DIRTY BASTARDS That Made Wrestling GROSS! ?

5. The Boogeyman

Bastion Booger
WWE.com

The man ate worms and drooled as he did it. This was absolutely revolting to look at, but trust WWE as an organisation to take a visual as repulsive as that and ask "what if he grossed out the heels and made the faces laugh?".

WWE's affection for The Boogeyman character a decade and a half after it briefly took the company by storm is almost sweet, not least because it allows for sentences such as "took the company by storm" to feel true even if the novelty of the gimmick never really stretched beyond his weird entrance.

A throwback character that crucially knew it was a throwback, Marty Wright's monster from under the bed couldn't be a heel despite being ostensibly terrifying. Creatures don't and can't work as heels because if one has magic powers, then surely anybody can get them and the authorities should be made aware. But turning the bullied school kid bit into an act of revenge against some of the worst bad guys imaginable was almost pathos from one of the promotion's grottiest eras.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett