Larry Hennig
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| Larry Hennig (left) & Harley Race | |
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| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Larry Hennig "The Axe" "Pretty Boy" |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
| Billed weight | 275 lb (125 kg) |
| Born | Unknown Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Trained by | Verne Gagne |
| Debut | 1963 |
| Retired | 1985 |
Larry "The Axe" Hennig is a retired professional wrestler. He is the father of "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig and is best known for his work in the American Wrestling Association, National Wrestling Alliance and World Wide Wrestling Federation.
Before pursuing a career in professional wrestling, Hennig became the Minnesota State High School Heavyweight Champion from Robbinsdale, Minnesota in 1954. He was awarded a scholarship from the University of Minnesota to wrestle and play football but had to quit due to the priorities of family and raising children.
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[edit] Wrestling career
In 1963, Hennig entered the AWA under the tutelage of Verne Gagne. He eventually found some main event success and shared a brief Tag Team Championship reign with Duke Hoffman. But in frequently losing to rougher, more experienced wrestlers, he began questioning the scientific style instilled into him by Gagne and looked toward a different approach (in kayfabe).
During the summer of 1963, Hennig left the AWA for a stint in the Texas territories. While touring Texas, Hennig adopted a more brutal style and won the Texas Heavyweight Title. He also crossed paths with Harley Race. The two young wrestlers struck up a friendship and following their mutual commitment in Amarillo, a new tag team broke out into the Minneapolis wrestling scene. Race and Hennig branded themselves as "Handsome" Harley Race (which was actually a moniker given to him by fans in Japan) and "Pretty Boy" Larry Hennig, a cocky heel tag team with a penchant for breaking the rules to win matches. They quickly became top contenders, and on January 30, 1965, they defeated the legendary tandem of Dick the Bruiser and The Crusher to capture the AWA World Tag Team Championship, becoming, at the time, the youngest tag team champions ever. Race and Hennig continued to feud with the Bruiser and Crusher and other top teams for the next several years, amassing four title reigns.
Verne Gagne, in particular, was a hated rival of the team, and recruited many different partners to try to defeat Race and Hennig during their AWA run. Gagne and Crusher would win the titles from them six months after Race and Hennig's first reign but would lose them back on August 7, 1965. The team would retain the titles until May 1966 where they lost to Bruiser and Crusher. They would then embark on a tour through New Zealand, Japan, and Australia where they became the first Tag Team Champions of the International Wrestling Alliance in June. Just before leaving to Japan, they would drop the titles to Mark Lewin and Dominic DeNucci.
Race and Hennig returned to the US in fall of 1966, starting back at the bottom of the competition. As they climbed the ranks all over again, they finally received a title shot on January 6, 1967 and defeated Bruiser and Crusher in Chicago, Illinois. However, this would prove to be their final reign at AWA Tag Team Champions.
A rather infamous knee injury would contribute to the Hennig's retirement from wrestling. On November 1, 1967, during a tag team match in Winnipeg, Hennig was in the middle of lifting John Powers as another opponent rammed into him from the front. As he dropped Powers to the mat, Hennig found that his knee had bent inward. Despite severe damage to the cartilage and tendons, he refused to go to the local hospital and instead had Race drive him 500 miles home to Mineapolis.
Two vastly different versions of the story exist concerning the end of Race and Hennig's title reign. One claims that shortly after Hennig's injury, with his leg taped up and a crutch to aide his ring entrance, the popular duo dropped their tag team titles in Chicago. According to SLAM! Sports:
"I gutted that thing out. It's a 500-mile trip back to Minneapolis," said Hennig. "The next morning, the doctor put me in the hospital, ready for surgery. That was on a Friday. Saturday they had the Amphitheater running in Chicago and Verne came to the hospital and said, 'Larry, you've got to do me a favor. You've got to go to Chicago. You've got to make an appearance there. We've got to do something with the belts.'
Business was going well, so Hennig agreed, and was taken to a plane in a wheelchair to go to Chicago. At the arena, he was suited up -- his leg was taped, he was given crutches and he leaned on Harley on the way to the ring. "They got me up on the apron and boom, boom, boom, the whole deal anyway. We lost the title there."[1]
Another version of the story, as shown on Harley Race's official website, claims that Race had to choose another partner before dropping the Tag Team belts:
A broken leg suffered by Larry Hennig on November 1, 1967 ended their last title run. The AWA allowed Harley Race to select another partner to defend the championship. Race selected Chris Markoff, who had occasionally appeared in six-man tag matches with Race and Hennig. Race and Markoff dropped the titles to Pat O’Connor and Wilbur Snyder in their first title defense.[2]
In April 1968, Hennig would return to once again wrestle alongside Race. After several years at the top of the tag team division, however, Race would leave in December to pursue a singles career in the NWA. As a singles competitor, Hennig donned the nickname "The Axe," which was used to convey his new, more rugged character, and he eventually partnered with Lars Anderson.
Hennig made a face turn in 1975 when he saved the High Flyers, Jim Brunzell and Greg Gagne, from an attack. The event would have Hennig opposing his former allies, Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens, and manager Bobby Heenan as they assaulted the Flyers during an episode of AWA All-Star Wrestling. This moment would be featured in WWE's Spectacular Legacy of the AWA DVD released in 2006.
When Harley Race returned to the AWA in 1984, he wrestled Hennig's son, Curt - a match that was fueled by Larry Hennig's confronting his former tag team partner at the end of the match. The following year, Curt's first major push would be alongside his father in a feud with the Road Warriors. The Hennigs were unsuccessful in their bid to win the tag titles but proved to be worthy opponents, an attempt by the AWA to raise Curt's clout amongst fans. It was during this time that Curt became one of the biggest stars of the company and Larry's career came to a close. Before Larry's retirement in 1985, however, the Hennigs would win the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship.
Among his famed work with Harley Race, on different occasions, Hennig traveled to New York City to unsuccessfully challenge the immensely popular Bruno Sammartino for his WWWF World Heavyweight Championship title. He is also frequently recognized for defeating "Rowdy" Roddy Piper within 10 seconds in Piper's debut match in Winnipeg in 1973.
Today, Hennig makes an occasional public appearance such as IPW's "Night of Icons" show on July 14, 2006, where he signed autographs with the likes of Harley Race, Terry Funk, and Ted DiBiase. Hennig also made an appearance at WrestleMania 23, where, along with his daughter-in-law Leonice, he represented his son in the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2007 induction.
[edit] Personal life
Larry Hennig married his wife, Irene, by the age of nineteen. To this day, he endures knee problems as a result of a serious ring injury. His son, Curt, died on February 10, 2003.
During the Nickelodeon movie premiere of The Naked Brothers Band, footage of Larry Hennig wrestling was shown while they sang their new song "Hardcore Wrestlers."
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
- Regional
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- NWA Amarillo Brass Knuckles Championship (1 time)
- NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Curt Hennig
American Wrestling Association
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- AWA World Tag Team Championship (5 times) - with Duke Hoffman (1) and Harley Race (4)
Other Titles
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- IWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Blackjack Mulligan
- Inductee into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2006
