Stan Hansen

John Stanley Hansen
Data
Ring name	Stan Hansen
Additions to names	The Lariat
height	188 cm
Fighting weight	112 kg - 147 kg
birth	August 29, 1949 Knox City , Texas
Announced from	Borger, Texas
debut	1st January 1973

John Stanley Hansen (born August 29, 1949 in Knox City , Texas ) is a former American wrestler who enjoys legendary status, especially in Japan.

Career

Sporty background

Hansen grew up in Borger , Texas . During his time at West Texas A&M University, he played on the American football team there . He later also had a tryout with the Detroit Wheelers , a team in the short-lived World Football League . Instead, however, he decided to pursue a wrestling career and made his debut on January 1, 1973 in Amarillo .

Beginnings in wrestling

Just two years later, Antonio Inoki became aware of Hansen and engaged him for his New Japan Pro Wrestling shows, where he performed as The Lariat Combo with Riki Choshu . The fame of Hansen Lariat was further increased when Bruno Sammartino sustained a neck injury during Hansen's appearance for the WWWF (now WWE ) on April 26, 1976, which, however, was actually the result of an unfortunate body slam . After Sammartino was injured for two months, the rematch drew 30,000 spectators.

Further career

In the following years, Hansen worked a lot in Georgia , where he appeared as a crowd favorite for the first time in his career , but also in Japan, where he was allowed to defeat Antonio Inoki for the NWF world title on April 5, 1980 , the Inoki almost five at that time Had held for years.

Despite the success he was able to celebrate at New Japan Pro Wrestling , in 1981 he surprisingly switched to the All Japan Pro Wrestling competitions , where he was immediately allowed to deliver a feud with the figurehead Giant Baba . On September 8, 1983, he finally defeated this for the "AJPW / PWF Heavyweight Title", making him the only wrestler who was allowed to defeat both Japanese legends in title fights.

Even if Hansen continued to compete in the USA, his wrestling home was clearly Japan. This was shown, for example, when he refused to lose the AWA Heavyweight Title to Nick Bockwinkel because Baba had advertised the next All Japan tour with Hansen as champion.

In Japan, Hansen set milestones alongside Bruiser Brody in the role of the gigantic and ruthless American heels . A role with which later people like Leon White (as Big van Vader ), Scott Norton , Steve Williams or Terry Gordy could celebrate successes. With the latter, Hansen won the Real World Tag League in 1988 . A success that he was also able to celebrate with Brody, Ted DiBiase and Genichiro Tenryu .

In the heyday of All Japan, when, according to many wrestling connoisseurs, the best wrestling ever was offered there, Hansen was at the forefront and fought ring battles with Jumbo Tsuruta . He retired in 2000, but continued to appear in other roles for All Japan.

titles and achievements

• All Japan Pro Wrestling

4 * AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship

8 * AJPW Unified World Tag Team Championship with Terry Gordy (2), Genichiro Tenryu (3), Dan Spivey (1), Ted DiBiase (1), Gary Albright (1),

1 * NWA International Heavyweight Championship

1 * NWA International Tag Team Championship

1 * NWA United National Championship

4 * PWF World Heavyweight Championship

4 * PWF World Tag Team Championship

• Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling / World Championship Wrestling

1 * NWA United States Championship

1 * NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) (with Ole Anderson )

useful information

Hansen is very nearsighted, which also led to several accidents. So he knocked out some of Toshiaki Kawada's teeth and seriously injured Big van Vader's eye. On the other hand, his nearsightedness is the reason for his unwanted extremely hard clotheslines , whereby he did not just hit the opponent with an outstretched arm, as is generally the case, but instead hit his arm forward. This should ensure that he actually hit his opponent. Thus a new campaign was created, which was called "The Lariat" and Stan Hansen also got this nickname.

In 1989, Hansen played a supporting role called Neanderthal in the wrestling film No Holds Barred .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Familytreelegends.com: John Stanley Hansen