12 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 2007
8. Hornswoggle McMahon Was A Duff Contingency Plan
Mr. Kennedy was going to be revealed as Vince’s illegitimate son before his suspension woes, so they went with Hornswoggle instead. That was…quite the pivot, especially when reliving Raw from 2007. Ross from Friends couldn’t have barked "PIVOT" as loudly as WWE’s creative team did heading into the 10 September 2007 Raw.
By February 2008, JBL was outing Finlay as Swoggle’s real father, so what was the point? Typically, rather than biding their time or finding an even better replacement in the role than Kennedy, WWE went with crap comedy then gave up on the story anyway. 'Give it to Hornswoggle' became a trope in creative circles that simply had to stop before it got out of hand.
Run out of ideas for your story? 'Give it to Swoggle'. Need to fill a few minutes with some backstage rubbish? 'Someone call Swoggle'. The dude had his merits and place on the roster, but he was flung out there to the point of exhaustion in '07, and involving him in one of the year's biggest angles was insulting to the audience tuning in.
Vince and Swoggle did their best to make something of this, and they did have some decent chemistry as unlikely onscreen allies, but there was no payoff to speak of. 'Oh, sorry, we were kidding about that - he's actually Finlay's boy' isn't a satisfying conclusion to something you'd spent months and month hyping up as a game changer.
Looking back, they should've just scrapped the whole thing once Kennedy was out.