Curt Hennig Obituary

Brian Houlihan

Earlier this week. A lot of people and I were shocked to hear about Curt "Mr.Perfect" Hennig had died. At the time of writing I haven't heard how he passed on. But here is a profile of sorts about the gum chewing wrestler. Before I start I just want to send my sincere condolences to Curts family and close friends. R.I.P Curt

Curt Hennig was born on the 28th of March in 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He made his pro wrestling debut in 1979, followers of Curt's career will know of his many injuries he suffered during his wrestling career and many say this is what prevented him from being place among wrestling's elite competitors. But he did have many great matches and feuds during his career. Curt was always great at playing the megaheel persona he protrayed. He was trained by his father Larry "The Axe" Henning and at Verne Gagne's training camp. He had a small spell in WWF(E) as a jobber but his contract wasn't renewed, so he went to the AWA promotion where he won the tag titles in 1986 with Scott Hall.

In 1988 he took time off from injuries before accepting WWF(E)'s contract offer for him to play a character known as Mr.Perfect. This is where Curt's career took off. WWF(E) showed clips of him during broadcasts where he was hitting home runs, Sinking basketballs over his head, getting a hole in one off a shot on a golf course etc, These were used to protray him as someone who was perfect hence the name. In WWF(E) he was on an undefeated streak with wins over the Blue Blazer (Owen Hart) at Wrestlemania V and The Red Rooster (Terry Taylor) at Summerslam 1989. During this time he began using his famous finisher which is known as "The Perfect Plex".

The finisher got a good reputation because during his first spell with WWF(E) which lasted about five years only four wrestlers kicked out of the move, which includes people like Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan. He lost his winning streak just before Wrestlemania VI when he was pinned by The Ultimate Warrior. He lost at Wrestlemania VI to Brutus Beefcake but his match was over shadowed by the Hogan losing to Ultimate Warrior match.

Curt won his first WWF(E) title by winning the eight-man tournament for the vacant Intercontinental, he beat Tito Santana. This featured his debut of his new manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Henning would drop the belt to "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich in a five minute match. He would win back the title in a rematch a few months later and he would keep the belt for nine months. He did lose during his reign but usually by DQ.

He dropped the title at Summerslam 1991 to Bret Hart due to a back injury, which was even wrote into the storyline of the feud. Curt was told by doctors not to wrestle again so he returned in a managerial capacity. He joined forces with Heenan and helped Ric Flair who won the World Title at Royal Rumble 1992. And this kept Henning in the picture at WWF(E).

Mr. Perfect returned to the ring by teaming with Randy Savage to beat Flair and Razor Ramon in a match for the Tag Titles but by DQ. Henning eliminated Flair from the 1993 Rumble and with Flair leaving WWF(E), Henning won a loser-leaves match which was used to explain Flair's departure.

Hennig was then for the first time protrayed as a babyface. Hennig battled The Narcissist (Lex Luger) he lost in a screwjob. This was also the night he was attacked backstage by HBK Shawn Michaels. Hennig got to the second round in the first ever King Of The Ring in 1993 and he lost to the eventual winner of the KOTR, Bret Hart after an epic 18-minute match.

Hennig's last WWF(E) PPV match of that five year spell with WWF(E) came at Summerslam in an Intercontinental title match against Shwan Michaels. Hennig lost due to outside interference from Diesel. Due to more back problems a rematch never took place. After being out for the rest of 1993 he returned to the ring as a special referee at Wrestlemania X for the match between Luger and Yokozuna.

Hennig would not wrestle again until 1997. Although he did work as a commentator for WWF(E) and occasionaly as a guest referee. He was part of an angle with HHH in 1995 and was due to wrestle HHH in 1996 but due to a sneak attack Hennig was "injured" and Marc Mero who was the Intercontinental Champion was asked to replace Henning. During the match Hennig hit Mero with a chair allowing HHH to win the match and title. Hennig was introduced as HHH's manager but Henning left a week later due to citing health problems.

On July 13th he made his return but with WCW as mystery partner for DDP at Bash At The Beach against Scott Hall and Savage. While in WCW he won the Tag title's with Barry Windham by defeating Benoit and Malenko and they the titles to Benoit and Malenko less than a month later. He also won the United States title.

Hennig returned for a short spell with WWE but nothing major happened except his release due to an apparent fight with Brock Lesnar on a plane flight. Hennig then went on to work for NWA:TNA and others. He was scheduled to work for Jimmy Hart but he was found dead in a hotel room by his training parner. And thus a great career although full of injuries was over.

Curt Hennig will never be forgot by wrestling fans and many will remember all the memories he left us with. R.I.P Curt

Written By Brian Houlihan

Its sad . I liked him alot .