Outside of wrestling Hansen played a small role in the movie No Holds Barred in 1989 and in 2011 he released his co-written biography, The Last Outlaw.
Hansen made his professional wrestling debut in 1973, grappling part-time while trying to make it as an American football player. The following year, he tried out for the Detroit Wheels the short-lived World Football League, but did not make the team, and so began wrestling full-time.[11][12] In 1975, Hansen first teamed with future partner Frank Goodish, who later adopted the ring name Bruiser Brody, while competing in Leroy McGuirk's Tri-State territory.[13]
World Wide/World Wrestling Federation (1976, 1980–1981)
In 1976, Hansen made his debut for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) and only two months after he began competing for the company, he began feuding with the WWF Heavyweight ChampionBruno Sammartino over the title.[3] During a title match, Hansen broke Sammartino's neck while they were wrestling[5] and it was from this incident that both Hansen and promoters claimed that Sammartino's injury came about from the enormous power of his lariat.[3][8][11] However, a botchedpowerslam is what actually caused Sammartino's injury.[4][11]
After Sammartino recovered, Hansen faced him for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship once again, at Showdown at Shea, but was unsuccessful. He left the promotion soon after.[3] He returned in 1980, rekindling his feud with Sammartino and facing Pedro Morales and Andre the Giant on several occasions. He also developed a heated feud with the then-WWF Champion Bob Backlund which culminated in a steel cage match at Madison Square Garden.[14]
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1977–1981, 1990)
Hansen first came to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in January 1977 through the booking of Vince McMahon Sr. With his "reputation" as the man who broke Bruno Sammartino's neck, Hansen quickly became a top heel, facing Antonio Inoki and other top New Japan stars like Seiji Sakaguchi and Tatsumi Fujinami. In addition, while touring Japan regularly, he faced top American wrestlers including Andre the Giant, Dusty Rhodes, Bob Backlund, and Hulk Hogan. Hansen established himself as a dominant force in Japan by competing in New Japan's MSG (Madison Square Garden) tournament between 1978 and 1981. Hansen would win the NWF World Title from Antonio Inoki on February 8, 1980, one of the only two wrestlers to dethrone Inoki during his seven-year reign. From November 21 to December 13, 1980, Hansen did a tour for NJPW, where he competed in the first MSG Tag League tournament (later renamed the G1 Tag League). He teamed with Hulk Hogan, but they failed to win. He returned that April to wrestle Antonio Inoki in an unsuccessful match. However, he defeated Inoki via countout in a MSG League match on May 20, 1981, after hitting a lariat on Inoki, knocking him off the apron. He returned for several more one-off shows until leaving the promotion in December 1981.[15]
Hansen returned at NJPW's Super Fight In Tokyo Dome event in 1990, where he had an infamous inter-promotional match against Vader. The match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship saw Big Van Vader (representing New Japan, while Hansen represented All Japan) get struck in the nose during the entrances by Hansen's Bullrope, breaking it. Both men were known to use a stiff style of wrestling, resulting in a nasty exchange where each man threw legitimate punches, during which Hansen unintentionally poked Vader's left eye with his thumb during their brawl, causing the eye to pop out of its socket. After removing his mask, Vader pushed the eye back into its socket and held it in place with his eyelid. The match ended in a draw.[16] Hansen returned in June for a few more matches, teaming twice with Riki Choshu and once with The Pegasus Kid.[17]
Hansen competed in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) from 1985 to 1986. He won the World Heavyweight Championship on December 29, 1985, from Rick Martel.[3] On June 29, 1986, he no-showed a title defense against the number one contender Nick Bockwinkel due to disagreements with management, forcing the AWA to default the title to Bockwinkel.[4] Rumors suggest that Hansen was actually in the building that evening and had been informed by AWA promoter Verne Gagne of the pending loss to Bockwinkel. Hansen allegedly called All Japan Pro Wrestling president Giant Baba to ask if losing the championship was acceptable, but Baba had already lined up challengers for Hansen and did not permit Hansen to drop the championship. In the end, Hansen refused to drop the title to Bockwinkel and was stripped of the championship; Bockwinkel was given one of the tag team belts, which was then billed as the AWA World Heavyweight Championship due to Hansen still possessing the true title belt. Hansen immediately returned to Japan and defended the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, despite being stripped of it.[3][11] The AWA threatened legal action if Hansen continued to carry the belt and refer to himself as the organization's champion, so Hansen responded by running over the belt with his truck and mailing it back with the mud tracks still on it.[3][4][11] This chain of events was reviewed in an interview with Hansen at an NWA Legends convention, in which he expressed regret over the way he handled the situation and ultimately complimented Gagne.[11]
World Championship Wrestling (1990–1991)
In late 1990, Hansen began appearing in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), feuding with Lex Luger over the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. On October 27 at Halloween Havoc, Hansen defeated Luger to win the title, ending Luger's record-setting reign at 523 days.[3][20] On December 16 at Starrcade, Hansen lost the title back to Luger in a bullrope match. During this period, Hansen continued working tours for All Japan, teaming with Dan Spivey to finish second in the World's Strongest Tag Determination League in November and December. Hansen wrestled another rematch with Vader at the WrestleWar pay-per-view in February 1991. On April 18, Hansen and Spivey won the AJPW World Tag Team Championship from Terry Gordy and Steve Williams, and teamed occasionally upon their return to WCW. In June, Hansen left WCW and returned full-time to All Japan after a disagreement over an idea to group him with The Desperados, a trio of bumbling cowboys looking for Hansen through a series of vignettes.[11] His last WCW match occurred on June 23 in Atlanta.[21] As a result of his departure, The Desperados' angle was dropped and the trio was quickly dissolved.[11]
Upon his return to AJPW, Hansen began a major feud with Mitsuharu Misawa, during which time they traded the Triple Crown Championship between one another.[3] Following Giant Baba's death, Misawa became the new booker and quickly began de-emphasizing Hansen and other foreign talent, in favor of new native recruits such as Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama.
Soon after retiring, Hansen successfully underwent surgery on his back and knees, the latter of which were both replaced.[22] After recovering, he became the commissioner of AJPW's Pacific Wrestling Federation championship governing body, which saw him appear during Triple Crown and World Tag Team Championship matches to issue proclamations of the matches.[11] In July 2007, Hansen voluntarily resigned from the position, with Hiroshi Hase replacing him.[11]
On April 2, 2016, Hansen was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his rival and friend Vader.
Although he famously stated during his wrestling career that he has "9 kids",[24] Hansen has four children. He has an elder son John III, and daughter Elizabeth Hardee, from his first marriage.[10][22] He had two more children with his current wife Yumi: Shaver (born December 19, 1987), who played baseball at Baylor University before being drafted by the Seattle Mariners as the second pick in the sixth round of the 2009 MLB Draft,[13][25] and Samuel (born February 21, 1991), who is also a baseball player and played for the University of Texas at Arlington.[13][26]
Ranked #24 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991
Ranked #16 of the top 500 singles of the "PWI Years" in 2003
Ranked #7, #24, #34, and #66 of the top 100 tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Bruiser Brody, Ted DiBiase, Terry Gordy, and Ole Anderson, respectively, in 2003
1 Hansen won the championship after Ted Turner purchased Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling from Jim Crockett Jr. and renamed the promotion World Championship Wrestling. Hansen's reign was also prior to the championship being renamed the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship.
^Will, Gary; Duncan, Royal (2000). "Texas: NWA Texas Tag Team Title [Von Erich]". Wrestling Title Histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. pp. 275–276. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^Will, Gary; Duncan, Royal (2000). "Texas: NWA Texas Heavyweight Title [Von Erich]". Wrestling Title Histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. pp. 268–269. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
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