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Dylan Postl (a.k.a. Hornswoggle) says he refused to continue wearing an alligator outfit after joining forces with Slater-Gator (Heath Slater and Titus O’Neil) in 2014.
Slater and O’Neil frequently lost tag team matches during their short-lived alliance between July 2014 and February 2015. Hornswoggle, performing as Mini-Gator, briefly aligned with Slater-Gator to even up the numbers in their rivalry with Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando) and El Torito.
Speaking on the Such Good Shoot podcast, Hornswoggle agreed that the Mini-Gator gimmick was a low point in his WWE career. He also revealed that he decided to stop wearing the outfit after two weeks.
“Especially having to wear that stupid thing on house shows,” Hornswoggle said. “I stopped that after two weeks. I said, ‘Guys, I'm not doing this anymore. I'm not wearing this outfit. I'm not. Nope, not happening.’”
Hornswoggle debuted the Mini-Gator character during Slater-Gator’s win over Los Matadores on the September 29, 2014 episode of RAW. The following week, he wore the alligator outfit again in a defeat against El Torito.
Hornswoggle’s reaction after WWE released him
The Slater-Gator alliance turned out to be one of Hornswoggle’s final storylines in WWE. After 10 years with the company, he received his release in 2016.
Hornswoggle recalled how Brian Myers (f.k.a. Curt Hawkins) booked him on shows to help him adjust to wrestling outside of WWE.
“I called Hawkins and I was just like... I broke down,” Hornswoggle said. “And he goes, ‘Hey, quit crying. You're gonna be fine. Give me a few hours.’ He called me 20 [minutes], less than a half hour, with 23 dates that he set up for me. I owe him so much in my career and in life.”
Five years after leaving WWE, Hornswoggle still wrestles under the name Swoggle. He recently teamed up with Myers, Matt Cardona and Mark Sterling at an AIW (Absolute Intense Wrestling) event. The quartet lost an eight-man tag team match against Joshua Bishop, Wes Barkley, Cheech and Colin Delaney.
Please credit Such Good Shoot and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
