The Boogeyman had one of the most noteworthy careers to overachieve in the Ruthless Aggression Era. Few fans or wrestlers expected the spooky gimmick to last beyond a few months when debuting on television. The idea of a character playing on others' fears and feeding his opponents worms created a unique act that at the same time felt a bit outdated.
WWE still enjoyed the element of entertainment value for such a character appearing in surprising or comedic segments. The Boogeyman comes back quite often in recent years when WWE needs a character like him to appear for comedy value. It is shocking and impressive that the character still has legs today. WWE witnessed The Boogeyman having a lengthy career going beyond anyone’s expectations.
RELATED: WWE: 14 Scariest Wrestlers In History
How The Boogeyman Got An Opportunity
Marty Wright started his wrestling career before The Boogeyman by trying to get noticed in the Tough Enough reality show. The list of names to try out for the show featured future stars and Wright turned out to be one of them. WWE actually planned to have Wright make the cut, but they discovered he was 40 years old and felt that was too old for this project.
The concept of Tough Enough required wrestlers a bit younger than Wright, but the company did see some potential in him. Wright was requested to attend the developmental side of things at Ohio Valley Wrestling for some of the training and classes offered to WWE prospects. WWE eventually signed Wright to a developmental contract and gave him the chance to make an impact in a different way than he expected.
Wright experimented with The Boogeyman character in OVW and tried to get over with an extremely unique presentation.
RELATED: Top 10 Wrestling Gimmicks That Are Supposed To Be Scary (But Aren’t)
Boogeyman was a babyface who appeared whenever other heel wrestlers made comments about him by saying his name. The monster gimmick also featured him no-selling moves when others tried to stop him. WWE was impressed enough to call him up to the main roster.
The Boogeyman Got Over With Some Limitations
The Boogeyman debuted on the Smackdown brand in 2005 came after weeks of vignettes. Fans were a bit evolved past the gimmicks of this nature in the Ruthless Aggression Era, but WWE putting a lot of time and money into the act helped. Network executive Palmer Cannon and then Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff were the first targets of Boogeyman.
WWE had Boogeyman make an elaborate entrance to the ring in darkness as the phrase “I’m the Boogeyman and I’m coming to get you” played. Boogeyman’s first couple of matches led to him having victories over the likes of Simon Dean, Nunzio and Vito. The post-match celebrations of putting worms in the mouths of his opponents became a creepy part of his gimmick the audience looked for.
Boogeyman’s biggest wins came in early 2006 with feuds against former world champs JBL and Booker T. The squash win over JBL at Royal Rumble and a handicap match win over Booker T and Sharmell at WrestleMania 22 helped Boogeyman reach new peaks in WWE.
However, there would be limitations for such a gimmick. WWE struggled to make good use of him beyond those two programs, and he typically had comedic segments backstage. A move to the ECW brand was the end of the road leading to his eventual release in 2008.
The Boogeyman Still Works With WWE
Vince McMahon is known for having a wild sense of humor and trying to entertain himself with some acts. The Boogeyman benefited from this as one of the legends to always get a call back for noteworthy projects. Various legends nights or other special occasions presented the opportunity for Boogeyman to make surprise appearances haunting some of the current superstars.
WWE has kept Boogeyman in the loop for almost a decade worth of the occasional appearances. No one will ever accuse Boogeyman of being in the same tier of The Undertaker and Kane, but he is still good for a fun one-off segment. The 2015 Royal Rumble match surprise appearance may have been the peak of his returns for the pop.
Boogeyman most recently appeared in early 2021 in a segment scaring Angel Garza for R-Truth to pin him backstage in another pointless 24/7 Championship title change. Marty Wright lives a relatively quiet life these days as an aerobics instructor, but his past persona will never die. WWE enjoyed the silly antics of Boogeyman enough to make him one of the longest-tenured alumni to keep getting a call back to come home.
