an end at WWE before it did?
Yeah, it was I mean, I knew it was coming. I just didn’t know when. I was off the road for probably a year and a half. I just knew it was coming. I knew any moment. But knowing it’s coming and it actually happening are two very different things, obviously. And I had a young son at the time, I was a single dad. So it’s a very world changing and life changing thing to happen. Going from your dream job, making great money to nothing is a big reality check. I’d say like everything kind of paused and I had to take a deep breath and go alright, what now? But hey, when I got hired, they told me this is gonna be a six month gig. And it was somehow two weeks under 10 years, but I made it work. Yeah, I’m either decent at my job or I stayed under the radar really well.
What was your favourite match?
Wee L C. I will never do anything greater than that. Ever, ever.
How much input did you have into that match?
We showed up to the arena at 10am. That day, we all showed up that day at 10am. And we had seven minds working on this match. And it probably only one of the five matches I’ve ever watched back in my career. However, I always think about we did it backwards because after Wee L C, we did mask for his hair and that match is so overlooked.
But I like that one just as much. We killed it on that one. I just saw a picture the other day and I forgot I did a moonsault in that match and a flip to the outside. It’s because Wee L C is so talked about which is should be. It was supposed to a joke on the pre show but 30 seconds in, we have a crowd in New Jersey, who was one of the toughest crowds in the country, on their feet. And man. It was it was one of those moments where I get to the backstage area and I don’t want to change out of my gear. Because it was just perfect.
Was everyone watching backstage and supportive?
Yeah, I’ve never got a standing ovation in gorilla like I did that after that match.
How is it when you normally get back through gorilla after being out in front of a crowd?
There’s not much. If you get called over to the boss, it’s usually because you messed something up. If you approach him and and he says ‘Good job,’ then great, but if you get called over to him, it’s like the principal’s office. But yeah, it’s like any job. If I go to Subway and don’t make the sandwich how my boss wants or how it was ordered then I’m gonna get in trouble.
I never worried about my performance while out there. I’d wait until we got to the back and then see the reaction back there.
You also worked extensively with Rockstar Spud aka Drake Maverick in IMPACT Wrestling. How did you find that?
I love him. I love him. We became good buddies through twitter before we worked together. He is such a smart, creative human that doesn’t get nearly enough credit for the creativeness that he has. I was really bummed out because our programme was supposed to have a street fight at either Bound for Glory or whatever big pay per view they had coming up. And Spud had visa issues, so we had to do it overseas on the India shows. I wish we could have done it at the pay per view. And we were both so bummed out. But we had so much fun in that whole thing. We filmed four weeks of TV out in India within 2 days and we start to film something and he was wearing these dress shoes and he booted me and he busted me open and I’ve never been busted open the hard way in my life.
And he busted me open and it just started bleeding really profusely. And I go ‘Am I bleeding or am I like randomly sweating?” and I looked down and it’s just red and the first thing that came to mind was I have to go to Disney in two days. I was taking my son on vacation two days later to Disney and it’s like, ‘Oh man, I’m gonna have these stitches in my face on my vacation.’ But working with Spud was great. I absolutely loved working with him. He’s so fun and so entertaining, and everything he does is incredible
Did you enjoy all your time at IMPACT?
I did. I enjoyed everything. I wasn’t there for a while and then I did like a random battle royal. And then I did the stuff with Brian Myers and Tommy Dreamer and then the Ethan Page match where I call him by his real name during COVID and just all that the AJ Swoggle stuff. They’re an amazing, amazing roster of talent, and it’s good to see them building up once again.
Would you would you say is one of the best wrestlers if not the best wrestler in the world now in 2023?
My son, Landon loves Darby Allen, so I have to love Darby Allen. I love Darby Allen. I truly feel he’s this generations Jeff Hardy and and I think he’s already a huge star but I think it’s just starting. I really, really do and I think his star power is just going to grow.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this interview, please credit PWMania.com with an h/t to PWMania.com for the transcription.
