History Wrestling / CurtHennig

Curt Michael Hennig (March 28, 1958 – February 10, 2003) was a wrestler who debuted in the Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation in 1981 after being trained by Wrestling/BradRheingans, Larry Hennig, and Verne Gagne at the promotion's training camp. He'd later debut for [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} the WWF]] four months into his career and work their on and off until the early '90s, eventually developing his "Mr. Perfect" [[TheGimmick gimmick]]. He then left WWF behind, working for enterprises such as WWC, Wrestling/{{All Japan|ProWrestling}}, Wrestling/{{New Japan|ProWrestling}} and eventually winding up in Wrestling/{{WCW}} but was, and still is, counted among the best technical wrestlers in [=WWE=] history.

* FinishingMove[=/=]SuplexFinisher: The Perfect-Plex was almost impossible to kick out of, but these days it seems more like a NameOfPower move.

* RapIsCrap: The trope namer. In 1999, he and the West Texas Rednecks recorded a novelty country song called "Rap is Crap (I Hate Rap)" as part of their feud with the No Limit Soldiers. The Rednecks were meant to be the {{heel}}s in this feud and the Soldiers the {{face}}s, but many Wrestling/{{WCW}} fans, mostly Southerners who hated rap and saw the Soldiers as bullies, sided with the Rednecks, to the point that their song even got some radio airplay.

** His dad's finisher; "The Ax", a swinging running forearm smash.
** When his opponent was sitting up in the ring, usually in a daze, Curt would run up from behind, somersault over the other guy while performing a "Cravate" and yanking the guy's head and causing a whiplash.
** A pelvic swing from standing headscissors, giving his opponent a neck crank variant.

* MassiveMultiplayerScam:
** Mr. Perfect's eponymous "Perfect Hoax" back in 1996. For weeks, he stole Wrestling/TripleH's valets and caused him to lose numerous matches because of the subsequent distractions. Finally getting fed up with it, Triple H challenged the retired Hennig to a match; Hennig accepted. However, on the night of the match during an episode of RAW, Triple H ambushed Hennig backstage before the match and seemingly injured his knee, preventing him from continuing. Then-Intercontinental Champion "Wild Man" Marc Mero decided to fight Triple H in Hennig's place, putting his title on the line. In the match's climax, Triple H attempted to cheat using a steel chair, but Hennig ran in for the save and took the chair from Triple H... only to wallop Mero with the chair, allowing Triple H to pin him for the title. Afterwards, the duo revealed that the entire debacle was a plan to put the title on Triple H (and return him to a prominent stature within the company), while embarrassing Mero for stealing Sable from Triple H.
** Mr. Perfect was a point man for another one just four years prior. He and Wrestling/RicFlair orchestrated a plot to get the WWF Title back to Flair starting at Summerslam 92. Wrestling/RandySavage and the Wrestling/UltimateWarrior were both fan favorites, but also accused of selling out to Team Flair. Both Flair and Perfect liberally attacked both the challenger (Warrior) and the WWF Champion (Savage) during the match. Warrior won when Team Flair jumped the champion on the outside, but only by countout, meaning Savage was still the champion. Flair beat the Macho Man shortly after this to win the WWF title for the second time.

* DarkSkinnedBlond: A "most" back in the late 80's/early 90's WWE.

* WrestlingPsychology: Having to face a guy proven so good in almost every sport he tried his hand in is quite a heavy demoralization to carry in to a match in the squared circle.

Curt Michael Hennig (March 28, 1958 – February 10, 2003) was a wrestler who debuted in the Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation in 1981 after being trained by Wrestling/BradRheingans, Larry Hennig and Verne Gagne at the promotion's training camp. He'd later debut for [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} the WWF]] four months into his career and work their on and off until the early '90s, eventually developing his "Mr. Perfect" [[TheGimmick gimmick]]. He then left WWF behind, working for enterprises such as WWC, Wrestling/{{All Japan|ProWrestling}}, Wrestling/{{New Japan|ProWrestling}} and eventually winding up in Wrestling/{{WCW}} but was, and still is, counted among the best technical wrestlers in [=WWE=] history.

* TheAce: A most certain RealLife case, since he proved to be if not at professional grade, in great shape and being seasoned enough to compete in bowling, golf, darts, billard, baseball and football.
** As a face, his dexetry and swiftness were hard to match, and as the incredibly gifted technician he was, could throw around any opponent with ease. All of this showing that "Mr. Perfect" is more than just a nickname.
** Even as a heel, he usually won cleanly and both the face and heel commentators would laud his immense technical wrestling talent.

** In the early [[TheEighties 80's]] WWE, a very young Curt had to endure quite interesting feuds against the likes of Wrestling/PlayboyBuddyRose, Wrestling/KillerKhan and Wrestling/GregValentine.

*** ...and then, his famous betrayal to Wrestling/RicFlair.

** In WWE, Hennig betrayed Flair (His then protegee) , Razor Ramon, Wrestling/LexLuger and Marc Mero.
** Likewise, in WCW, he did the same to DDP (His former manager at "The Diamond Exchange"), Flair ('''...YES, again!''') ''and'' the [=nWo=] Wolfpac.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Too many to not scratch your head about between Curt and an old childhood friend of his, Wrestling/RickRude. Both of them were physically gifted men who excelled in every sport they tried their hand in (Boxing, judo and arm wrestling in Rude's case), both of them got their most famous gimmick (A vain individual who loves to brag about it) in WWF, both of them suffered severe back injuries that cut their careers short and both of them died by overdose.

* EnemyMine: Got so fed up with Wrestling/BobbyHeenan's treatment in late 1992 that for the ''Survivor Series'' that year, he teamed up with former rival Wrestling/RandySavage out of spite. They then won the match, and cemented the Mr. Perfect HeelFaceTurn.

* LightningBruiser: Agility? He could hit missile dropkicks and jump over opponents. Strength? Once Perfect-Plexed Wrestling/TheBigShow. Endurance? Could wrestle for long periods of time and put on great matches even with real injuries. (Remember he wrestled through his Summerslam classic against The Hitman with a severe lower back problem.)

** In AWA: "The Diamond Exchange" (w/Col. [=DeBeers=], Badd Company [Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka] and Wrestling/{{Madusa}}. Led by DDP and his "Diamond Dolls".)

*** The West Texas Rednecks (w/Kendall and Wrestling/BarryWindham, [[Wrestling/{{Virgil}} Curly Bill]] and Bobby Duncum Jr.)

* RapIsCrap: The trope namer. In 1999, he and the West Texas Rednecks recorded a novelty country song called "Rap is Crap (I Hate Rap)" as part of their feud with the No Limit Soldiers. The Rednecks were meant to be the {{heel}}s in this feud and the Soldiers the {{face}}s, but many Wrestling/{{WCW}} fans, mostly Southerners who hated rap and saw the Soldiers as bullies, sided with the Rednecks to the point that their song even got some radio airplay.
* RedBaron: "Mr. Perfect" was one of the many red barons used and abandoned by Jerry Stubbs, and was briefly Curt Hennig's red baron before becoming his official ring name.

* RickyMorton: He served this role in the AWA, taking a beating in the ring only for Wrestling/ScottHall to save him at the last minute. Years later, Hall mentioned that Curt was so good at this role that fans would advise him to split from Curt as he was "holding you down".

* TheatricsOfPain: He had the ability to make his opponents look much better than they were. This was probably why he was used more to put lesser talents over rather than being a Main Eventer.

* TheTrickster: In RealLife, Curt loved to prank people not unlike Wrestling/OwenHart. Once he went to a party and crapped in the hosts' baby's potty and managed to convince them their kid took an adult-sized shit.
** Whenever he was part of a show that took place in a high school he would test all of the padlocks on the lockers. If one came off he would use it to lock the gym bags of two wrestlers who hated each other together.
** Another one worthy of mention is put rubber bands over a couple of tube socks and shoved them down the front of his pants. Wrestling/GorillaMonsoon, who was notoriously visually impaired, didn't realize it, so Curt came out and wrestled a job match, with what appeared to be a huge boner. Needless to say, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon was not happy about this and went to yell at Monsoon for allowing Curt to go out there like that. Curt promptly received a chewing out when he got backstage from an irritated Monsoon.
* UrExample: For the technically gifted wrestlers who lacked an outlandish character (And that wasn't really his case) but made up for it due to his skill, he along with Bret Hart were this during the wrestling boom in the mid/late 80's. In a time where most wrestling in the WWF all had to have some cartoony vibe to it, Curt's gimmick was grounded in that he was just really good at whatever he did and he was able to be over with the fans due to witnessing how good he really was. Guys like Wrestling/ChrisBenoit and Wrestling/AJStyles based their wrestling gimmicks on how good they were at wrestling just like how Perfect did.
* VitriolicBestBuds: After turning face he had this relationship with old adversary Bret Hart. They teamed together quite often, and bickered about who was better just as often.
* WrestlingFamily: Curt was the son of Larry "The Axe" Hennig and now his own son Joe wrestles in WWE as Wrestling/CurtisAxel (formerly Michael [=McGillicutty=] of Wrestling/TheNexus). His daughter, Amy, is also a wrestler.
* WrestlingPsychology: Having to face a guy proven so good in almost every sport he tried his hand in is quite a heavy demoralization to carry to a match on the squared circle.

* RapIsCrap: The trope namer. In 1999, he and the West Texas Rednecks recorded a novelty country song called "Rap is Crap (I Hate Rap)" as part of their feud with the No Limit Soldiers. The Rednecks were meant to be the {{heel}}s in this feud and the Soldiers the {{face}}s, but many Wrestling/{{WCW}} fans, mostly Southerners who hated rap and saw the Soldiers as bullies and {{Designated Hero}}es, [[MisaimedFandom sided with the Rednecks]] to the point that their song even got some radio airplay.

* RapIsCrap: The {{Trope Namer|s}} by way of the West Texas Rednecks, who in 1999 recorded a novelty country song called "Rap is Crap (I Hate Rap)" as part of their feud with the No Limit Soldiers. The Rednecks were meant to be the {{heel}}s in this feud and the Soldiers the {{face}}s, but many Wrestling/{{WCW}} fans, mostly Southerners who hated rap and saw the Soldiers as bullies and {{Designated Hero}}es, [[MisaimedFandom sided with the Rednecks]] to the point that their song even got some radio airplay.