It's entirely possible that The Boogeyman may have worked tremendously well as a gimmick in the early 1990's, alongside other cartoonish fare such as Doink or Papa Shango. However, given that Marty Wright debuted as the character in 2005, in the midst of an era that mostly eschewed over the top gimmicks, perhaps The Boogeyman was always destined to fail. Of course, it didn't help that Wright only started training at 40 years old and had very little natural aptitude for wrestling. It turned out he really was only good for eating worms on camera and smashing clocks over his head. Isn't wrestling weird sometimes? The crowning achievement of The Boogeyman's short career was his match against the 5-time WCW Champion, Booker T, at Wrestlemania 22. The match lasted an incredibly short 3 minutes and 43 seconds, due to Wright's suspect in-ring skills but also because he tore his left bicep at a house show shortly before the PPV. Injuries were a common thing during his WWE career, likely due to his increased age: his initial debut in 2005 had to be delayed because he hyper-extended both knees and needed time off to recover. All in all, it seemed that The Boogeyman had no real right to compete in a WWE ring, although he has appeared sporadically over recent years for quick backstage segments, always guaranteed to get a quick chuckle out of the WWE Universe. His appearance in this year's Royal Rumble was expectedly brief but amusing, as he was quickly hurled over the top rope by Bray Wyatt, a perfect example of a superstar who has been able to harness an outlandish gimmick and make it work beautifully.
