It was 20 years and a few weeks ago that Curt Hennig became a Four Horseman, taking Arn Anderson's spot as the Horsemen went into a showdown with the NWO at Fall Brawl War Games 97. This was a big deal in the universe of WCW at the time. As you all know Hennig double crossed the Horsemen and joined the NWO at War Games and it was treated like the death of the Horsemen. This was one of my favorite angles back in the day, one that really got me heavy into what was going on in WCW at the time. This all set up a match with Flair vs Hennig for the US title at Starrcade if I remember correctly. After that was it just me or did they pretty much waste Hennig? They went into the whole deal where he and Rick Rude were feuding with Anvil and Bulldog and just rehashing the same bullshit with the handcuff beat downs on every show for several weeks. 

What if Hennig had just stayed a Horseman? Was there any money in Curt Hennig as a Horseman with Benoit and Mongo and Flair? 

But yeah I don't really know why exactly I started this thread, this just crossed my mind and I figured we needed some threads. But what do you think about Hennig's first year in WCW? A missed opportunity or no? Could they have did better or did they get about as much as they were going to get out of him for where he was in his career? I remember seeing in some of the 1998 tapes he was really fucking jacked, probably the best shape he was ever in. 

You're right Shin, they really dropped the ball after Starrcade and he just couldn't gain any momentum. It seemed like without the Hart Foundation or the IV Horsemen Curt was lost until the West Texas Rednecks angle which turned out better than it had any right to be. Otherwise he was just an nWo mug and had the task of baby-sitting Vincent and Brian Adams.

They should have put him on ice until they had a feud figured out for him. Bring him back after Superbrawl, give him a tag partner or a stable and just have him feud with the Hart Foundation and then somebody else like Booker T or Chris Benoit. Depending on how well he gets over, you could even have him work Sting or Goldberg in a championship match. They actually did the Goldberg bout, but it was one of the most underwhelming Heavyweight Championship bouts during the Monday Night Wars. Build it up properly, let Rude & Hennig run their mouth and get Bill over as a babyface.

I wouldn't have changed much about his '99, Nash cops a lot of deserved criticism but he used Curt well.

I wonder how long Curt had signed on for? By '99 I would have phased him out and he would have exclusively been a Saturday Night guy. By '99/00 Jimmy Hart was booking the show like NXT and I think Curt would have been good working with the up and coming talent.

Didn't Henning and Raven show up at the end of the same Nitro?

This doesn't pertain explicitly specifically to the time period in question, but Curt's herky-jerkiness as far as when he was around and able to go in-ring vs. when he was banged up and out collecting on Lloyd's of London made him hard to get full bore into for me, despite how great he was. It was kinda the same with Sid too, even despite my mark-out love for him. It's like you see them pop back into the picture, and it's a great surprise, but after so many start-stops and short runs... it gets hard to emotionally invest. I wonder if promoters/bookers felt the same way about him?

Oct 1, 2017 12:52:40 GMT bodyslam said:

Didn't Henning and Raven show up at the end of the same Nitro? 

I can't remember, they both came around close to the same time. 

Instead of doing the stuff with Anvil/Bulldog I would have liked to have seen Hennig vs Benoit become a bigger thing. They really kind of brushed the Hennig vs Horsemen thing under the rug until a full year later, September-October 1998 they started doing Hennig vs Malenko(Benoit was injured I believe). Also did we ever get a Hennig vs Bret match during this time? I can't remember. I do seem to remember a really solid match against DDP on Saturday Night sometime in later 1998. 

The "WWF Guy" in anything other than the nWo is hard for me to picture, especially someone who was a heel for most of his run there. Hennig in a heel version of the Horseman in the 80s or early 90s is such a natural fit. But 1997 Horseman, babyface defenders of WCW, makes less sense to me. I think the way Hennig came in was the only way to do it, and pretty awesome too, I have to say. They made it seem like Hennig almost killed Flair.

I suppose where they dropped the ball was in 1998. Post-Starrcade '97, the nWo should have disintegrated much sooner. After that Hennig could go his own separate way, or gain a bigger role with an nWo without the Wolfpack. I've toyed with Hennig as part of Hart led stable, in the past, but Hart coming off Mr. Anti America, and Hennig coming off breaking Flair's face, you're kind of shooting them in the foot to get over as babyfaces, and everyone seems to agree that Hart should come in as a babyface.

I think the key would be a post-split nWo becoming generational, and losing the fat of the also rans. Wolfpack is essentially New Generation WWF. nWo is essentially Hulkamania Era WWF, where Hennig has an elevated role. Hogan/Macho/Hennig/Steiner vs. Hall/Nash/Syxx/Konnan as the longtime feud, with Hennig continuing to war with Horseman here and there, until the nWo is dead for good by Starrcade '98 the latest.

1999 Hennig could go anywhere, just keep him a heel because by then it doesn't totally matter. They're about to be destroyed by WWF regardless.

One small change I would always make is holding the Flair-Hennig match at WW3 until Starrcade '97. The biggest card in WCW history, Flair doesn't wrestle on. You would think an NWA style cage match of Flair vs. Hennig at Starrcade would just write itself after War Games.