Marty Wright
Born	(1964-10-31) October 31, 1964 (age 59) Phoenix, Arizona
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Marty Wright The Boogeyman
Billed height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Billed weight	265 lb (120 kg)
Billed from	The Bottomless Pit
Trained by	OVW Staff Lane Huffman
Debut	June 25, 2005

Martin (Marty) Wright (born October 31, 1964 in Phoenix, Arizona)^[1] is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name The Boogeyman. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its ECW brand.

Early career

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 Southern States Contest from August 2-3, 2002 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the men's over 35 years, super heavyweight division.

World Wrestling Entertainment

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.^[1]

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 Robbie Dawber and his partner, Wright entered the ring and squashed all three men, 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.

SmackDown!

2005

On the July 11, 2005 episode of WWE 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 for the next couple of months.

For the next few weeks The Boogeyman (who was unknown to be a face or heel) 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 turned out to be a face as he 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, defeating Simon Dean 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 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 "growth" on Jillian's face, but licked it and bit it off.

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 under 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.

2007

The Boogeyman then feuded with Finlay, who ended The Boogeyman's undefeated streak when Hornswoggle interfered. On the February 2 edition of SmackDown! during a title match against Chris Benoit for the U.S. Title, Boogeyman abducted Hornswoggle, distracting Finlay and giving Benoit a chance to win the match with a roll-up.

On the February 16 edition of SmackDown! the Boogeyman presented a little person of his own, Little Boogeyman. His purpose was to counteract Hornswoggle, who was proving a problem in one-on-one matches with Finlay. The Boogeyman and the Little Boogeyman lost to Finlay and Hornswoggle in a mixed tag team match at No Way Out 2007. The team lost a rematch the following week on SmackDown!, after Boogeyman 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, getting commanded by Trump to get him a sandwich. He did, however, terrify former Miss USA, Tara Conner who, upon seeing the Boogeyman, ran off looking terrified and disgusted.

On OVW's 400th anniversary show, the Boogeyman made an appearance, losing to Ryan Wilson in a table match.

The Boogeyman returned to in ring action when he joined a feud between Kane, William Regal and Dave Taylor, teaming up with Kane. This also marked the return of Little Boogeyman. The feud would be short lived as Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman would then start another feud with Finlay and Hornswoggle. Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman were defeated in mixed tag match by Finlay and Hornswoggle at Saturday Night's Main Event 2007.

ECW

On the June 11 edition of RAW, Boogeyman was drafted from SmackDown! to ECW as part of the WWE Draft. He won his ECW debut match against Matt Striker on June 12, 2007 with a Boogeybomb.

On tuesday July 12th, 2007 Matt Striker got his revenge by inviting The Boogeyman for a class session to be educated on worms. After The Boogeyman began to become violent and aggressive during the lesson Matt Striker introduced Big Daddy V. When The Boogeyman grabbed Matt Striker and attempted to attack, Big Daddy V stopped The Boogeyman's attack and beat him down with a Standing Samoan drop.

In wrestling

• Finishing and signature moves

• Boogeybomb (Falling chokebomb)
• Goodnight (Pumphandle slam) - 2005-2006
• Boogeyslam (Inverted falling slam) - 2005
• Two handed chokelift into a one-handed chokeslam - OVW
• Powerslam
• Clothesline to the chest, as a kick counter
• Two handed choke toss
• Corner butt thump
• Big splash
• Worm Kiss (only done on females)

• Signature objects

• Live worms
• staff
• alarm clock

• Quotes

• "I'm the Boogeyman, and I'm coming to get ya!!"

Championships and accomplishments

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• Rookie of the Year (2006)

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.^[1]

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.^[2]

References

External links

• WWE Profile
• Online World of Wrestlers Profile
• Template:TV.com person
• Big Daddy V article