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Dun Duuuunnnnn, daaa dunnnnn! Ian Hunter here, walking on out in my blue and black tights, chewing gum and tossing a towel over my shoulder. A lot of people come and go in wrestling, declaring themselves to be excellent, show-stopping and igniting manias. But only one wrestler was truly… Perfect. Even with his death over five years ago, many are proclaiming him to be a legend in our business and one of the greatest uncrowned champions of all time. And with a DVD on the way next week showcasing his twenty-three year career, the next two weeks of trivia will focus on the one and only Curt Hennig. But first, we need to answer last week’s trivia.
1: D. The match ended in a time limit draw between them. The match is considered one of the last great classics of the silver-age of wrestling.
2: A rear chin lock. Of all the moves in the world, a chin lock! Lasted almost a good four minutes and is painful to watch as a fan in today’s pace of maneuvers.
3: E. Tommy Dreamer came down to nail Triple H, but hit Tazz instead. This would setup the title drop to Dreamer a few days later.
4: C. The official decision was that the match was halted due to excessive blood loss, and Lawler was declared champion. Much to the hatred of the crowd.
5: True. In fact, the decision to make Jericho champion had been decided before Survivor Series had even taken place. It’s one of the last examples of pre-planning in the WWF as they got their payoff down the road.
We had one whole winner this week, by the name of Rich. I’d post Rich’s last name, but he didn’t give me anything else. Which sucks to be Rich since there were three others named Rich. People, include a last name, please! Let’s move away from that and onto this week! Answer the questions and email your answers to TorchTrivia@gmail.com. We'll post the names of those who got ALL FIVE correct. Good luck to you all!
1. Before Hennig got to the WWF, he had some good runs in the AWA in Minnesota. Trained by his father, Buddy Rose and Verne Gange, “Cool” Curt Hennig made his rounds as a jobber and a mid-card start before going to the WWF for a stint in 1982. Coming back in 1984 he worked his way up the ladder and eventually formed a team with Scott Hall to capture the Tag Team titles in 1986. Their run however would only last four months as both men were showing signs of wanting to become singles competitors. Both were asking Gange for a shot at the title, but he denied them both at first and simply made them championship jobbers to Rick Martel, Stan Hansen and Nick Bockwinkel. Eventually the decision was made that one of the two deserved a title run, but Gange was divided as to put the belt on. Legend has it Gange consulted a specific individual on the matter who chose Hennig as the man. Who was this?
A. Larry Zbyszko
B. Nick Bockwinkle
C. Mad Dog Vachon
D. Stan Hansen
E. Wally Karbo
2. Hennig came to the WWF once for about a year and a half as a tag partner to Eddie Gilbert, but the territory had little use for both men and the quickly left. After almost four years in the AWA (as noted above) Hennig was lured back to the WWF with the persona of Mr. Perfect. But the history behind picking Henning could have gone a totally different direction. During the spring of 1988, McMahon and several of his staff had a brainstorming meeting that brought about a number of new gimmicks and personas to be used later. The most notable two created in this meeting were The Big Boss Man and Mr. Perfect. But several others came out of the works and for a time Hennig and another individual almost ended up with the opposite roles. Who was the other individual up for Mr. Perfect?
A. Terry Taylor
B. Owen Hart
C. Tully Blanchard
D. Rick Martel
E. Arn Anderson
3. Hennig’s two Intercontinental Championship runs have been hailed as some of the best heel work in the WWF before the New Era began. He took on everyone in the company as champion at one point or another. The only two men who beat him for the title were Kerry Von Erich (who he later got the belt back from four months later) and Bret Hart. While Von Erich’s win at SummerSlam ‘90 was done as a favor to get him over with the crowd, it was decided that he couldn’t keep championship gold for long and had to dump the title back to Hennig. Seven months later at SummerSlam ‘91, both management and Hennig himself said it was time for Hart to finally excel as a singles competitor after two failed attempts at it in the 80’s. But it was almost not to be as someone else was hitting up management for an IC run, which was later trumped by Hennig’s input to McMahon. Who was this?
A. The Warlord
B. Jim Duggan
C. Jacques Rougeau
D. Kerry Von Erich
E. Davey Boy Smith
4. Next will be a write-in question. Hennig’s back had been giving him issues since WrestleMania VII, aggravated by the high pushed drops he took as opposed to normally landing on your back like most wrestlers do. Hennig worked with Hart for a good 18 minute match and immediately went into surgery the next day. Aside from doing play-by-play work on Superstars, Henning became an “adviser” to Ric Flair during his run in the company. Over time his role went from being a well-dressed ringside adviser to an abused heel who was teetering on turning face. All it took was a kayfabe push from Flair on PrimeTime Wrestling to do the trick as Henning agreed to replace another wrestler at Survivor Series ‘92 to team with Randy Savage against Flair and Razor Ramon. Who did Hennig replace?
5. Hennig was making good use of his return as a character. Kicking Ric Flair out of the WWF in early 1993, having physical feuds with Shawn Michaels and Lex Luger, even revisiting his battle with Bret Hart at the 1993 King Of The Ring. But the rest of his WWF run was lackluster at best, starting with Hennig taking a leave of absence for a period of time shortly before Survivor Series ’93 for unknown reasons. Some debate it was over his contract, while others contended it was over the recent steroid scandal. He would later make his return at WrestleMania X as a special guest referee to the Yokozina/Luger match for the title. Playing the part of the heel and disqualifying Luger, costing him the title (which is in another trivia). Hennig was due to have a feud with Luger, but his back became aggravated again and plans were put on hold. When Curt came back Luger was in the lower-level of the company, and Hennig had to bide his time and spent the majority of his last few years in the WWF as a commentator. He was supposed to make a storyline comeback in 1996, but instead ended up injured and later helped Hunter Hearst Helmsley win the IC title. Who originally injured Hennig?
A. Marc Mero
B. Bret Hart
C. Shawn Michaels
D. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
E. Davey Boy Smith Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
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