Marty Wright
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| Marty Wright | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Marty Wright The Boogeyman |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) |
| Billed weight | 265 lb (120 kg) |
| Born | October 31, 1964 Mystic, Connecticut |
| Resides | Phoenix, Arizona |
| Billed from | The Bottomless Pit |
| Trained by | OVW Staff Lane Huffman |
| Debut | 2004 |
Martin (Marty) Wright (born October 31, 1964) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his professional ring name The Boogeyman. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its SmackDown! brand.
Contents |
[edit] Early career
Born in Mystic, Connecticut, Wright began his career originally intending to be a professional bodybuilder. He won some competitions, but the only recorded such victory noted online is the 2002 National Physique Committee States Contest from August 2-3, 2002 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the men's over 35 years, super heavyweight division.
[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment
[edit] Tough Enough
Wright applied to take part in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Tough Enough IV and on October 15, 2004, attended a fifty man, two day event in Venice Beach, California, where eight finalists were chosen. Wright survived the first day of eliminations, but on the second day he admitted that he was 40 years old (5 years past the contest's cutoff of 35) and not 30 as he had claimed. As a result he was cut from the Tough Enough prospectives.
[edit] Ohio Valley Wrestling
Though he'd been cut from Tough Enough, WWE officials invited him to come to their developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) for possible training. He trained between January and June of 2005, making his OVW debut on June 25, 2005.
During a dark match pitting the team of Seth Skyfire and Robert Fury against Vik Delicious and Robbie Dawber, Wright entered the ring and squashed Fury, Delicious, and Dawber, no-selling the offense of Skyfire in the process. He then announced that he was The Boogeyman before leaving the building.
The Boogeyman gimmick further evolved into a "monster" face who would appear when another wrestler said his name and attack him, while not selling any offense he received.
[edit] SmackDown!
[edit] 2005
On the July 11, 2005 episode of RAW, horror movie style vignettes began airing to promote the debut of Wright in his "Boogeyman" persona. After a few weeks The Boogeyman the vignettes were moved from Raw to SmackDown!, but his planned debut was delayed when he hyperextended both knees and needed time to recover.
The Boogeyman made his first appearance on the October 13, 2005 SmackDown!. He was brought in by UPN Network Executive Palmer Cannon, who claimed he was going to be a part of another (unspecified) UPN show that never came to be due to an on-set "accident" involving The Boogeyman (it was implied he'd "done something" to another member of the cast, but never elaborated on). Cannon said he brought him to the SmackDown! brand as part of a "new talent initiative." The Boogeyman then proceeded to recite a version of the nursery rhyme Buckle My Shoe before smashing an oversize alarm clock on his own head. Boogeyman continued to "terrorize" other Superstars, in the fashion for the next couple of months.
For the next few weeks The Boogeyman appeared in unexpected places backstage (closets, vans, et cetera), reciting different nursery rhymes and holding up clocks before screaming his catchphrase "I'm The Boogeyman and I'm comin' to get cha!" and laughing maniacally. This would leave the performer(s) that had discovered him both confused and creeped out, usually ending with them backing out of the room slowly while the commentators remarked on how strange the whole situation was.
At the 2005 Survivor Series, The Boogeyman helped SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long defeat his RAW counterpart, Eric Bischoff, with a Pumphandle slam. He made his official in-ring SmackDown! debut on the December 2 SmackDown!, defeating Simon Dean with the Boogeyslam in a squash that saw him repeatedly scream, "I'm the Boogeyman!" at a confused and terrified Dean. It was during this match that another regular part of his persona came to light when he took a handful of live worms from his pocket and stuffed them into his mouth as commentators Michael Cole and Tazz screamed in disgust.
For the next few weeks The Boogeyman won numerous squash matches. Invariably these matches were short on actual wrestling content, instead focusing on the antics of The Boogeyman. Opponents were generally "flattened" in the ring, left with worms in their mouths and/or spit on their faces. His official pay-per-view debut was at December's Armageddon when he came to the ring to confront Vito and Nunzio who were dressed as Santa Claus and an elf. Though Nunzio was able to escape, Vito suffered a Goodnight and ended up with worms shoved into his mouth.
Boogeyman's first major feud occurred with JBL and his "fixer" Jillian Hall, beginning with his stalking the duo throughout a number of shows. During an episode of SmackDown! he caught a fleeing Hall and shoved worms down the back of her skirt. In another, during a Piper's Pit segment, he not only sniffed the "mole" on Jillian's face, but licked it and bit it off.
[edit] 2006
Layfield and The Boogeyman eventually met in a one on one contest at the 2006 Royal Rumble, with Boogeyman picking up the win in about two minutes.
A subsequent feud with Booker T, which saw him again stalking a wrestler and his female companion (this time Booker's wife Sharmell) culminated at WrestleMania 22, when Boogeyman pinned Booker T after kissing Sharmell while holding a mouthful of worms. The match was exceptionally short because shortly before WrestleMania Boogeyman tore his left biceps at a house show. To explain his absence to rehab his injury, Booker T and Sharmell obtained a restraining order against the Boogeyman, who actually had surgery on April 4, to repair his biceps tear.
As SummerSlam approached, The Boogeyman began appearing in TV spots to promote the event. Vignettes also began airing advertising his return to SmackDown!, however, on September 20 WWE.com reported that Wright had been released from the company. It was later reported that he had been doing "the bare minimum" in regards to getting back into shape and had missed several required doctor checkups. Although management warned him about this, he failed to change his behavior and they let him go. Less than a month later, on October 6, WWE.com announced that Wright had been re-hired and would be sent to be trained at Booker T and Stevie Ray's wrestling school in Houston, Texas.
Booker T was reportedly very impressed with Marty's renewed dedication and enthusiasm at his Wrestling Academy, and according to the Wrestling Observer, Wright was rehired mainly due to Booker's insistence[citation needed]. Wright returned on the October 27, 2006 SmackDown!, starting a feud with Mike "The Miz" Mizanin and Kristal Marshall. During the feud he again terrorized and stalked his opponents, spitting worms at them and scaring them at every opportunity, and eventually ended The Miz's undefeated streak at the Armageddon pay-per-view.
[edit] 2007
The Boogeyman then feuded with Finlay. On the February 2 edition of SmackDown! during a title match against current United States Champion Chris Benoit, Boogeyman abducted The Little Bastard distracting Finlay and giving Benoit a chance to win the match with a roll-up.
On the February 16 edition of SmackDown the Boogeyman showed a midget of his own, the Little Boogeyman, who was played by Wright's son. The Boogeyman and the Little Boogeyman lost to Finlay and Hornswoggle (aka Little Bastard) in a mixed tag team match at No Way Out 2007. The team lost a rematch the following week on SmackDown, after Wright was pinned by Hornswoggle.
The Boogeyman appeared in a promo backstage at Wrestlemania 23. He was in a room with Donald Trump and tried to scare him but failed.
[edit] Wrestling facts
- Finishing and signature moves
-
- Falling chokebomb
- Goodnight (Pumphandle slam)
- Boogeyslam / Supernatural Driver (Inverted falling slam) - 2005
- Two handed chokelift into a one-handed chokeslam - OVW
- Powerslam
- Boogeyman catches the opponent's leg and hits a clothesline onto the opponent's chest
- Two handed choke toss
- Signature object:
-
- Live worms
- His staff
- His alarm clock
[edit] Acting
Before becoming a professional wrestler, Wright sought a career as an actor. He started with work as an extra and performing stuntman duties. He appeared in the movies Any Given Sunday (1999) as player #84 of the Miami Sharks known as "Beastman", in The Replacements (2000) as player #56, a linebacker of the Dallas team known as Butler, and in Transporter 2 (2005) as the SWAT commander.
[edit] Trivia
- Wright is the only wrestler in WWE history to be released from his contract and re-signed in a matter of just 2 weeks.
- SmackDown! announcer Michael Cole claimed in an interview that Wright eats worms backstage as well.[1]
- Marty is married to Gloria Macintosh, and has 2 sons.[citation needed]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Categories: Wikipedia articles needing factual verification | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since April 2007 | African American professional wrestlers | 1964 births | Living people | People from Connecticut | People from Phoenix, Arizona | Professional bodybuilders | Tough Enough contestants | Ohio Valley Wrestling alumni
