Just as the dust had started to settle following the massive layoffs on Black Wednesday two weeks ago, WWE has announced yet another release, as third-generation WWE Superstar Curtis Axel is now gone from the company. It’s the first release since multiple reports stated that WWE had opened its doors on a new policy to release any disgruntled talents, rather than keep them signed. There’s no word if Axel asked for his release or if he was just another casualty of the cutbacks.
WWE has come to terms on the release of Curtis Axel.
WWE wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.
— WWE (@WWE) April 30, 2020
Joe Hennig was born on October 1, 1979, the oldest of four children to WWE, WCW and AWA Superstar “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, and grandson to AWA legend Larry “The Ax” Hennig. In 2007, Joe Hennig followed in the family business by joining World League Wrestling (WLW) in Iowa, where he began training under Harley Race and Brad Rheingans. He made his in-ring debut in July of 2007 and took “perfectly” to the training – by October of that year, he was used by WWE as enhancement in a tag team match on SmackDown against Festus & Jesse. In his first match for WLW, he debuted in a tag team with another third-generation wrestler in Ted DiBiase Jr.
After a year in WWL, Joe Hennig was signed by WWE, where he was assigned to their developmental in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). He debuted in FCW almost a year to the date of his first match in WLW, in July of 2008, winning the FCW Tag Team titles alongside Tyler Reks (then named Gabe Tuft). While the reign was short, it got people’s attention, and he soon formed a new team with Heath Slater, winning FCW tag team gold that September. Hennig showed great adaptability, both as a tag team specialist and a singles star, and in early 2009, he would win the FCW Heavyweight Championship. By the end of 2009, he paired with Brett DiBiase (the brother of Ted DiBiase Jr.) in a tag team called Fortunate Sons, adding his third FCW Tag Team title reign.
In June of 2010, Joe Hennig was called up to take part in the NXT reality series for its second season, where he was paired with his WWE mentor (or Pro) in Kofi Kingston. In a strange decision, for his call up, he was renamed Michael McGillicutty, with all reference to his family lineage seemingly scrubbed away. His name change would also be reflected in FCW, where he would win his fourth FCW Tag Team Championship paired with Kaval (Low Ki), the winner of NXT Season 2 (McGillicutty placed second).
In October that year, McGillicutty, alongside another third-generation star in Husky Harris (the future Bray Wyatt), attacked John Cena from the crowd in a match against Nexus leader Wade Barrett at WWE Hell In A Cell 2010, which forced Cena to join Nexus. For weeks, Barrett would deny that either attacker was in Nexus (Nexus members were banned from interference at Hell In A Cell), but by the end of the month, both McGillicutty and Harris were revealed to be the newest members of the NXT-bred faction. By January of 2011, Nexus had been repackaged with Barrett out and CM Punk now leading the rookies, but in May, McGillicutty and David Otunga won the group the WWE Tag Team Championships. But by July, Nexus was over.
Michael McGillicutty found himself back in NXT in January of 2012, but by now it had transformed into the new developmental for WWE following the shutdown of FCW. He would still appear on the main roster, but was relegated to WWE Live Events and episodes of WWE Superstars, but the majority of his TV time came on the new NXT TV. He would form a new tag team with Johnny Curtis (now Fandango), but with little success. From what seemed like a promising start in FCW, now seemed to be on borrowed time, as the company seemingly couldn’t find the right fit for Joe Hennig in the WWE Universe.
On May 20, 2013, he would return to the main roster, and finally, his ancestry was acknowledged. On Monday Night Raw, Paul Heyman reintroduced Joe Hennig as his new client and revealed that he would now be known as Curtis Axel, a name that paid tribute to both his father (CURTis) and his grandfather (AXel). At first, it seemed like the perfect pairing – Axel could focus on his ring-work, while Heyman would act his mouthpiece and advisor. And at first in paid dividends early – less than a month after his re-debut, he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship from his former leader, Wade Barrett, at WWE Payback, holding it for 155-days. Leading up to his win, he had televised wins over John Cena, Triple H, and Chris Jericho (albeit by distractions or interferences from fellow Heyman client, Ryback). It almost felt like WWE had finally realized the diamond in the rough they had. But by fall of 2013, Heyman dropped both Axel and Ryback as clients, and the two became a short-lived tag team, RybAxel. The team dissolved that November.
In January of 2014, Curtis Axel was entered into the Royal Rumble but failed to actually enter the match when he was attacked by Erick Rowan en route to the ring. Due to not being eliminated, Curtis Axel would go on a weeks-long campaign to have himself be declared the rightful winner of the Royal Rumble, setting of “AxelMania”. Starting to dress akin to Hulk Hogan in the red-and-yellow, he became a fan favorite who was starting to feel sympathy for the underachieving son of Mr. Perfect. That May, he found an ally in Damian Sandow, who, dressed like Hogan rival “Macho Man” Randy Savage, would seal their union by a handshake and become The Meta Powers. Unfortunately, by July WWE had fired Hulk Hogan from the company following racial remarks that surfaced online, and the entire AxelMania gimmick was dropped, as well as the tag team.
In January of 2016, he joined a new stable, The Social Outcasts, led by his former FCW Tag Team Champion partner Heath Slater, alongside Bo Dallas and Adam Rose. The Social Outcasts dissolved that July when everyone but Slater was drafted to Raw from SmackDown, and Axel briefly feuded with Bo Dallas. But for the rest of 2016, Curtis Axel was once again reduced to Live Events and WWE Main Event.
By 2017, he had repaired his relationship with Bo Dallas, and in June of 2017, the pair joined with The Miz as his Miztourage, doing all of the Intercontinental Champion’s dirty work. For the first time since early in his run with Paul Heyman, Curtis Axel was finding some success in his work, but after a year at Miz’s side, The Miz was drafted to SmackDown, away from the Miztourage. The duo renamed themselves The B-Team (as in the Best Team) and immediately developed a rapport with the WWE audience – lovable losers that many felt deserved better, but continued to be held back by WWE creative. The crowd’s response didn’t go unnoticed, however, and on July 15, 2018 at WWE Extreme Rules, they defeated Bray Wyatt & Matt Hardy for the Raw Tag Team Championships.
Since losing their tag team titles less than two months later, the B-Team has seen their TV time drop fewer and fewer, once again relegated to the Live Event circuit. By the fall of 2019, Curtis Axel returned to singles action, first against Chad Gable on October 18 on SmackDown. But Axel was soon finding himself no longer even on the roster for the Live Events, and in 2020, he made but two appearances for the WWE – a dark match against Ali on January 3 during a SmackDown broadcast and a singles match against Daniel Bryan on the February 28 episode of SmackDown.
It’s a sad end for one of WWE’s most adaptable and reliable hands, who seemed to be respected more by his peers than his management. “I wish they would do so much more with Axel. Curt’s kid,” said 2x WWE Hall of Famer Bret “Hitman” Hart on his Bret Hart Radio Podcast back in 2016. “It’s just such a shame. I’ve never understood it from the beginning. Even the name McGillicutty, or whatever that gimmick was. It just seems almost like impossible odds to turn that into any kind of successful storyline. What do you do with that? It never made a lot of sense to me.” Hart would also compare Axel’s misuse to that of Cody Rhodes, who had then recently left the WWE. “I think that he’s really a wasted talent. I think he’s a real talent,” Bret continued. “He’s every bit the athlete and the performer that his Dad was. I just always thought that he was a little bit like Cody Rhodes, where it’s like they never quite gave him the right things to book him to be the star that he was.” In 2014, in preparation for his return as The Rock to the WWE Universe to battle John Cena, it was Curtis Axel who trained with Dwayne Johnson to shake off the ring rust.
Now that his career as Michael McGillicutty and Curtis Axel is over, Joe Hennig is free to follow his own path, and finally, show the world what he’s capable of doing. While he’s now 40-years old, Hennig has years of experience and ambition to rely on and continues to be in top shape. A run with a more wrestling centric promotion like Ring of Honor, National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), or IMPACT Wrestling would probably help restore some of his confidence in his own abilities – and perhaps ultimately show WWE what they’d wasted all this time.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world
