Why Danhausen Is Very Nice, Very Over In WWE
- Thomas Hall
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
A few years ago, I went to a toy/comic con in my hometown, which featured a few professional wrestling guests. Not being one to pass up the chance to meet some wrestlers, I paid to meet one of them (the other, Ethan Page, liked my Super Mario Kart shirt). The wrestler I met was in full wrestling attire and I chatted with him for a few minutes. I said something along the line of this:
You’re the kind of wrestler I usually hate but for some reason, I like you more every time I watch you.”
Thankfully that didn’t count as an insult and I avoided a curse, as I was talking to Danhausen. That was about three years ago, about eight months after Danhausen had made his AEW debut. After seeing how his AEW run panned out and watching what Danhausen has recently been doing, it is absolutely amazing how much can happen in so little time.
When you look back at Danhausen’s time in AEW, there isn’t much to remember. He wrestled a few matches but was mainly involved in backstage segments. Granted that’s the right way to use Danhausen, as he’s not supposed to be taken seriously. Most of the time he was around some less than serious wrestlers and it made for some fun moments, but there wasn’t much that really stood out.
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After debuting in January 2022, Danhausen was around for most of the year and then got hurt in 2023 before missing almost all of 2024, save for a one off appearance in December at Ring Of Honor Final Battle. He then left AEW in February 2026 and it was pretty clear that he was going to wind up in WWE one way or another.
As it turned out, the “one way or another” was sooner than expected, as Danhausen made his WWE debut by coming out of a box (and you know that means he’s going to get over) at Elimination Chamber on February 28, 2026.
In his time with the company (which remember is less than four months as of this writing), Danhausen has become one of the top merchandise sellers in WWE, has participated in an in-ring segment with John Cena at WrestleMania, appeared multiple times on ESPN and has been discussed on The Tonight Show.
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The rise of Danhausen from little more than a freak show novelty act (and that’s being generous) to one of the hottest things in WWE at the moment is nothing short of remarkable. It’s also a fine example of letting someone get behind an idea and running with it, while also presenting him in the right way. Being realistic, who would have thought that Danhausen, who is far from your typical wrestling star, would become something this big at any point in his career?
Danhausen's WWE Success Has Been Nothing Short Of Remarkable
To put it mildly, Danhausen is hard to explain. He thinks he’s a demon with mystical powers but he is also kind of a mad scientist who does experiments on other wrestlers, has a cloning machine which makes miniature versions of himself, speaks in weird terms, and seems obsessed with gaining “human monies” and powers so that he can buy things like a rocket powered car and a house made out of sold gold. Oh and he wants his own blimp, because of course he does.
That’s hardly the most traditional wrestling star in the world but... it’s working! That’s the thing here: you can’t argue with the results, and while a lot of it has been pure dumb luck (cursing the New York Knicks to send them onto a losing streak and then uncursing them to send them onto a massive winning streak that resulted in them winning an NBA Championship), WWE is being smart enough to run with it while it lasts. Yeah it’s all probably good luck and timing, but why wouldn’t WWE strike while the iron is hot with him? When else are they going to get this chance?
WWE Needs To Take Advantage While Danhausen Is Hot
That’s the thing with someone like Danhausen: he probably is not going to have a long lifespan at this level in wrestling. He’s a weird guy, rather small in stature, and his gimmick is likely going to lose its charm at some point in the future. That’s just the way odd characters like him work in professional wrestling. It’s not meant as a knock on him, but it’s a reality that both he and WWE are going to have to face.
Therefore, of course it makes sense to go full speed ahead with him while they have the chance. Danhausen is over with the crowd at the moment so run with it. That’s exactly what WWE is doing by giving Danhausen this kind of a platform. The Knicks thing aside, he’s doing some entertaining stuff every week on SmackDown (though I can absolutely see why it might not be for everyone) and that’s worth sticking with until it stops working entirely.
Danhausen Is A Character That Only One Person Could Play
At the same time though, Danhausen himself deserves a lot of credit. He’s a great example of a wrestler who could only be played by one person. You’ll often hear about “this guy could have been Hulk Hogan” or “this guy could have been the next Ric Flair”. Danhausen is more in the vein of a Steve Austin or Undertaker (work with me here) in that no one else could really make this kind of a character work. He is tailor made for this ridiculous, over the top stuff and while his success will probably come to a screeching halt one day, he’s more than making the most out of his opportunity.
WWE Barely Changed Anything About Danhausen
That’s the big lesson here. Sometimes, you do not know what is going to fall into your lap in wrestling. WWE basically stumbled into something that is red hot while not costing them much in the way of influence. Danhausen is pretty much the same character that he portrayed on the independent circuit and in AEW, but now he is doing it in WWE. The company hasn’t had to invest much into him but they are raking in more than enough in merchandise sales (not to mention publicity) to make up for him. That’s not bad for someone who could barely get on AEW television for such a long time.
Danhausen Gives WWE Something Most Wrestlers Don't
Danhausen is not going to be for everyone. It’s a very fair complaint to say that this is silly (he has a CLONING MACHINE) and stupid (he performs experiments on the near catatonic Miz and Kit Wilson, who have been turned into basically catchphrase spewing zombies, though some might say that’s not a big stretch for Miz) but at the end of the day, look at what it is doing. Wrestlers you might see on the Tonight Show are Roman Reigns, John Cena, Triple H and Cody Rhodes. Now you can add Danhausen (granted in picture form) and that’s quite the success for someone who is far from your traditional wrestling star (to say the least).
WWE might not (ok doesn’t have) the next big thing in Danhausen. He’s not going to be the next Austin or Cena, but what they do have is a character that has people talking. That’s a lot more than most of the people on the WWE roster can say and they are smart enough to run with it. Danhausen is more than backing up his side of it so let’s just see how much they can get out of him. Even if it comes crashing down, he got further than anyone could have reasonably expected so all he could then say is, of course, CURSES!
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