Called 'Pretty Boy' or 'The Axe', pro wrestler Larry Hennig was an original

The Wicked Wort Brewery Co. is located in Robbinsdale and has named specialty beers in honor of local celebrities. On Nov. 17, the guest was Larry Hennig, and the beer unveiled was "The Axe is Back Pecan Brown.''

Hennig quit consuming beer and other alcohol products many years ago, but those of us who watched him in TV interviews and in the wrestling ring … it's hard to see Larry as a pecan brown kind of a guy.

Maybe a shot and a Grain Belt, but definitely not a pecan-flavored brew.

Larry was "Big Red,'' and then he was "Pretty Boy'' with tag-team partner Handsome Harley Race, and then he was "The Axe'' in these parts, as well as an evil foil for heroes Bruno Sammartino and Pedro Morales in Madison Square Garden.

Hennig also was a devoted family man. He was married to Irene for more than 60 years, with five kids and 28 grandchildren — so many grandkids that Larry joked that he assigned them numbers because he had no chance to remember all those names.

On Thursday, Hennig's family confirmed that Larry had died at age 82. His grandson Curt Axel, a third-generation wrestling star in the WWE, sent out a Twitter message in which he called Larry "another father when I lost mine.''

Curt Hennig, Larry's son and Axel's father, was a huge attraction in the WWE as Mr. Perfect. He died from what was ruled cocaine poisoning in 2003 at age 44.

Hennig was the Minnesota state wrestling champion at Robbinsdale High School in 1954.

A few years earlier, Verne Gagne was the Robbinsdale legend who won state titles and also two NCAA titles for the Gophers.

Gagne and a partner, Joe Pazandak, trained Hennig to become a pro wrestler. Gagne also was the star attraction and the owner of the AWA. In 1963, Hennig went to Amarillo, Texas, to wrestle for the Funk brothers, and when he came back, he was Big Red and he was a rules-breaker.

This set off a long feud with Gagne. Most wrestling feuds of the AWA era ended with the participants going to the bar together after the matches in Winnipeg or Denver or Fargo, N.D.

Both Schire and Verne's son, Greg, said that Verne and Larry had a genuine dislike for one another.

Schire said, "And then Harley would add, 'We have the bodies that men fear and women crave.'

''How are you going to like guys with those egos?''

In later years, Hennig was The Axe and one of his rivals was Greg Gagne.

"Streaking was big then, and Larry's vow was that if he couldn't beat me in 10 minutes, he would streak down Hennepin Avenue,'' Gagne said. "I was early in my career. Larry was over 300 pounds and knew all the tricks.

"My dad was at ringside yelling, 'Slap him. Slap him.' I finally slapped him. The Axe clotheslined me with a forearm and knocked me out of the ring.