Curt Hennig

At 44 years old, Curt Hennig has this physical status:

Curtis Michael Hennig (March 28, 1958 – February 10, 2003) was an American professional wrestler, manager, and color commentator who served under the banner of Curt Hennig for the American Wrestling Federation (now WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (now Impact Wrestling).

Mr. Xavier's greatest triumph in the WWF came as Mr. Xamen. A nickname was introduced in his second run with the company that became his company's official ring name in addition to his regular name.

Hennig is the son of wrestler Larry "The Axe" Hennig and the father of current WWE wrestler Curtis Axel. Hennig won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship once (with his 373-day reign being the seventh-longest in history) and the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championships once more.

Hennig, a two-time WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight champion, was named by WWE as one of the top five champions of all time; he was the longest-reigning champion of the 1990s.

He won multiple championships in WCW in the late 1990s, as well as the leader of stable and country music group The West Texas Rednecks, who released the famous tongue-in-cheek song, "Rap is Crap."

Hennig returned to the WWF for a short time in 2002, as one of the few remaining three men at the Royal Rumble that year.

He competed for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in TNA earlier in his life, before his death on February 10, 2003. Hennig was dubbed "one of the best all-round wrestlers this [wrestling] industry has ever produced," by WCW, while WWE praised him for raising the current technical wrestling gold standard.

Wade Boggs, a former Major League Baseball player and longtime friend, was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.

"Everybody would check their egos at the door when they entered a Curt Hennig building because you didn't out-work him, you couldn't outshine him, and you couldn't out-perform him," former rival Hulk Hogan said.

"He was the best of the best" - "He was the best of the best."

Early life

Curt Hennig was born on March 28, 1958 as the son of professional wrestler Larry "The Axe" Hennig. Hennig was a youth buddy with fellow wrestler Rick Rude. They attended Robbinsdale High School in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, alongside Tom Zenk, Brady Boone, Nikita Koloff, John Nord, Road Warrior Hawk, and Barry Darsow, who all became professional wrestlers.

Personal life

Hennig was married to Leonice Leonard. They had four children: Joseph, Amy, Kaite, and Hank. Joseph and Amy are professional wrestlers. Hennig was survived by his parents, Larry and Irene; two brothers, Randy and Jesse; and two sisters, Sandra and Susan.

Source

Professional wrestling career

Curt Hennig, a nicknamed "Cool" Hennig, began his career on January 30, 1980 in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the job that had made his father, Larry "The Axe" Hennig, a celebrity.

Hennig began his WWF career in 1981. He defeated Johnny Rodz for his first victory. He grew up to be a promising young star against Buddy Rose, Greg Valentine, and Killer Khan. He was eventually paired-up in tag team competitions with Eddie Gilbert, another young upstart, and himself the son of a wrestling legend (Tommy Gilbert).

Hennig and his father, Larry, won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship in 1982, defeating Rip Oliver and Matt Borne. He and Buddy Rose and Scott McGhee captured the titles in 1983 and 1984 respectively. He appeared on occasion for the firm from 1984 to 1988. During this time, he worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling and several overseas territories, including NWA St. Louis, Central States Wrestling, and the Continental Wrestling Association.

In 1983, Hennig joined the American Wrestling Association. He would go on to become one of the top celebrities in his own right, defeating "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin and "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal on January 18, 1986 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and becoming one of the top stars in his own right.

Later, he resurrectered his solo AWA career, culminating in defeating Nick Bockwinkel at the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in SuperClash on May 2, 1987 with the help of Larry Zbzyszko and becoming the villain in doing so. Hennig, as well as his dad Larry "The Axe"), will participate in a long feud with Greg Gagne and his father, Verne Gagne. Madusa Miceli, the AWA World Women's Champion since December 27, 1987, has been associated with him. Hennig and Madusa joined the Diamond Exchange, which also included Badd Company and Colonel DeBeers.

Hennig would hold the AWA World Heavyweight Championship for about 53 weeks before losing it to Jerry Lawler on May 9, 1988. Hennig, like many other AWA members of the time (including Hulk Hogan, Rick Martel, and The Rockers), left the AWA for the WWF with the promise of more funds and broadening exposure.

Hennig returned to the WWF in mid-1988. On September 11, Hennig made his televised in-ring debut, defeating enhancement artist Ron Rovishod. On October 1 episode of Superstars, vignettes began airing on WWF television, where he was repackaged with the sarcastic braggart villain who pretended to be able to do difficult tasks "correctly," earning the narrator's nickname. Perfect" would be his ring name in 1989 and the use of his real name would be phased out. He pretended to be the best in athletics or somewhere else. These clips featured him hitting half-court, three-point, and no-look basketball shots, bowling for a total of 300, throwing then his own Hail Mary golf putt, hitting home runs, and making bulls-eyes in darts. Wade Boggs (MLB), Steve Jordan (NFL), and Mike Modano (NHL) co-starred with Hennig in these vignettes, as well as athletes from various major league sports, including Wade Boggs (MLB), Steve Jordan (NFL), and Mike Modano (NHL). Mr. Hennig appeared for the first time as Mr. He was sensational on October 4 of Prime Time Wrestling, where he defeated Jim Brunzell.

Hennig made his pay-per-view debut at Survivor Series 1988 and took part in the Giant's team's five-on-five elimination tag team competition against co-captain Jim Duggan's team, including Rick Rude, Dino Bravo (also co-captain), and Harley Race against co-captain Jim Duggan's team of Jake Roberts (also co-captain) and Scott Casey. Perfect fought with Bravo in the match. He was undefeated on television for more than a year, defeating mid-card wrestlers including B. Brian Blair, Ronnie Garvin, Koko B. Ware, The Blue Blazer, Jimmy Snuka, Tito Santana, and Bret Hart, 1989.

Perfect began performing on The Genius, an arrogant, reciting scholar on The Brother Love Show, and began a rivalry with Hulk Hogan over the WWF Championship on October 7th. Genius defeated Hogan by a count out, with Hennig's help on November 25, the pair took Hogan's title belt and smashed it backstage. Perfect and Hogan competed on live television, although Hennig did not qualify against Hogan on January 15, 1990, when they lost his first chance for the WWF Championship against Hogan. But not the title.

Perfect attacked Genius Beefcake after their match, which sparked a feud between the two teams, at Royal Rumble. Perfect finished the Royal Rumble match as the No. 62 later that night. The 30th entrant is the first to enter. Rick Rude was dismissed before making it to the final two, where Hogan had defeated him. Perfect's undefeated streak came to an end on March 19 at Madison Square Garden, when he suffered his first pinfall loss on television against the Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior. Brutus Beefcake was defeated in singles competition on national television for the first time. Hogan settled the score with Perfect during a match between the two teams on Saturday Night's Main Event XXVI, in which Hogan pinned Perfect for the first time on television. Perfect quietly ended his relationship with The Genius following his loss to Hogan.

Perfect finished the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship in May 1990, just after the previous champion Ultimate Warrior vacated the title after winning the WWF Championship at WrestleMania VI. Hennig was expected to win the tournament for the first time by defeating Jimmy Snuka in the quarter-finals of Superstars and two-time Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion Tito Santana on May 5 in the finals of Superstars and two-time Superstars Tito Santana on May 19 episode of Superstars and two-time Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion Tito Santana. Perfect enlisted Bobby Heenan as his "perfect" boss after his title triumph and mounted a fruitful title defense against Santana on Saturday Night's Main Event XVII. Hennig was supposed to defend his title against Brutus Beefcake at SummerSlam, but Beefcake was forced to miss Beefcake and challenged Hennig to a championship match against SummerSlam, which Perfect accepted on the following week's Superstars. Perfect dropped the championship to Texas Tornado at SummerSlam. In a four-on-four elimination tag team match against the Warriors, Hennig was selected to lead Demolition as "The Perfect Team" against The Warriors (Ultimate Warrior, Texas Tornado, and Legion of Doom) by Hennig, Hennig's team lost, where Hennig's team was defeated. On November 24, he unsuccessfully challenged Texas Tornado in a MSG Network special before winning the title by defeating Texas Tornado on December 15 episode of Superstars with Ted DiBiase. In a rematch of Superstars on February 2, 1991, Perfect defended the title against Texas Tornado, where he retained the title by counting out.

At WrestleMania VII, Perfect continued his title defense against Big Boss Man, where he lost by disqualification after the challenger was branded by Haku and The Barbarian. Perfect won a battle royal on Saturday Night's Main Event by last removing Greg Valentine, which resulted in a match between the two teams for Perfect's title on May 14 after disqualification. Bobby Heenan resigned as a boss on June 15 and introduced The Coach as Hennig's new boss on June 15 in a Superstars episode. Hennig started a feud with British Bulldog but suffered a back injury in late June that culminated in the feud being tense. On July 13th episode of Superstars, Bret Hart was announced as his next challenger, but in the meantime, Hennig was banned from all house shows, usually replaced by Typhoon. On television, he fought a few preliminary opponents but decided against stressing his back with the Perfectplex, breaking them out of the fight by countout. Perfect lost the title to Hart at SummerSlam, due to a broken tailbone and bulged discs that had to be removed from the competition.

Hennig spent the next year recovering from his injury. On November 23 of Superstars, he appeared on television as Ric Flair's "executive consultant." Perfect became a color commentator of the show for the next year, proving to be a sympathetic villain to Vince McMahon's play-by-play this week. Perfect aided Flair in winning matches and guided him to two World Heavyweight Championship reigns in 1992. Perfect and Flair were caught up with Randy Savage, whose feud with him was causing a tag team match at Survivor Series, where Flair and Razor Ramon will face Savage and Ultimate Warrior. However, Warrior was released from the WWF weeks before the case. Perfect asked Perfect to be his partner on November 16 of Prime Time Wrestling. Perfect was swayed by Savage's cajoling and Bobby Heenan's degrading words and order to obey orders, resulting in Perfect's demise into a fan favorite for the first time in WWF by dumping water on Heenan and becoming his partner in the Prime Time Wrestling cast of Hillbilly Jim Duggan and Vince McMahon. Hennig made his return to the ring at Survivor Series, where Hennig and Savage defeated their opponents.

Perfect began a high-profile rivalry with Flair. On January 2, 1993, he made his return to singles action, defeating The Berzerker in a Superstars episode. Hennig competed in the 1993 Royal Rumble match to determine the No. 1 in the nation. At WrestleMania, there is one contender for the WWF Championship. He cut Flair, Skinner, and Jerry Lawler until he was ruled out by Ted DiBiase, Koko B. Ware, and Lawler. In a match where the loser will be forced to leave WWF, Hennig defeated Flair the next night. Flair left WWF as a result. He then went on to clash with debuting Lex Luger, who was rated Perfect during his interviews. Luger defeated WrestleMania IX, despite the fact that both of Perfect's feet were clearly between the ropes. Perfect followed Luger backstage, where he was jumped from behind by Luger's aide Shawn Michaels. Perfect began a rivalry with Michaels as a result.

Hennig qualified for the first-ever televised King of the Ring tournament by defeating Doink the Clown at this point. Perfect beat Mr. Hughes in the quarter-finals but then lost to eventual winner Bret Hart in the semi-finals at King of the Ring. Perfect was competing against Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam, where Perfect lost by countout due to interference from Michaels' new bodyguard Diesel. Hennig's last televised match in WWF was on November 7, where he defeated Iron Mike Sharpe. He had intended to compete as a member of Razor Ramon's team in the Survivor Series, but Randy Savage was forced to leave the match. Perfect was "such a Perfect partner" that he tagged out before the game even started, according to Ramon, who took the microphone before the match began.

Perfect made his surprise return to WWF at WrestleMania X on March 20, 1994, where he was the special guest referee for the WWF Championship match between Lex Luger and Yokozuna. Perfect disqualified Luger after Luger manhandled Perfect, who was tending to Yokozuna's stricken executives Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji rather than counting the pinfall and turning heel back. Perfect was about to ignite another rivalry with Luger, during which he admitted that he screwed Luger because of Luger's unlawful victory over Perfect the previous year at WrestleMania IX. However, plans were cancelled after Hennig's back pains resurfaced. In the spring of 1994, he left the WWF.

Hennig recovered from a back injury before returning to work as a color commentator at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in 1995. Jerry Lawler announced Perfect as his replacement on Superstars, his second stint as a color commentator on the show with Vince McMahon, but this time with Jim Ross as the analyst. McMahon retired in 1996, and Ross took over as the play-by-play role. Perfect also did color commentary at Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and In Your House 10: Mind Games pay-per-views. Perfect was also the special guest referee for the WWF Championship match between Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog in June's King of the Ring pay-per-view.

Hennig was placed in mid-1996 as he appeared to be in a lockout situation with Hunter Hearst Helmsley's matches and rob his female escorts, which would often cause a distraction for Helmsley's matches and often impede his success in matches. Perfect supported Marc Mero in winning the Intercontinental Championship from Faarooq and assisted him in retaining the title against Goldust at In Your House 11. Perfect was supposed to make his wrestling comeback on Raw, but Helmsley backstage just moments before their match. Perfectly injured and unable to participate, Helmsley's attack left Perfectly wounded, causing them to miss out on the tournament. This turned out to be a ruse to force Mero to defend his title against Helmsley. Helmsley took the Obero Award from Mero thanks to perfection. Perfect began to serve as a mentor to Helmsley and accompanied Helmsley to the ring. Perfect left the WWF just after he appeared on Survivor Series for the final time on November 5's episode.

In mid-1997, Hennig joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Since his Mr. The WWF had a brilliant ring name and he returned to action under his real name. During a brawl that erupted after the main event, he debuted in WCW as a fan favorite on June 30 episode of Monday Nitro. At the Bash at the Beach pay-per-view in July, he became Diamond Dallas Page's mystery tag team partner against nWo members Randy Savage and Scott Hall, his first match in the company. The match had to be called back to Hennig because they were on Page costing them the game. Hennig became a competitor with Page, defeating him in a match at Road Wild. Hennig continued to use the fisherman suplex as his finishing move, renaming it Hennig-Plex. He became a top favorite of both Four Horsemen and the New World Order shortly after his debut (nWo) as both factions expressed interest in recruiting him. He later joined the Four Horsemen, replacing Arn Anderson, who had been in charge of the former. Hennig replied to Anderson's invitation by saying, "It will be a privilege." The parody of the Horsemen by the nWo was Anderson's argument that Hennig takes "his spot" for the following week, which culminated in the WarGames match. Hennig was reportedly jumped backstage by the nWo before the WarGames match and arrived ringside mid-match with his arm in a sling, according to a nWo. The whole thing turned out to be a ruse, with Hennig trampled the Horsemen and joined the nWo, handcuffing the other Horsemen to the cage and then slamming the steel cage door into Ric Flair's head, turning him into a villain. Hennig won the United States Heavyweight Championship by beating Horseman Steve McMichael the next night. Hennig retained the title for three months after winning the title against Flair in a no disqualification match at World War III before removing the title to Diamond Dallas Page at Starrcade.

Hennig's childhood best friend Rick Rude was joined in the nWo in the fall of 1997. Hennig and Rude were thrust into a rivalry with Bret Hart and his family, The British Bulldog, and Jim Neidhart, when both teams fought against each other in various matches in the first half of 1998. At the Spring Stampede, Hennig lost to Hart and defeated Bulldog.

In mid-1998, he was sidelined due to a knee injury. During this period, the nWo split into two groups, the nWo Wolfpact and nWo Hollywood, both Hennig and Rude, Kevin Nash's fan-favorite Wolfpact group, formed. However, the two villains did not really fit into the fan favorite Wolfpac group, especially when Rude would still get on the mic and tell the fans to shut down. Hennig had been due to compete at the United States Heavyweight Championship in June, but he was unable to participate due to injury, so he ordered Konnan to substitute him. Konnan lost the match, and Hennig and Rude assaulted him afterward, separating from the Wolfpact and joining nWo Hollywood. Goldberg won the World Heavyweight Championship and Hennig in spite of his injury, defeated Goldberg for the title in a humiliating bid at Bash at the Beach the following month.

Hennig began arguing with Horseman Dean Malenko over his betrayal of the Four Horsemen the previous year, resulting in a match between the two teams at the Fall Brawl pay-per-view in September. Hennig was taken off television to recover from his knee injury after the loss. Eric Bischoff was back in WCW at the Starrcade in December to assist Eric Bischoff in defeating Ric Flair. Hennig and his son David were fighting Flair and his son David in a tag team match against Souled Out in 1999, which Hennig's team lost. Both nWo factions were revived in 1999, and Hennig was put in the nWo B-Team, a group of nWo mid-card wrestlers of the nWo. However, he was kicked out of the company after speaking out against the company's leaders on January 25 episode of Nitro.

Hennig formed a tag team with Barry Windham and continued the Four Horsemen's rivalry. Hennig and Windham were enrolled in a tournament for the vacated World Tag Team Championship, which they won by defeating Horsemen Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko at SuperBrawl IX. Hennig and Windham were tag champions for a month before losing to Benoit and Malenko in a lumberjack match, next month at Uncensored, after Arn Anderson struck Hennig with a tire iron. Hennig defeated Hollywood Hogan in a losing bid in the main event of the Thunderstorm on March 18, after Horace saved Hogan from a Hennig-Plex. Hennig formed The West Texas Rednecks in May, with Windham, Barry's brother, and Bobby Duncum, Jr., Jr. The group members were identified as southern country musicians. They began battling with rapper Master P's No Limit Soldiers and performed an iconic country song titled "Rep is Crap." Hennig and Duncum lost in a tag team match at The Great American Bash on June 13th during the competition, defeating Konnan and Rey Mysterio Jr. of the No Limit Soldiers. The Rednecks lost to the Soldiers once more in an elimination tag team match at Bash at the Beach on July 11. Rednecks were supposed to be villains, but southern WCW followers cheered them on instead of the Soldiers, resulting in the scene being cancelled. On August 14, the Rednecks lost to the Revolution in a six-man tag team match at Road Wild for their last pay-per-view game.

Hennig began a storyline after the Rednecks disbanded, in which he said he was obeying orders from "the powers that be" that if he lost any match by pinfall, he would abandon it. He was competing in a tournament to crown the new World Heavyweight Champion, but lost to Jeff Jarrett in the second round. After losing a retirement match against Buff Bagwell at Mayhem, he was forced to leave. He was restored by the powers of a month later and joined forces with Creative Control, which also included the trio's victory over Harlem Heat and Midnight at Starrcade.

He remained on the WCW television, although he made occasional appearances with the company. In the spring of 2000, Stasiak referred to himself as "The Perfect One" as a ripoff of Hennig's "Mr." And then, the "ideal" character and even used entrance music were made to sound like Mr. The Perfect theme tune was chosen for this occasion. At Slamboree, Hennig lost to Stasiak. On May 20 episode of Worldwide, Hennig defeated Chris Harris in his last televised match in WCW. Hennig left WCW after his deal came to an end in the summer of 2000.

Hennig left World Championship Wrestling in summer 2000 and appeared in the Australian i-Generation Superstars of Wrestling competition, where he contested the i-Generation World Heavyweight Championship on two occasions. After his appearances in Australia, he joined the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico, winning the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship from Carly Colon for a short time. He was with the WWC until January 2001. Hennig appeared for one night with All-Japan Pro Wrestling in Japan, at its King's Road New Century 2001 festival in Tokyo, where he competed in a six-man tag team match.

Hennig made a few appearances with the World League Wrestling promotion in mid-2001. He fought on the independent circuit until November 2001, when he joined the newly formed X Wrestling Federation. He wrestled for the XWF for the remainder of the year, fighting Buff Bagwell and Vampiro. In December 2001, he made two more appearances with the World Wrestling Council.

Hennig would be returning as one of the 30 warriors during the build-up to the Royal Rumble in January. Hennig, who has since been branded "Mr." "Perfect" (although his true name was widely known), entered the Royal Rumble at No. No., entering the Royal Rumble at No. 68. 26, she was one of the final three athletes before being disqualified by eventual winner Triple H. Perfect, hitting the Perfect-Plex on Kurt Angle and holding his own at the time. Hennig was given a full-time job with the WWF thanks to his appearance and the enthusiastic response of the Atlanta crowd. In a match against Val Venis that night, Perfect appeared on Raw the next night. He had brief feuds with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Rob Van Dam before forming a tag team with Shawn Stasiak at house shows throughout March and April, as well as a tag team on television with Big Boss Man. At the first WWF Draft, Hennig was drafted to Raw. On May 12, Hennig's last televised WWE match took place (taped May 6) where Matt Hardy was defeated by Matt Hardy. On May 4, 2002, he defeated Goldust in a dark match at the Insurrection. Hennig was suspended from the company on May 7, 2002 after a physical alteration with Brock Lesnar on the return flight from the pay-per-view. The tussle took place on the famous "Plane Ride from Hell" in addition to other instances of inebriation. Hennig sluggish shaving cream on his head, which sparked the scuffle and nearly opened the emergency exit door, according to Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer on the Dark Side of the Ring.

Since being banned from WWE, he went to work for NWA Total Nonstop Action. In TNA, he will compete in three matches for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (two against Ron Killings and one against Jeff Jarrett), but not win the title. B.G. is a member of the British Int. James was also competing in a championship match against Disciples of the New Church of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, but he didn't win the titles. Hennig lost in a "Axehandle on a Pole match" on January 8, 2003, defeating David Flair in a "Axehandle on a Pole match."

Source