Mr. Perfect's Record

[HBsam31]

Ok this is my first thread so please give me benefit of a doubt. I was watching the Survivor Series Anthology Vol 1 the other night and I saw Mr Perfect captioning a team. I soon started thinking about Mr Perfect's Undefeated Streak. I cannot remember how long he stayed that way but I do know his Perfect record was broken by Brutus Beefcake at Wrestlemania 6. If they would have continued the perfect record how far could he have taken it, and why was Brutus the one to end it. At the time they made a pretty big deal of the perfect record and when beefcake wasn't teaming with Hogan he was not that big of a deal.

I think he could have road the perfect record until he got a title shot adding a bit more prestige to that particular title match. Chances are it would have been against the Ultimate Warrior and it would have made Perfect's chances look better if he was still undefeated when facing the champ. Maybe even winning his first title for a short time anyway.
As far as Brutus ending the undefeated streak, could it have been his friendship with hogan that helped him be the one to end it. What are some of your thoughts on this? Was it a missed opportunity with Perfect and why Brutus?

 

[Steve001]

Beefcake had his hand raised in victory at 'Mania VI because the mighty Hulkster was making demands in order to put Warrior over clean on the big show.

It was a favour to Hulk (and of course the future Disciple) that Vince decided that the terminally awful Brutus should defeat Perfect.
As I recall, for playing ball, Hennig captured the I.C Title very soon afterwards.

 

[legendkiller1979]

Brutus went over at mania to set up a showdown between the two and summerslam for the belt. Unfortunately Brutus' career just cut short that summer. It's pretty obvious that Brutus was going to win the belt because Kerry Von Erich won the belt after being with the company for a couple of weeks.

 

[Millennia]

correct legend killer

Plus before WM6, the Ultimate Warrior cleanly pinned Perfecto at an msg house show!!

but we all know if the big cameras werent there, it didnt happen!

 

[The Brain]

Beefcake had his hand raised in victory at 'Mania VI because the mighty Hulkster was making demands in order to put Warrior over clean on the big show.

It was a favour to Hulk (and of course the future Disciple) that Vince decided that the terminally awful Brutus should defeat Perfect.
As I recall, for playing ball, Hennig captured the I.C Title very soon afterwards.

What exactly are you basing this on? I guess I could understand if this was your opinion but you present it as if it was fact. This might be true but without a credible source I'll just assume this is just more IWC hate toward Hogan.

I assume the streak ended at WM6 because in a time of more simple booking the popular babyface ended the hated cocky heel's streak at the biggest show of the year. Simple as that. I will agree that I don't think Perfect should have lost to Beefcake at WM6. He could have stolen a victory by putting his feet on the ropes and then run off. The fans still could have gotten their satisfaction in the haircut Beefcake gave to the Genius. As Jesse Ventura used to say it would have been like losing the battle but winning the war. I'm sure the fans would have traded a win for a haircut and Perfect could have had bragging rights about his streak still being in tact.

I don't think a showdown with Warrior was in the cards anyway. Perfect was a natural choice for the next IC champion and having his streak end with the title loss to the Texas Tornado at SummerSlam would have been appropriate.

 

[EastCoastFan]

Long before WrestleMania 6, Curt Hennig was losing house show matches to Hulk Hogan. Hennig was challenging for the WWF title then, a continuation of when he smashed the WWF title belt with a hammer on Saturday Night's Main Event.

 

[enviousdominous]

Things were and always will be about ego when it comes to something like prowrestling. Sadly that means that a lot of talent is wasted on things like a friend of Hogan's desire to look marketable.

Perfect had a lifetime of experience on Brutus, but he came from a rival company and was the son of one of the biggest names in that company. Vince wants his company to be the biggest in the world, moreso than it already is, and would rather make talent from other companies pay higher dues instead of recognize their talent. Though he put the world title on The Big Show fairly quickly, we all know how that turned out. Putting the belt on Goldberg right away was likely the only possible way he could put him on the card.

I remember Jim Cornette ranting about how stupid Vince is. He made a good point about how pushing the guys from the other organizations will likely attract other big names from that organization to come on board.

The hype would have been huge if they didn't just snuff out the angle with a loss to Brutus. I think that's one of the few things we can be very certain of in retrospect.

 

[The Brain]

Things were and always will be about ego when it comes to something like prowrestling. Sadly that means that a lot of talent is wasted on things like a friend of Hogan's desire to look marketable.

Perfect had a lifetime of experience on Brutus, but he came from a rival company and was the son of one of the biggest names in that company. Vince wants his company to be the biggest in the world, moreso than it already is, and would rather make talent from other companies pay higher dues instead of recognize their talent. Though he put the world title on The Big Show fairly quickly, we all know how that turned out. Putting the belt on Goldberg right away was likely the only possible way he could put him on the card.

I remember Jim Cornette ranting about how stupid Vince is. He made a good point about how pushing the guys from the other organizations will likely attract other big names from that organization to come on board.

The hype would have been huge if they didn't just snuff out the angle with a loss to Brutus. I think that's one of the few things we can be very certain of in retrospect.

Oh please. Perfect had been with the WWF for a year and a half by WM6 and received a strong push from the beginning. I really don’t think anyone would have looked at it as an AWA guy going over a WWF guy had Perfect won. How did Perfect have a lifetime of experience on Beefcake? They started their careers at approximately the same time. If anything Beefcake had a few years on Perfect. By paying higher dues do you mean being given one of the greatest gimmicks of all time, an undefeated streak, and an IC title reign immediately after your first televised loss? That’s what Curt Hennig got. The good guy beat the bad guy at WrestleMania. Why can’t it be as simple as that?

 

[Aberle4Life]

If I remember that time correctly, Brutus was in the midst of a big push in 1990. Unfortunately, he had that horrible parasailing accident later in the year and his career never was the same after a few years out as an active wrestler.

At the time of WrestleMania VI, there was absolutely no shame in losing to Beefcake. Both he and Perfect were amongst my favorite wrestlers back then, and the Barber was a pretty entertaining worker for a long time.

 

[byrnside]

Oh please. Perfect had been with the WWF for a year and a half by WM6 and received a strong push from the beginning. I really don’t think anyone would have looked at it as an AWA guy going over a WWF guy had Perfect won. How did Perfect have a lifetime of experience on Beefcake? They started their careers at approximately the same time. If anything Beefcake had a few years on Perfect. By paying higher dues do you mean being given one of the greatest gimmicks of all time, an undefeated streak, and an IC title reign immediately after your first televised loss? That’s what Curt Hennig got. The good guy beat the bad guy at WrestleMania. Why can’t it be as simple as that?

Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. I may be jumping the gun a bit with this, but I feel like the original post that Brain was responding to here was a clear sign of the poster showing his/her age. At the time Vince didn't have that big of an "ego" as he probably does today. It wasn't until after WCW's massive popularity gain and eventual demise that Vince started "burying" other companies' creations. I still don't really believe that Vince does that simply because he wants to bury another company's creation. Mysterio? Guerrero? Benoit? Goldberg could've done just about anything he wanted. Vince has and always will do what's good for business, but I digress. At the time Vince was garnering as much talent from the other territories as he could. Curt Hennig being one of those. Hell, Hulk Hogan being the biggest of all of them.

To respond to the original question... It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Hogan had something to do with Beefcake going over Perfect at 'Mania VI... Doesn't mean that was the case, though. I think it was more a matter of the face winning than anything else.

With music this awesome and a pair of gloves that sick, who wouldn't want to see this guy go over one of the best wrestlers of all time?

[YOUTUBE]wx2Yumiz4eI[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Steve001]

What exactly are you basing this on? I guess I could understand if this was your opinion but you present it as if it was fact. This might be true but without a credible source I'll just assume this is just more IWC hate toward Hogan.

I remembered reading an article in (Issue 175/Feb. 2009) Power Slam magazine, where they touched on this topic as part of their ongoing "Complete History of Wrestling on Pay-Per View" series. (Pic below, read the bottom right-hand corner)

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't just take any info from random dirt sheets and present it as fact, I've been a fan for far too long to do that (22 years). In my experience, Power Slam magazine is one of the more credible rags out there, which I've been collecting since August 1998.

If memory serves me correctly, the topic of Hogan being behind Perfect's 'Mania VI loss has been reported not only in other issues of Power Slam, but other publication's as well. The scenario is entirely believable.

 

[AnthonyM4]

Didn't the undefeated streak really end at a house show prior to wm 6? I believe Hogan beat him in MSG in January 1990. If they would have kept the undefeated streak beyond wm 6 I say the person to break would be the person to beat him for the IC title. His first loss could have been losing the IC title to Bret Hart. That would have been a perfect candidate to end his streak. Pun intended

 

[FlairFan2003]

Beefcake always got treated well by WWE because of his ties to Hogan. Sometime someone benefits from a close friendship with a top star but actually turns into a legit star on their own (Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, Shawn Michaels & Triple H). Other times you get Beefcake, a marginal worker who was average as an entertainer.

And yes, Perfect did lose on house shows, just not on TV.

And no, I don't think Perfect was being buried because he was from another wrestling company. This was back when Vince basically built everything he did on geting top stars from other companies and pushing them to the moon. Piper & Steamboat were headliners in the NWA before WWE, Hogan was main eventing in AWA before WWE, DiBiase was main eventing in mid south before he became "The Million Dollar Man", he almost immediately made Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson World Tag team Champions. Back then, Vince's whole promotional strategy was to prominently feature the other company's top guys to attract their fans to your product. Years later he would be accused of burying other company's talent but that was after establishing himnself and WWE as the biggest show in town. In the 80's Vince had a lot of competition, he loved guys from other companies.