Marty Wright

Martin "Marty" Wright (born October 31, 1964 in Mystic, Connecticut) is an American professional wrestler, currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment on its SmackDown! brand as The Boogeyman. Thus far, he remains undefeated in WWE.

Career

Wright originally intended to be a professional Bodybuilder. He won some competitions, the only recorded such victory noted online is the 2002 NPC Southern States Contest from August 2-3, 2002 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the men's over 35 years, super heavyweight division. This career ultimately did not work out for him.

Wright applied to take part in Tough Enough#$1,000,000 Tough Enough|Tough Enough 4" target="_blank" >^*. On October 15, 2004, the physically imposing Wright attended a fifty man, two day event in Venice Beach, California, where eight finalists would be chosen. Wright survived the first day of eliminations, but on the second day he admitted under interrogation that he was not thirty, as he had previously maintained, but was in fact forty, being born in 1964. Wright was cut from the Tough Enough prospectives as a result (the age cut off for the contest is 35).

Ohio Valley Wrestling

Though he was no longer able to go forward as a Tough Enough contestant, he was offered an opportunity in the WWE farm league Ohio Valley Wrestling. In short order (and despite his age; beginning a wrestling career at an age when many wrestlers have left the business), Wright was able to impress the decision makers with his in-ring charisma and love of wrestling, and was offered a three year contract with the WWE.

Wright re-debuted in OVW on June 25, 2005. During an untelevised 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. He then announced that he was "The Boogeyman" before leaving the building. It was announced on July 2 that Wright had a record of "psychological problems" and "bodily assault," and had been both rejected from Tough Enough and denied training at OVW. The fact that Wright had lied in order to take part in Tough Enough was developed into a gimmick, with Wright being described as a "sociopathical liar" (the claims that he was formerly in prison are not true). Wright's ring entrance included special effects such as lightning and torrential rain.

OVW lead booker Jim Cornette was released from WWE after repeatedly slapping Johnny Geo Basco, an OVW wrestling student who was inserted into the audience as a plant to further The Boogeyman gimmick but laughed instead of showing fear. Cornette said that Basco had ruined the storyline and had broken kayfabe.

SmackDown!

On the July 11, 2005 episode of RAW, the first of a few vignettes, in the style of horror movies, promoted the debut of Wright in his "Boogeyman" persona, similar to Papa Shango before him. These vignettes first aired on RAW, then on SmackDown! for several weeks. His debut was delayed when he hyperextended both knees and needed time to heal.

The Boogeyman made his first appearance on SmackDown! on October 14, 2005, as a face with a weird gimmick; the storyline said he was being brought in by Network Executive Palmer Cannon, who claimed he was going to be on another unspecified network show that never came to be. This was due to an on-set "accident" involving Marty Wright (though his real name was not used). Cannon said he brought him to SmackDown! as part of a "new talent initiative." Wright proceeded to recite a nursery rhyme and then smashed an oversized alarm clock over his head.

Over the next few weeks, The Boogeyman would appear backstage on SmackDown! and continue reciting different nursery rhymes and holding up clocks before screaming his catchphrase "I'm The Boogeyman and I'm comin' to get you!" 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. During a short run of cross-brand shows, WWE Champion John Cena found him in a small backstage closet and JBL opened a van door to find him inside. In one vignette, he suddenly appeared from behind a couch in a room with Lita, causing her to run out of a room, screaming in terror.

At Survivor Series 2005, The Boogeyman helped Theodore Long defeat Eric Bischoff with a Pumphandle Slam. The Boogeyman then made his in-ring WWE debut on the December 2, 2005 episode of SmackDown! He defeated Simon Dean with the Supernatural Driver in a squash that saw him repeatedly scream, "I'm the Boogeyman!" at a confused and terrified Dean. It was here that another regular part of his persona came in as during the match, he took a handful of live worms from his pocket and stuffed them into his mouth as Michael Cole and Tazz screamed in disgust.

On December 5, 2005, The Boogeyman made a surprise appearance on RAW substituting himself for Simon Dean as a witness during the "trial" of Eric Bischoff. His bizarre entrance to and exit from the witness box (rising up and disappearing down from/to nowhere), as well as his nursery rhyme-like testimony left Vince McMahon, The Coach, and Bischoff astonished (but apparently entertained Mick Foley who went on eating the dessert from his "lunch", albeit with a bit of a shocked expression on his face).

The next few weeks saw The Boogeyman go on a tear, winning 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 spit on their faces.

He had his official pay-per-view debut at Armageddon where he came down to confront Vito & 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 one episode of SmackDown! he would shove worms down Jillian's skirt. In another, on Piper's Pit, he not only sniffed Jillian's mole, licked it, but bit it off Jillian's face on Piper's Pit. The two would eventually meet at the Royal Rumble where Boogeyman would pin JBL in about two minutes.

A subsequent feud with Booker T culminated at WrestleMania 22, when Boogeyman pinned Booker T after kissing Sharmell with a mouthful of worms, and then chokebombing Booker T for the pin. Shortly before WrestleMania 22, Wright tore his left bicep at a Wrestlemania warm-up house show with Booker T. Booker T and Sharmell received a "restraining order" against the Boogeyman which provided reason for Boogeyman's absence from SmackDown!. He actually had surgery April 4, 2006 to repair a left bicep tear; out for a minimum 4 months.

Wrestling facts

Finishing and signature moves

Fall Forward Chokebomb
Goodnight (Pumphandle slam)
Supernatural Driver (Inverted falling slam)
Two handed choke lifts into a single hand chokeslam (in OVW)
Foot-hold clothesline (Taking hold of an opponent's leg and pulling it towards himself while delivering a clothesline)
Powerslam

Acting

Wright has also set his sights on becoming an actor, beginning as an extra and performing as a stuntman. He appeared in the movies Any Given Sunday (1999) as player #84 of the Miami Sharks known as "Beastman", in The Replacements (2000) as Butler, a defensive back #56 of Dallas, and in Transporter 2 (2005) as the SWAT commander.

Personal information

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Wright's teeth were knocked out during a training match in 2005 (this is largely disputed, however).

The worms he eats are real. SmackDown! announcer Michael Cole claimed in an interview that Wright actually eats worms backstage as well.^*

External links

WWE Profile
The Boogeyman by Mike Roe, OVW Specialist, PW Torch, December 7, 2005.
The Boogeyman entry at Obsessedwithwrestling.com
Only Known Non-Wrestling information of him

Marty Wright | Marty Wright | Marty Wright | マーティー・ライト

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