What if Mr. Perfect didn't injure his back and stop wrestling in 1991?

[Superstar]

Mr. Perfect was in my top 5 favorite wrestlers of all time. He was a great athlete and an excellent worker in the ring. 1990 into 1991 was possibly his finest time in the WWF having had two solid reigns as Intercontinental Champion. He and Bret Hart put on a classic match at Summerslam 1991 where he lost to the Hitman. Unfortunately, he had been suffering nagging back injury that forced him to retire after the match. Though he made subsequent returns to the ring, this injury put a damper on his career and some say that he was never quite the same again.

Well I want to look at what would have been with his career if this didn't happen. Would he have continued a feud with Bret Hart? Would he have been in the main event? Maybe a face turn in the mix?

What are your thoughts?

[CT Baker]

He would have been world champ for sure. Probably several times. I imagine he'd be mentioned with his contemporaries, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, among the upper tier of all time greats. Stupid back injuries robbed us of at least 5 years of watching one of the best ever.

[Goldie79]

I think that Hening would have remained a heel. He was only turned face to save the 1992 Survivor Series PPV.... after the Ultimate Warrior (originally in the main event) was fired by Vince.
Would he have even dropped the IC title to Bret at Summerslam had he been fit to continue wrestling??? Maybe not that show, though I'm sure Bret would have still won the IC title at one of the upcoming PPVs.

I disagree that Curt would have been pushed to the world title in the WWF. Sure he was great in the ring and well suited to his Mr Perfect gimmick..... but I think he was one of these guys who was most comfortable in the upper midcard. In 1990 he was pushed into mini fueds with both Hogan and Warrior... but was never given a PPV against either.... because the box office at house shows didn't draw as well as Hogan or Warrior against other big heels such as Randy Savage.

With Ric Flair signing with the WWE in 1991... Flair would have been pushed over a fit Henning anyway as the World Title calibre heel.

[Shockage]

If Hennig didn't have back issues, he wouldn't have had a reason to leave the WWF in later years. Hennig would've retained the WWF's trust to stay reliably healthy and loyal which would've eventually made him a the WWF Champion. The mid 90's was built towards Hennig's style, and because of Hennig and Bret's professional and personal respect, I think Bret would've demanded that Hennig be the guy to win the WWF Title off him at WrestleMania 12.

[Superstar]

I disagree that Curt would have been pushed to the world title in the WWF. Sure he was great in the ring and well suited to his Mr Perfect gimmick..... but I think he was one of these guys who was most comfortable in the upper midcard. In 1990 he was pushed into mini fueds with both Hogan and Warrior... but was never given a PPV against either.... because the box office at house shows didn't draw as well as Hogan or Warrior against other big heels such as Randy Savage.

With Ric Flair signing with the WWE in 1991... Flair would have been pushed over a fit Henning anyway as the World Title calibre heel.

I agree that he wouldn't have been pushed to the World Title at around 1989-1991 because there were so many other guys that they were pushing over him at that time and they all made sense. But I think the perfect time to push him to the world title was in early 1993. Hennig had just made a comeback after a shocking face turn and was pretty over. They were trying to go with new faces of the company at that time as Hogan and Warrior were gone and Savage was doing commentary. It would have been great if he won the Royal Rumble eliminating Ric Flair (Who he was feuding with at the time and the previous year's winner). From there, he could have headed to Wrestlemania 9 with Bret Hart returning the favor from SS 91 having the match like the one they had at KOTR 93. From there you would have Hart and Hennig as the 2 top faces going into the "New Generation". But they opted to go for Yokozuna and Hulk Hogan again that year.

[Goldie79]

I think Bret would've demanded that Hennig be the guy to win the WWF Title off him at WrestleMania 12.

I think Vince would have still gone with Shawn at WM12. He was in Vinces ear at the time, and there would have been little Bret could have done to sway Vince's opinion if Vince had his mind set up on something. Even by late 1995 Vince must have been planning Shawn for the big time, as the 1996 Rumble was all built around Shawn achieving his Childood dream of becoming world champion at Wrestlemania (where he won the right to contend by winning the Rumbe).

Hennig had just made a comeback after a shocking face turn and was pretty over.

Had Henning not hurt his back leading up to Summerslam '91 ... and not retired... I dont think he would have turned face.

As for 1993-94... yeah the WWE talent pool was getting weaker than it was in1991-92, however Yoko was such a size, that Vince had to make him his top heel.
And though he bombed in the end... Lex Luger, thanks to his physique... would have inevitably been pushed hard as a heel (Narcissist) or face (American hero).
The fact that Vince booked Luger going over Henning in 1993 (and Wrestlemania 9), and Bret going over Henning at KOTR, showed that Henning was more of an upper midcarder.... the guy who was good but would lose out to the top guys.