 Hennig in the late 1960s | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1936-06-18)June 18, 1936 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | December 6, 2018(2018-12-06) (aged 82) St. Cloud, Minnesota, U.S. |
Spouse | |
| Children | 5, includingCurt |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Larry "The Axe" Hennig |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 275 lb (125 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Robbinsdale, Minnesota[1] |
| Trained by | Verne Gagne[2] |
| Debut | 1956 |
| Retired | 1986 |
Larry Hennig (June 18, 1936 – December 6, 2018) was an Americanprofessional wrestler. He was the father of"Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, and the grandfather ofCurtis Axel and Amy "Ms. Perfect" Hennig. He worked in theAmerican Wrestling Association,National Wrestling Alliance, and theWorld Wide Wrestling Federation. Hennig was known by the nickname,"The Axe", a nickname he had because of his signature, often finishing move of dropping a full weight elbow onto his prone opponents.
In the early 1960s, Hennig entered theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA) under the tutelage ofVerne Gagne.[2] He eventually found some main event success and shared a brief Tag Team Championship reign with Duke Hoffman.[3][2] But due to frequently losing to rougher, more experienced wrestlers, he began questioning the scientific style instilled into him by Gagne and looked toward a different approach (inkayfabe).[3]
During the summer of 1963, Hennig left the AWA for a stint in theTexas territories. While touring Texas, Hennig adopted a more brutal style and won the Texas Heavyweight Title. He also crossed paths withHarley Race. The two young wrestlers struck up a friendship and following their mutual commitment inAmarillo, broke out as a new team into the Minneapolis wrestling scene.[3] Race and Hennig branded themselves as "Handsome" Harley Race and "Pretty Boy" Larry Hennig, a cockyvillainous tag team with a penchant for breaking the rules to win matches.[3] They quickly became top contenders, and on January 30, 1965, they defeated the tandem ofDick the Bruiser andThe Crusher to capture theAWA World Tag Team Championship, becoming, at the time, the youngest tag team champions ever.[3][2] Race and Hennig continued to feud with the Bruiser and Crusher and other top teams for the next several years, amassing three title reigns.[3]
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 won the titles from them six months after Race and Hennig's first reign but lost them back on August 7, 1965. The team retained the titles until May 1966 when they lost to Bruiser and Crusher.[3] They then embarked on a tour throughNew Zealand,Japan, andAustralia where they became the first Tag Team Champions of Australia'sWorld Championship Wrestling in June.[3] Just before leaving to Japan, they dropped the titles toMark Lewin andDominic DeNucci.[3]
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 received a title shot on January 6, 1967, and defeated Bruiser and Crusher inChicago, Illinois. This would prove to be their final reign at AWA Tag Team Champions.[3]
On November 1, 1967, during a tag team match inWinnipeg, Hennig was in the middle of liftingJohnny Powers as another opponent rammed into him from the front.[4] As he dropped Powers to the mat, Hennig found that his knee had bent inward.[4] Despite severe damage to thecartilage andtendons, he refused to go to the local hospital and instead had Race drive him 500 miles home to Minneapolis.[4] The injury ended their last title run. The AWA allowed Harley Race to select another partner to defend the championship.[3]
In March 1968, Hennig returned to once again wrestle alongside Race.[3] After several years at the top of the tag team division, however, Race returned home toKansas City to pursue a singles career in theNational Wrestling Alliance. Hennig was then partnered withLars Anderson and then "Dirty"Dusty Rhodes (who was then a heel). In the early 1970s he competed in singles matches working against championsPedro Morales andBruno Sammartino.[5]
In November and December 1970, Hennig wrestled in Japan for theInternational Wrestling Enterprise promotion as part of its Big Winter Series. Teaming withBob Windham, he defeated Great Kusatsu andThunder Sugiyama in atwo-out-of-three falls match to win theIWA World Tag Team Championship. Kusatsu and Sugiyama regained the titles from them several weeks later.[6]
Hennig also traveled toNew York City to unsuccessfully challengeBruno Sammartino for hisWWF World Heavyweight Championship title from 1973 to 1974.[4]
Hennig made afaceturn on August 10, 1974, at a TV taping inMinneapolis, now sporting a full red beard and calling himself "the Axe" when he saved the High Flyers,Jim Brunzell andGreg Gagne, from an attack. The event had Hennig opposing his former allies,Nick Bockwinkel andRay Stevens, and managerBobby Heenan (who Bockwinkel and Stevens hired following their recent loss of the AWA World Tag Team title toThe Crusher andBilly Robinson the previous month) as they assaulted the Flyers during an episode ofAWA All-Star Wrestling.[7]
During this time, Hennig also appeared in theindependent film,The Wrestler, where he facedVerne Gagne at theCow Palace in the opening match. In 1976, Hennig formed a team withJoe LeDuc.[8]
When Harley Race returned to the AWA in 1984, he wrestled Hennig's son,Curt - a match that was fueled by Larry going on to confront his former tag team partner at the end of the match. The following year, Curt's first majorpush came, when he would be pushed alongside his father in a feud withThe Road Warriors. The Hennigs eventually went in to win theNWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship before Larry's retirement the next year in 1986.[8]
Before pursuing a career in professional wrestling, Hennig became the Minnesota State High School Heavyweight Champion fromRobbinsdale, Minnesota, in 1954.[8] He was awarded a scholarship from theUniversity of Minnesota to wrestle and play football but had to quit due to the priorities of family and raising children.[1][4][8] He had five children, including professional wrestlerCurt Hennig.[2] Curt died on February 10, 2003, of an acute cocaine intoxication. After thehighly publicized death ofChris Benoit, Hennig shared a few words withUSA Today regarding premature deaths in professional wrestling.[9]
Hennig was also known for his completion of the 1966 and 1967 I-500 snowmobile race, from Winnipeg, Manitoba to St. Paul, Minnesota. He is most notably remembered from the 1966 race in which he drove through a chicken coop. However, this did not prevent him from successfully completing the 500 mile race.
Following Hennig's retirement from professional wrestling, he and his wife became owners of a real estate company inSt. Cloud, Minnesota. He had sold real estate since 1957 and also worked as an auctioneer.[2] He also dabbled in commodity futures, specifically CME Dairy.[10]
Hennig died on December 6, 2018, ofkidney failure at the age of 82.[11][12]
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