What if Curt Hennig lived?

[wildojinx]

Was watching the Mr. Perfect dvd and it makes me wonder what Curt would have been doing if he had lived. He was in TNA when he passed away, does he stay there or eventually return to the WWE for one final run?

[nickcave]

He may have eventually returned to WWE if he had stayed healthy but I don’t think he was going to be full time for much longer with his back. He probably would have eventually got a job training for NXT

[The Thread Barbi]

Dolph Ziggler vs Mr. Perfect for the IC championship. 45 minute Broadway:)

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Feel like he would have managed his son instead of Heyman.

[msc]

If (big if here) he managed to kick the demons which consumed him in the final year of his life, there was always a place for him in wrestling, from wrestling to managing to commentating to training.

He'd have been back in the WWE. Doing all four IMO.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

He definitely wouldn't have wrestled much longer if he was even capable. If he had stayed on the WWE payroll, he would have had infinite things to offer - training in the performance centre, commentary, managing guys. Maybe his son would have actually got over.

But I'm not sure he was cut out for that personally. I think he'd more likely have been doing increasingly depressing indie bookings forever.

[tafkaga]

Curt had kind of a semi-retirement mindset through the second half of the 90's so I see him maybe popping up sporadically for a payday or settling into a non-wrestling role, but nothing that required tons of discipline.

[salz4life]

Mar 5, 2024 8:34:41 GMT -5 msc said:

If (big if here) he managed to kick the demons which consumed him in the final year of his life, there was always a place for him in wrestling, from wrestling to managing to commentating to training.

He'd have been back in the WWE. Doing all four IMO.

I thought Perfect was great as Ric Flair's "executive consultant". I absolutely think he could've been a manager (as well as commentating and training).

[Jaws the Shark]

Agree with those who said he wouldn't wrestle much longer, he was very broken down. With hindsight probably should've stayed out of the ring in the mid-nineties rather than coming out of retirement, if I were to guess I would say he probably got through those last runs with the "help" of a lot of pills and booze and other things, you look back on his WCW and second WWF/E run and he looks puffy and bloated and you could just see in his eyes sometimes that there was nobody in there.

[Aceorton]

Those stretches in the '90s where he wasn't actively wrestling were great for him in terms of allowing him to test other roles. I wasn't a huge fan of his commentary (although he was better than Savage and DiBiase), but another run as somebody's "executive consultant" or even a tweener on-air authority figure could have been great. Imagine Triple H getting him installed as the GM, thinking his old ally would stack the deck in his favor, but then Perfect messes with him instead.

[salparadise]

Mar 5, 2024 9:17:26 GMT -5 salz4life said:

Mar 5, 2024 8:34:41 GMT -5 msc said:

If (big if here) he managed to kick the demons which consumed him in the final year of his life, there was always a place for him in wrestling, from wrestling to managing to commentating to training.

He'd have been back in the WWE. Doing all four IMO.

I thought Perfect was great as Ric Flair's "executive consultant". I absolutely think he could've been a manager (as well as commentating and training).

Flair, Heenan and Perfect were such a great trio. I absolutely could see Mr. Perfect playing the "executive consultant" role for someone else - maybe even his own son - would have been great to see. 

[Sephiroth]

Mar 5, 2024 13:15:47 GMT -5 salparadise said:

Mar 5, 2024 9:17:26 GMT -5 salz4life said:

I thought Perfect was great as Ric Flair's "executive consultant". I absolutely think he could've been a manager (as well as commentating and training).

Flair, Heenan and Perfect were such a great trio. I absolutely could see Mr. Perfect playing the "executive consultant" role for someone else - maybe even his own son - would have been great to see. 

Del Rio or Swagger

[salz4life]

Mar 5, 2024 13:43:30 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

Mar 5, 2024 13:15:47 GMT -5 salparadise said:

Flair, Heenan and Perfect were such a great trio. I absolutely could see Mr. Perfect playing the "executive consultant" role for someone else - maybe even his own son - would have been great to see. 

Del Rio or Swagger

If not Del Rio, a guy like Andrade he could've possibly done wonders for.

[Sephiroth]

Mar 5, 2024 14:24:47 GMT -5 salz4life said:

Mar 5, 2024 13:43:30 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

Del Rio or Swagger

If not Del Rio, a guy like Andrade he could've possibly done wonders for.

Hell, Hollywood Miz. Executive assistant Mr Perfect would have fit the aesthetic.

[XIII]

Probably bounced around before getting a trainer gig at the PC honestly

[Mozenrath]

Probably TNA, maybe teaming with or managing his son on the indies or in Japan, the latter especially if he's still on the outs with WWE by the time Brock quits, since the two were pals and Brock might put in a word with NJPW, then Genome or whatever the hell.

I also wouldn't be terribly shocked if ROH wanted to bring him in for some shows, not unlike when Lance Storm came through. He certainly had credibility with the relevant people for that.

[jason1980s]

There were a few guys Vince seemed to want to keep on despite them not be physically able to work. Andre, Billy Graham, Piper and Mr. Perfect-at various times were some of those guys.
I always thought it sucked that he got fired for the Plane Ride since so many others misbehaved. If he had lived, I feel like he may have been brought back a year or two later when nostalgia was really kicking in. Vince kept on bringing in back or keeping him on for five years after his first big run, so why not keep it up? But with him having finally left WWF and gone to WCW, maybe Vince had a little resentment and it was time for him to go.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Mar 5, 2024 9:21:33 GMT -5 Jaws the Shark said:

Agree with those who said he wouldn't wrestle much longer, he was very broken down. With hindsight probably should've stayed out of the ring in the mid-nineties rather than coming out of retirement, if I were to guess I would say he probably got through those last runs with the "help" of a lot of pills and booze and other things, you look back on his WCW and second WWF/E run and he looks puffy and bloated and you could just see in his eyes sometimes that there was nobody in there.

While I get the money WCW were offering was likely too much to turn down, I genuinely think he'd still be alive today if he'd stayed semi-retired in '96 with only the occasional PPV match thereafter.

[Jaws the Shark]

Mar 6, 2024 2:10:59 GMT -5 Mighty Attack Tribble said:

Mar 5, 2024 9:21:33 GMT -5 Jaws the Shark said:

Agree with those who said he wouldn't wrestle much longer, he was very broken down. With hindsight probably should've stayed out of the ring in the mid-nineties rather than coming out of retirement, if I were to guess I would say he probably got through those last runs with the "help" of a lot of pills and booze and other things, you look back on his WCW and second WWF/E run and he looks puffy and bloated and you could just see in his eyes sometimes that there was nobody in there.

While I get the money WCW were offering was likely too much to turn down, I genuinely think he'd still be alive today if he'd stayed semi-retired in '96 with only the occasional PPV match thereafter.

Agreed. His death is often attributed to an overdose, but my understanding is that really that his heart packed in from a "normal" dose after years of abuse. If he'd stayed out of the ring he might not have needed to spend the next five or six years getting by on the cocktail of booze and uppers and prescription drugs that finished him off.

[I'm Team Bayley and Indi]

"Listen Curt, you are in your mid 60s, will you stop shitting in things and calling them a rib"