The Boogeyman vs Jessie Guilmette WWE ECW on Sci-Fi 08-07-2007
The Boogeyman gimmick should have been shit.
On paper, a large jacked man in his forties, HE'S 40, with facepaint and a giant clock shouldn't frighten anyone. He should concern people, but not frighten. I think when a lot of us first heard about the proposed Boggeyman gimmick, we thought it was destined for Bad Gimmick Heaven. A place where Bad Gimmicks go to die. It's Heaven because I want to go there after I'm worm chow. I want to sit on Giant Gonzales' shoulders on a cloud. The Boogeyman was played by Marty Wright, who gained infamy for lying about his age to get on Tough Enough. He crushed a lot of the audition process, but lied about his age. Someone in WWE had a clue though and said, screw it let's take a shot on this guy and so he was hired anyways despite the fact HE'S 40 From the jump it seemed like Boogeyman was cursed, I mean his first appearances got Jim Cornette fired . The initial Boogeyman run was in OVW, where he was booked as an unstoppable monster and Cornette wanted the OVW students in the crowd to show fear. Well, an unknown Santino Marella didn't show the proper amount of fear and Cornette took the rational step of slapping him, which led to Cornette being fired. Strike 1. Then after months of vignette hyping his arrival, The Boogeyman hyperextended his knee and his debut had to be delayed. Oh great, another injury prone jacked up guy with a bad gimmick. Strike 2. So now Boogey is down 0-2 in the count and he hasn't appeared on a WWE television screen yet. He'll be in the clouds with you soon Phantasio. Then Boogeyman finally showed up on TV, Stri...
THERE IT GOES! A LONG DRIVE....IF IT STAYS FAIR....HOME RUN!
Boogeyman was not a great wrestler by any strength of the imagination. He was good for a guy who started training at age 40, HE'S 40, but in-ring was not his forte. It was Marty's commitment to the gimmick that made it work. What made it work for the audience, and made us feel less stupid about it, was one simple tweak. Instead of an actual wrestling Boogeyman, he became a method actor that went too far. WWE explained it as The Boogeyman was the star of a failed UPN pilot, who was too much of a method actor so tnever went to series. He was still under contract to UPN and so they foisted him on the WWE, as Boogeyman had never broken character and lost his mind. It's brilliant, absolutely brilliant. It somehow made the ridiculous, seem ....what's a word that means the opposite of ridiculous?.....Diculous? Whatever the word is, it made the gimmick a hell of a lot less stupid and a hell of a lot more fun. A method actor gone too far and becomes a borderline psycho? Eat Shit Jared Leto, Boogeyman did it first. The Boogeyman commited to this absurd premise and delivered every time. In the ring, he wasn't great but he was smart enough to know his limitations. A Boogeyman match is simple yet effective. Scary entrance, Kill a guy, Worms. Boom. Easy peasy breezy beautiful cover girl.
It's ECW on Sci-Fi in 2007, and we got ourselves a Boogeyman squash match. His opponent this evening is Jessie Guilmette, who you may barely recognize as AEW's The Blade. I'm going to be very sad when I'm bald. Jessie already in the ring, but we get the full Boogeyman entrance. This is later on in The Boogeyman run, god I love some of the sentences I type, and so Boogeyman has changed up his look a little bit. What hasn't changed is the worms, as is revealaed when he pulls off his head covering and the worms are already in his mouth. Jessie looks scared, and Boogeyman MUTA MISTS HIM WITH WORMS. AHH THE WORMS THEY'RE IN MY EYES. KILLING ME WONT BRING BACK YOUR GODDAMN HONEY. Boogeyman gets the advantage early before missing a splash in the corner. Jessie takes advantage with forearms to the back, but Boogeyman finds the camera and laughs maniacally. Jessie tries to kick Boogey, but Boogey catches the foot and gives A HELL OF A CLOTHESLINE. Not a clothesline from hell, but a hell of a clothesline. Jessie is back up and Booggeyman gives him a...just a regular clothesline this time. Scoop Slam by Boogeyman as he delivers more of his patented, obviously I didn't get trained a lot because I started at 40, I'M 40, offense. Jessie whipped into the corner and a big splash by Boogey. One more slam, and Boogey climbs the top rope. But, Jessie IS WAYYYYYY TOO FAR AWAY. Like 3/4 of the ring away. Boogey WITH A HUGE SPLASH THAT I NEVER WOULD HAVE GUESSED IN A MILLION YEARS HE WOULD HIT. Holy shit that is super impressive for the Boogeyman to hit that. HE'S 40! Boogeyman gets the win, Jessie gets the worms on his face, Matt Striker the teacher gets on the mic and I stopped because it's Matt Striker.
Very quick squash and a lot of it was boring offense, but that splash was insane. I cannot believe that he not only pulled it off, but that it looked clean. It's not like he barely touched the legs or anything, he just hit it so fresh and so clean. Holy Cow. The Boogeyman was definitely limited as a wrestler, but the thigs he did he did well. Like painting his face. Like doing long splashes.
Like Being 40
TLDR Review
40 years old with a 40 inch vertical. As god as my witness I didn't know Boogeymen could fly. Did I mention he was 40?
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