Grimmas Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Discuss here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Growing up as a kid, Curt felt like one of those "what could have been wrestlers". He had an awesome character and then got hurt and was sporadic until he showed up in WCW. Now looking back at his entire career though, he has a good amount of footage on him to judge. Tons of stuff from him from early years in Portland on and his run in WCW is pretty lengthy along with his 92-93 reunion. Seeing all of that, I can't see a case for him. I did really love him in AWA and his series vs. Bock is one of my favorite from the 1980's but once he turned heel, I didn't get the same feeling from his matches. Part of that was his competition at times (Mitch Snow) but he felt like the top guy in a dying promotion for a lot of the time. His WWF has been dissected but I fall on the side of that he was way too showy a bumper at times and didn't allow emphasis to occur because of his outrageous bumping style whether it was a hiptoss or a finisher. He also didn't bump around in a stooging, more comedy manner which I can be more tolerate of. He had some sporadic great matches (vs. Bret, vs. Tito SNME) but I would call this run pretty disappointing overall. His WCW run looks even worse now than before. I kind of got the impressions Curt was cool because the Horseman wanted him and so did the Wolfpac, but no matter what he did in WCW until the West Texas Redneck days, he faded into the background and was a non-factor. He also didn't churn out hardly any good in-ring performances. Instead of having a signature run at the tail end of his career like some contenders do, Hennig damaged his reputation further. I would put Hogan's output in ring over his last few years as an active performer easily over Hennig's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Growing up as a kid, Curt felt like one of those "what could have been wrestlers". He had an awesome character and then got hurt and was sporadic until he showed up in WCW. Now looking back at his entire career though, he has a good amount of footage on him to judge. Tons of stuff from him from early years in Portland on and his run in WCW is pretty lengthy along with his 92-93 reunion. Seeing all of that, I can't see a case for him. I did really love him in AWA and his series vs. Bock is one of my favorite from the 1980's but once he turned heel, I didn't get the same feeling from his matches. Part of that was his competition at times (Mitch Snow) but he felt like the top guy in a dying promotion for a lot of the time. His WWF has been dissected but I fall on the side of that he was way too showy a bumper at times and didn't allow emphasis to occur because of his outrageous bumping style whether it was a hiptoss or a finisher. He also didn't bump around in a stooging, more comedy manner which I can be more tolerate of. He had some sporadic great matches (vs. Bret, vs. Tito SNME) but I would call this run pretty disappointing overall. His WCW run looks even worse now than before. I kind of got the impressions Curt was cool because the Horseman wanted him and so did the Wolfpac, but no matter what he did in WCW until the West Texas Redneck days, he faded into the background and was a non-factor. He also didn't churn out hardly any good in-ring performances. Instead of having a signature run at the tail end of his career like some contenders do, Hennig damaged his reputation further. I would put Hogan's output in ring over his last few years as an active performer easily over Hennig's. What do you think about his 93? To me, that's easily the most interesting year of his post-AWA career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBadMick Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 I think his babyface work in 1993 WWF is a nice counterpoint to the criticisms of 1988-91. He seems a more serious performer, and does less bumping, I assume because of the back injury. Liked his matches with Bret, Michaels, Doink and Martel from that run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBadMick Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Snap, Matt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 I really like the Bret KOTR match and I am a fan of the Flair match even though I do see the criticisms of it. The only other match I am familiar enough to comment on is the Doink match since it got hyped in the 93 yearbook watching. Incredible performance by Doink but Curt holds his own as well. I do think 93 is probably his best overall year after 87. Overall, Curt in the US in 93 would be interesting though and I don't know where he would rank. In a historically bad year, I am still unsure if he would be in my top 3 performers which doesn't bode well for him. I have no problem saying he had a good year with some really good performances in 93 but as I watch more of the old Raws, I hope for some great performances sprinkled in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 The Doink match was part of a 3 part series. This is probably more fun though. We can post matches here right? http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdk720_bret-hart-mr-perfect-vs-lex-luger-r_sport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Oh, didn't realize the Perfect vs. Doink had a series. Looking forward to that coming up. The one I watched was Mr. Perfect vs Doink the Clown (WWF Monday Night RAW 05/24/93) which Charles had ranked #96 for the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Something that bugs me about Hennig that I think he should get more criticism for is that he apparently had a match with Misawa (as Tiger Mask) in early 1988 that was so bad it killed the crowd and Baba never invited him back. He has a rep in some circles as an elite worker, but he bombed in Japan big time. I should watch the match to see if it's as bad as it's made out to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Doink and Hennig had two inconclusive matches on Syndi shows to lead to the Raw match, if I'm not mistaken. It was for KOTR entry. The Yoko match late in the year is fun too. None of these are groundbreaking or anything but I do think they help his case more than hurt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Perfect is very disappointing in 93. Outside of a few good matches that have already been mentioned, he never even seems to try. Jannetty, Doink, Bret, Luger, Waltman, Yoko and possibly even Virgil look better than him that year. He has more opportunities than a lot of other guys too and even when he does try, he doesn't perform any better than guys mentioned. The Heavenly Bodies have a better WWF 93 than he does from an in-ring standpoint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 So when we were talking about the difference between "favourites" and "greatest", this is a guy who would apply. Mr. Perfect was always one of the my favourites, and I still have real fondness for that character and for Curt Hennig in general. I was more critcal of his babyface work in AWA than most people who took part in that 80s project, and thought his best stuff was as "Cool Curt" towards the end. By the same token, I am a little higher on the Mr. Perfect run than a lot of people and have more time for his ridiculous, almost absurd, theatrical selling. After 93, I think he falls off a cliff. I don't know if people are even thinking about his WCW run, but I'm just writing that off (tell me if I'm wrong to). He might have an outside shot of being number 100, but my gut feeling says "I don't think so". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 I like his Portland and AWA stuff. The WWF work is way more miss than hit. I hate it when you have fond memories of someone or thing and it doesn't hold up to your fond memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exposer Posted October 11, 2014 Report Share Posted October 11, 2014 I love him in Portland and AWA. The Rose and Bock feuds are two of the best feuds of the 80s. He also has great matches with Wahoo, Lawler, Greg Gagne, and Stan Hansen. Hell, the Hansen match is one of the best matches of the 80s. There's a lot of fun work from him in the WWF, particularly from the Hogan feud, but other than that he dropped off drastically. I do like the Bret matches and his 93 run is pretty solid, but the Curt Hennig of 1982-1988 was gone forever. He'll likely make my list, but I'm not at all sure where. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 So when we were talking about the difference between "favourites" and "greatest", this is a guy who would apply. Mr. Perfect was always one of the my favourites, and I still have real fondness for that character and for Curt Hennig in general. I was more critcal of his babyface work in AWA than most people who took part in that 80s project, and thought his best stuff was as "Cool Curt" towards the end. I'm not saying that I think Curt is a top 100 guy, because for me he isn't. But I also had a problem with some of his "technical" babyface work in AWA, thinking he performed much better in his brawls. But I just watched his (from the best of my knowledge) first TV match with Buddy Rose in Portland from 3/21/82 and to me it was Hennig's best babyface work that I have seen. He showed a lot more fire in his armwork than I ever saw him do in the Bock matches and he kept switching things up instead of going back to the same simple armbar liked he seemed to often do in AWA. I have a feeling when I finish the Rose/Hennig series I will feel like Buddy Rose is a better opponent for Curt than Bock was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W2BTD Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Disclaimer - my absolute favorite wrestler growing up. I fall into a similar place where a lot of you apparently do, which is that Hennig might be the most talented wrestler ever who has the least amount of great matches. He'd make my list, because even without the file of highest level stuff i'd have a hard time finding 100 guys I think were better pro wrestlers. But he really should have been an elite top 20 level guy, and he wasn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 If you look at AWA and Portland he's got a solid amount of great matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted November 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Disclaimer - my absolute favorite wrestler growing up. I fall into a similar place where a lot of you apparently do, which is that Hennig might be the most talented wrestler ever who has the least amount of great matches. He'd make my list, because even without the file of highest level stuff i'd have a hard time finding 100 guys I think were better pro wrestlers. But he really should have been an elite top 20 level guy, and he wasn't. Hennig vs Hansen from AWA (May 31, 86) is the best short match in history. I think he'll make it for his baby face work. AWA, Portland and I like Hennig 92-93 WWF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Hennig vs Hansen from AWA (May 31, 86) is the best short match in history. Definitely agreeing with this, had that match #1 for the AWA set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted December 4, 2014 Report Share Posted December 4, 2014 After watching his stuff in AWA and the Buddy Rose feud in Portland, it's pretty clear that Hennig peaked before he went to WWF. Kind of underwhelmed by the Buddy Rose feud to be honest. Not underwhelmed in the sense that it wasn't good, it was, but it's very much a very good small territory feud as opposed to a big time classic feud. Too much heavy pimping I guess. The early matches went from really solid to excellent (the last one). I thought Hennig was actually better than Rose on the mat, especially in the second match (I believe…), which I found interesting since he didn't do as much against Bock (although the matches were better). So yeah, no great classic match to me, but really good stuff nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted December 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2014 Hennig was great pre-WWF, but I also think he had a great run in 93. From the Bret, Doink to Flair matches he was pretty awesome as a babyface. Sure the Michaels match at SummerSlam sucked, but I wouldn't squarely blame that on Hennig. I think the true problem with Hennig is that he isn't a good heel, but an amazing face in the ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted December 5, 2014 Report Share Posted December 5, 2014 I like the showdown he has with Lex Luger when he leaves the towel on the mirror. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted December 6, 2014 Report Share Posted December 6, 2014 I wouldn't call his 1993 run great at all. He has some good matches that year, but really only his KOTR match with Bret stands out to me. The Doink match was good, the Flair match was OK. He was solid albeit disappointing that year. The word great is thrown around way too much. The bar shouldn't be that low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted December 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2014 I wouldn't call his 1993 run great at all. He has some good matches that year, but really only his KOTR match with Bret stands out to me. The Doink match was good, the Flair match was OK. He was solid albeit disappointing that year. The word great is thrown around way too much. The bar shouldn't be that low. It might had been some hyperbola, but compared to his other WWF stuff it was great. It was a real upswing in the very least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted December 6, 2014 Report Share Posted December 6, 2014 In Hennig's defense he was coming back from a major back injury and was possibly still hampered by it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.00c68798e2502c92a7da65280cf7def4.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.