Curt Hennig

Early life

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

Professional wrestling career

American Wrestling Association (1980–1982) Known as "Cool" Curt Hennig, he began his career on January 30, 1980, in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the promotion which had made his father, Larry "The Axe" Hennig a star.

World Wrestling Federation (1981–1983) Hennig started his WWF career in 1981. His first victory was against Johnny Rodz. He established himself as a promising young performer against the likes of Buddy Rose, Greg Valentine and Killer Khan. Eventually, he was paired-up in tag team matches with another young upstart, Eddie Gilbert, himself the son of a wrestling legend (Tommy Gilbert).

Pacific Northwest Wrestling (1982–1988)

In 1982, Hennig teamed up with his father, Larry, and won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship defeating Rip Oliver and Matt Borne on April 27. He later won the titles with Buddy Rose and Scott McGhee in 1983. He also won the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship in 1983, after defeating Sheik Abdullah Ali Hassan. He lost the title to The Dynamite Kid three months later. From 1984 to 1988 he made occasional appearances for the company. During this time he worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling and various territories such as NWA St. Louis, Central States Wrestling and Continental Wrestling Association.

American Wrestling Association (1983–1988)

Hennig (center) with Diamond Dallas Page and Diamond Doll Tonya in 1988.

Hennig returned to the American Wrestling Association in 1983.

In late 1985, Hennig formed a tag team with Scott Hall. At the inaugural SuperClash in September 1985, they teamed with Greg Gagne to defeat Larry Zbyszko, Nick Bockwinkel, and Ray Stevens. The team won the AWA World Tag Team Championship by defeating "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin and "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal on January 18, 1986, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Hennig and Madusa joined The Diamond Exchange, a stable led by Diamond Dallas Page that also included Badd Company and Colonel DeBeers. Hennig held the AWA World Heavyweight Champinship for slightly over a year, losing it to Jerry Lawler on May 9, 1988.

His first major PPV match was at Survivor Series 1988 in a five-on-five elimination tag team match as a member of co-captain André the Giant's team, along with Rick Rude, Dino Bravo (also co-captain) and Harley Race against co-captain Jim Duggan's team of Jake Roberts (also co-captain), Ken Patera, Tito Santana and Scott Casey. Perfect survived the match with Bravo. The following year, he appeared in SummerSlam, defeating The Red Rooster in a squash match. He went undefeated on television for over a year, beating mid-card wrestlers including B. Brian Blair, Ronnie Garvin, Koko B. Ware, The Blue Blazer, The Red Rooster, Jimmy Snuka, Tito Santana, and Bret Hart Perfect and Hogan wrestled on the live events, where he lost to Hogan but they did not compete on television until January 15, 1990, when Hennig received his first opportunity for the WWF Championship against Hogan at Madison Square Garden and this was his first televised match against Hogan, which he won by disqualification but not the title.

At Royal Rumble, Perfect attacked Genius's opponent Brutus Beefcake after their match, which began a feud between the two. Perfect's undefeated streak ended when he suffered his first pinfall loss on regional television against the WWF Intercontinental Champion Ultimate Warrior on March 19, at Madison Square Garden. Hogan settled the score with Perfect with a match between the pair on April 28's Saturday Night's Main Event XXVI, in which Hogan pinned Perfect for the first time on television. Following his loss to Hogan, Perfect quietly ended his association with The Genius. After his title win, Perfect enlisted Bobby Heenan as his "perfect" manager Hennig was scheduled to defend the title against Brutus Beefcake at SummerSlam, stemming from his loss to Beefcake at WrestleMania but Beefcake suffered an injury and The Texas Tornado substituted for Beefcake and challenged Hennig to a title match for SummerSlam on August 11's episode of Superstars, which Perfect accepted on the following week's Superstars. He unsuccessfully challenged Texas Tornado in a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship on November 24 MSG Network special.

Perfect won the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship for a second time by defeating Texas Tornado on the December 15, 1990 episode of Superstars, with help from Ted DiBiase. Perfect made his next title defense against Big Boss Man at WrestleMania VII, where he retained the title by losing via disqualification after the challenger was attacked by Haku and The Barbarian. The following month, Perfect won a battle royal on April 27's Saturday Night's Main Event by last eliminating Greg Valentine, which led to a match between the two for Perfect's title on the May 14 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, where Perfect retained the title via disqualification. The following week on Superstars, Perfect became a color commentator of the show for the next full year, acting as a suitable villainous foil to Vince McMahon's play-by-play. By the fall of 1992, Perfect and Flair were in the midst of a rivalry with Randy Savage, building to a tag team match at Survivor Series where Flair and Razor Ramon would face Savage and Ultimate Warrior. However, Warrior was released from the WWF weeks prior to the event. On November 16 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, Savage asked Perfect to be his partner. After initially laughing off Savage's offer, Perfect was swayed by Savage's cajoling and by Bobby Heenan's degrading comments and commanding Perfect to follow orders, which would lead to Perfect turning into a fan favorite for the first time in WWF by dumping water on Heenan and accepting Savage's offer to return to the ring and become his partner at Survivor Series, much to the delight of the Prime Time Wrestling cast of Hillbilly Jim, Jim Duggan, and Vince McMahon. Hennig made his return to the ring at Survivor Series, where Hennig and Savage won their match.

Perfect began a high-profile rivalry with Flair. He made his return to singles competition on the January 2, 1993, episode of Superstars, where he defeated The Berzerker. Hennig defeated Flair the next night on Monday Night Raw in a loser leaves the WWF match.

Hennig went on to feud with the debuting Lex Luger, who berated Perfect during his promos. Luger won their match at WrestleMania IX though both of Perfect's feet were clearly between the ropes. Afterwards, Perfect chased Luger backstage where he was jumped from behind by Luger's ally Shawn Michaels. As a result, Perfect began a rivalry with Michaels.

Perfect competed against Michaels for the WWF 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 the November 7, 1993 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge, where he defeated Iron Mike Sharpe (the match was recorded in October 1993). He was set to participate as a member of Razor Ramon's team at Survivor Series later that month, but was replaced in the match by Randy Savage. Ramon took the microphone before the match saying Perfect was "such a Perfect partner" that he tagged out before the match had even begun. Perfect disqualified Luger after Luger manhandled Perfect, who was tending to Yokozuna's stricken managers Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji instead of counting the pinfall and turned heel again. Perfect was set to start another rivalry with Luger, during which he explained that he screwed Luger because of Luger's illegal win over Perfect the previous year at WrestleMania IX. However, plans were scrapped after Hennig's back problems flared up again. He left the WWF in the spring of 1994.

Hennig took a year off to recover from a back injury until he returned to the company as a color commentator at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in 1995. The following weekend, Jerry Lawler announced Perfect as his replacement on Superstars, Perfect also served as the special guest referee for the WWF Championship match between Shawn Michaels and British Bulldog at June's King of the Ring pay-per-view.

In mid-1996, Hennig was placed in an angle with Hunter Hearst Helmsley, where he would come out to the ringside during Helmsley's matches and steal his female escorts, which would often cause a distraction for Helmsley and affect his performance in matches. During the rivalry, Perfect helped Marc Mero in winning the Intercontinental Championship from Faarooq and assisted him in retaining the title against Goldust at In Your House 11: Buried Alive. His first match in the company took place at July's Bash at the Beach pay-per-view where he became Diamond Dallas Page's mystery tag team partner against nWo members Randy Savage and Scott Hall. As a result, Hennig began a rivalry 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.

Shortly after his debut, Hennig became a top favorite of both Four Horsemen and the New World Order (nWo) as both factions showed interest in recruiting him. He ultimately joined the Four Horsemen, taking the spot of the retiring Arn Anderson. Hennig replied to Anderson's invitation by saying "It would be a privilege." Anderson's plea that Hennig takes "his spot" was the subject of the following week's parody of the Horsemen by the nWo, which led to the WarGames match. and a no disqualification match at World War 3, before dropping the title to Diamond Dallas Page at Starrcade.

In the fall of 1997, Hennig was joined by his childhood best friend Rick Rude in the nWo. Hennig lost to Hart at Uncensored and defeated Bulldog at Spring Stampede.

Hennig was sidelined due to a knee injury in mid-1998. During this time, the nWo broke into two different factions, the nWo Wolfpac and nWo Hollywood, both Hennig and Rude joined Kevin Nash's fan-favorite Wolfpac group. However, the two villains did not really fit in with the fan favorite Wolfpac faction, especially when Rude would still get on the microphone and tell the fans to shut up. The following month, Goldberg won the World Heavyweight Championship and Hennig, despite his injury, faced Goldberg for the title in a losing effort at Bash at the Beach.

In the fall of 1998, Hennig began feuding with Horseman Dean Malenko over his betrayal of the Four Horsemen the previous year, After the loss, Hennig was taken off television to recover from his knee injury. He returned to WCW at the Starrcade event in December to aid Eric Bischoff in defeating Ric Flair. In 1999, both nWo factions reunited and Hennig was placed in the nWo B-Team, a group consisting of mid-card wrestlers of the nWo. However, he was kicked out of the group after speaking against the leaders on the January 25 episode of Nitro.

West Texas Rednecks and departure (1999–2000)

Hennig formed a tag team with Barry Windham and continued the rivalry with The Four Horsemen. Hennig and Windham were placed 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 held the tag titles for a month, before losing to Benoit and Malenko in a lumberjack match, the following month at Uncensored, after Arn Anderson hit Hennig with a tire iron. Hennig competed against Hollywood Hogan in a losing effort the main event of the March 18 episode of Thunder after Horace saved Hogan from a Hennig-Plex. Less than a month later, the Rednecks lost to the Soldiers once again in an elimination tag team match at Bash at the Beach on July 11. Rednecks were intended to be villains but the southern WCW fans cheered them instead of the Soldiers, resulting in the angle being dropped. The Rednecks made their final pay-per-view appearance at Road Wild on August 14, where Hennig, Barry and Duncum lost to The Revolution in a six-man tag team match.

After the Rednecks disbanded, Hennig began a storyline, in which he stated that he was following orders from "the powers that be" that if he lost any match by pinfall, he must retire. He was forced to retire after losing a retirement match against Buff Bagwell at Mayhem. He was reinstated by the powers that be a month later, however, and joined forces with Creative Control, during which the trio defeated Harlem Heat and Midnight at Starrcade.

He remained on the WCW television, continuing to make sporadic appearances with the company. He entered a feud with Shawn Stasiak in the spring of 2000, after Stasiak referred to himself as "The Perfect One" which was a ripoff of Hennig's "Mr. Perfect" character and even used entrance music composed to sound like Mr. Perfect's theme song. Hennig lost to Stasiak at Slamboree.

In mid-2001, Hennig made a handful of appearances with Harley Race's World League Wrestling promotion. He then wrestled sporadically on the independent circuit until November 2001, when he joined the newly-formed Xcitement Wrestling Federation. He wrestled for the XWF for the remainder of the year, facing opponents including Buff Bagwell and Vampiro. In December 2001, he made two further appearances with the World Wrestling Council. His performance, along with the positive reaction of the Atlanta crowd, earned Hennig a full-time contract with the WWF. He was drafted to Raw during the first ever WWF Draft. Hennig worked for WWE until May 8, 2002, when he was released due to a physical confrontation with Brock Lesnar on the return flight from the pay-per-view. Among other incidents of drunkenness, the tussle took place on the infamous "Plane Ride from Hell". According to Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer on the Dark Side of the Ring, Hennig pranked Lesnar by slapping shaving cream on his head, which started the scuffle and almost opened the emergency exit door.

NWA Total Nonstop Action (2002–2003) After being released from WWE, Hennig went on to work for NWA Total Nonstop Action. On October 9 NWA-TNA, Henning debuted teaming with B.G. James and Syxx and defeated Ron Killings, Jeff Jarrett and Brian Lawler with Hennig pinning World Champion Killings.

Henning would wrestle three matches for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (two against Ron Killings and one against Jeff Jarrett), but didn't win the title. On November 27, 2002 NWA-TNA, Hennig and B.G. James had a title match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship against Disciples of the New Church (Brian Lee and Slash) but failed to win the titles. Hennig wrestled his last match on January 8, 2003, defeating David Flair in an "Axehandle on a Pole match".

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

Death On February 10, 2003, Hennig was found dead in a hotel room in Brandon, Florida at the age of 44. It was stated by his father that anabolic steroids and painkillers also contributed to his death.

Legacy WWE aired a video tribute as well as words from friends and former co-workers Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross on Raw following the news of Hennig's death. TNA paid tribute to Hennig by displaying his wrestling singlet and a framed photo as he was employed by TNA at the time of his death. A tribute song about Hennig, "My Perfect Friend", was featured on the 2003 "Macho Man" Randy Savage album Be a Man.

Other peers including Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Kevin Nash have also commended Hennig's in-ring talents. The title win made them the first of three father-son duos to hold the championship, the second being Rikishi and Jey Uso and the third being Rey and Dominik Mysterio.

In other media

Championships and accomplishments

Hennig (right) was a two-time WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion. American Wrestling Association AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) AWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scott Hall Future of Wrestling FOW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2007 i-Generation Superstars of Wrestling i-Generation World Heavyweight Championship (2 times) Main Event Championship Wrestling MECW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2022 Pacific Northwest Wrestling NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (1 time) NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Larry Hennig (1), Buddy Rose (1) and Pat McGhee (1) Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2015 Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (1987) PWI ranked him No. 9 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 1993 PWI ranked him No. 55 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003 PWI ranked him No. 98 of the Top 100 Tag Teams of the "PWI Years" with Scott Hall in 2003 Pro Wrestling this Week Wrestler of the Week ( May 17–23, 1987) World Wrestling Council WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship (1 time) World Championship Wrestling WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time) WCW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Barry Windham WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2007) Wrestling Observer Newsletter Most Improved (1983)