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The Years of Perfect LoyaltyIn all my years of following professional wrestling, my favorite wrestler was "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig. I became his fan in 1990, sometime during his vendetta with the late "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich and Dustin Rhodes (when Curt allied with the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase). Teenage girls had crushes on Hollywood actors, lead singers of 90's bands, and/or boys in high school. Me? The sight for my sore eyes was the WWF's Intercontinental Champion. The development of characters was at its peak in professional wrestling in the 80's and 90's, and I related well to certain aspects of his character (someone whose desire was to achieve constantly, to make people laugh, and whose last goal was to be popular - but, rather, be different from the rest). I was the renegade Mr. Perfect fan at the Orlando Arena, Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Jacksonville Colliseum (FL), and Target Center in Minneapolis, cheering and whooping it up for the guy that everyone else absolutely despised. I've gotten on international television (TNT Monday Nitro) holding an obnoxiously huge, glittery sign declaring that Curt Hennig is too perfect for the New World Order....while the thousands of fans around me wore NWO t-shirts and held up their own signs, booing him, and crooning the NWO mantra, "too SWEEEEEET." What was sweet was that the loyalty was always strong, no matter how many debates I found myself involved in with other fans, high school classmates, or even my best friend and fellow wrestler-afficionado, Rebecca (Bekah) Robertson. He was arrogant, the heel of heels, BUT..."Hennig is too perfect for YOU, for YOU, and...oh, yeah!.....for you, too," I'd retort jokingly, chomping on cinnamon Dentyne a la the Perfect Intercontinental Champ. I couldn't fathom how anyone couldn't appreciate the blonde ponytail (which I suggested to him via arena airmail, and which he began to wear a few weeks later), the Perfectplex, the gum, and the white hand-towel finesse (with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan to catch it of course). There were times that were really low for me as a fan. Topping the list: When Curt lost Heenan as a manager and The Coach took his place (slap to my forehead)...when Curt lost his Intercontinental Belt to Bret Hart (dent in my forehead)...and when Curt spent all his time being Ric Flair's Executive Consultant instead of wrestling (would've been permanently traumatizing, except that we fans know what happened at Survivor Series '93 - cause for "Perfect" celebration). I had thought about what it would be like if he joined WCW. In the very early 90's, I couldn't possibly imagine seeing it happen. I even brought up the idea the day that I first met him. So when he finally went over to WCW a few years later, it was pretty exciting, to say the least. I always liked the Four Horsemen, so it was awesome to see him as a part of that elite group. It was also good to see him as a part of the NWO (which resembled an old school WWF reunion in WCW)... until they backstabbed him. After that...of course.... I once again went against the grain and cheered for my perfect favorite guy. I guess not only did I have that automatic tendency to stay loyal as a fan, but I also related to what happened to the character he played. I lived vicariously through Curt Hennig. "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig with "Ravishing" Rick Rude 1989 |
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