Curt Hennig Tribute Thread
05-01-2014
, 09:08 PM
Uncensored '98: Curt Hennig w/ Rick Rude vs. Bret Hart
Date: March 15, 1998
Link: N/A
Background: Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. WCW would have done well to copy WWF's habit of awesome video packages. I would settle for a merely passable video package just so I could know what was going on between these two before this match.
The Match: Rick Rude started being by Curt Hennig's side at this point. Rude unfortunately didn't have a ton of value as a corner man, though he was still a good talker. To my knowledge, this is the first time these two had met in a match in five years. In a way, it should be an interesting gauge of just how much they had slipped since then; I don't think anyone can question that both had already seen their best days by this point.
Curt slaps Bret, the two engage in a couple of tie-ups that end in stalemates, and they start things out on the technical wrestling tip with Bret establishing control via a side headlock. This side headlock goes on for…seriously like three or four minutes. What the hell. When Hennig finally gets his way back up to his feet, Bret blocks his hiptoss attempt and then responds with a hiptoss of his own that he successfully executes. And by "successfully executes" I mean "botches pretty badly."
Bret manages to actually get the sharpshooter on shortly after the hiptoss of doom, and as the referee goes down to check on Hennig, Rick Rude just brazenly comes into the ring and hits Bret to knock him off before slipping back out of the ring. I would say that it was stupid that the ref didn't see that, but Rude's smooth and quick escape was actually done so well that I kind of appreciated the spot.
Hennig works Bret's leg, which Mike Tenay says will render Bret's sharpshooter ineffective. He brings Bret out to the corner and sets up to ram his leg into the post, causing Tony Schiavone to say, "There are a lot of wrestlers who never come back from this." WTF, who? What wrestler, even in kayfabe, has even missed significant time over that move? What kind of weird thing to say was that? Anyway, Curt does post his leg, then distracts the referee while Rude cranks away at Bret's leg on the corner as well. Maybe he's not such a worthless corner man.
Hennig applies a figure-four on Bret, and holds onto it for quite a while, occasionally getting leverage from Rude on the outside when the referee isn't looking. The referee finally catches this and forces the break, but significant damage is done on Bret's leg at this point. Bret fights back when he gets stood up in a corner, but Curt is able to regain control with one swift kick to the bad wheel. Bret is selling this nicely, but the pace is just soooo slow.
Hennig to the top, Bret knocks him off and crotches him. Tosses him across the ring by the hair. Reverse atomic drop followed by a clothesline, two-count. Russian legsweep, two-count. Running bulldog, two-count. Bret's sell job has gotten worse since I complimented it. I'm more forgiving of weak selling if I don't have to watch 10 minutes of the limb being worked on first. If you're going to do that though, you'd better pay it off. Anyway, elbow off the second rope, another two-count for Bret.
The last two-count causes Bret to argue with the referee, which allows Hennig recovery time, and he reverses Bret into the corner for the hard chest bump. Follows right up with a successful Hennigplex, but Bret kicks out on two. Heenan: "I've never seen anyone kick out of that move once it was applied by Hennig!" You are a liar, Bobby. Seems a weird spot for it here though. Hennig and Rude argue the count, Bret takes the opportunity to run Hennig into Rude and roll him up, Hennig rolls back through and pulls fully on the trunks, but only gets two. Solid false finish.
Hennig off the ropes, goes for a sunset flip, but Bret rolls through, stands up, cinches in the Sharpshooter, and Hennig taps out. Rick Rude in for the "too little, too late" beatdown. Hennig joins in with a chair shot. Rude actually hits the Rude Awakening on Bret, which I don't remember him doing after he retired. Curt and Rude stand triumphantly, but they lost this one.
Result: Bret Hart via submission (13:53)
Rating: This was just too slow. Some decent storytelling, a solid last few minutes, but overall, if this was a measure of how far these two had fallen since their last matchup five years ago, the answer is a sad one. 2 stars out of 5.
Date: March 15, 1998
Link: N/A
Background: Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. WCW would have done well to copy WWF's habit of awesome video packages. I would settle for a merely passable video package just so I could know what was going on between these two before this match.
The Match: Rick Rude started being by Curt Hennig's side at this point. Rude unfortunately didn't have a ton of value as a corner man, though he was still a good talker. To my knowledge, this is the first time these two had met in a match in five years. In a way, it should be an interesting gauge of just how much they had slipped since then; I don't think anyone can question that both had already seen their best days by this point.
Curt slaps Bret, the two engage in a couple of tie-ups that end in stalemates, and they start things out on the technical wrestling tip with Bret establishing control via a side headlock. This side headlock goes on for…seriously like three or four minutes. What the hell. When Hennig finally gets his way back up to his feet, Bret blocks his hiptoss attempt and then responds with a hiptoss of his own that he successfully executes. And by "successfully executes" I mean "botches pretty badly."
Bret manages to actually get the sharpshooter on shortly after the hiptoss of doom, and as the referee goes down to check on Hennig, Rick Rude just brazenly comes into the ring and hits Bret to knock him off before slipping back out of the ring. I would say that it was stupid that the ref didn't see that, but Rude's smooth and quick escape was actually done so well that I kind of appreciated the spot.
Hennig works Bret's leg, which Mike Tenay says will render Bret's sharpshooter ineffective. He brings Bret out to the corner and sets up to ram his leg into the post, causing Tony Schiavone to say, "There are a lot of wrestlers who never come back from this." WTF, who? What wrestler, even in kayfabe, has even missed significant time over that move? What kind of weird thing to say was that? Anyway, Curt does post his leg, then distracts the referee while Rude cranks away at Bret's leg on the corner as well. Maybe he's not such a worthless corner man.
Hennig applies a figure-four on Bret, and holds onto it for quite a while, occasionally getting leverage from Rude on the outside when the referee isn't looking. The referee finally catches this and forces the break, but significant damage is done on Bret's leg at this point. Bret fights back when he gets stood up in a corner, but Curt is able to regain control with one swift kick to the bad wheel. Bret is selling this nicely, but the pace is just soooo slow.
Hennig to the top, Bret knocks him off and crotches him. Tosses him across the ring by the hair. Reverse atomic drop followed by a clothesline, two-count. Russian legsweep, two-count. Running bulldog, two-count. Bret's sell job has gotten worse since I complimented it. I'm more forgiving of weak selling if I don't have to watch 10 minutes of the limb being worked on first. If you're going to do that though, you'd better pay it off. Anyway, elbow off the second rope, another two-count for Bret.
The last two-count causes Bret to argue with the referee, which allows Hennig recovery time, and he reverses Bret into the corner for the hard chest bump. Follows right up with a successful Hennigplex, but Bret kicks out on two. Heenan: "I've never seen anyone kick out of that move once it was applied by Hennig!" You are a liar, Bobby. Seems a weird spot for it here though. Hennig and Rude argue the count, Bret takes the opportunity to run Hennig into Rude and roll him up, Hennig rolls back through and pulls fully on the trunks, but only gets two. Solid false finish.
Hennig off the ropes, goes for a sunset flip, but Bret rolls through, stands up, cinches in the Sharpshooter, and Hennig taps out. Rick Rude in for the "too little, too late" beatdown. Hennig joins in with a chair shot. Rude actually hits the Rude Awakening on Bret, which I don't remember him doing after he retired. Curt and Rude stand triumphantly, but they lost this one.
Result: Bret Hart via submission (13:53)
Rating: This was just too slow. Some decent storytelling, a solid last few minutes, but overall, if this was a measure of how far these two had fallen since their last matchup five years ago, the answer is a sad one. 2 stars out of 5.
05-01-2014
, 10:18 PM
Bash at the Beach '98: WCW Title - Goldberg (c) vs. Curt Hennig
Date: July 12, 1998
Link: N/A
Background: Goldberg had just won the WCW Title from Hulk Hogan. Hennig was not a believable challenger to Goldberg's title, but he showed up on Nitro and challenged him, which inevitably forces a babyface to give a guy a title shot. Not that Hennig was a jobber in WCW at all, but heel jobbers should really take advantage of this loophole, because it's clearly there.
The Match: Goldberg busted himself open in the back headbutting a locker or whatever, so he comes out with a gash in his forehead. Anyway, the intros were competitive in length with the match.
Goldberg puts in some power offense, then appears to be setting up for the Jackhammer when Hennig trips him and works Goldberg's leg a little bit. The announcers, bless their hearts, really try hard to put over the fact that Hennig could win the title here. It's a lot more than I can usually say for the current WWE announce table. Hennig actually successfully executes the Hennigplex, but Goldberg of course kicks out on two and then promptly follows with a hard clothesline and then a spear. Goldberg executes the Jackhammer this time, and that'll do it.
Result: Goldberg via pinfall (3:50)
Rating: N/A. I mean it was a squash match, this would be like rating Mr. Perfect vs. Reno Riggins. Squash is fine here obviously, Hogan and DDP were tied up in the actual show-closer with Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone so just feeding another semi-credible heel to Goldberg works.
Date: July 12, 1998
Link: N/A
Background: Goldberg had just won the WCW Title from Hulk Hogan. Hennig was not a believable challenger to Goldberg's title, but he showed up on Nitro and challenged him, which inevitably forces a babyface to give a guy a title shot. Not that Hennig was a jobber in WCW at all, but heel jobbers should really take advantage of this loophole, because it's clearly there.
The Match: Goldberg busted himself open in the back headbutting a locker or whatever, so he comes out with a gash in his forehead. Anyway, the intros were competitive in length with the match.
Goldberg puts in some power offense, then appears to be setting up for the Jackhammer when Hennig trips him and works Goldberg's leg a little bit. The announcers, bless their hearts, really try hard to put over the fact that Hennig could win the title here. It's a lot more than I can usually say for the current WWE announce table. Hennig actually successfully executes the Hennigplex, but Goldberg of course kicks out on two and then promptly follows with a hard clothesline and then a spear. Goldberg executes the Jackhammer this time, and that'll do it.
Result: Goldberg via pinfall (3:50)
Rating: N/A. I mean it was a squash match, this would be like rating Mr. Perfect vs. Reno Riggins. Squash is fine here obviously, Hogan and DDP were tied up in the actual show-closer with Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone so just feeding another semi-credible heel to Goldberg works.
05-02-2014
, 06:25 PM
Fall Brawl '98: Curt Hennig w/ Rick Rude vs. Dean Malenko
Date: September 13, 1998
Link: N/A
Background: Hennig and Malenko had fought on a recent Nitro in a cage match. After a ref bump the nWo came out to beat down Malenko. They were going to slam his head in the cage door when the retired (and unable to work) Arn Anderson came out and made the save. Malenko had been trying to get Anderson to reform the Horsemen. This was part of the angle of the Horsemen reuniting one more time.
The Match: We have two rings because of a War Games match later that night. Malenko ducks a clothesline upon entry and takes the fight to Hennig. They brawl outside, he sets Hennig's leg up on the barrier and then hits a low dropkick on the leg. Kinda cool.
He beats up on Rude as well for a moment before dragging Hennig into a corner and posting his leg. Very focused on the right leg from the opening bell. Hennig's first counter is getting a boot up when Malenko charges him in a corner, but he tries for a bodyslam and his leg gives out; Dean goes back to work, only finally getting slowed down again by a poke to the eye.
An overall observation of Hennig's WCW work: he had definitely slowed down and was less capable than in his prime, but he was still a very cerebral wrestler who sold kayfabe injuries extremely well. He never seems to fail to remember even when his offensive moves would hurt his leg if it really was injured.
Hennig goes outside, Rude is supporting him and helping him around the ring, but Malenko eventually follows him out, attacks him, and sends him back in. As Hennig begs for mercy from his knees, Malenko dropkicks the bad knee. I love, love, love Malenko's low targeted dropkicks.
Malenko goes off the ropes to get a running start at Hennig, and Rude jumps up on the apron and knees him in the back. Referee Mark Curtis clearly sees this and tells Rude "hey, get down off the apron." WCW referees sure were slow to disqualify anyone ever. Off of Rude's interference, Hennig attempts a Hennigplex, but his leg buckles and he can't get him up. Malenko counters with Hennig's own finisher, and as he hits it Rude runs in and attacks to cause the disqualification. Blah. Dumb finish. Just have Dean go over and tap Hennig out clean with the Texas Cloverleaf in that spot.
Result: Dean Malenko via DQ
Rating: Half-decent match, but nothing amazing. Bad finish. 2 stars out of 5.
Date: September 13, 1998
Link: N/A
Background: Hennig and Malenko had fought on a recent Nitro in a cage match. After a ref bump the nWo came out to beat down Malenko. They were going to slam his head in the cage door when the retired (and unable to work) Arn Anderson came out and made the save. Malenko had been trying to get Anderson to reform the Horsemen. This was part of the angle of the Horsemen reuniting one more time.
The Match: We have two rings because of a War Games match later that night. Malenko ducks a clothesline upon entry and takes the fight to Hennig. They brawl outside, he sets Hennig's leg up on the barrier and then hits a low dropkick on the leg. Kinda cool.
He beats up on Rude as well for a moment before dragging Hennig into a corner and posting his leg. Very focused on the right leg from the opening bell. Hennig's first counter is getting a boot up when Malenko charges him in a corner, but he tries for a bodyslam and his leg gives out; Dean goes back to work, only finally getting slowed down again by a poke to the eye.
An overall observation of Hennig's WCW work: he had definitely slowed down and was less capable than in his prime, but he was still a very cerebral wrestler who sold kayfabe injuries extremely well. He never seems to fail to remember even when his offensive moves would hurt his leg if it really was injured.
Hennig goes outside, Rude is supporting him and helping him around the ring, but Malenko eventually follows him out, attacks him, and sends him back in. As Hennig begs for mercy from his knees, Malenko dropkicks the bad knee. I love, love, love Malenko's low targeted dropkicks.
Malenko goes off the ropes to get a running start at Hennig, and Rude jumps up on the apron and knees him in the back. Referee Mark Curtis clearly sees this and tells Rude "hey, get down off the apron." WCW referees sure were slow to disqualify anyone ever. Off of Rude's interference, Hennig attempts a Hennigplex, but his leg buckles and he can't get him up. Malenko counters with Hennig's own finisher, and as he hits it Rude runs in and attacks to cause the disqualification. Blah. Dumb finish. Just have Dean go over and tap Hennig out clean with the Texas Cloverleaf in that spot.
Result: Dean Malenko via DQ
Rating: Half-decent match, but nothing amazing. Bad finish. 2 stars out of 5.
05-02-2014
, 06:38 PM
Hennig Takes Hiatus Due to Injury, Sits Out Rest of 1998
Curt apparently was working for quite a while here with a bad knee injury; I'd noticed that he was wearing a heavy leg brace in a few matches, but didn't know if it was kayfabe or what. After the Malenko match he stopped wrestling for a few months. That makes it even dumber that they didn't just have Malenko go over clean with the Cloverleaf there. The match's clear intent was to put him over; do it right.
Curt Hennig kicked out of nWo
Date: January 25, 1999
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_jON7PvLQ0
The nWo laid out a beatdown on Curt and sort of formally wrote him out of the group at this point.
Curt Hennig Begins Tagging With Barry Windham
Without any other plans for Hennig at this point, and probably not wanting to give him much of a singles push anymore, they threw him in with another aging wrestler. You would think that he would be out to pasture pretty quickly after this, but I'd say the two men squeezed as much life out of the alliance as they reasonably could have.
Curt apparently was working for quite a while here with a bad knee injury; I'd noticed that he was wearing a heavy leg brace in a few matches, but didn't know if it was kayfabe or what. After the Malenko match he stopped wrestling for a few months. That makes it even dumber that they didn't just have Malenko go over clean with the Cloverleaf there. The match's clear intent was to put him over; do it right.
Curt Hennig kicked out of nWo
Date: January 25, 1999
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_jON7PvLQ0
The nWo laid out a beatdown on Curt and sort of formally wrote him out of the group at this point.
Curt Hennig Begins Tagging With Barry Windham
Without any other plans for Hennig at this point, and probably not wanting to give him much of a singles push anymore, they threw him in with another aging wrestler. You would think that he would be out to pasture pretty quickly after this, but I'd say the two men squeezed as much life out of the alliance as they reasonably could have.
05-02-2014
, 06:40 PM
05-02-2014
, 07:51 PM
SuperBrawl IX: WCW Tag Team Title Tournament Final - Curt Hennig & Barry Windham vs. Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko
Date: February 21, 1999
Link: N/A
Background: This was a double-elimination tournament. Hennig & Windham had made it to the finals without a blemish on their record, beating Benoit & Malenko in the first round. Benoit & Malenko had that one loss, so they were going to have to take two straight falls off of Hennig & Windham here to win the titles. Hennig & Windham could absorb one fall and still leave with the belts, which if nothing else guaranteed that they were certainly going to do the "absorb one fall" part.
The Match: Took me a bit to find this match, because this PPV has search bubbles but none were showing up for this one. Eventually realized that it was because Benoit is unsearchable. I don't really mind WWE's censorship of Benoit (at the very least, I get it; they're publicly traded), but that search thing seems a bit silly.
Benoit & Malenko are both Horsemen here, and come out to one variation of Arn Anderson's old music. Hennig is showing his age with some extra weight; Windham looks downright flabby and homeless. Malenko and Windham start, don't do much, and both tag out to Benoit and Hennig respectively. Hennig chops Benoit in the corner, Benoit responds with a harder chop that floors Hennig. The Crippler generally gets the better of Curt, and Curt tags out to go get a breather.
Windham is pretty much of a mess here. I don't remember him being THIS bad by this point, but he's out of shape and appears to just sort of suck. Once he's done inspiring this assessment, he tags back out. Benoit gets Hennig down and hits the swandive headbutt off the top, but Windham huffs and puffs his way into the ring and pushes Benoit off in mid-cover.
On paper I was hoping this match could deliver, but it's boring the **** out of me. There literally hasn't been a standout spot or an interesting pinfall attempt yet. The inevitable Benoit/Malenko fall to force a tiebreaker occurs when Malenko locks in a Texas Cloverleaf on Windham as Benoit has Hennig tied up in the corner. Hennig breaks the first attempt at this up, but Malenko locks it in for the second time and Windham quickly taps.
We go straight into the next fall though, and as the referee is distracted with Hennig and Benoit, Windham takes the belt off of his jeans and strangles Malenko with it at length. Then he levels him with a clothesline and covers for the three-count. These WCW bookers couldn't write a good ending to save their lives.
Result: Hennig & Windham via pinfall when Windham pinned Malenko, new champions (20:36 total)
Rating: Awful. Unwatchable. I can't even put it all on the old guys, because Benoit and Malenko weren't really even attempting anything interesting either. 0.5 stars out of 5.
Date: February 21, 1999
Link: N/A
Background: This was a double-elimination tournament. Hennig & Windham had made it to the finals without a blemish on their record, beating Benoit & Malenko in the first round. Benoit & Malenko had that one loss, so they were going to have to take two straight falls off of Hennig & Windham here to win the titles. Hennig & Windham could absorb one fall and still leave with the belts, which if nothing else guaranteed that they were certainly going to do the "absorb one fall" part.
The Match: Took me a bit to find this match, because this PPV has search bubbles but none were showing up for this one. Eventually realized that it was because Benoit is unsearchable. I don't really mind WWE's censorship of Benoit (at the very least, I get it; they're publicly traded), but that search thing seems a bit silly.
Benoit & Malenko are both Horsemen here, and come out to one variation of Arn Anderson's old music. Hennig is showing his age with some extra weight; Windham looks downright flabby and homeless. Malenko and Windham start, don't do much, and both tag out to Benoit and Hennig respectively. Hennig chops Benoit in the corner, Benoit responds with a harder chop that floors Hennig. The Crippler generally gets the better of Curt, and Curt tags out to go get a breather.
Windham is pretty much of a mess here. I don't remember him being THIS bad by this point, but he's out of shape and appears to just sort of suck. Once he's done inspiring this assessment, he tags back out. Benoit gets Hennig down and hits the swandive headbutt off the top, but Windham huffs and puffs his way into the ring and pushes Benoit off in mid-cover.
On paper I was hoping this match could deliver, but it's boring the **** out of me. There literally hasn't been a standout spot or an interesting pinfall attempt yet. The inevitable Benoit/Malenko fall to force a tiebreaker occurs when Malenko locks in a Texas Cloverleaf on Windham as Benoit has Hennig tied up in the corner. Hennig breaks the first attempt at this up, but Malenko locks it in for the second time and Windham quickly taps.
We go straight into the next fall though, and as the referee is distracted with Hennig and Benoit, Windham takes the belt off of his jeans and strangles Malenko with it at length. Then he levels him with a clothesline and covers for the three-count. These WCW bookers couldn't write a good ending to save their lives.
Result: Hennig & Windham via pinfall when Windham pinned Malenko, new champions (20:36 total)
Rating: Awful. Unwatchable. I can't even put it all on the old guys, because Benoit and Malenko weren't really even attempting anything interesting either. 0.5 stars out of 5.
05-03-2014
, 01:06 AM
Uncensored '99: WCW Tag Title Lumberjack Match - Curt Hennig & Barry Windham (c) vs. Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko
Date: March 14, 1999
Link: N/A
Background: Hennig and Windham won the titles in the finals of the tag team tournament at SuperBrawl IX. The younger members of the Horsemen got a rematch here. I'm…not exactly clear on what caused the lumberjack stipulation. WCW may not have known either, to be fair.
The Match: Not related to this match, but on the show right before this there was this awkward moment where Heenan and Schiavone started sniping at each other, which I suspect to have been more shoot than work given their legit heat with each other. This was about six months before the infamous "I can't hear you from way down here" line delivered from Heenan to Schiavone on Nitro. Once they go away from the desk there isn't any commentary for a decent while, and then they start announcing normally again. Interesting.
Hennig and Benoit get set to lock up at first, but before they ever do Arn Anderson strolls down to the ring. With a handshake and a wink, he gets Chris Adams to agree to leave, and he pulls a leather strap out (all of the lumberjacks have these) and assumes his position as one of the lumberjacks himself. He's pretty much a manager of Benoit and Malenko, so yeah.
Hennig and Windham try to take a walk, but the lumberjacks catch them, whip them with the belts, and get them to go back in. Hennig looks really rough physically in these 1999 matches. I think the problem that finally killed him may have had a really decent foothold by this point. Benoit gets the better of him, he tries to take a timeout to the outside, but the lumberjacks encourage him to return right away with a series of whips. He goes in and tags out instead.
Benoit lays in several awesome-sounding knife-edge chops on Windham. Windham rolls outside and gets whipped extensively again. Are these guys stupid? Malenko comes in, gets in some offense, tags out, double clothesline on Windham, Benoit pins for a two-count. Momentum shifts when Benoit eats a boot in the corner and then Windham actually executes a nice DDT before tagging out to Curt. Hennig tosses Chris outside just to get him a whipping session, so I guess at least he has learned the rules of this match by now. Benoit rolls back in, but Hennig is right back on the attack. The heels have Benoit isolated, and the heat segment is on.
Benoit manages a back suplex on Hennig, but can't follow up and tag out. Hennig tags out and Windham continues the domination. The heels cut off a couple of hot tag attempts, but Benoit eventually manages a pretty damn impressive German suplex on Hennig that creates enough time to allow him to tag Dean in.
All four men in the ring. Hennig goes for a Hennigplex on Malenko, but Malenko blocks it and executes that move on Hennig himself. Hennig manages to kick out on 2. Malenko puts Hennig in the Texas Cloverleaf, but Windham clobbers Malenko before it can win the match. Nice sequences, but Malenko's Irish whip gets reversed, he heads to the ropes and actually gets sent through the middle to go take another series of belt whips. This is WAY better than the SuperBrawl match by the way.
Heels back in control, Windham lays some offense in on Malenko and then tags Hennig in; Hennig promptly applies a sleeper. He has Dean in trouble, but seems to pull off of it voluntarily and returns to attacking him in Hennig & Windham's corner. We're in the middle of a second heat segment; I've basically enjoyed the match, but I think they should have just ended it after the first heat segment. Now it feels like they're killing time for no reason.
Malenko with hot tag to Benoit, who takes on both of the heels. Malenko returns momentarily as the four all brawl in the ring. Windham and Benoit end up outside, both getting whipped, some of the lumberjacks beginning to fight with each other. Malenko and Hennig in the ring; Malenko isn't the legal man here, but I'm supposing that won't matter.
Malenko knocks Hennig down with what appears to be a belt wrapped around his fist. Arn Anderson gets up on the apron, but Hennig punches him down as well. Anderson reaches into his jacket and pulls out a tire iron. Well that escalated quickly. He slips into the ring and waffles Hennig with it. Hennig is out.
Malenko and Benoit take care of getting Windham outside the ring, and then with Hennig nearly in the completely opposite corner, Benoit still launches off the top rope and successfully hits his swandive headbutt. We have a three-count, and we have new tag team champions. That really was just miles and miles better than their horrible SuperBrawl match.
This was, at long last, Benoit's first championship in the big two wrestling companies. It was also Hennig's final match as any sort of champion. Poetic that it was Benoit pinning Hennig to decide this one.
Result: Benoit & Malenko via pinfall when Benoit pins Hennig (16:58)
Rating: Good stuff. Very good storytelling, great feel-good payoff, and despite some slow spots during the match, there were also enough nice moves and high spots to justify the time they got to go at it too. I'm giving this 3.25 stars out of 5.
Date: March 14, 1999
Link: N/A
Background: Hennig and Windham won the titles in the finals of the tag team tournament at SuperBrawl IX. The younger members of the Horsemen got a rematch here. I'm…not exactly clear on what caused the lumberjack stipulation. WCW may not have known either, to be fair.
The Match: Not related to this match, but on the show right before this there was this awkward moment where Heenan and Schiavone started sniping at each other, which I suspect to have been more shoot than work given their legit heat with each other. This was about six months before the infamous "I can't hear you from way down here" line delivered from Heenan to Schiavone on Nitro. Once they go away from the desk there isn't any commentary for a decent while, and then they start announcing normally again. Interesting.
Hennig and Benoit get set to lock up at first, but before they ever do Arn Anderson strolls down to the ring. With a handshake and a wink, he gets Chris Adams to agree to leave, and he pulls a leather strap out (all of the lumberjacks have these) and assumes his position as one of the lumberjacks himself. He's pretty much a manager of Benoit and Malenko, so yeah.
Hennig and Windham try to take a walk, but the lumberjacks catch them, whip them with the belts, and get them to go back in. Hennig looks really rough physically in these 1999 matches. I think the problem that finally killed him may have had a really decent foothold by this point. Benoit gets the better of him, he tries to take a timeout to the outside, but the lumberjacks encourage him to return right away with a series of whips. He goes in and tags out instead.
Benoit lays in several awesome-sounding knife-edge chops on Windham. Windham rolls outside and gets whipped extensively again. Are these guys stupid? Malenko comes in, gets in some offense, tags out, double clothesline on Windham, Benoit pins for a two-count. Momentum shifts when Benoit eats a boot in the corner and then Windham actually executes a nice DDT before tagging out to Curt. Hennig tosses Chris outside just to get him a whipping session, so I guess at least he has learned the rules of this match by now. Benoit rolls back in, but Hennig is right back on the attack. The heels have Benoit isolated, and the heat segment is on.
Benoit manages a back suplex on Hennig, but can't follow up and tag out. Hennig tags out and Windham continues the domination. The heels cut off a couple of hot tag attempts, but Benoit eventually manages a pretty damn impressive German suplex on Hennig that creates enough time to allow him to tag Dean in.
All four men in the ring. Hennig goes for a Hennigplex on Malenko, but Malenko blocks it and executes that move on Hennig himself. Hennig manages to kick out on 2. Malenko puts Hennig in the Texas Cloverleaf, but Windham clobbers Malenko before it can win the match. Nice sequences, but Malenko's Irish whip gets reversed, he heads to the ropes and actually gets sent through the middle to go take another series of belt whips. This is WAY better than the SuperBrawl match by the way.
Heels back in control, Windham lays some offense in on Malenko and then tags Hennig in; Hennig promptly applies a sleeper. He has Dean in trouble, but seems to pull off of it voluntarily and returns to attacking him in Hennig & Windham's corner. We're in the middle of a second heat segment; I've basically enjoyed the match, but I think they should have just ended it after the first heat segment. Now it feels like they're killing time for no reason.
Malenko with hot tag to Benoit, who takes on both of the heels. Malenko returns momentarily as the four all brawl in the ring. Windham and Benoit end up outside, both getting whipped, some of the lumberjacks beginning to fight with each other. Malenko and Hennig in the ring; Malenko isn't the legal man here, but I'm supposing that won't matter.
Malenko knocks Hennig down with what appears to be a belt wrapped around his fist. Arn Anderson gets up on the apron, but Hennig punches him down as well. Anderson reaches into his jacket and pulls out a tire iron. Well that escalated quickly. He slips into the ring and waffles Hennig with it. Hennig is out.
Malenko and Benoit take care of getting Windham outside the ring, and then with Hennig nearly in the completely opposite corner, Benoit still launches off the top rope and successfully hits his swandive headbutt. We have a three-count, and we have new tag team champions. That really was just miles and miles better than their horrible SuperBrawl match.
This was, at long last, Benoit's first championship in the big two wrestling companies. It was also Hennig's final match as any sort of champion. Poetic that it was Benoit pinning Hennig to decide this one.
Result: Benoit & Malenko via pinfall when Benoit pins Hennig (16:58)
Rating: Good stuff. Very good storytelling, great feel-good payoff, and despite some slow spots during the match, there were also enough nice moves and high spots to justify the time they got to go at it too. I'm giving this 3.25 stars out of 5.
05-03-2014
, 01:58 AM
Royal Rumble '02: Rumble Match
Date: January 20, 2002
Link: N/A
Background: Where Mr. Perfect was concerned, he was advertised as returning at this event. This would be his first action in the WWF in about eight and a half years.
The Match: Perfect comes out at #25, at a point when only Steve Austin and HHH were in the ring. He actually takes the fight to both Austin and HHH at first, so they certainly had him come in and be credible from the word go.
In a funny spot, Austin and HHH go to double-team Hennig against the ropes, and as he's trying to fight them off he gets an arm free, spits his gum out, and swats it far across the ring. I always loved his gum-swatting thing.
Perfect lasted until the final four, surprisingly enough. It was him in there with HHH, Austin, and Kurt Angle. As Steve Austin tried to eliminate Curt Hennig, Kurt Angle opportunistically ran up from behind both of them and tried to shove both out. Hennig hung in, but Austin was eliminated. Austin pulls a Hogan and drags Perfect to the outside, but not over the top rope. They brawl a bit, but Perfect isn't eliminated and instead returns to the ring. Austin comes back in a couple of minutes later with a chair in hand and clocks both Perfect and Angle with it, then wallops HHH too. Man, he really did go full Hogan.
Angle nearly knocks Perfect out of the ring inadvertently with a clothesline, but Perfect manages to stay in and then proceeds to hit Angle with a Perfectplex which he immediately releases for obvious reasons, then rolls through him with a neck snap. Not only was he getting to hang in until late in this match, but he looked really good here. The crowd popped big for the Perfectplex.
The Cinderella run finally ended here when, after Perfect's neck snap on Angle, HHH managed to blindside Perfect and clothesline him over the top. He then eliminated Angle and was crowned the winner of this Rumble.
Result: HHH via marrying the boss's daughter (1:09:22)
Rating: N/A, but this was a surprisingly fun watch for purposes of a Mr. Perfect retrospective. This was a far warmer homecoming than I figured he would have gotten. I wasn't watching very much at this point, so I don't know that I've ever seen that before.
Date: January 20, 2002
Link: N/A
Background: Where Mr. Perfect was concerned, he was advertised as returning at this event. This would be his first action in the WWF in about eight and a half years.
The Match: Perfect comes out at #25, at a point when only Steve Austin and HHH were in the ring. He actually takes the fight to both Austin and HHH at first, so they certainly had him come in and be credible from the word go.
In a funny spot, Austin and HHH go to double-team Hennig against the ropes, and as he's trying to fight them off he gets an arm free, spits his gum out, and swats it far across the ring. I always loved his gum-swatting thing.
Perfect lasted until the final four, surprisingly enough. It was him in there with HHH, Austin, and Kurt Angle. As Steve Austin tried to eliminate Curt Hennig, Kurt Angle opportunistically ran up from behind both of them and tried to shove both out. Hennig hung in, but Austin was eliminated. Austin pulls a Hogan and drags Perfect to the outside, but not over the top rope. They brawl a bit, but Perfect isn't eliminated and instead returns to the ring. Austin comes back in a couple of minutes later with a chair in hand and clocks both Perfect and Angle with it, then wallops HHH too. Man, he really did go full Hogan.
Angle nearly knocks Perfect out of the ring inadvertently with a clothesline, but Perfect manages to stay in and then proceeds to hit Angle with a Perfectplex which he immediately releases for obvious reasons, then rolls through him with a neck snap. Not only was he getting to hang in until late in this match, but he looked really good here. The crowd popped big for the Perfectplex.
The Cinderella run finally ended here when, after Perfect's neck snap on Angle, HHH managed to blindside Perfect and clothesline him over the top. He then eliminated Angle and was crowned the winner of this Rumble.
Result: HHH via marrying the boss's daughter (1:09:22)
Rating: N/A, but this was a surprisingly fun watch for purposes of a Mr. Perfect retrospective. This was a far warmer homecoming than I figured he would have gotten. I wasn't watching very much at this point, so I don't know that I've ever seen that before.
Last edited by LKJ; 05-03-2014 at 02:09 AM.
05-03-2014
, 03:52 AM
Death
Curt Hennig was found dead in his hotel room on February 10, 2003, at age 44. The autopsy found the cause of death to be acute cocaine intoxication. He left behind a wife and four kids at the time of his death. It's a sad thing when a guy's demons get the better of him.
Tributes
Bret Hart spoke lovingly of his on-screen rival and real life friend in the direct wake of Curt's death.
Randy Savage recorded a song for Curt entitled "My Perfect Friend."
I think that it's clear enough that Curt was no saint. I also think that it's clear enough that he had a number of close friends in the industry who would strongly vouch for him as a good man. The truth is obviously somewhere in the middle; he was certainly loved by some, and in terms of his work in the ring at the very least, was highly respected by all.
WWE Hall of Fame Induction (2007)
In 2007, Curt was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his friend Wade Boggs, who starred in one of Curt's Mr. Perfect vignettes, and who remained close with him over the years. As mentioned earlier in the thread, Wade says that Curt saved his life one day when Wade suffered a serious injury that was causing him to lose a lot of blood out in the wilderness; Curt carried him over a mile back to the truck, rushed him to the hospital, and the doctor said that it was just in time.
Curt's wife and kids were there to accept the Hall of Fame honor on his behalf. This was his induction video:
The cool thing, and I never would have known how cool it was until I did this thread and saw their classic match, is that Curt was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the same class as Nick Bockwinkel. Very fitting.
Curt brought me and a lot of us many, many moments of happiness over the years, and it speaks volumes to just how awesome he was at his work that he basically only had four peak years as a WWF performer, and yet is still accepted without second thought or hesitation as one of the true legends of the industry. RIP, Curt.
Curt Hennig was found dead in his hotel room on February 10, 2003, at age 44. The autopsy found the cause of death to be acute cocaine intoxication. He left behind a wife and four kids at the time of his death. It's a sad thing when a guy's demons get the better of him.
Tributes
Bret Hart spoke lovingly of his on-screen rival and real life friend in the direct wake of Curt's death.
Quote:
The death of Curt Hennig (comrade)
With Curt Hennig I was able to do slick moves that I wouldn’t think of doing with most other guys ... We adjusted to each other’s timing in anepic back and forth battle where we constantly gave back to each other. I had Curt beat after I came off the second rope, spiking his chest with the point of my elbow, hooking his leg for a 1...2... when the bell clanged signaling the end of our twenty minute match. Curt made his escape while I retrieved the house mic and pleaded for five more minutes. Curt turned to leave, signaling me to turn my back on him. In a flash he was back in the ring viciously beating me to the mat. Kneeling over top of me and shaking me by the hair he slapped me across the face until the referee managed to break us apart. Angrily Curt climbed to the top turnbuckle while I popped up to my feet and greeted him with a fist to the gut causing him to lose his balance and crotch himself hard on the corner strut. The crowd was going crazy as I dragged him off by the hair and clobbered him from one corner to the next until he bounced out of the ring and slithered away in full retreat.
The fans thundered their approval. Curt stumbled back towards the dressing room with a ton of heat. And me, I looked out at the fans ... I had finally won them over. ... It had to be one of the best matches I’d had in years.
I always thought I’d see my old friend Curt Hennig again.
Unfortunately that just wasn’t meant to be.
Mr. Perfect, one of the most loved and respected wrestlers of our generation, died on Monday of an apparent heart attack. He was only forty-four.
Curt will always be remembered as a great wrestler but those of us lucky enough to have known him will remember him best for his brilliant sense of humor, his big heart and his never ending devotion to his family.
I looked forward to a day where I’d sit with Curt on my back porch, or his, our canes propped nearby, a tub of long necks soaking in ice, while we laugh and joke about the good times we had. But like so many of our old mates who have gone before, the wrestling world mourns yet another young son.
I was recently asked, if I could come back to wrestle just one more match, one final hurrah, what wrestler would I pick to work with. i said Curt Hennig. He was my all time favorite. He really was. When I think back to our incredible matches they sort of remind me of those spy vs. spy cartoons in Mad Magazine. We were similar in age, size and background and we had a similar look, except that Curt wore a mane of long blonde curly hair. Both of us were second generation wrestlers whose father’s were respected men in a tough business and we shared an understanding of what it was like to have mighty big shoes to fill. Curt was infamous for his practical jokes. He loved chaining the rookies’ ring bags to the benches in the dressing room. I, like so many others, got along with Curt from the instant we met. I remember the buzz of electricity in the dressing room in Madison Square Garden when Curt and I got ready for our first ever match. There is no higher tribute to a wrestler than to look back to the dug out and see our peers watching, arms crossed, waiting for us to show the world how it’s done. That we did!
If there was ever a chemistry between two wrestlers there was none better than the one between me and Curt. He was a one of a kind athlete who had impeccable timing and was an absolute dream to work with in a wrestling ring. The matches we had together - every single darn one - was a classic. We had a trust and respect for one another that I don’t see in the wrestlers today. I can never recall not coming back after a match with Curt when we weren’t both grinning from ear to ear, hugging and shaking hands. So many memories. So many places. So many old friends gone. So many sad endings. Owen. Davey Boy. Pillman. Rude. Surely our heavenly brothers will greet Curt on the other side. I can see Andre the Giant sliding out a chair and calling Curt over for a game of Crazy 8’s. - with Curt smiling as Davey and Owen chain his ring bag to the pearly gates.
With Curt Hennig I was able to do slick moves that I wouldn’t think of doing with most other guys ... We adjusted to each other’s timing in anepic back and forth battle where we constantly gave back to each other. I had Curt beat after I came off the second rope, spiking his chest with the point of my elbow, hooking his leg for a 1...2... when the bell clanged signaling the end of our twenty minute match. Curt made his escape while I retrieved the house mic and pleaded for five more minutes. Curt turned to leave, signaling me to turn my back on him. In a flash he was back in the ring viciously beating me to the mat. Kneeling over top of me and shaking me by the hair he slapped me across the face until the referee managed to break us apart. Angrily Curt climbed to the top turnbuckle while I popped up to my feet and greeted him with a fist to the gut causing him to lose his balance and crotch himself hard on the corner strut. The crowd was going crazy as I dragged him off by the hair and clobbered him from one corner to the next until he bounced out of the ring and slithered away in full retreat.
The fans thundered their approval. Curt stumbled back towards the dressing room with a ton of heat. And me, I looked out at the fans ... I had finally won them over. ... It had to be one of the best matches I’d had in years.
I always thought I’d see my old friend Curt Hennig again.
Unfortunately that just wasn’t meant to be.
Mr. Perfect, one of the most loved and respected wrestlers of our generation, died on Monday of an apparent heart attack. He was only forty-four.
Curt will always be remembered as a great wrestler but those of us lucky enough to have known him will remember him best for his brilliant sense of humor, his big heart and his never ending devotion to his family.
I looked forward to a day where I’d sit with Curt on my back porch, or his, our canes propped nearby, a tub of long necks soaking in ice, while we laugh and joke about the good times we had. But like so many of our old mates who have gone before, the wrestling world mourns yet another young son.
I was recently asked, if I could come back to wrestle just one more match, one final hurrah, what wrestler would I pick to work with. i said Curt Hennig. He was my all time favorite. He really was. When I think back to our incredible matches they sort of remind me of those spy vs. spy cartoons in Mad Magazine. We were similar in age, size and background and we had a similar look, except that Curt wore a mane of long blonde curly hair. Both of us were second generation wrestlers whose father’s were respected men in a tough business and we shared an understanding of what it was like to have mighty big shoes to fill. Curt was infamous for his practical jokes. He loved chaining the rookies’ ring bags to the benches in the dressing room. I, like so many others, got along with Curt from the instant we met. I remember the buzz of electricity in the dressing room in Madison Square Garden when Curt and I got ready for our first ever match. There is no higher tribute to a wrestler than to look back to the dug out and see our peers watching, arms crossed, waiting for us to show the world how it’s done. That we did!
If there was ever a chemistry between two wrestlers there was none better than the one between me and Curt. He was a one of a kind athlete who had impeccable timing and was an absolute dream to work with in a wrestling ring. The matches we had together - every single darn one - was a classic. We had a trust and respect for one another that I don’t see in the wrestlers today. I can never recall not coming back after a match with Curt when we weren’t both grinning from ear to ear, hugging and shaking hands. So many memories. So many places. So many old friends gone. So many sad endings. Owen. Davey Boy. Pillman. Rude. Surely our heavenly brothers will greet Curt on the other side. I can see Andre the Giant sliding out a chair and calling Curt over for a game of Crazy 8’s. - with Curt smiling as Davey and Owen chain his ring bag to the pearly gates.
I think that it's clear enough that Curt was no saint. I also think that it's clear enough that he had a number of close friends in the industry who would strongly vouch for him as a good man. The truth is obviously somewhere in the middle; he was certainly loved by some, and in terms of his work in the ring at the very least, was highly respected by all.
WWE Hall of Fame Induction (2007)
In 2007, Curt was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his friend Wade Boggs, who starred in one of Curt's Mr. Perfect vignettes, and who remained close with him over the years. As mentioned earlier in the thread, Wade says that Curt saved his life one day when Wade suffered a serious injury that was causing him to lose a lot of blood out in the wilderness; Curt carried him over a mile back to the truck, rushed him to the hospital, and the doctor said that it was just in time.
Curt's wife and kids were there to accept the Hall of Fame honor on his behalf. This was his induction video:
The cool thing, and I never would have known how cool it was until I did this thread and saw their classic match, is that Curt was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the same class as Nick Bockwinkel. Very fitting.
Curt brought me and a lot of us many, many moments of happiness over the years, and it speaks volumes to just how awesome he was at his work that he basically only had four peak years as a WWF performer, and yet is still accepted without second thought or hesitation as one of the true legends of the industry. RIP, Curt.
05-03-2014
, 05:41 AM
05-03-2014
, 11:26 AM
I remember, as it happened, I was really excited for him to finally be making a comeback, even if it wasn't in the WWF as Mr. Perfect. Then they started him right into that stupid "I'm a free agent, you don't know who I'm with" angle that went on for multiple months. Despite it being stupid as it went on, they seemed to pay it off in truly awesome fashion when he joined the Horsemen, largely through the magic of one of Arn Anderson's greatest promos. My excitement for a WCW run for him renewed (as well as my excitement in the Four Horsemen group, which had dropped off due to there only being three of them and one of them being Mongo). And then I watched Fall Brawl '97 as it aired, and when he came out and turned on the Horsemen to become the 84th member of the nWo, I pretty much wanted to kick the TV screen in.
At that time back when it happened, I pretty much lost all interest in his WCW run, and he just became some wrestler there that I vaguely liked only for historical reasons. But Mr. Perfect will always be one of my favorite characters of all time, and Curt Hennig really brought it to life.
05-04-2014
, 01:05 AM
05-04-2014
, 02:54 AM
05-04-2014
, 03:54 AM
05-07-2014
, 02:23 PM
