Stan Hansen

Hansen in June 2023

###

Knox City, Texas, United States

**John Stanley "Stan" Hansen II** (August 29, 1949) is a retired American professional wrestler. Hansen is renowned for his stiff wrestling style, which he attributes to his poor eyesight. He is also known for his gimmick as a loud, violent cowboy who wanted to fight everybody, which he further emphasized by appearing in interviews with a cowboy hat, leather vest and bullrope while often chewing on tobacco. Considered to be among the most successful and popular gaijins in professional wrestling history in Japan.

In Japan's AJPW promotion, he held seven different championships. Overall he is a six-time world champion.

## Professional Wrestling Career

### Early career (1973–1976)

After playing college football as a part of the West Texas State Buffaloes, Hansen made his professional wrestling debut in 1973. Initially taking up wrestling as a part-time job while trying out for the Detroit Wheels, Hansen began wrestling full-time when the team folded. 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.

### American Wrestling Association (1985–1986)

Hansen competed in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) from 1985 to 1986. He won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship on December 29, 1985, from Rick Martel. 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. 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 (AJPW) 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. At the time, Hansen was already in a feud with Verne's son Greg, in which Hansen was determined to hog-tie Greg and "make him squeal like a pig." Eventually, Hansen was too much for Gagne, and on an episode of All-Star Wrestling, Hansen hog-tied Greg and proceeded to make him squeal in front of his fans, friends, and family. 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. 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. 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.

### New Japan Pro Wrestling (1980–1981, 1990)

Hansen first came to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) in May 1980 doing one off shows where usually teamed and fought Bob Backlund. From November 21 to December 13, 1980, Hansen did a tour for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he competed in the first MSG league (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. He returned for several more one off shows until leaving the promotion in early 1981. Hansen returned at NJPW's Super Fight in Tokyo Dome event in 1990, where he had an infamous interpromotional 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 eye during the entrances by Hansen's Bullrope. Both men were known to use a stiff style of wrestling, resulting in a nasty exchange where each man threw legitimate punches. The match ended in a draw, and Hansen never returned to New Japan.

### 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.

In addition to championship matches, Hansen also competed in other high-profile matches. At the NJPW Super Fight in Tokyo Dome show on February 2, 1990, Hansen competed in another notable match as he represented AJPW against NJPW representative Big Van Vader. This particular match became renowned for its stiffness, as Hansen and Vader repeatedly exchanged blows until Hansen unintentionally poked Vader's right eye with his thumb, which caused the eye to pop out of its socket. After removing his mask, pushing the eye back into its socket and holding it in place with his eyelid, Vader continued wrestling Hansen until the match was rendered a no contest. As a result of the injury, Vader required a metal plate to be surgically placed under his eye. 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.

### Return to AJPW (1991–2001)

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. 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.

In 2000, Misawa and all but two natives defected from the promotion and formed Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), although Hansen chose to remain loyal to AJPW instead of joining the talent exodus. Despite remaining with AJPW, Hansen's ongoing lumbago at the time began to worsen, which ultimately lead him to wrestle his final singles match on October 21, 2000 as part of a tournament for the vacant Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. Hansen lost the semi-final match to old partner Genichiro Tenryu, who went on to win the tournament and the title. His last match altogether was a six-man bout on the 28th, in which he, Steve Williams and Wolf Hawkfield lost to Johnny Smith, Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Masanobu Fuchi. Hansen announced his retirement on January 28, 2001.

### 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.

## Personal life

In 1989, Hansen had a small role in the World Wrestling Federation-produced movie *No Holds Barred*, which starred Hulk Hogan.

Hansen has four children. He has an eldest son, John Stanley Hanson III and daughter, Elizabeth Paige Hanson, from his first marriage. he had two more children in his second marriage, Shaver (born December 19, 1987), played baseball at Baylor University before being drafted by the Seattle Mariners as the second pick in the sixth round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. His younger son, Samuel (born February 21, 1991), is also a baseball player and played for the University of Texas at Arlington.

On May 27, 2022, Hensen would tested positive for COVID-19 which would led for his apperance at Jumbo Tsuruta Memorial Show being cancelled as result of it.

## In Wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Western Lariat* (Lariat)

* **Signature moves**
	+ Belly-to-back suplex
	+ *Brazos Valley Backbreaker* (Boston crab)
	+ DDT
	+ Elbow drop
	+ Texas piledriver
	+ Powerbomb
	+ Running knee drop
	+ Running shoulder block
	+ Scoop slam
	+ Snap suplex
* **Entrance Theme**
	+ "Sunrise" by Spectrum

## Championships and accomplishments

* **All Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ NWA International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ NWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ron Bass
	+ NWA United National Championship (1 time)
	+ PWF World Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
	+ PWF World Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Bruiser Brody (1), Ted DiBiase (2) and Austin Idol (1)
	+ Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
	+ World Tag Team Championship (8 times) – with Terry Gordy (2), Genichiro Tenryu (3), Dan Spivey (1), Ted DiBiase (1) and Gary Albright (1)
	+ Champion Carnival (1992, 1993)
	+ World's Strongest Tag Determination League (1983) – with Bruiser Brody
	+ World's Strongest Tag Determination League (1985) – with Ted DiBiase
	+ World's Strongest Tag Determination League (1988) – with Terry Gordy
	+ World's Strongest Tag Determination League (1989) – with Genichiro Tenryu
	+ January 2 Korakuen Hall Heavyweight Battle Royal (1994)
	+ World's Strongest Tag Determined League Exciting Award (1982) – with Bruiser Brody
	+ World's Strongest Tag Determination League Distinguished Award (1990, 1991) - with Dan Spivey
* **New Japan Pro-Wrestling**
	+ Greatest 18 Club inductee
* ***Pro Wrestling Illustrated***
	+ Match of the Year (1976) vs. Bruno Sammartino on June 25
	+ Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1976)
	+ 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
* ***Tokyo Sports***
	+ Best Foreigner Award (1982)
	+ Best Tag Team Award (1998) with Big Van Vader
	+ Lifetime Achievement Award (2000)
	+ Match of the Year Award (1992) vs. Toshiaki Kawada on June 5
	+ Match of the Year Award (1982) vs. Giant Baba on February 4
	+ Match of the Year Award (1988) vs. Genichiro Tenryu on July 27
	+ Popularity Award (1980)
* ***Wrestling Observer Newsletter***
	+ Best Brawler (1985, 1990)
	+ Tag Team of the Year (1982) with Ole Anderson
	+ Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)