Curt Hennig

Curt Hennig (March 28, 1958 – February 10, 2003), also known by his ring name Mr. Perfect, was an American professional wrestler who competed for the American Wrestling Association, World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling promotions.

American Wrestling Association

The son of wrestler Larry "The Axe" Hennig, Curt Hennig spent the greater part of the first decade of his career rising through the ranks of the promotion. Due to his considerable talent, and the defection of other wrestlers to the WWF and NWA, Hennig eventually became one of the top stars in the AWA. Hennig's first big push was with his father in a feud with the Road Warriors in 1985. The Hennigs were unsuccessful in their bid to win the tag titles, but proved to be worthy opponents for the Road Warriors, an attempt by the AWA to raise Curt's clout amongst the fans.

Hennig eventually won the AWA World Tag Team Championship with partner Scott Hall in 1986, defeating the team of Jimmy Garvin and Steve Regal. They would lose the titles to the team of Buddy Rose and Doug Somers that same year, at which time Hennig immediately began his pursuit of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship.

Then champion, Stan Hansen, was embroiled in a feud with Jerry Blackwell for the title. According to the storyline, Blackwell had been injured in a car accident and was unable to face Hansen for the title. Hennig was Blackwell's replacement and wrestled Hansen to a draw. When Hansen was stripped of the title and the belt was awarded to former 3 time world champion Nick Bockwinkel, Hennig was the obvious #1 contender.

Hennig and Bockwinkel would feud for nearly a year over the title, headlining AWA cards throughout the midwest. Several of their title matches would go the full one hour time limit and most were considred classics.

Before the title change, the AWA and Hennig decided to take his character in a new direction. Hennig began to express frustration during interviews and his in ring tactics began to stradle the fence between face and heel. Hennig's heel turn was furthered when he won the AWA World Heavyweight Title from Nick Bockwinkel on May 2, 1987, after using a roll of dimes given to him by Larry Zbyszko, and cemented by attacking tag team partner Greg Gagne during a match.

Hennig and Gagne would feud over the title during late 1987 and early 1988. The most intersting (and perhaps only) twist to the feud was the involvement of the fathers, Verne and Larry, in many of the matches. Greg Gagne apparently won the title on several occasions, only to have the belt returned to Hennig on technicality, a common booking practice of the AWA at the time.

After a one year title reign, Hennig lost the title to Jerry Lawler on May 9, 1988, in Memphis. Hennig made a few more appearances on television and claimed that he wanted title shots from Lawler, but left the AWA shortly after the title loss.

World Wrestling Federation

The character of "Mr. Perfect" was created upon arriving in the WWF. Hennig spent weeks shooting promos for his new persona. These clips showed him hitting a 3 point shot, running the table in pool, or sinking a long golf putt to solidify his claim as being a superior athelete in anything he did. He would go undefeated for over a year, adding to his claim of perfection. That record came to an end when he began feuding with Hulk Hogan over the WWF Championship in 1989. Originally handled by The Genius, Hennig eventually enlisted the services of Bobby Heenan as his manager and went on to win the vacant Intercontinental Title in the finals of a tournament in April 1990 by defeating two-time IC Champion Tito Santana.

He lost the belt to Kerry Von Erich at SummerSlam '90. He regained the title in November thanks to interference from Ted DiBiase and held it until dropping the belt to Bret Hart at SummerSlam '91. Hennig battled an injured back throughout most of this period, and while recovering he acted as Ric Flair's "executive consultant" during Flair's two WWF Championship reigns. Flair and Mr. Perfect soon had a falling out after Randy Savage asked Perfect to be his partner against Flair and Razor Ramon at the 1992 Survivor Series. This led to several notable matches between the two.

Hennig returned to the ring at the 1992 Survivor Series, teaming with Savage against Flair and Razor Ramon, and won the match by disqualification. Mr. Perfect later eliminated Flair from the 1993 Royal Rumble and defeated Flair the next night on Raw in a "Loser Leaves The WWF Match".

Hennig actively competed in the WWF until the fall of 1993. He wrestled Lex Luger at Wrestlemania 9 and lost the match, only to chase Luger backstage and was jumped from behind by aspiring Shawn Michaels. This feud would lead to an Intercontinental Title match at Summerslam 1993, which Hennig would again lose due to interference from Diesel.

One of the most memorable matches Hennig would be involved in that year was at the 1993 King of the Ring PPV, where having defeated Mr. Hughes by disqualification, he would go up against Bret "The Hitman" Hart in the semi-finals. After a gruelling move-for-move, hold-for-hold, technically perfect match, Hennig would lose the match to Hart after Hart reversed a small package attempt by Hennig. Both men would shake hands at the end of the match to standing ovation from the crowd.

His back injury had flared up again so he took more time off and became a color commentator. At Wrestlemania X, Hennig was a special guest referee for the title match between Lex Luger and Yokozuna. He returned in 1995 as a color commentator at the Survivor Series and served as a manager/mentor for Hunter Hearst Helmsley before leaving the WWF in 1996.

World Championship Wrestling

Hennig signed with WCW in 1997, with both the Four Horsemen and the nWo trying to recruit him. After feuding with Diamond Dallas Page for a month he joined the Four Horsemen, taking the spot of the retiring Arn Anderson. A few weeks later, during a War Games match, he betrayed them and joined the nWo alongside his childhood friend, Rick Rude, claiming to have "destroyed the Horsemen." Hennig won the United States Title from Steve McMichael in late 1997 before losing it to Diamond Dallas Page three months later.

He struggled with a knee injury for much of 1998. Despite this injury he faced WCW World Champion Goldberg twice (losing both matches), the first being Goldberg's first world title defense at Bash at the Beach. In 1999 he won the World Tag Team Titles with Barry Windham. Three months later, he became the leader of The West Texas Rednecks with Barry, his brother Kendall Windham and Bobby Duncum, Jr.. They were supposed to be heels to feud with rapper Master P's No Limit Soldiers but the southern WCW fans cheered them and the storyline was soon dropped. The Rednecks recorded a country song titled Rap Is Crap that received some airplay. After the Rednecks disbanded he feuded with Harlem Heat and then Shawn Stasiak. During the feud Stasiak began calling himself "Perfectshawn" Shawn Stasiak (pronounced "perfection"), which was a ripoff of the "Mr. Perfect" gimmick. During the summer of 2000, Hennig left WCW after his contract expired.

Late Career and Death

After a brief run as a franchise star for the short lived XWF, he returned to WWE in 2002 as a competitor in the Royal Rumble before being eliminated by Triple H. He was the third to last wrestler to be eliminated. He then had short feuds with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Rob Van Dam before forming a short lived tag team with Big Bossman. He was released from the company after reportedly becoming intoxicated and getting into a fight with Brock Lesnar on a return flight from the United Kingdom. After being fired from the WWE, he went on to work for TNA and Jimmy Hart's All Star Wrestling.

On February 10, 2003, Hennig was found dead in a Florida hotel room, just before a scheduled TNA wrestling match. The Tampa Coroner's office and the Tampa Medical Examiner's office declared acute cocaine intoxication the official cause of his death. He was 44 years old.