Hornswoggle Talks Heartbreaking Meeting With The Rock, His Interaction With Ultimate Warrior
Hornswoggle had a couple of memorable storylines while with WWE including being Vince McMahon's illegitimate son and being a part of DX. He discussed the latter and working with Triple H while he was taking on more backstage power when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.
"By the time I got there, he was kinda already in that role so I didn't see the transition that much. I always viewed him in that higher-up office role so I didn't notice a transition," recalled Swoggle.
Swoggle was a part of NXT in its previous incarnation when it had rookies and pros as mentors. He discussed the evolution of NXT with its latest announcement of moving to the USA Network to oppose AEW.
"NXT sure isn't like it was when I was there. It definitely wasn't as cool then as it is now," admitted Swoggle. "But it's the cool and hip wrestling right now and it's amazing to think of the guys they are giving chances to that 10 years ago would have been laughed at and not given a second of time.
"Wrestling is gonna be really interesting for the next couple of years. It's gonna be interesting to see how everything pans out."
During his 10 years with WWE, Swoggle developed a friendship with John Cena and he talked about hanging out with Cena.
"I just call him my friend John; it's not a big deal. He's like my other friend Dwayne. We send each other Christmas cards to this day?that was a blatant lie," Swoggle said before joking about the time The Rock thought he was a Make-a-Wish kid and how that was heartbreaking because he wanted to be buddies with him.
But Swoggle does have a true friendship with Cena and they still talk from time to time.
"With me he's always been awesome," Swoggle said of Cena. "We still talk here and there and he asks how [my son] Landon is doing. He was there for me a lot, both in career and outside of career stuff. He's always been a good friend to me."
He added that they would play cards when they were on the road and put back a few beers. He, Cena and Tony Chimel would try to find the cheapest and funniest looking beer cans that they could when traveling together.
One of Swoggle's favorite moments was also a bittersweet one as he got to meet his idol, The Ultimate Warrior, on Raw just hours before he passed away.
"Man it was special to tell him how much he meant to me. He didn't know me but it seemed like it was special to him and meant something to him that he had made such an impact on my life," said Swoggle. "I was gonna go up and just shake his hand, but it just hit me that I had to tell him what he means to me. I didn't plan to tell him but it just came out kinda. The fact that I finally got to meet my hero was absolutely amazing."
Swoggle's autobiography "Life Is Short And So Am I" is now available for purchase. To order a copy, click here.
Swoggle's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In it Swoggle discusses his new autobiography "Life Is Short And So Am I", opening up about the personal issues in his life, his pro wrestling future, his friendship with Ken Anderson, biting Vince McMahon's bare ass, his strained relationship with CM Punk, AEW vs NXT, his Cruiserweight Championship run, meeting Ultimate Warrior hours before he passed and more.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.