20 YRS AGO: Curt Hennig blindsides WWF, headed to WCW – WCW responds to losing Bret sweepstakes by stealing Mr. Perfect, who almost debuted Monday

Twenty years ago in the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter #415 (cover-dated Nov. 16, 1996), the following cover story reported on the surprising jump of Curt Hennig. VIP members can read the entire newsletter HERE. 

Curt Hennig blindsides WWF, headed to WCW – WCW responds to losing Bret sweepstakes by stealing Mr. Perfect, who almost debuted Monday

By Wade Keller, editor

Curt Hennig, known as “Mr. Perfect” in the WWF, blindsided the WWF late last week by informing them of his decision to sign with WCW. Hennig, who would not wrestle for the WWF despite Vince McMahon pushing for him to return to the ring, will return to the ring in WCW.

WCW wanted Hennig to debut on the Nov. 11 Nitro, but WWF legal threats stopped that plan. He may not be able to join WCW for 90 days, until February ’97. Hennig personally has a strong preference for being a heel, but given WCW’s lopsided roster and their need for a full-time “leader” of “Team WCW,” Hennig may end up as a babyface rather than as a member of the NWO.

The jump of Hennig, who has never wrestled for WCW and has been an on-and-off WWF wrestler and announcer since the late-’80s, is the latest big name wrestler to leave the WWF on poor terms. The question that Vince McMahon has to ask himself is what is he doing to cause so many top names in the sport to show no loyalty to him or his company. Bret Hart proclaimed loyalty to the WWF and said he would never join WCW. He has told people many times over the years that he values the idea of remaining with the same promotion for an entire career. That notwithstanding, in great part because he was upset with how McMahon had treated him over the years, he embarrassed the WWF by forcing them into a bidding war with WCW, a group Bret had previously said was bush league and unworthy of his presence. Bret came very close to jumping to WCW before finally choosing the WWF offer, in part because of the security of the 20 year contract the WWF offered.

Randy Savage was the first big name WWF player who left the WWF and went right to WCW. (Hogan had been out of the WWF for a while before joining WCW.) Ironically, Savage could also be the first of the former WWF stars to return as his status for ’97 is still in question. Since Savage’s jump to WCW in 1995 the exodus of top wrestlers to WCW has been stunning.

Just over a year ago Lex Luger, who just two years earlier was on the receiving end of the biggest WWF marketing blitz of any wrestler in the history of the sport, walked out on the WWF and McMahon without giving notice. He showed up on Nitro when the WWF had advertised the day before that he would appear on WWF Superstars a week later. Luger wrestled a match a couple of weeks earlier at TV tapings knowing it was scheduled to air three weeks later, and after his planned surprise debut on Monday Nitro.

A couple of months ago Davey Boy Smith planned to do the same thing and show up on WCW television without giving the WWF notice, but the WWF offered him a last second five-year guaranteed contract and managed to keep him.

Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, who were set to be main eventers for the WWF for years to come, jumped to WCW earlier this year. They made their decision to jump to WCW for $780,000 guaranteed per year and a lighter schedule before talking to McMahon or letting him counter offer.

Sean Waltman (Syxx) asked for an early release from his contract with the WWF and received it so he could join his friends Nash and Hall in WCW.

Two weeks ago longtime WWF loyalist Roddy Piper debuted in WCW and apparently did not give McMahon the chance to make a counter offer before signing his WCW deal. Jeff Jarrett sat out most of this year waiting for his WWF contract to expire and received no WWF paychecks as a result. Unhappy with his push, he wanted out of the WWF in favor of joining WCW.

Why are so many top names willing to leave the WWF, and why do so few pay McMahon the courtesy of advanced notice that would be expected in such a situation. The biggest reason so many top names are joining WCW is because they are offering bigger guaranteed salaries and a lighter schedule than the WWF. But these wrestlers aren’t leaving begrudgingly or with regret. They are leaving in covert fashion, in many cases blind-siding McMahon. That is not a sign that he is creating loyalty among his wrestlers.

Some of the above names have privately joked with friends that since they had reached a position of power where McMahon needed them more than they needed McMahon, they planned to mess with his head and pay him back for messing with them (and fellow wrestlers) when he was the one in a position of power.

McMahon has been trying to get the top half of his current roster to commit to escape-clause-free five-year extensions, trying to prevent more departures on the level of Luger, Hall, and Nash. Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Sid, and Davey Boy Smith were among the top names signing five-year deals in recent months. Goldust, Steve Austin, and Mankind are among the top names whom McMahon is currently trying to lock into similar five year deals. All three top heels are in the midst of their original three-year contracts and there aren’t any reports that they have signed the extensions yet. Their existing contracts allow them a window of opportunity each year to give a 90 day notice and leave the WWF, so conceivably if any or all of them are not happy with the long term offers McMahon has presented to them, they could end up in WCW sometime in 1997. Initial reports are that the downside guarantees being offered are far below what WCW would likely offer (perhaps due to a WWF budget strain resulting from Bret’s lucrative deal), although if business is good, any of them could end up making much more than the downside guarantee.

Hennig, Piper, Jarrett, Smith, and Waltman wouldn’t have wanted to leave the WWF if WCW didn’t have a reputation for treating their wrestlers well. McMahon may have to adjust his style because more than ever, because of WCW’s seemingly bottomless pockets, it’s a “seller’s market.” A few more departures and McMahon may not have enough roster depth to effectively compete with WCW, much less have time to build new stars.

VIP members can read the entire newsletter HERE. This issue includes a cover story on Curt Hennig’s surprising jump from the WWF to WCW, WWF Newswire reports on drug testing changes and the new Saturday night program, WCW Newswire details Hulk Hogan on Regis & Kathy Lee, part five of the Torch Talk with Shane Douglas as he talks about beginning the second chapter of his ECW career after his ill-fated stop in the WWF… Plus Wade Keller’s End Notes, WWF Newswire, WCW Newswire, ETC. Newswire, reports on Raw, Nitro, and other TV shows, Letters to the Torch, and more…

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