Curt Henning: Not Really Perfect

[Y 2 Jake]

He seems to have been described as underrated as of late. I agree, I'll just put on my Life & Times Of The Underrated Mr. Perfect DVD.

To say he's underrated is ridiculous. Who doesn't like Mr. Perfect? When has he never got the praise he deserved?

His career highlight is having a match with Brewt Hart. Great match, but other than singing an anti-rap song, what else was there to his career?

He had great matches with everyone up until about 1990, then after he had poor matches with mostly everyone. Especially in WCW.

If you ignore his AWA run, which you should because like myself all you know about it is what WWE have shown you. He only had a short career on top, then he was a mid carder. Hardly anybody get's the praise he does in wrestling, is it deserved?

 

[ad21k]

I think people confusse the word underated, with not realising potential.

Hennig in my opinion could easily have been a world champion in the WWF, however he was at his peak when the WWF was dominated by Hogan, Savage, Warrior, or even Flair . It would have been almost impossible for anyone to break through into the main event when they were on top, because of their sheer star power. In my opinon if his career is 3/4 years later he would have been a top star. As it worked out he had some great mid-card feuds, and was definantly a good wrestler, as well as having the charisma required to go far, just a pity it never worked out for him.

So while i agree underated may not be the best word, he certainly could have been a much bigger star than he was.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The same can be said for a lot of wrestlers. If Henning was around now he's be a world champion, if Cena was around then he wouldn't etc. But Henning was round during the Hogan era, and he got a good push out of it. If he was that good then they would have found a way to push him to the top. Sgt. Slaughter, Undertaker managed to break the monopoly as did Bret Hart several years after.

 

[NSL]

I wouldn't say he's under-rated. People praise him improperly though. He was a great mid-carder, who probably should've had at least 1 short title reign, but he isn't among the greats of all-time, if he wasn't a great at his time.

I personally loved his in-ring work, and am not as anti-WCW Hennig as you are. They weren't his best matches, and considered to some of his stuff in WWE, yes, they were crap. But, that's because his stuff in the WWF/E was that good.

He's always been respected, but following his death, it went over the top. His name was suddenly all over the media, partly because he was still an "active" wrestler. His Hall Of Fame induction just ballooned it all.

 

[legendkiller6]

I think his character, music, look were all great, but he never really did accomplish anything major. I couldn't believe he got in the hall of fame. I know this is off subject, but what credentials do you need to get in the hall of fame. To me it seems like damn near everybody get's in. You would think that you would atleast have to be a world champion, main event star, or held multiple tag titles, and other singles titles.

 

[travistragic]

I don't see a problem with Curt Hennig being considered one of the greats of all time. He's one of those guy whose career and in-ring work seem better in retrospect, he was, as some were kind of hinting at, a little before his time. Roddy Piper was never a world champion, was never really much of a main eventer, hell, his biggest feud was the one he had in the cartoons against Hogan, but nobody in their right mind would argue about Piper's place in the echelon.

The untimely death is part of his rise in popularity and I wouldn't say he's underrated as much as I would say wrestling fans (probably/hopefully nobody here) in general have short-term memories and, besides a select few wrestlers, Hennig potentially, they don't remember anybody unless they squatted on a title for a long run. We also have to acknowledge that professional wrestling isn't a real sport. No one has to make it to "the top" to be considered great: great gimmicks and storylines and ring work should be enough to get anyone in.

Curt deserves his belated recognition just as much as Pillman and Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero do, it isn't just because they died before they quit wrestling, but it was that their death urged us to look back on their careers and realize how great they were, and death isn't an instant career-booster: look at Bigelow or Mike Awesome or Bryan Adams, their deaths didn't change anything (though I have nothing negative to say about any of them).

In short, Curt isn't underrated, he's just kind of underappreciated because he never got the chance to run a title or really prove his stuff. He'll have his place in history, though, so I'm not too concerned about it.

 

[amodernphoenix]

Curt Henning WAS a World Champion. He beat argueably one of the toughest champions to ever enter a ring, Nick Bockwinkel. I remember the match well, it lasted over an hour and it was fantastic. The main problem here is that today's wrestling fans are not well-versed on the history of the business and they judge things by the current skewed WWE philosophy.

In today's wrestling, everyone holds a belt at some time, unless they are simply awful. Then they are wished well in their future endeavors. Back in the day, you had to be voted to the top spot by a board of directors, who often put their main eventers through the wringer. Curt Henning faced that gauntlet and he was very successful.

Henning held the world title for over a year, defending it all over the country when the WWF title was virtually meaningless. To be put in a position to pin Bockwinkel, considered the best technical wrestler of the time, means a whole lot. Consider that Bockwinkel was trained by the Godfather of wrestling, Lou Thesz, and held that AWA title for over 20 years.

 

[Jordan adams]

At the time Mr perfect was champion is was imposible for him to become champ because of hogan, sombody said somthing sgt slaughter but what happen two mounth after he won the tittle, he lost the tittle to hogan. When randy savage won the tittle hogan was getting ready to do a movie. when bret heart won the tittle hogan had been gone for awhile and when hogan came back he won the tittle agian. undertaker yeah won the tittle the lost quickly to hogan. and it wasent in till wm13 that undertaker won the tittle agian. then you can make an arguement ultimate warrior but he lost the tittle and never won the tittle back.

 

[RVDgurl]

I agree completely that Hennig is not underrated. His praises are sung by most who are somewhat familiar with wrestling history. With that being said, I think he deserves all the praise that he receives. He was a phenomenal wrestler. He was the total package. He was a great technical wrestler with great mic skills. And not to mention, that he had a fantastic gimmick as Mr. Perfect. In my opinion, it was one of the most well played roles in wrestling history. How tremendous were the vignettes of Curt throwing touchdown passes to himself? Seriously. They were great.

Mr. Perfect came along at a time where Hulk Hogan rules the world and it was very difficult for the more average sized guys to get a fair shake in the main event scene in the WWF. Perfect dominated the Intercontinental scene, which actually meant something back then.

Curt Hennig also had a fantastic title run in the AWA...which also meant something back then. The WWE was not yet the giant that it is today. The AWA was a highly respected company in the mid 80's. Hennig was the figurehead of that company and was the one chosen to receive the torch passed down by Nick Bockwinkel. I have only recently been able to really see Curt's work in the AWA (thank you ESPN Classic) and it was really stellar.

 

[Hayes]

Another recent thread asked if Orton, Edge, and Jericho are the best trio of heels that the WWE has ever had wrestling simultaneously. It would be tough to disagree. but someone posted that Rick Rude, Ted DiBiase, and Curt Henning were also simultaneously the company's three top heels in the late 80s/ early 90s. In those days heels didn't get the Heavyweight title pushes they do today. WIth that being said, Henning went as far as a heel could at the time becoming an IC champ, retiring Ric Flair from his first tenure in the WWE, and having a celebrated career in WCW as a member of great stables (nWo, Four Horseman, West Texas Rednecks) and becoming a US Champ there. He had excellent in ring ability and that perfect heel arrogance. Brock Lesnar even gives Henning credit for showing him the ropes in pro wrestling. Henning saw as much success as a heel could in the era of Hogan, Warrior, and Savage. He was also plagued with a bad back which held him back for much of his career. Take all factors and I feel Henning's career was absolutely perfect.

 

[amodernphoenix]

Check out this video, it's when Curt won the world title. There was an awesome ending where the title was disputed because Bockwinkle was knocked out with a roll of quarters. It went back and forth but Henning end up keeping the title. Check out this whole video and see the heat from the crowd. This was a genuine thing and it gives you an idea how big the AWA was back in the day-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvyXDLQPQeQ

 

[schaeffershawn]

I think his character, music, look were all great, but he never really did accomplish anything major. I couldn't believe he got in the hall of fame. I know this is off subject, but what credentials do you need to get in the hall of fame. To me it seems like damn near everybody get's in. You would think that you would atleast have to be a world champion, main event star, or held multiple tag titles, and other singles titles.

Well lets see there was his nearly year run as AWA world champion in the 80's the year run as IC champion which at the time was seen as the workhorse title. There was stealing the show night in and night out during Warriors title reign, just to name a few of his credentials.

 

[Cena219]

I do think that in the since of how he was used, yes was overrated. I agree when someone in here stated that overrated was being confused with Potential. Mr perfect was one of the best wrestlers ive ever seen in the ring. hands down.