Early career (1973–1980) 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. 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.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (1975) Hansen made his first tour to Japan working for
All Japan Pro Wrestling in September and October 1975. He feuded with Dutch wrestler
Anton Geesink and the
Great Kojika.
World Wide/World Wrestling Federation (1976-1977, 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 Champion Bruno Sammartino over the title. 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.
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. 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. Hansen returned in June for a few more matches, teaming twice with
Riki Choshu and once with
The Pegasus Kid.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (1981–1990) In 1981, Hansen abruptly left NJPW to join
All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). While in AJPW, Hansen became the only man to pin Antonio Inoki and
Giant Baba in championship singles matches. He continued wrestling from 1982 to 1999 in
World's Strongest Tag Determination League. He wrestled primarily in tag matches, where he formed many teams with the likes of Bruiser Brody,
Terry Gordy,
Ted DiBiase,
Genichiro Tenryu,
Dan Spivey,
Bobby Duncum Jr., and
Big Van Vader. Hansen also engaged in a renowned brawl with
André the Giant in Japan. On April 13, 1990, the
World Wrestling Federation and AJPW held a
supershow called Wrestling Summit at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, in which Hansen lost to
Hulk Hogan in the main event. Hansen won his first
Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship by defeating Terry Gordy on June 8, 1990, and wrestled a rematch in NJPW against Vader on June 12.
American Wrestling Association (1985–1986) 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. 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. As a result of his departure, The Desperados' angle was dropped and the trio was quickly dissolved.
Post-retirement Soon after retiring, Hansen successfully underwent
surgery on his back and knees, the latter of which were both
replaced. 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. In July 2007, Hansen voluntarily resigned from the position, with
Hiroshi Hase replacing him. On April 2, 2016, Hansen was inducted into the
WWE Hall of Fame by his rival and friend
Vader. == Personal life ==