Boogeyman Told Good-Bye By WWE
Just to show you that a bizarre gimmick can only go so far, on Wednesday the WWE announced that Marty "Boogeyman" Wright had been released. The release was not exactly planned as the WWE had been showing clips of him as they prepared for his return on SmackDown in the coming few weeks. Reports say that Wright was let go because the company was not happy with his rehab for leg injuries, and WWE officials felt that Wright was only doing just enough to be able to get back in the ring instead of going all out. Amazing that in this day and age of pro wrestling that someone like Wright, who had never showed a real knack for in-ring wrestling, would waste a great opportunity with the WWE by not simply doing what was needed to do to insure that he would be 100 percent when he got back in the ring.
Wright never impressed me much when it came to wrestling. His whole act was about eating the worms and grossing out his opponents and the fans. His one claim to fame match, a 1-on-2 match with Booker T and Booker's wife Sharmell was the second worst match on the biggest PPV of the year - WrestleMania in Chicago. That match would have been the worst if it were not for the Playboy Pillow Fight between Candice and Torrie that ended up being so bad that people were chanting 'Hogan-Austin" in the middle of it.
Insiders say that Wright has had other troubles with the WWE, including being way too in to his character, refusing to go out of character at hotels and around town when he wrestled. It also was known that he lied about his age, telling officials he was 30, (he turns 42 on Halloween) in order to try and get a tryout with the company, something he ended up getting and then eventually being trained in OVW. In other words, in the end, Wright was more trouble then he was worth, and the company decided that instead of putting up with his antics it was time to cut ties with him.
I would not be surprised, that despite his age that Wright tries to use the gimmick to try and find work elsewhere. TNA would not be prone to using a guy like him, and I am sure with his short but memorable WWE run that he would be able to easily score independent dates. Again though, any promotion that would want to use Wright would have to do a little research about his troubles with the WWE and why he is no longer with them.
