Mr. Perfect: The Curt Hennig Legacy

Dive into the life and career of Curt Hennig, better known as Mr. Perfect, in this compelling documentary that celebrates his unmatched in-ring skills and larger-than-life persona. From his beginnings in AWA under the guidance of his father, Larry "The Axe" Hennig, to becoming one of the WWF’s most iconic characters, this is the ultimate tribute to a man who truly lived up to his name. Relive his Intercontinental Championship reigns, his unforgettable vignettes, and his rivalries with Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Ric Flair. This documentary also explores his contributions to WCW and his enduring influence on the wrestling world. Mr. Perfect wasn’t just a gimmick; he was the epitome of excellence in professional wrestling.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Ladies on tittledon.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Mister was good to me. He was mister Perfect.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
There's one mister Perfect, and you're looking at him.

Speaker 4 (00:12):
He was an Awa heavyweight champion, he was an Awa
tag team champion.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
The greatest inner continental champion of all time, the greatest
athlete of all time.

Speaker 4 (00:23):
Swam, he could die, he could play golf, he could bowl,
he could throw darts, you name it. He was a
natural athlete.

Speaker 5 (00:30):
He was arrogant. He believed in everything he did.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
And now you know why they call me mister Kirkman.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Mister Purfect walks in no man shadow.

Speaker 6 (00:45):
I can tell you that he is his own man.

Speaker 7 (00:48):
He wanted to be the best, but he wanted to
be the best so that he could take care of
his family.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
We had a great beginning and we had a great middle.
By losing Kurt wasn't really a great ending.

Speaker 8 (01:00):
He was the greatest person that anybody could have ever known,
one of the most entertaining people ever stepped into the ring.

Speaker 6 (01:08):
He was the greatest total package that there was professional wrestling.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
He's a funny guy.

Speaker 5 (01:12):
He brought a lot of smiles. He was devoted, He
lived in breathed professional wrestling. What you're looking at right.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Here is by far the greatest athlete the World Wrestling
Federation has ever produced.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
I remember the day he was born.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
That was the highlight in my life, one of my
highlights of my life. We have five children. They're all
special in their own ways, and Kurt was special in
his way, always smiling.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Kurt started wrestling.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
Him and my oldest boy, Randy, his brother, started wrestling
when they were six years old. He started at the bottom.
He started as a six year old and worked his
way up. He was just a natural natural athlete. Robinsdale
High School had more state champions than any school in Minnesota.
I went there, I wrestled professionally. Here I come that

(02:11):
vern Gania started me wrestling.

Speaker 5 (02:14):
Vern Gania had went to Robinsdale High School and my
father before Larry, probably ten years apart. Vern Gania had
been on TV in nineteen fifty two on the DuPont
Network out of Chicago, so he was one of the
first stars to really be on network TV. Larry came

(02:34):
to my father and wanted to turn pro. So my
father trained Larry. You know, when Larry would come for
training sessions, he could bring Kurt along, and I mean,
those are my first memories of him, I just remember
a curly haired little guy and loved to wrestle around
and play.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
It was always a wrestling atmosphere in our house. Kurt
went to Robins Joel High School. They found a real
gem when Kurt came there because he could wrestle. I
don't care if it was bowling, golf, tennis, swimming, diving,
didn't make a difference.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
The great athlete.

Speaker 8 (03:17):
He was in my English class in tenth grade, we're
in English. How you're supposed to go up and give
a speech, and you're supposed to look around and make
eye contact, and here he was making funny faces, and
so I thought, what the heck is wrong with this guy?
He reminded me of my brothers. You know how guys
tried to get girls attention. Went from there to asking

(03:41):
me out to that Night of the Living Dead. I
think it's because you want me to hang on to
him or something. So it all started in English class.
They moved to Arizona when we were in eleventh grade,
and he came back a year later. We started dating,
and oh then we got married. Liked about a year

(04:04):
after that. We were married for a year and a
half and then he just started training with Brad Ringans,
a real good friend of his.

Speaker 7 (04:14):
You want to talk about the genesis of Kurt Hannick's
wrestling career, I'd have to say it was as an
amateur wrestler at Robinsville, Minnesota, and then he played football
Normandale Junior College, and after that then it was professional wrestling.

Speaker 5 (04:30):
Brad Rans started to train Kurt, and then I jumped
in and helped with a lot of the training. But
we became pretty close. You know, second generation wrestlers catch
on pretty quick, and Kurt was a natural.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
He started out. He went to Burnnguy on his camp.

Speaker 4 (04:47):
There were no shortcuts, so he started at the bottom
and worked his way up.

Speaker 8 (04:52):
He started training for about a year and they asked
if he didn't want to do a couple of shows,
and he asked, of what I think about him going
to this profession? I mean, it was what was in
his heart that he liked. Oh we had a little boy,
and I knew this is what he liked to do.

(05:12):
And that was back in one hundred percent. After he
wrestled here for a while, the Event Senior asked him
to come out and wrestle in New.

Speaker 4 (05:23):
York, he was on the card in Madison Square Gardens.

Speaker 5 (05:28):
Heaven.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
He got in the ring and looked.

Speaker 4 (05:31):
All around, and he come back after the match and
he said, Dad, he said, this is unbelievable. This is
where I have to be. So that was a big deal.
It was an opening match, but it was a big deal.
He was on the card in Madison Square Gardens.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Heard I met for Minnesota.

Speaker 9 (05:50):
Oh, he's going to be a graving one of his Well.

Speaker 10 (05:52):
I first met Kurt Henning in Madison Square Garden. This
is where he had his first match. I watched Kurt
and I could see there was a lot of possibility
in this young fellow.

Speaker 11 (06:02):
And headaches bunches are starting to have an effect on fogie.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Very athletic young guy.

Speaker 4 (06:07):
I was a certain excitement here.

Speaker 12 (06:10):
The fans behind Kurt head a clock never before and
not been do an awful lot bro a young cut, harder.

Speaker 10 (06:16):
And you could just see the potential that was there,
just waiting to come out.

Speaker 13 (06:20):
Rob kicklot.

Speaker 14 (06:24):
What do we have here?

Speaker 4 (06:26):
Well?

Speaker 15 (06:27):
This For the last few months, Kurt Henting has been
doing very well for himself.

Speaker 5 (06:31):
He's been really climbing.

Speaker 4 (06:32):
The latter we went around to Boston and a couple
of towns, and then I left and he stayed.

Speaker 5 (06:43):
He enjoyed it up there. He was away from the
Awa where his father had established himself, and yet nobody
knew him up there, So if he was getting the experience,
it didn't really have any effect on him back here.

Speaker 8 (06:58):
He was on the road a lot, and soe and
a half months pregnant. I just stayed with my mom
until New Year's Eve. D he came off the flight.
They were done with their tour in New York. They
said that your wife was in labor. So he made
it with each child, all four children. We have four kids.

(07:18):
Joe was born in seventy nine, Amy, she was born
eighty one, and Katie was born in eighty seven, and
Hank was born in ninety two.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Court and Denise were high school friends, high school lovers married.
They had a great romance, so started a beautiful family.

Speaker 6 (07:41):
It didn't really seem to me that he was away
from me as much as he was. It always seemed
like he was there at every sporting event. I had
every football game, every baseball game in the house. He's
laid back, you know, just relaxed time. You know, go
out outside me play you know, a little grab with
the football or whatever, go out with my mom that night,

(08:05):
but mostly it was just time to relax.

Speaker 8 (08:08):
We're just proud of him, no matter what, We're proud
of ours each other.

Speaker 5 (08:12):
He loved his kids, always talked about the kids, talked
about his wife. Everything he did was for that, you know.
That was Kurt.

Speaker 4 (08:20):
I still have visions of him leaving Minneapolis to go
out to Oregon.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
He was going out to don Owans to wrestle.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
When he wrestled out there, he said, Dad, do you
want to come out as Yeah. Kurt and I were
the Pacific Coast Tag Team champions, father and son.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
It was a great thrill.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
Being around professional wrestling all my life for the last
twenty five years, and my father being in professional wrestling
and at the top range. Certainly being around him and
the help he's given me has certainly been a big.

Speaker 6 (08:49):
Help to me.

Speaker 16 (08:51):
Kurt had a major impact and made he rejuvenated his.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Father, best father, Amseom tag Team Accommination seek to dethrone
the tag team champions of the World.

Speaker 17 (09:05):
Kurt was a big, big part of making Larry feel
like getting back out there and making sure that his
son succeeded.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
Larry the acts. Henny could not stand in the corner
and what just happened to his son.

Speaker 16 (09:22):
And the two of them together made sure that the
team succeeded.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Hennick, what does he got going? Does he have a
cover on the roll?

Speaker 12 (09:31):
He couldn't hold.

Speaker 16 (09:32):
Him In wrestling itself, It's not too often that you
get an opportunity to see a father and son wrestle together. Generally,
the father's too old and the son's too young. They
just happened to hit at a perfect point in time
where Larry was still physically able to go out there

(09:55):
and perform, and Kurt was the highlight to that performance.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
Kurt coming off that top hole with a flying gop kick.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
Now he has the animal cover.

Speaker 18 (10:08):
Kurt was very proud of his father and what he accomplished,
and I think that that was what motivated him to
carry on his father's name and be successful in an
industry that his dad was successful.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
And oh what a war is going on inside that
squared circle.

Speaker 4 (10:23):
I didn't have to do that much, but when what
I did was important. But and he had a lot
of tag team partners, and he had all the moves,
whether it was on the mat or aeriel or whatever.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
He was a.

Speaker 4 (10:39):
Wrestling genius, absolutely a wrestling genius.

Speaker 5 (10:44):
I got a head it off the second roof right
across the arm.

Speaker 7 (10:48):
Let's Telly Jordan.

Speaker 5 (10:49):
When we broke in. We traveled together and we did
a lot of talking. He said, Geat, I mean everywhere
I go it's you know, Larry this, Larry that, your dad,
the acts NI compry And I said, well, that's the
toughest thing in this thing. I said, you know, I
grew up with it too and lived through it. But
what you have to do. You have to establish yourself.

(11:09):
Just be who you are and forget about your dad
and create your own destiny in the sport. And if
you can do that, you'll be successful.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
I had to dig down deep and pull out everything
from my past, and finally I got to that tag
and I told all the people here.

Speaker 5 (11:25):
We were excited.

Speaker 14 (11:26):
We came to win, and we did it.

Speaker 19 (11:28):
They got up your winners quick.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
God, yeah, Kurt Pete and Scott Hall.

Speaker 5 (11:34):
Your true athletes are gonna progress like Kurt did to
a point where he was really a very good athlete.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Got tall up, Hennick and Scot Off look like they're
already pull a championship, right.

Speaker 4 (11:47):
Now, they were a good combination, two young guys, great shape.
They both didn't do the same things, but what they
did was really good, and they were a good combination.

Speaker 20 (11:58):
Beautiful, hot, cold, Oh my good.

Speaker 5 (12:00):
Old Urns Home in the night. Scott wasn't quite the
professional that Kurt was. They developed and were champions among
the wrestlers.

Speaker 4 (12:13):
We knew.

Speaker 5 (12:13):
Kurt was carrying it because he was the better athlete
in the ring.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Kurt Hennae two forty eight out of Robinsdale, Minnesota. There
is no two ways about it. That man, right, there's
one of the most sensational wrestlers in the world tonight,
and the heavyweight Championship of the World maybe at his
door Stamps.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
I am ready for a shot at Nick Blackwinkle, And
somewhere down the road, I'm sure as I climb up
the ladder, I'll be looking for Nick.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
Backwinkle all around the world. It's called the Heavyweight Championship
of the World. There's the challenger, Kurt Hennacke, there's the champion,
Nick Blackwinkle.

Speaker 5 (12:49):
We're in Las Vegas. Kurt has a match with Nick
Backwinkle that night. Kurt's twenty eight years old. Backwinkle's near
the end of his career, but he's still the world champion.
Maybe forty eight, maybe fifty. At the time in the
building with all the lights, it was about one hundred
and fourteen and twenty degrees. We're in the locker room,

(13:10):
and I said, now, Kurt, remember to pace yourself. Nick
will dictate the match if you let him, and if
he does, you're not gonna make it. I'm gonna watch
what I'm gonna do to that Nick backwinkle tonight.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Fix up for Hennick body slam, chick out by Henny.

Speaker 12 (13:34):
We are seeing it all.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
Body slam by Henny, go on the champion, arm drive,
takedown Kurt Hennache. How can the arm dry have an
armed bar here on the Champion.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
It was a great match, a great match.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
The tenacity of two tremendous grapplers here in the AWA
or the championship of the world.

Speaker 4 (13:57):
Good sound wrestling match, good holes, great technicians. Even today,
if you watch that match, you can see how how
great a Kurt was and Nick great wrestler too.

Speaker 21 (14:10):
I will never forget it as long as I live.

Speaker 5 (14:13):
However this ends, these two men have.

Speaker 21 (14:16):
Given everything that there is to Camp. Not only that
they have to camp, but there is to camp for
the sport of professional wrestling is going down the run.

Speaker 22 (14:27):
It is all over, It.

Speaker 5 (14:29):
Is all over. Sixty minutes later, Wood running down him,
and then when he came in he said don and
he was bent on. I said, did you learn anything? Yes?
And I think that's when the light went on for him.

(14:51):
He became a different guy in the ring.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
From big us over.

Speaker 21 (14:54):
He goes, I've been a rough kicked by Kurt may
get a big bob or slam all that.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
I'm standing here now, Nick Bockwinkel, and I'm thinking to myself,
maybe I'm the one that should retire for professional wrestling.
Maybe you should be the one to continue on his
world champion because you happen to find out every time
a way to hold onto that belt. Well, Nick Bockwinckle's
nineteen eighty seven, and I told you there's going to
be a changing of the guards. So Nick Bockwinkel, whoever
it may be, you keep your eyes open because Kurt

(15:24):
Hennick's coming.

Speaker 5 (15:26):
He became a star. That match, made him a star
by getting his butt beat that night, and from that
time on, I saw a totally different Kurt Henning. He
became a star in his sport.

Speaker 16 (15:42):
Bockwinkle had the title for quite some time. They had
moved everyone up the ladder. When Kurt's turn came along,
he fit into it brilliantly. Because when Kurt came to
life in wrestling, fit right in that mold.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
He comes up hammers away kind of what I cannot
tie that root.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
It was.

Speaker 4 (16:12):
It was pure pride and in bittersweet that he had
made made that lettle that altitude, and I was. I
was happy and I'm still happy today. That well, it
was unbelievable. It was something that I never accomplished, never
a world champion. It was overwhelming and uh, it's hard

(16:36):
for me to put it into words. I was overwhelmed
and I was very proud, and I'm still proud today.

Speaker 23 (16:44):
Kurt Henning as far as that concern, he was the
right man at the right time, right place. Definitely. I
liked him tremendously. He was the person, uh you so
to speak, ready to inherit the throne.

Speaker 5 (16:56):
And he was the right person that was in goaling
was the in that title someday Eventually he did. He
had some help with it from Larry'subisco, but he did
win it and Once he got that felt, he turned
into a whole different performer in the ring.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
I've started from the bottom and I've worked my way
to the top, and I'm the proudest man in professional
wrestling right now, and there's nobody sitting out there and
there's nobody anywhere in the world that can take that
away from me, because I've got it and it's mine
and I'm talking about the heavyweight championship of the world.

Speaker 5 (17:27):
All that confidence that you gain and all that momentum
you gain changes your whole attitude about the sport and
your performance in the ring, and he was outstanding.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yee ay, w wayyway, chat me, hurt, honey. Let me
tell you something about your father. Your father when he
was a champion was nothing but a phony, and I'm
a real man.

Speaker 5 (17:54):
Ended up, we'd have to collide in matches, and then
it became very competitive.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Tell you straight and simple, break, Donya. I'm the greatest
thing walking the face of the earth right now, and
there's not a wrestler around that could touch me.

Speaker 5 (18:07):
And the fathers had to be involved. They just didn't
like each other.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
We just didn't get along, period. So it was an attitude.
It was a personality. It just it didn't work period.

Speaker 5 (18:31):
It was difficult for both Kurt and I and we're
just trying to go out compete and have a good match,
and we had some lacious matches. It was fun, We
had some great matches. We just wanted to be ourselves
and you know, following in your father's footsteps was a
real challenge. You have to put that aside and kind

(18:52):
of just blanket out in your mind and focus on
what you need to do in the ring. He did
an excellent job doing that.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
The championship match will be Kurt Henning depending his title
against the King Jerry Lawler.

Speaker 24 (19:10):
In May of nineteen eighty eight. We had at the
Mid South Colisseum. We had twelve thousand people turn away
crowd at the Colosseum. Kurt was in all his glory
and his last match as the AWA champion, and man,
what a match we had it was. It was not
only my favorite match with Kurt Henning, It's my favorite
match of all time. Kurt Henning is one heck of
a champion. I mean, he was as good as they get.

(19:32):
It was a pleasure, I mean literally a pleasure. Everyone
just beating their total hell out of it. It was
a pleasure to be in the ring with Kurt Henning.

Speaker 5 (19:40):
When things started turning and the business started changing, he
got his shot with the WWE, his second shot, and
they's a lot different than his first time he went there.
Now he's going to be a star, and he became one.

Speaker 4 (19:58):
When it came time for him to make a move,
we all got in the car and I drove him
to New York and we went over to Vince's house.

Speaker 5 (20:12):
Vince it's like, hey, you know, think of a name.

Speaker 8 (20:14):
We're like, okay, I'm supposed to match our last name,
you know with the h's, you know, like Hurricane Hendeger,
Rock whatever and King Curtis or you know. We were
thinking of all that, and then Vince asked him, so.

Speaker 6 (20:28):
What do you like to do?

Speaker 25 (20:29):
And Kurt was describing himself, and Kurt talked about how
he loved to hunt, he loved to fish, he loved
to play basketball, he loved golf.

Speaker 6 (20:37):
He just loved everything, and so.

Speaker 25 (20:39):
Well, what do you you know, what's like your best sport,
what's your what are your best at? Hees greater everything,
and hence mister perfect was born.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
Hi, I'm Kurt Henne.

Speaker 6 (20:55):
But to you people.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
I'm mister perfect, a man who has done everything in
his life absolutely perfect, without a flaw, without a blemish.
In fact, when I was born, the doctor handed me
to my mother and the very first word out of
her mouth was perfect.

Speaker 22 (21:15):
What else when you call yourself mister perfect? Your pigeonholing
yourself into a pretty tough act to follow. But you
know something, the sumbitch was pretty damn close to being
perfect in every way.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
I am going to sink a forty foot putt, pull
the perfect game, perfect form on the basketball court. I
am the perfect passer, by the way.

Speaker 22 (21:37):
That's checked me perfect every time.

Speaker 6 (21:41):
That was perfect? What did you expect?

Speaker 18 (21:47):
Bobby Heenan had got in touch with me about coming
over to the USF baseball field to do a little
skit with Kurt. He was going to take some batting practice.
I said, oh, okay, I hear he's a pretty good athlete.
I'd like to see him swing a bat. So he's
taking some batting practice and looks a little stiff in
the beginning and everything, and they said, okay, start the tape,

(22:10):
and they rolled the tape and winds up hitting a
home run, and then they cut to me and I
go absolutely.

Speaker 6 (22:20):
Perfect that it was a good gig.

Speaker 18 (22:23):
But I'm sitting there going, you know, they're going to
have to dub it to where he hits a ball.
And then they showed them throw the ball over the
fence and I said, no, he's not going to be
able to hit a home run and winds up pitting
a home run.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
I don't believe.

Speaker 6 (22:43):
There wasn't anything that he couldn't do. We'd be playing
basketball or something, so for instance, out in the front,
we'd be making these trick shots and he would drain
him from a half court and you know, playing darts,
he'd be like, oh, let's just close my eyes, make
it bullseye.

Speaker 20 (22:58):
He wanted to be great every single thing he did,
and had a natural ability to do every sport.

Speaker 10 (23:05):
There's nothing closer to the truth with Kutu. On a
few of the off days, Kurt and I and Rick
Mantel at that time, you know, we would uh fool around,
you know, into gym with the basketball or out on
the field with the football, and everything you said it
was right on.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
He had that about him.

Speaker 15 (23:22):
And I can remember times in the AWA when we
would be driving back from Green Bay or some town
in Wisconsin, we'd pull over one of those roadside taverns
and he'd walk in there and start playing darts.

Speaker 5 (23:32):
And just hit the bull's eye.

Speaker 15 (23:36):
I mean, and he was doing that long.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
Before it was mister perfect.

Speaker 6 (23:40):
Okay.

Speaker 25 (23:41):
First of all, the myth of mister Perfect doing everything
perfectly is well, that's a myth in part and in part, uh,
mister perfect being perfect is a myth because when we
would set up shots and we would go through all
of the mister Perfect vignettes, Kurt could do everything, and

(24:01):
he could do it the first time, and he did
it perfectly. As soon as cameras would roll. Kirk couldn't
sink a putt or hit a strike if his life
depended on it.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
That doctor handed the me to my mother, and I'm
stuttering perfect, perfect, absolutely perfect.

Speaker 5 (24:32):
For I was gonna say, you.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Think I get lucky at least?

Speaker 25 (24:47):
And the secret was is after a while, what I
started having to do is I would never let Kurt
know when we were rolling, and as soon as we
would get there, we put tape in the camera and
we would roll on everything, and whether Kurt thought we
were rehearsing or just walking through things, we shot everything
that Kurt did, and I told Kurt, I'll just be

(25:07):
mister Perfect from the minute you walk in. And that
is how Kurt became perfect.

Speaker 26 (25:12):
I directed the first couple of incarnations of the Mister
Perfect vignettes. Kurt wasn't always so perfect on the shoots
for the Mister Perfect vignettes, but he was reasonably close.
He was good at all the things that we shot,
good enough to convince people that he was perfect with
a little bit of help from the rest of us.

(25:35):
But for how good he was at all these things,
he was also pretty humble. After the first couple of
series of vignettes, he showed up at the studio one
day with a box full of these trophies. He called
them his Golden Mike Awards and Mine sets Special thanks
to Kerwin Sophie's for helping direct Perfection mister Perfect. Now,

(26:00):
of course, Kurk would never give me credit for directing Perfection.
It was just helping direct perfection. He was absolutely perfect.

Speaker 4 (26:10):
No matter what Kirk did, he done it well. Kurt
loved to hunting fish, and when they were three four
years old, I'd take him hunting, take him in a car.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
We'd go pheasant hunting or.

Speaker 4 (26:23):
Something in later life, along with wade bogs and fishing
shark and hunted elk.

Speaker 18 (26:30):
The first time I met Kurt Hunting was at a
banquet dinner in Rochester, New York. We started talking and
finding out we had similar interests and hunting and fishing
and these types of things, and got to know him
a little bit, and about a year later.

Speaker 5 (26:47):
Just became great friends.

Speaker 18 (26:50):
We would go down to the keys and fish in
the keys, and then invited him to go to British
Columbia on a moose hunt, and he enjoyed that immensely.
We were frickin' frack and peanut butter and jelly and
we were just inseparable and we had so much fun together.

Speaker 5 (27:08):
He has to live up to.

Speaker 18 (27:09):
His reputation being mister Perfect, and he has to shoot
naturally the biggest animal, catch the biggest fish, and he
always brags about it. He caught one hundred and about
one hundred and eighty pound tarping down in the keys
one year with us, and at the end of the
trip he said, I just want everybody to know that
I caught the biggest fish of the trip. And one

(27:31):
time he caught a gigantic bull shark down there, about
six hundred and fifty pounds. And I asked him, what
are you going to do with that? He says, I'm
gonna mount and put on my wall. I said, I
hope you've got a big enough wall for it. And
I talked to Lnise last year at the induction of
the Hall of Fame, and the bull sharks still up.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
I consider.

Speaker 18 (27:55):
I consider Curb my guardian angel.

Speaker 6 (27:59):
Because we were in.

Speaker 18 (28:01):
Uh We're in Iowa deer hunt and and uh and
we were making drives and and uh. One of the uh,
one of the ranchers had asked us if uh, uh
God see we done, if we could uh, if we
wanted to hunt together or hunt separate?

Speaker 5 (28:23):
And uh I I said, it's up to you, Kurt.
I said, uh, whatever, whatever you decide.

Speaker 18 (28:29):
He says, he said, boxing, let's hunt together. So we
took off walking and and we walked about a half
a mile three quarters of a mile, and came to
this barboar fence and and uh there was a little
tree on the other side of the barboar fence, and
a handed Curt my gun and tried to step over
the barboar fence and got entangled in it, and I
was upside down and I couldn't get out, and uh,

(28:53):
and and didn't know what happened cause it happened so fast,
and and uh, I feel something running down my leg,
and I'm upside down with my feet up in the air,
and Kurt struggling to get the barboire loose, and finally
he does, and and my legs come out. And I
told him I thought I broke my collar bone and

(29:15):
there's something wrong with my leg. And pulled up my
pants and I'm wide open from my knee all the
way down to my ankle. And and I said, I said, dude,
it's a long way back to the truck.

Speaker 5 (29:29):
He said, don't worry.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
I'll carry you.

Speaker 18 (29:33):
Carried me about three quarters of a mile and it
gets me the hospital and and the doctor said, it's
a good thing he was there.

Speaker 5 (29:46):
He said, you bled to.

Speaker 18 (29:47):
Death sitting on that fence because nobody, nobody would have
found me. And if he wasn't there, I would be here.

Speaker 5 (29:58):
Just it's tough, mister Perfect.

Speaker 11 (30:08):
Well, finally we're gonna find out just how perfect this
man is.

Speaker 6 (30:11):
In the square circle.

Speaker 27 (30:13):
By the time that mister Perfect debuted in the WWE his.

Speaker 9 (30:18):
Persona had already been established.

Speaker 27 (30:21):
Now, the other side of that issue is this is
that you do a great series of vignettes and then
you make your debut and you're not nearly as good
as the vignettes. It's really a piece for Famin deal,
but worship for Kurt.

Speaker 9 (30:38):
When the bell rang, he got the job done.

Speaker 26 (30:41):
One of the ironic things about Kurt was that the
thing that he was closest to being perfect at was wrestling.
He was good at basketball, he was good at football,
he was good at pool. He was even good at
throwing darts. But the thing he best was wrestle.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
A perfect move, Cot, Honey, mister perfect.

Speaker 5 (31:05):
He could do it all, and he does it perfectly.

Speaker 16 (31:07):
He got perfect confidence.

Speaker 28 (31:08):
He's got perfect control.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Every hold a perfect hold, every match a perfect match.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
You take a good look everywhere.

Speaker 25 (31:21):
Mister Perfect was absolutely unbelievable.

Speaker 5 (31:23):
In the ring, He's perfect. Kurt was a great athlete.

Speaker 6 (31:27):
What an athlete?

Speaker 25 (31:28):
This man is absolute natural in the ring.

Speaker 9 (31:31):
He doesn't have to work on it just comes natural.

Speaker 6 (31:33):
He's perfect.

Speaker 5 (31:34):
In the ring was where he was at home.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
Mister perfect is playing thus far perfectly executed maneuvers.

Speaker 29 (31:41):
He had an arsenal that was second to none.

Speaker 5 (31:43):
Leap frog him perfect. He had those drop kicks, perfect kick.

Speaker 9 (31:47):
He had the soup lex.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
I'm gonna show you a.

Speaker 21 (31:50):
Perfect the perfect lex from the perfect man, Mister Perfect.

Speaker 16 (32:02):
Mister purfy fit. That kid's personality from day one when
I met him, when he was a kid. He was
always a cocky, outgoing person.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
You want to be in the thing ring with three,
you better look who it, mister perfect.

Speaker 30 (32:21):
Everything that Kurt Henning did in the ring was crisp
and sharp that you got the feeling that at any
time he could if he wanted to, if he wasn't
so cocky hin his opponent.

Speaker 6 (32:37):
That's someone you want to say, Hell.

Speaker 14 (32:38):
New boy, take a good.

Speaker 6 (32:42):
He's just playing with this youngster.

Speaker 31 (32:43):
He could have put him away fifteen seconds after the
bell rang to start to match.

Speaker 8 (32:48):
You're gonna tell the world who mister perfect, good boy
you would have.

Speaker 5 (32:51):
That means you.

Speaker 20 (32:55):
Take a look right there, you tell new Perfect.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
When you look at mister perfect, what you sees, what
you did, and what you're kidding is absolutely perfect.

Speaker 32 (33:05):
He always wanted to be perfect.

Speaker 18 (33:07):
The way he would spit out his gum and hit
it with his hand, perfect coup. You would never see
him do that miss, otherwise it wouldn't be perfect.

Speaker 31 (33:14):
It's easy to have that confidence when you have all
that ability.

Speaker 25 (33:18):
Grid Hitting was one of the most athletic individuals ever
to step in the squat circle.

Speaker 5 (33:21):
He had all the tools of the trade. He could
wrestle with the great amateur. He could move, he could balance,
he could punch, he could shook his job. Everything he
did brought excitement to the ring, to the match.

Speaker 31 (33:30):
Mister Perfect with a perfect double reverse tiblock.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Here, thats a perfectly legal heart.

Speaker 16 (33:38):
He had town he lacked.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
Mister Perfect was a tremendous athlete.

Speaker 25 (33:44):
Mister Perfect had a knack of making the person that
he was in the ring with look one hundred times
better than they've ever looked before, simply because of the
way that mister Perfect carry himself in matches.

Speaker 6 (33:59):
Perfect, just perfect.

Speaker 22 (34:00):
He could go out there and literally with a stack
of bricks, entertain everybody in the arena.

Speaker 5 (34:07):
He was just that good.

Speaker 22 (34:09):
Kurt could have a match with himself and you would
never get bored.

Speaker 9 (34:12):
Perfect timing. Buy this, they're perfect.

Speaker 23 (34:15):
That's just natural talent. You can teach people that, you
can buy that, you can train to have that.

Speaker 5 (34:21):
It's just something you born with and he was born
with that.

Speaker 22 (34:24):
When he went through the curtain, everybody, and I mean
everybody had the best match they ever had with Kurt Henty.

Speaker 8 (34:32):
That perfect.

Speaker 9 (34:35):
Get off the apron.

Speaker 12 (34:41):
Santana, what kets to thement section?

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Perfect again?

Speaker 1 (34:45):
Wait a minute, no, I can't believe this.

Speaker 6 (34:54):
I love this. When you want an interconderal belt, that
was awesome. You get to bring the belt home and
I'll get to wear it around.

Speaker 4 (35:11):
Anytime that you can win a title, you're happy because
you know that he's on the right track and the
people that he's working for appreciate what he's doing. Also,
that was a big thing.

Speaker 13 (35:21):
I'm sharper than I've ever been.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
I'm like a double bladd act and I'm thinking and
I'm saying my way through the World Wrestling Federation.

Speaker 24 (35:27):
He was a notch above everybody else, and his title
reign was a notch above a lot of the other champions.

Speaker 22 (35:35):
Kurt made that intercontinental title. Damn, near's important is the
ww toddle just because of the performance and that the
standard he sat as the intercontinental champion.

Speaker 27 (35:47):
I think at one point in the WWE, it was
particularly known that the intercontinental champion may have been the
best wrestler in the company, the w wamp It may
have been the guy that sold the most tickets or
sold the most merchandise, But there was a long period

(36:08):
of time in world wrestling entertainment for the intercontinental champion
was generally considered by his peers and by real knowledgeable
fans as being as skilled, if.

Speaker 9 (36:23):
Not more than anybody on the roster.

Speaker 27 (36:26):
And I always felt that Kurt fit that intercontinental mode
very very perfectly, no pun intended.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
What you're looking at is what champions are made of.
At your Continental Champion, mister perfect.

Speaker 33 (36:42):
Sometimes the title does not make the wrestler. The wrestler
makes the title, and in this case, that's exactly what
it was. Kurt Henning made the Intercontinental Championship mean more
than it did before he achieved it. Kurt just exuded
this attitude, this self confidence that nothing could stop him,

(37:04):
and whether you liked him or you disliked.

Speaker 9 (37:07):
Him, you could not ignore that he was a star.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
I'm the champion, inter Continental Champion. I have all the
tools it takes to be a champion. I have Bobby
the brain heating in my corner. I have the right body,
I have the right looks I have the ability.

Speaker 5 (37:23):
I am what I say.

Speaker 23 (37:24):
I am Kurt, who was a great inter continental.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
Champion, greatest inter continental champion of all time.

Speaker 9 (37:32):
Mister perfect.

Speaker 23 (37:33):
Reign as intercontinental champion was probably one of the most
successful reigns of all time.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
I mean, you're dealing with.

Speaker 9 (37:39):
An athlete, a big athlete, who can move.

Speaker 34 (37:42):
Who can wrestle, who can do anything you can do,
only do it quicker and better.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
Being absolutely perfect does have his problems, because when you're
a perfect inter continental champion, challengers are few and far between.

Speaker 22 (38:01):
I think Kurt Hennings probably one of his best performances
was probably with Brett Hart, and I give a lot
of credit to Brett Hart as well. Kurt and Brett
brought the best out of each other.

Speaker 31 (38:14):
I don't know if two individuals that are more evenly
matched than these two guys.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
Yes, physically, mentally, and I would imagine experience wise.

Speaker 31 (38:22):
Also, both second generation wrestlers.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Two great athletes.

Speaker 30 (38:27):
Both men have execution and excelsis. They are perfect, of
course in all the moves they do.

Speaker 27 (38:35):
His matches with Brett Hart were absolutely pieces of r.

Speaker 16 (38:39):
What a series of just breathtaking moves and wrestle.

Speaker 35 (38:43):
Kurt Henning for so many matches and probably had his
best matches in our best matches of that period than
anybody was having.

Speaker 14 (38:51):
Anywhere the pen every minute of this one.

Speaker 16 (38:54):
Bret Hart had a great head for wrestling.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
He suddenly is a magnificent Shane.

Speaker 16 (39:00):
And Kurt Henning had a great head for wrestling.

Speaker 31 (39:05):
It's the perfect continuing the very methodical destruction of the
hit man.

Speaker 16 (39:10):
And when you put two great heads together for anything,
it's going to come out well.

Speaker 17 (39:17):
Excellence of execution.

Speaker 9 (39:19):
They both have it.

Speaker 35 (39:20):
I know that people love the match that I had
with Curt Henning at SummerSlam.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
History will be made tonight excellence of execution versus perfection.

Speaker 6 (39:31):
To me, that was one of the best matches in history.

Speaker 13 (39:35):
What a classic confrontation between these two superstars here the
More Wrestling Federation.

Speaker 36 (39:41):
It was a milestone match, especially for guys like me
because I was growing up watching that and seeing a
different style now, the style that I gravitated to, the
style that I thought, Yeah, this is the kind of
stuff I want to do if and when I get
into this business.

Speaker 6 (39:56):
Look at this.

Speaker 12 (39:56):
Every eye and Madison Square Garden here is trained right
in this rate.

Speaker 35 (40:00):
He hurt his back a lot of people don't know
that that he He really hurt his back going into
the Summer Slam that year and he was in such pain,
but he wanted to be there for me out of respect.

Speaker 13 (40:12):
What a matchup, What a tribute to the athletes here
in the world Roughleet Federation. They have two guys of
this caliber doing what they're doing here in Madison Square Garden.

Speaker 36 (40:23):
It was a clinic, It really was. It was a
hard hitting action packed, fast paced, but also told the story.
And at that point in WWE that wasn't seeing a
lot and it really stood out.

Speaker 5 (40:38):
It stood out for me a lot.

Speaker 13 (40:40):
Oh, he's got that whole half applied on the canvas.
He's turning them over on color.

Speaker 6 (40:46):
The shot shot, He's.

Speaker 13 (40:47):
Got it, He's done.

Speaker 3 (40:49):
We've gotta do jacket.

Speaker 6 (40:51):
He never really talked about the match. You just talk
about and working with Brett.

Speaker 35 (40:55):
He loved his matches with me, as I did with him.

Speaker 36 (40:58):
They just had amazing chemist. Sometimes you get in with
a guy and as soon as you lock up, you
know there there's magic there that can be made, and
those two had it.

Speaker 6 (41:07):
You just talk about how great it was being able
to work with bretton how great their matches had to
turn out.

Speaker 29 (41:16):
Many people speak of Kurt's pre election for practical jokes.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
Did he learn that from you?

Speaker 4 (41:24):
From his mother? No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, probably from me.
That are part of it. He just took it to
another level. He had more people he could do it too.

Speaker 18 (41:39):
He was always the one that would put shaving cream
in the phone and call the room. Guys would pick
up the phone and they have shaving cream in their ear, and.

Speaker 16 (41:48):
Kurt would put hot mustard and lighter flood. You get
a little drip of it on your finger, and you'll
swear to God your finger is gonna burn off. No,
I didn't have that put in the crotchy of your shorts.

Speaker 18 (42:05):
He'd always put the little hole at the top of
the beer can or something, and guys pick up their
beer and poured it all over themselves.

Speaker 29 (42:12):
And the road Warriors, Mike Hagstrand, Joel Aaroniitis Animal and
Joe was throwing to Christmas party for some of the
boys up at his house. He had a very young
son by the name of Jimmy that was about oh,
I'd say two or two and a half years old,
and he.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Had a little potty.

Speaker 29 (42:32):
That they used for training him, and that was in
the upstairs bathroom. Well, Kurt Hennig, mister purfy, shuffled up
to the bathroom and couldn't help but notice this little
trinket in the corner. So he made a deposit in there,
shut the lid down, and walked downstairs. And when the

(42:53):
animal Joe Laroniitis, went out there, he yelled down to
his wife, My god.

Speaker 9 (42:59):
Look with this kid has done. At two years old.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
You did a lot of things that.

Speaker 4 (43:06):
Sometimes we're funny and maybe sometimes weren't too funny, but
he always did them with the idea that it was funny.

Speaker 24 (43:14):
There weren't many things that Kurt wouldn't do to get
a laugh. For a practical joke, I mean, an easy
practical joke would be if you know, if maybe your
shirt or your pants were tied in an unbelievable knot
that they would be almost impossible to get him untied,
you know.

Speaker 9 (43:27):
The legs or whatever.

Speaker 24 (43:28):
But Kurt might just go so far as it just
cut one of the legs off your pants or something
like that.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
You know, if he walked into the dressing room, saw
the mood the dressing room was tired, worn, out.

Speaker 9 (43:38):
He would find a way to perk things up, and
bo did he ever.

Speaker 18 (43:43):
He'd pour the baby powder into the blow dryer and
the guy turn on the blow dryer to blow dry
his hair and then blow up and they'd have baby
powder all over.

Speaker 5 (43:52):
They'd have to take another shower.

Speaker 7 (43:54):
He always carried this stuff around. It was called morning Breeze.
It was in a little squirt bottle and it just stunk.

Speaker 9 (44:02):
It was horrible.

Speaker 7 (44:03):
He'd carry this stuff around and I'll never forget. We're
in a battle royal one time. Well he was going
around with this squirt bottle and shoot it like this,
you know, and I'd hit the guy's trunks. Well, they
didn't know him. Pretty soon, this whole ring just stunck
and everybody just kind of started moving away from each
other and you know, looking around, and pretty soon I
think somebody finally yelled out. And I can't remember who

(44:24):
it was, but they yelled at I said, whosh.

Speaker 6 (44:27):
Waking up at six o'clock in the morning, hunting. He
dragged me out to the car and I'd fall asleep
in the car and he'd chopped me in the chest.
Wake up, you know, or farting in the car, locking
the window door, so I couldn't breathe.

Speaker 5 (44:38):
You know, We're in Winnipeg and it's thirty five below zero,
and there was a young guy here just starting wrestling
Rick Renslow and somehow Steve Current and Kurt they had
got a big trud and put it on the window
sill till it froze, and then at the arena they

(45:02):
brought it along and they put it in Rich's bag
drives all the way home, five hundred miles back to Minneapolis,
just so it throws his bag down in the lonery room.
And his pro wife was the one of the brunt
of the of the joke. She comes down and starts
going to pull out his clothes to wash him, and

(45:23):
out comes this nice soft turd. Now that just really
really reached.

Speaker 24 (45:30):
He was famous for finding padlocks and locker rooms and
of course putting them on the handles of people's suitcases
and that sort of thing. Just absolutely anything that he
could think of that was the And the more out there,
the better.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
I'm driving down the road, you know, no problem, let
me stop it home.

Speaker 31 (45:46):
Hamburger place, got a quick burger, So I'm I'm eating
hamburger and I'm going, oh my God, I feel something, said,
I go, what is it?

Speaker 20 (45:52):
I pull a dead mouse out of my pocket and
I'm going I'm so sick. I opened the window, throw
the mouse out. I don't like to touch dead mice.

Speaker 25 (46:04):
You knew it was Kurt, but he would swear up
and down it wasn't him, and at the end of
the day you would be doubting yourself.

Speaker 5 (46:13):
That was the passion that he had, was to make
people laugh.

Speaker 18 (46:17):
He wanted to light up a room.

Speaker 9 (46:21):
Kirk got dealt a bad hand with a back injury.

Speaker 6 (46:24):
I remember him having back problems, you know, he had
to dis rest it and often going to chiropractor and
seeing doctors about it.

Speaker 8 (46:31):
He was recovering from an injury. Then he was asked
to do some commentating.

Speaker 11 (46:37):
Welcome everyone, I'm Bence McMahon.

Speaker 14 (46:40):
Ain't joining me this week.

Speaker 11 (46:41):
As a guy who was always just standing so tall,
he has his head in the clouds.

Speaker 5 (46:46):
Miss Dirk perfect there again.

Speaker 8 (46:48):
He's like, oh, now I get to say what I
want to say.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
The jaw on that guy. There's somebody who could take
it on the chin. McMahon, Oh you're a riot.

Speaker 9 (46:58):
This week he was humorous, he was insightled. He knew
the storyline of the match.

Speaker 4 (47:04):
He knew the psychology of the match, and that makes
a great commentator.

Speaker 6 (47:09):
What get about it.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
He's under there somewhere with mister Perfect President in your house.
I suspect it'll be nothing less than.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
He was great.

Speaker 6 (47:19):
He was hilarious to listen to.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
He just tried to get a little bit under the armpit.
If someone went in his eyes, it's that Martell's fault.

Speaker 9 (47:27):
He just had such a natural wit.

Speaker 24 (47:29):
He could see little bits of humor or he could
have the right insight at the right time in matches.
And I really enjoyed listening to Kurt as a color commentator.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
I'm mister Perfect with another perfect prediction. And if that
does happen and he splashes him, it puts the big.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
Earthquake on him.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
It's gonna pop up like a.

Speaker 5 (47:48):
Hot air balloon.

Speaker 22 (47:49):
Always fresh. But when it came down to it, he
could give you a slant of been there, done that.

Speaker 6 (47:55):
Sorry.

Speaker 12 (47:56):
Reminded me of a page out of the Mister Perfect book.

Speaker 5 (47:59):
Yeah, well almost.

Speaker 27 (48:02):
He was able to transfer those abilities from a physical
participant into a verbalizer.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
Never before in World Wrestling Federation history as an inter
Continental champion been able to go out and defend his
title twice in one day, unless that intercontinental champion was
me the greatest intercontinental champion of all time, the greatest
athlete of all time.

Speaker 16 (48:25):
He talked about people and their abilities, but he was
always shrewd enough to right at the end of it,
he'd say, but they're not quite mister perfect.

Speaker 6 (48:38):
Well, look at the guy, McMahon.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
He's as close as you can get to perfect without
being perfect.

Speaker 16 (48:43):
He made those guys look as good as he could
make him look.

Speaker 5 (48:47):
But he don't slide that little thing in.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
This really amazes me, mister perfect, a man who knows
all the moves. This takes a lot of talent. This
is a phenomenal athlete.

Speaker 9 (48:57):
Mister perfect.

Speaker 25 (48:58):
We'd see things in a completely different light than Vince
McMahon at the time, and he was very quipped with
either a compliment or very quick to cut.

Speaker 6 (49:06):
You to the bone.

Speaker 5 (49:07):
Does the word dork mean anything to you, McMahon, nerd dork?

Speaker 2 (49:12):
Do them words mean anything to you? I should they?

Speaker 5 (49:15):
I mean, come on, look at the hair.

Speaker 9 (49:16):
Do McMahon.

Speaker 11 (49:18):
There's nothing wrong with Sarge's hair that I'm talking about.

Speaker 5 (49:20):
Yours? Fine, You don't actually.

Speaker 3 (49:22):
Leave the house in the morning with your hair like that,
thinking that's cool.

Speaker 8 (49:25):
Do you He had a lot of people to you know,
work off of two.

Speaker 9 (49:28):
He and I work together a great deal, ohe and.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
Only mister perfect. I guess that makes sense, the perfect Survivor, Sarah.

Speaker 27 (49:35):
He always had the inside skinny on all the stuff
that was going on, and he was a great storyteller.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
Well, certainly, I know all the rumors, I know all
the schools, McMahon.

Speaker 8 (49:45):
They had fun just joking her own and you could
see on the TV how much fun they're having.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
You know, It's true that every mother thinks that their
child is perfect. At least my mom was right.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
So right now.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
I'd like to wish a happy Mother's Day to the
only perfect, well almost perfect mother in the world mine.

Speaker 8 (50:05):
They knew that he was all full of fun and jokes,
and that was his style.

Speaker 11 (50:10):
Matt and Jeff Hardy and Jeff, that's Matt.

Speaker 6 (50:13):
Matt not much.

Speaker 8 (50:15):
If you could use that in his entertainment, you know,
on entertaining people, he was all for it.

Speaker 1 (50:23):
Welcome everyone. I'm Bence McMahon.

Speaker 11 (50:25):
And if things seemed to be a little irregular this week,
that's only because by broadcast Parker mister perfect had to
go to the ring, that is, to be in Rick
Flair's corner.

Speaker 37 (50:35):
What impreston was about Kurt with his personality, He was
just on all the time. You had a lot of energy,
good guy, fun to.

Speaker 11 (50:43):
Be with Rick Flair along with his executive consultant.

Speaker 4 (50:49):
And I think they enjoyed each other. Kirk can get
along with anybody, and so could Ric Flair. Really either
everybody say a bad word about Rick Flair.

Speaker 37 (50:57):
Do you look at mister perfect in the real world
champion and you know that we style and we profile,
we take in the race.

Speaker 5 (51:03):
Hey for us life suffictic. We enjoy the.

Speaker 27 (51:07):
Very best that life has to offer every day of
our lives.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
Their personality's got along fine.

Speaker 37 (51:14):
I can't say enough good of Buckward Haney, great guy,
a great performer.

Speaker 8 (51:18):
Every.

Speaker 14 (51:20):
Perfect.

Speaker 26 (51:22):
My favorite part of Kurt's commentary performance with Vince was
when they would be doing it on camera and when
he made a point was happy with himself. He would
always smile and then he would.

Speaker 9 (51:35):
Perfect.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
Vince kind of took him under his wing and sat
with him next to him there in the studio and
kind of coached him along.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
But there's one thing that I'm really happy about.

Speaker 26 (51:46):
Vince was relentless with Kurt because Kurt was mister Perfect,
so everything he said had to be perfect.

Speaker 5 (51:54):
Well, I gotta go with Bader.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
He's the biggest and strongest, most athletic.

Speaker 6 (51:57):
That's easy to say, Derek.

Speaker 18 (52:00):
You could tell in his voice that I need to
get back out there.

Speaker 5 (52:04):
Shows you're rich.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
Guys, get everything.

Speaker 5 (52:06):
I'll just love it.

Speaker 9 (52:09):
Not everybody could be perfect if you.

Speaker 14 (52:11):
Got that right, Muster Perfect just handled the world. Man.

Speaker 5 (52:24):
I'd sad. That's good, that's hurt her there.

Speaker 28 (52:33):
Kurt being paired with me at that time just really
helped to legitimize what was the start of my career.
I couldn't have asked for anything better than to get
the endorsement of.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
Make You Perfect.

Speaker 4 (52:46):
Hamsley was green at that time. I'm sure that you
got a lot of experience from Kurt.

Speaker 27 (52:52):
Kurt was just able to share with Triple H his
journey and in part of what Kurt had learned from
his predecessors, that's.

Speaker 12 (53:02):
A perfect giving Helmsley some instruction here. No doubt that
Helmsley is a perfect make an imposing combination.

Speaker 28 (53:11):
We got Kurt back involved in being in the ring
and being a little bit more active in the product
and stuff, which was something that he wanted to do.
But fortunately the pairing didn't last very long. Kirk got
the opportunity to go to ww I know Kurt was
very torn about whether he should go or whether he
should stay.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
I think that Kurt's contract was up with Vince.

Speaker 4 (53:35):
I don't know exactly how it went. I don't think
that he had anything bad about the WWE. It was
just a matter of economics.

Speaker 9 (53:44):
What I brought Kurt Henning into WCW.

Speaker 34 (53:46):
It was a conscious decision to kind of create a
different character for him than the one that he had
had in WWE.

Speaker 14 (53:54):
That's Kurt Hennick.

Speaker 21 (53:55):
Kurt Hennick one of the whole time great to our sport,
second Inneration star.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
They have pac Leah Kurt hinting here.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
What a choice this in.

Speaker 34 (54:05):
It wasn't my intention ever to try to replicate despite
what everybody thinks. My goal was to bring Kurt in,
you know, utilize what I think is still to this day,
probably one of the best interviews that the business has
ever seen.

Speaker 19 (54:17):
For the last ten years, there's been all kinds of
wrestlers trying to act like Kurt Headache, trying to walk
like Kurt Headick, trying.

Speaker 5 (54:25):
To wrestle like Kurt Hennick.

Speaker 19 (54:26):
Well, I guess you could call him Kurt Headick want.

Speaker 34 (54:28):
To be I put Kurt in matches with people who
had the ability technically to keep up with with Kurt Henny.

Speaker 12 (54:37):
Everybody has been waiting to see Kurt Henning do his thing.

Speaker 5 (54:43):
He was clearly still a very good performer.

Speaker 3 (54:47):
Nobody beats Kurt Heading.

Speaker 34 (54:49):
When you look at all the really classic characters that
have walked through the doors of WCW or WW, Kurt
Heading's name has to be at the top of the
list in terms of an overall performance.

Speaker 16 (55:00):
You've got something special.

Speaker 23 (55:01):
I've seen you in this ring.

Speaker 31 (55:02):
Your skills, your maturity, your.

Speaker 23 (55:04):
Commitment to excellence makes you something special.

Speaker 22 (55:08):
Kurt was a free agent at the time, basically no alliances,
but had teamed with Rick for a couple of weeks,
so I saw an opportunity to put him on the spot.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
I'm going to tell you what your prize is.

Speaker 22 (55:19):
It's not a spot with the Horseman, not a spot.

Speaker 30 (55:22):
Not a spot.

Speaker 28 (55:23):
I'll give you my spot.

Speaker 3 (55:26):
You know, I know every wrestlers that have been around
or involved in this business we call wrestling, who would
pass up the honor to not only be a horseman,
but to come out and take arn Anderson's.

Speaker 19 (55:40):
Spot as the enforcer the four Horsemen.

Speaker 3 (55:43):
I have only one thing to say.

Speaker 5 (55:45):
It would be a privilege.

Speaker 22 (55:47):
It was for a positive goal and a positive ending,
and it just didn't turn out that way.

Speaker 5 (55:53):
We did this match.

Speaker 37 (55:54):
We reenacted the thinging that we did with carry vane
area with Michael Hayes. We slam to carry his head
into the cage. He did it with the sailing with me.

Speaker 5 (56:03):
This is a horrible scene.

Speaker 9 (56:05):
This is a this is a this is a horrible scene.
This man, I'm.

Speaker 5 (56:10):
Sorry, boys.

Speaker 14 (56:12):
Either your surrender our old nature boy here it's a kitten.

Speaker 5 (56:17):
What god, God, oh god oh.

Speaker 37 (56:25):
He came back to Charlotte, took me to the hospital
and everything. Kurt walked out of the building with my
robe right huge, and Kurt.

Speaker 23 (56:34):
Took the bucks. Kurt walked over to the n W.

Speaker 11 (56:38):
Let's bring out the guest of matter, the newest member
of the nWo.

Speaker 18 (56:45):
Bring him on in. I formed a wolf pack and
are insignia for the wolf pack. Was this all of
my friends? Well, Kurt did this to raise a ramone
and since then we had lost the wolf Pack because
they used to do this all the time with Kevin
Nash and Raise of Ramon and all of that, and

(57:07):
Kurt took that back. I should have patented it so
I could at least get some royalties off of it.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
I take full credit for it.

Speaker 6 (57:13):
They stolen It.

Speaker 34 (57:15):
Was a natural to bring Kurt in from a technical
wrestling point of view or technical performance point.

Speaker 3 (57:21):
Of view, he fit nicely into the nWo now one
of the most gifted athletes in the world.

Speaker 34 (57:25):
Because he could have great matches with guys like Arnie Anderson,
Ritt Flair, who were you know, the Hansonman, you know,
technical wrestlers, performers.

Speaker 26 (57:37):
Kurt Hennick has won the United States Heavyweight Championship.

Speaker 6 (57:41):
He was a US champion there, so I mean you
did fairly well there.

Speaker 27 (57:46):
There was a time in WCW during the NDWO era
that he was very hard for the spotlight to shine
on any.

Speaker 19 (58:00):
I'm saying wrestling right now, it's turn heading in the
West Texas Outlaws, and there's no doubt.

Speaker 29 (58:06):
In anybody's mind if it was a West Texas Cowboys
or whatever the group happened to be, he would be
the one that would have to kind of lift up
the rest of the group.

Speaker 6 (58:15):
You know from the rapist craft deal that he did
with the current heading in the West Texas Rednecks is
probably one of the best best things that I've ever
seen here.

Speaker 38 (58:23):
They come together feeling that they're type of us.

Speaker 9 (58:28):
He is better than ren Right, beas Craft, beas Craft.

Speaker 27 (58:43):
You know, if his body was healthy and he was
a sound physically, there's no doubt. But he could have
been as good, if not better than anybody.

Speaker 5 (58:52):
There as far as the ring is concerned, and.

Speaker 9 (58:55):
With so many bodies it's just hard to get noticed.
He always stood out because he.

Speaker 5 (59:02):
Could do little things and draw attention to themselves. He
could still have seen, you know.

Speaker 9 (59:06):
Heartbeat just because he was so good.

Speaker 6 (59:09):
He seemed to do all right, and he liked it there.
I never really heard him complain until later on in
his career there, so.

Speaker 27 (59:19):
I don't think at that stage of the game that
he was so motivated to be the guy anymore. He
was having fun, which is very important for him making
good money, So I think he kind of liked the
role of not being the guy and he had less
pressure on himself.

Speaker 5 (59:42):
It was funny.

Speaker 39 (59:42):
I was in that Royal rumbo in two thousand and
two that Kurt Hanning returned, and it was amazing because
he came back with a vengeance and a mission.

Speaker 12 (59:49):
Perfectness, back in perfect condition and prepared to win the
Royal Rumble.

Speaker 28 (59:54):
And can you imagine that come back when the Royal.

Speaker 1 (59:56):
Rumble goes straight to WrestleMania.

Speaker 9 (59:58):
Man, that is a story, but situation.

Speaker 39 (01:00:01):
He came back and with ed ass and basically everyone
was like, oh, this Kirt heating and then after a
while was Cooly smokes, he's awesome.

Speaker 9 (01:00:07):
I'm impressed by mister Perfect. He was in great shape.

Speaker 3 (01:00:10):
Mister Purfect hadn't been on pay per viewing forever, but
he's back tonight.

Speaker 39 (01:00:15):
Kirk came back, probably with the intention of the office
to be back for one night, but he was coming
back to get a job and he did.

Speaker 12 (01:00:21):
Mister Perfect was one of the final three survivors in
the Royal Rumble. His returning engagement has to be considered
extremely successful.

Speaker 36 (01:00:32):
I was really excited when Kirk came back to w because,
for a selfish reason, it gave me the chance to
get another ring with him, one on one. I got
to wrestle him at one on one singles match in Boston,
sold out crowd, and I'll never forget it. It was
really fun to be able to let him know how
much respect I.

Speaker 27 (01:00:50):
Had for I was happy that he got to come
back because it kind of brought things back full circle.

Speaker 39 (01:00:58):
They started with the vignette again. I remember he's playing chest.

Speaker 2 (01:01:02):
Check mate.

Speaker 6 (01:01:04):
Wait a minute, that's impossible that people went there.

Speaker 5 (01:01:06):
You lost, You're a loser.

Speaker 11 (01:01:09):
I won, I'm perfect.

Speaker 9 (01:01:12):
I'm mister perfect.

Speaker 27 (01:01:17):
We're all hoping that he was physically going to be
able to really get back in there and achieve the
greatness that he once had when he was healthy.

Speaker 6 (01:01:26):
Oh no, Oh my.

Speaker 9 (01:01:27):
God, tell me perfect plex.

Speaker 14 (01:01:30):
He got him perfect?

Speaker 12 (01:01:31):
Benit the perfect Plex.

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
I don't beelieve nobody does it better than mister perfect.

Speaker 8 (01:01:37):
I think it meant a lot to be involved in it.
You know, he wanted to be involved still and help
out the company because he knew a lot of you know,
different things, how to you know, work with the people
that he's been working with for ten years. So it
kind of all blended really good.

Speaker 4 (01:01:54):
I think it was a different, different deal for him.
They had a lot of new faces coming in, but
he made the best of it.

Speaker 36 (01:02:02):
I think he understood that that was his role when
he came back, you know, as to try and help
some of the young guys, whether it's in the locker
room with words of advice, or whether it's in the
ring and showing them and putting that advice into action.

Speaker 9 (01:02:16):
He could see that lie at the other tunnel.

Speaker 5 (01:02:18):
My run.

Speaker 9 (01:02:20):
Is almost over.

Speaker 8 (01:02:22):
He liked to wrestle and everything, but there was other
competition that we're younger, and he was ready to move on,
you know, with another type of helping out in another
part of the business.

Speaker 4 (01:03:10):
The phone rang and it was a cell phone, my
nephew's cell phone. And he put the phone down and
he turned white, and he says, said, what's the matter.
What's what's the matter? And he said, uh, kurts did.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
I said what he said? Kurt died in Florida this morning.

Speaker 8 (01:03:50):
I dropped on on my knees. I never would have
ever guessed that anything would have our life would have
been cut short like that. Ever, we were supposed to
be grandparents together, and you're all together like any loving

(01:04:15):
couple should.

Speaker 6 (01:04:21):
I'd have to say. February tenth, two thousand and three,
it was the worst day of my life. I lost
somebody that meant the world to me. He wasn't only

(01:04:46):
my dad, he was like a brother. He was my hero,
but most of all, he was my best friend. And
there's not a day that goes by that I don't
think of him. I have dreams about him all the time,

(01:05:13):
like you're still here. Sometimes I just sit there and
you know, cries, I wish he was still here.

Speaker 18 (01:05:27):
I almost fell on the ground. And remember, like it
was yesterday, my wife had called on the cell phone.
I was my son's baseball practice, and she says, I
got some bad news, and.

Speaker 6 (01:05:41):
She said Kurt died.

Speaker 18 (01:05:43):
And I didn't know if it was an automobile accident
or plane crash or what have you. And then I
found out the circumstances that he was here in Tampa,
And till this day, it haunts me. They didn't call me,
and I feel a lot of it's my that had
he called me, I could have possibly done something to

(01:06:04):
help him out.

Speaker 40 (01:06:06):
And I deal with that every day. It's very difficult
that I feel a portion of it's my fault. It
just called me off guard. One of those things. I never, ever,
one day in my life, felt sorry for Kurt.

Speaker 5 (01:06:23):
Honey.

Speaker 37 (01:06:23):
I just never saw Kurt is having anything wrong. I
just thought I thought he was on top of the world.

Speaker 5 (01:06:31):
Kurt was about having fun.

Speaker 15 (01:06:33):
Kurt was about getting the most out of life, you know,
and living life and enjoying absolutely every second. When I
found out Kurt died, I was I was shocked. Kurt
totally caught me off guard, and you know, and it
is it is a crying shame.

Speaker 2 (01:06:51):
It was just that sudden. We couldn't believe he was gone.

Speaker 5 (01:07:00):
And so.

Speaker 2 (01:07:07):
That's the way it is. It's gone, and.

Speaker 8 (01:07:18):
There's been many tears. It's been five years, and it's
our kids are so strong, and I didn't know I
could be this strong. I don't know how I got
this far.

Speaker 7 (01:07:34):
You know.

Speaker 8 (01:07:35):
I think the strength they get from him and just
the memories really get me strong. Just I am so
fortunate that I had that type of love and that
connection with somebody for that long who was the greatest

(01:07:55):
person that anybody.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
Could have ever known.

Speaker 6 (01:08:16):
When I heard about him getting in Duck to the
Hall of Fame, it was that was great, you know.
I immediately got chills up and down.

Speaker 8 (01:08:24):
You know.

Speaker 6 (01:08:25):
I was happy for him. If anyone deserves it, he did.

Speaker 18 (01:08:30):
It was like the call that I got from the
Baseball Hall of Fame. I got the call from Jerry
Briscoe that mister McMahon wanted me to induct Kurt and
introduce his family.

Speaker 5 (01:08:43):
Gosh, that was a great honor.

Speaker 38 (01:08:47):
It's my pleasure to introduce to you my friend and
the newest member of the World Wrestling Entertainmental Hall of Fame,
mister perfect Turditting.

Speaker 2 (01:09:07):
It was a special event, a lot of tears, and.

Speaker 32 (01:09:14):
You know, I just wished he was there so I
could check his hand in person.

Speaker 5 (01:09:20):
We're so proud and he would have.

Speaker 8 (01:09:25):
I wish he would have been here for that because
he would have just had so much fun. He would
have had some fun laughs, and he would have had a.

Speaker 5 (01:09:35):
Lot of fun.

Speaker 8 (01:09:37):
I feel very fortunate to have been blessed with such
a supportive, loving, compassionate husband.

Speaker 41 (01:09:47):
Nobody does it better nobody, and he was what he
says he was, and that was absolutely perfect.

Speaker 5 (01:10:05):
Kurt deserves to be in the w Hall of Fame.

Speaker 39 (01:10:07):
I think he's the best performer ever to not be
the world champion. Had things been a little bit different,
he would have been a great champion. And the fact
that he never was, I think was a shame because
he was definitely worthy of that. So to see him
in the Hall of Fame was much deserved. I think
a fitting tribute to him as a performer. That he
made it in there as he should have.

Speaker 37 (01:10:28):
I think it was phenomenal, and it came at a
good time. His name was still very much out there.
Kurt had crossed demographic revel anyway that met Kurt liked
him and respect him.

Speaker 6 (01:10:42):
He busts his bud for all those years sacrificing his
time away from home, his body, you know. For I
think it was twenty five years, and now his name
and his efforts are out there for the whole world
to see.

Speaker 2 (01:10:59):
Every book as a beginning, it has a middle, and
it has an ending.

Speaker 4 (01:11:05):
We had a great beginning and we had a great middle,
and by losing Kurt wasn't really a great ending. But
what helped that ending was that Kurt was inducted into
the Hall of Fame. And his family loves him. His
wife loves him, his kids love him. So that's about

(01:11:28):
the best ending that we could get.

Speaker 18 (01:11:32):
He made his mark and he left a huge impression
in an industry that needs showmen.

Speaker 5 (01:11:38):
They need the person that people want to go.

Speaker 32 (01:11:41):
To arena and want to be entertained by not only
was he a showman, but he was an entertainer, and
he was a damn good entertainer.

Speaker 15 (01:11:53):
Kurt Hennick embodied getting the most out of life and
living life to its fullest. At Kurt Hennick was always
about fun. Anytime he was in a locker room, there
was a smile in everybody's face, and that's something that
will be short of missed.

Speaker 42 (01:12:07):
You should be remembered as one of the all time
greats in this business. Everybody would check their egos at
the door when they came to a building where Kurt
was that because you couldn't out work, if you couldn't
out shining, and you couldn't out perform you.

Speaker 32 (01:12:17):
So he was.

Speaker 5 (01:12:18):
He was the best of the best in the WWE.

Speaker 16 (01:12:23):
The fans, they're going to remember Kirk as a super
calendid young guy that career ended way too soon. They're
probably going to get a chance to revisit Kurt through Joe.

Speaker 6 (01:12:42):
Being a third generation wrestler. You know, I'm very proud
probably being you know, the next generation of kind in
this business. But I think I'm doing it mostly because
I fell in love with the sports professional wrestling.

Speaker 7 (01:12:56):
I think Joe and his family should feel fortunate, you know,
to have a father like Kurt Hennick, because he passed
on and so.

Speaker 5 (01:13:03):
Many things to him.

Speaker 6 (01:13:05):
I'll just remember my father the most is being just
that as my dad and nothing more, and how he
was the perfect dad that any son could ever ask for.

Speaker 3 (01:13:16):
There's one man that stands tall and stands ahead of
everyone else, that's mister Perfect.

Speaker 4 (01:13:22):
When they look back and they see actually what all
he had done and how he done it, he was
absolutely perfect.