In a candid interview on The Velvet Ropes, Dylan Postl (Hornswoggle) credited a specific piece of advice from his father for saving his career after his WWE release in 2016. Postl detailed how resisting the urge to be bitter ultimately led to him signing a WWE Legends contract years later.
Postl explained that when he was released, he was in a vulnerable state, having lost his “dream job.” However, a conversation with his father changed his perspective immediately. “When I got released. The first thing he said was, ‘hey, there’s no reason to burn a bridge. There’s no reason to talk badly and poorly, right? Because of what they gave you, what WWE gave you. I’m sure you’re upset about getting released. I’m sure you want to just be mad, because that’s okay, but there’s no reason to burn a bridge, because you never know what could happen. And also, not only that, even if nothing does happen, they’ve provided so much for you.'”
Postl admitted that this mindset is difficult to achieve in the moment. “And again, in someone’s mental state, getting released from your dream job that is hard to step back from and go, ‘Oh, you’re right. They gave me everything. I’m able to sign my fake name to this day and make a living on it because of what they gave me, not because what I did. I did nothing. I provided the role that they gave me. That’s all I did.'”
He contrasted his approach with other wrestlers who lash out after being let go. “I think it’s common because people are just like, bummed out, and they are in their own head of man, not but it’s, it’s a now, what do I do and who do I have to blame them? No one deserves when it comes to entertainment and the entertainment industry. No one deserves a job. No one deserves anything, because you can be the best at it out there. If that’s not what the role they have for you. It’s not like baseball or football or basketball. Yeah, it’s not like that. And no one deserves anything.”
This professional attitude paid off roughly 18 months ago when WWE reached out with a new offer. Postl vividly recalled the moment he received the call. “A year and a half ago, and when WWE approached me with a legends deal… Landon and I were on our way to Blink 182 in Milwaukee, and I got the call from WWE, I pulled over the side of the road to call my dad and tell him, and he was the happiness in his voice.”
He immediately acknowledged his father’s role in making that moment possible. “And I said to him, I said, ‘You know what I owe you, and what you said to me’… I said I owe you for saying that to me as to because I could have burned a bridge. I could have just talked stupidly and made up just bullsh*t, and I didn’t care to and because of the how, always having that in the back of my head of why? Why would I do this when they gave me everything?”
Postl also described the feeling of returning to the WWE fold for his first appearance under the new deal. “Last WrestleMania in Vegas [sic], they invited me to do a signing at [WWE] World that was my first appearance back with the legends deal. And I was like, ‘Man, I’m gonna bust out the suit.’ And it was the first time putting it on and for an appearance and that kind of thing. And I was like, it just feels like I’m being recognized by by my former employer and my dream, by my dream. That’s all I want to do my whole life. And they don’t have to.”
He expressed deep gratitude for the recognition. “Nine years later, for them to still recognize me for stuff that I’ve done in the past, and my role that they’ve given me in the past is just one of those things where it’s, it’s, it’s, I hate the word humbling, but man, is it humbling? It’s like I just, I never never thought it would happen. Flat out, I just never thought.” Click below to watch the entire interview.
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