That Was Then 5.04.07: Stars Of The 90s - Curt Hennig
Posted by Stuart Carapola on 05.04.2007
From Mr Perfect to Executive Consultant to Horseman to NWO member to West Texas Redneck, Curt Hennig managed to keep himself in the limelight whether he was actively wrestling or not. Hennig had a natural talent for having a good match with anyone, and it carried him to matches with some of the top names in the business.
Curt Hennig is known as one of the best in-ring technicians of the 90s, but his talents lay in more than merely his ability to chain wrestle. Often overlooked is his ability to elevate the people he worked with by leading them to matches beyond what they'd normally manage. Hennig always worked his butt off to make his opponents look like a million bucks, and it didn't matter if he won or lost, because even by losing to Hennig you were likely the better off for it. His skill as a worker garnered respect and he was rewarded by being given the AWA World Title. He lost the AWA Title to Jerry Lawler and came to the WWF, but would earn many important wins and be a highly respected titleholder even with his days as a World Champion behind him.
Part I: The Perfect Intercontinental Champion
Curt Hennig had wrestled in the WWF in the early 80s, but it wasn't until he made his return in 1988 as Mr Perfect that he truly began to make his mark on the company. Hennig used his technical abilities to start racking up win after win and after a while had strung together an impressive undefeated streak. Time passed and, though some came close, nobody was able to beat him and some got the impression that nobody could. Between his natural talent and the interference of his manager The Genius, a win over Perfect would clearly not be an easy thing to accomplish.
Perfect's streak lasted well over a year, and finally came to an end in early 1990. Depending on the timeline you're following, the streak was ended by either Hulk Hogan or Brutus Beefcake. Hogan pinned Perfect on a taping of Saturday Night's Main Event, but it didn't air until after Beefcake's victory over Hennig at Wrestlemania 6. Either way, the streak was over by the end of April 1990, and with his streak went The Genius, who disappeared in shame after having his hair cut by Beefcake. Hennig soon rebounded from his pair of losses by winning a tournament for the vacant Intercontinental Title, defeating Tito Santana in the finals with the help of his new manager Bobby Heenan.
Unfortunately, 1990 would continue to be a rough year for Hennig. Despite being the new Intercontinental Champion, he lost a string of matches to WWF Champion Ultimate Warrior (though he did carry Warrior to some of his best matches in the process) and then dropped his newly won IC Title to Kerry Von Erich at Summerslam 90. Perfect captained a team against a team led by the Ultimate Warrior at the Survivor Series, but he went down in defeat to the WWF Champion yet again. Thankfully, his luck turned around after the Survivor Series, as he regained the IC Title from Von Erich and then went on another winning streak, holding off challenges from men such as Jimmy Snuka, the Big Boss Man, and Davey Boy Smith. His second run with the IC Title finally came to an end after nine months when he was defeated by Bret Hart at Summerslam 91.
Unbeknownst to many at the time, Hennig had suffered a severe back injury about halfway through his second run with the title, and he was forced to wrestle very sporadically over the last several months of his run while they built Hart up well enough to give him the title. To Hennig's credit, he toughed out each and every one of the matches he did wrestle, and it is a testament to how tough the guy is that nobody watching ever had any idea that he was injured. By the time he lost the title to Hart at Summerslam, he was in unbelievable amounts of pain and even Hart was surprised that Hennig was able to not only make it through the match, but put on a match that Hart still considers one of his best. Still, his back was badly injured and the match with Hart didn't do it any favors. He would need a lot of time off, so he had to find something else to do in the meantime.
Part II: Perfect Returns To The Ring! Wait, He's Gone Again
Ric Flair's jump from WCW to the WWF was perhaps the biggest wrestling news story of 1991, and Hennig saw the "perfect opportunity" to keep himself in the spotlight without having to wrestle: he signed on as Flair's Executive Consultant, and would coach Flair and accompany him to ringside for all of his matches. Of course, as any self-respecting heel manager would, he freely and frequently interfered in Flair's matches, helping Flair to score many wins. Although he wasn't at ringside for Flair's amazing marathon victory in the 1992 Royal Rumble, a win that earned him the WWF World Title, he was there for all of Flair's biggest matches afterward, including his WWF Title loss to Randy Savage at Wrestlemania 8. When the returning Ultimate Warrior was announced as the Summerslam challenger for the WWF Title and not Flair, Flair and Perfect concocted a plan where Perfect would sell his services to the highest bidder and accompany him to the ring at Summerslam, with the unspoken understanding that Perfect would interfere on his behalf. It turned out to be a ruse the whole time, as neither man paid for Perfect's services, and the pair just used it as an opportunity to attack Savage and injure his knee. Flair capitalized on Savage's knee injury and defeated him to regain the title days later.
Hennig came to a difficult crossroads at Survivor Series 92. Savage and Warrior were scheduled to team up to face Flair and his new running buddy Razor Ramon, but Warrior flaked out on the WWF again a week before the show, and Hennig was asked to come back from his injury a little early. They did a quick storyline setup where Savage asked Hennig to be his new partner, and Hennig agreed after realizing that Flair, Heenan, and Razor didn't take him seriously. Savage and Hennig won by DQ, and then Hennig defeated Flair in a Loser Leaves The WWF match. Hennig had an awesome rematch with Bret Hart in the semifinals of King Of The Ring 93 (which he again lost), but spent most of the rest of 1993 in dead end feuds with Lex Luger and Shawn Michaels. At the end of 1993, Hennig's back started giving him trouble again, and he was forced to disappear.
It would be two years before he finally made his return...as an announcer. Though he did get involved in storylines where he was an antagonist to then-WWF Champion Shawn Michaels in a non-wrestling role, it took until Fall of 1996 before he appeared ready to finally get back in the ring. He had allied himself with new IC Champion Marc Mero while having a war of words with Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Helmsley challenged Hennig to a match and Hennig accepted, but Helmsley attacked him in the back, and it appeared that the injured Hennig couldn't compete. He asked Mero to take his place, and Helmsley's match with Mero turned into an IC Title match. Hennig came to ringside to support Mero, but turned on his charge and helped Helmsley win the IC Title.
It appeared to be the beginning of a new partnership much like the one Hennig shared with Ric Flair, but Hennig again made a hasty and unexpected departure almost immediately after Helmsley won the IC Title, and it was the last we would see of him in the WWF for years.
Part III: Jumping Ship
Hennig had been a fixture in the WWF for almost the entirety of his career as a national star and it was weird to think of him being anywhere else, but by late 1997, we had become accustomed to seeing WWF stars jumping to WCW, so much so that the impact lessened with each jump. Still, Hennig was a surprising acquisition, and he was expected to be an impact player. He made his debut as a mystery partner for Diamond Dallas Page against Randy Savage and Scott Hall, but walked out on Page. He won a series of matches against Page while being courted by his old friend Ric Flair to join the Four Horsemen. Hennig continually refused Flair's offers to join before he finally accepted the invitation of the retiring Arn Anderson, who offered him his spot in the group. It turned out to be another masterful ruse on Hennig's part, as he turned on the Four Horsemen and joined the NWO in Wargames. He won the US Title the next night and feuded with Flair through the entire Fall, winning every match against the former World Champion, but lost the US Title to Page at Starrcade.
Hennig melted into the background of the NWO after that, making his presence felt as a wrestler every now and then, but allowing the spotlight to be shined more on Hogan, Hall, Nash, and Savage instead of himself. He went down to yet another injury in late 1998 after suffering a pair of losses to WCW World Champion Bill Goldberg, and when he returned in early 1999, he was beaten up and thrown out of the NWO. He joined up with his old friend Barry Windham and together, the two won a tournament for the vacant WCW World Tag Team Title, defeating Horsemen Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko in the finals. Though they lost the title to Benoit and Malenko just weeks later, Hennig and Windham formed the foundation on which a new group would be built when Barry's brother Kendall and Bobby Duncum, Jr joined up, and the four men became the West Texas Rednecks. The group had an infamous feud with rapper Master P and his No Limit Soldiers. The West Texas Rednecks recorded a country song called Rap Is Crap and were supposed to be the heels, but the predominantly southern fanbase identified more with the Rednecks and cheered them instead of the No Limit Soldiers.
The feud petered out without any real blowoff due to the inappropriate fan response and the West Texas Rednecks eventually dissolved, and Hennig was once again left on his own. He floundered for the remainder of his WCW contract and was looking at jumping back to the WWF upon the expiration of his contract, but before that happened, the WWF bought out WCW and ended the rivalry forever. Hennig's contract was not among those picked up by the WWF.
Conclusion
Hennig did finally return to the WWF at Royal Rumble 2002, ending up as one of the last three men in the ring (ironically, with Triple H, the last man he had contact with before leaving in 1996) and put on such a good performance that he was instantly rehired. Unfortunately, a scuffle with Brock Lesnar on the infamous Flight From Hell resulted in his release, as the WWF didn't want their new golden boy to be adversely influenced by fellow Minnesotan Hennig's rowdy ways outside the ring. Hennig did a short stint in TNA later in the year, but never accomplished anything significant there.
Tragedy struck in 2003 when Curt Hennig went to Florida to work an indy show. He did not appear at the venue as expected, and when somebody went to go look for him, they found him dead in his hotel room. The autopsy revealed that he had died of acute cocaine intoxication. It is tragic that this icon of 90s wrestling came to such a pathetic end, but I will always remember Curt Hennig as one of the best ring generals and as one of the toughest bastards of my generation.
