Curtis Axel

On March 31, 2007, Axel along with his family represented his father "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig at the 2007 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony by accepting the award on his behalf. On the October 26, 2007 episode of *SmackDown*, Axel teamed with Steve Fender in a loss to Jesse and Festus.

Axel took part in the second season of *NXT*, using the ring name **Michael McGillicutty**, with Kofi Kingston as his pro. He made his *NXT* debut on the June 8 episode, but did not compete in a match. He made his in-ring debut on the following edition of *NXT*, teaming with Kingston in a tag team match, where they defeated Mark Henry and Lucky Cannon. In the first poll on June 29, McGillicutty was ranked third, behind Kaval and Percy Watson. On the July 20 episode of *NXT*, McGillicutty earned immunity from elimination in the next poll by completing an obstacle course in the fastest time. On the following episode of *NXT*, he moved up to first place in the second poll. After six consecutive victories, McGillicutty suffered his first loss on the August 3 episode of *NXT*, when he was defeated by pro The Miz. On August 9, the rookies appeared in a six-man tag team match on *Raw*, in which McGillicutty teamed with Alex Riley and Husky Harris to defeat Kaval, Lucky Cannon, and Percy Watson. The following night on *NXT*, his team lost a rematch when McGillicutty was pinned by Kaval. In the next poll later that night, McGillicutty relinquished the first place ranking back to Kaval, slipping to second place. In the season finale on August 31, McGillicutty ended the competition in second place, being beaten by Kaval. At the end of the show, McGillicutty turned heel by attacking Kaval with the other eliminated rookies.

On October 3 at Hell in a Cell, McGillicutty and Husky Harris disguised themselves as fans and interfered during the match between John Cena and Wade Barrett. This allowed Barrett to pin Cena and win the match, forcing Cena to join The Nexus per the pre-match stipulation. McGillicutty and Harris' identities were revealed on the following day's episode of *Raw*, though Barrett claimed he had not asked for their help and refused to make them full-time members of The Nexus. The following week, McGillicutty and Harris interfered in a match between Cena and The Miz, costing Cena the match and prompting Barrett to give them the opportunity to win membership in The Nexus. On the October 18 episode of *Raw*, McGillicutty and Harris were unable to earn a place in The Nexus when they lost to Cena and Randy Orton in a tag team match. Despite this, Barrett confirmed both he and Harris were members on the October 25 episode of *Raw*.

In January 2011, CM Punk took over The Nexus and had each of its members put through an initiation. McGillicutty passed his initiation, a beatdown from the rest of the group, and was allowed to remain a member of Nexus, alongside Punk, Harris and David Otunga. The following month, Punk was announced as the WrestleMania XXVII opponent for Randy Orton, and as a result, each member of The Nexus was scheduled to face Orton in the month prior to WrestleMania. McGillicutty faced and lost to Orton on the February 28 episode of *Raw*, and after the match Orton punted McGillicutty in the head. McGillicutty returned on the April 11 episode of *Raw* with the other Nexus members, preventing Orton from earning a WWE Championship match. On the May 23 episode of *Raw*, McGillicutty teamed with fellow Nexus member David Otunga to win the WWE Tag Team Championship from Big Show and Kane with the help interference from fellow Nexus members Punk and Mason Ryan. They made their only successful title defense against The Usos on the July 29 episode of *SmackDown*. After CM Punk left the Nexus when his WWE contract expired on July 17, McGillicutty and Otunga competed against Santino Marella and Zack Ryder on the August 1 episode of *Raw* without any Nexus gear or armbands, and with all Nexus logos removed from their TitanTron, effectively signaling the end of the New Nexus. On the August 22 episode of *Raw*, McGillicutty and Otunga lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to Air Boom (Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston). After a minor feud with Jerry Lawler, the duo parted ways.

After his dissociation with Otunga, McGillicutty from late 2011 to mid-2013 would largely be confined to wrestling on the *Superstars* and *NXT* shows. On the October 20 episode of *Superstars*, McGillicutty and Drew McIntyre lost a non-title match to the WWE Tag Team Champions Air Boom. In late 2011, McGillicutty and Alex Riley had a series of matches on *Superstars*, which Riley won 2–1. On the February 23, 2012 episode of *Superstars*, McGillicutty defeated Riley, which would be his last televised win on a non-NXT show until May 2013, resulting in McGillicutty losing more than twenty non-NXT matches in a row, mostly on *Superstars*, but also on *Main Event*and*Saturday Morning Slam.*

McGillicutty made his return to *NXT*, appearing from January 2012 on the fifth season *NXT Redemption*, but not as a rookie. In late February 2012, McGillicutty mocked Tyson Kidd's lack of wrestling heritage, starting a feud on *NXT Redemption*. McGillicutty then beat Kidd on the February 29 episode of *NXT Redemption*. McGillicutty continued to insult Kidd by claiming that Kidd would never be a true 'Hart', and Kidd received a rematch on the March 21 episode of *NXT Redemption*, where he defeated McGillicutty. McGillicutty and Kidd faced off in a third match on the April 11 episode of *NXT*, resulting in Kidd triumphant over McGillicutty. McGillicutty then formed an occasional team with Johnny Curtis for the rest of 2012. On the final episode of the fifth season of *NXT* on June 13, McGillicutty and Curtis lost to The Usos.

After the conclusion of *NXT Redemption*, NXT transitioned into the WWE's developmental territory. McGillicutty continued appearing on the rebooted *NXT*, losing to Tyson Kidd on the first episode on June 20. On the August 8 episode of *NXT*, McGillicutty was inserted into the Gold Rush Tournament to crown the first NXT Champion, where he defeated Justin Gabriel in the quarter-finals. However, McGillicutty was eliminated in the semi-finals on August 15 when he lost to eventual tournament winner Seth Rollins. On the next episode, Tyson Kidd heaped more misery on McGillicutty as he and Justin Gabriel defeated McGillicutty and Johnny Curtis, but on the September 12 episode of *NXT*, McGillicutty gained revenge by defeating Kidd to become the number one contender for the NXT Championship. On the October 10 episode of *NXT*, McGillicutty lost the title match to champion Seth Rollins. Then on the November 28 episode of *NXT*, Curtis cashed in his promised tag title shot from winning season four of *NXT*, with McGillicutty as his partner against Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan), but Team Hell No won the match.

On January 2, 2013, McGillicutty turned face (but only within NXT) after saving Bo Dallas from a beating at the hands of Primo and Epico. On the next episode, Primo and Epico defeated McGillicutty and Dallas, though McGillicutty and Dallas would gain revenge when they defeated Primo and Epico in the first round of the NXT Tag Team Championship Tournament to crown the inaugural champions on the January 30 episode of *NXT*. On the February 6 episode of *NXT*, McGillicutty and Dallas were eliminated in the semi-finals when they lost to The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper and Erick Rowan).

On the May 20, 2013 episode of *Raw*, McGillicutty was repackaged under the ring name **Curtis Axel**, with Paul Heyman as his new manager. The name is a derivative of his father's first name, Curt, and his grandfather Larry's nickname "The Axe". Later that night, Axel faced Triple H in his re-debut match, winning by knockout after Triple H suffered concussion-like symptoms and collapsed outside the ring. On the May 24 episode of *SmackDown*, Axel defeated Sin Cara. Over the next two weeks on *Raw*, Axel scored back-to-back non-title count-out wins over WWE Champion John Cena due to distractions and interference by Ryback. On the June 7 episode of *SmackDown*, Axel defeated Chris Jericho after Jericho was distracted by CM Punk's music playing, but was attacked by him after the match. Three days later on Raw, Axel defeated Triple H twice in one night when during their first match of the night Vince McMahon appeared and ended the match with Triple H losing by disqualification. Moments after, however, Triple H demanded the match be restarted, but – like the first time – McMahon came back and ended the match with a Triple H forfeit, despite Triple H having no such intentions. At Payback, Axel defeated Wade Barrett and The Miz in a triple threat match to win the Intercontinental Championship, his first singles title in WWE. Axel's win saw him join his father "Mr. Perfect" as the only father-son pair to have won the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Axel made his first televised title defense on the following episode of *SmackDown*, defeating Barrett in a rematch.

On the June 24 episode of *Raw*, Axel saved Paul Heyman's another client CM Punk from an assault by The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil), at the request of Heyman and to the dismay of Punk. This led to a tag team match the following week on *Raw*, where Axel won the match for his team after he tagged himself in following Punk delivering the *Go To Sleep* on Darren Young and pinned him for the victory. Axel suffered his first loss since becoming Heyman's client on the July 8 episode of *Raw*, when he was pinned by Chris Jericho in a non-title match. Six days later at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Axel defeated The Miz to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Later that night, Heyman turned on CM Punk. Axel was set to team with Heyman in an elimination handicap match against Punk at Night of Champions. During the pay-per-view, Heyman begged Triple H to cancel the match, but Triple H refused, not only confirming the match, but making Axel defend the Intercontinental Championship against Kofi Kingston. Axel retained the title against Kingston. Later in the event, Axel was eliminated by Punk but Heyman won the match after interference from Ryback. On the September 30 episode of *Raw*, he was defeated by R-Truth in a non-title match, which gave him a title match at Battleground. On October 6 at Battleground, Axel defeated R-Truth to retain the Intercontinental Championship. At Hell in a Cell, Axel was scheduled to defend his title against Big E Langston, however the match was cancelled due to Axel's legitimate hip injury. On the November 15 episode of *SmackDown*, Heyman ended his association with Axel after declaring that Axel is no longer a Paul Heyman Guy. Axel had his rescheduled rematch with Langston on November 18 episode of *Raw*, where Axel would lose the title to Langston, ending his reign at 155 days. At Survivor Series, Axel would challenge Langston to a rematch in a losing effort. In the following weeks, Axel formed a team with Ryback; the team was named RybAxel.

On the December 6 episode of *SmackDown*, RybAxel would defeat WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Goldust in a non-title match, earning themselves a shot at the WWE Tag Team Championship. At TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, RybAxel would compete in a Fatal 4-Way tag team elimination match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but they were eliminated by Cody Rhodes and Goldust. On February 23, 2014 at Elimination Chamber, RybAxel were accompanied to the ring by Axel's grandfather Larry Hennig, but they were defeated by Cody Rhodes and Goldust. On the March 28 episode of *SmackDown*, RybAxel, along with other tag teams, attacked The Shield under orders from Kane and were rewarded with a WWE Tag Team Championship shot on the WrestleMania XXX pre-show, which they lost. RybAxel would continue their short feud with Cody Rhodes and Goldust from earlier in the year at Payback which RybAxel won, before losing the rematch at Money in the Bank. Shortly after, Ryback took time off for surgery. On the November 6 episode of *Superstars*, Ryback, after returning from injury, would tell Axel that he needs to focus on his singles career, officially ending the team.

At the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2015, Axel was set to enter the Rumble match at number 6, but was attacked by Erick Rowan on the entrance ramp, rendering him unable to compete. As a result of not being eliminated (having never officially entered the match), Axel trended on Twitter following the event, and thus received support from WWE Superstars Xavier Woods, Zack Ryder and David Otunga, the latter offering his legal services. Axel was defeated by Rowan on the following week's episode of *Main Event*. Axel then began an angle where he began referring to himself as "the true winner of the Royal Rumble", claiming that he still hadn't been eliminated from the match and that he deserved a shot at Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31 for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship as a result. This involved Axel interrupting segments involving the likes of Dean Ambrose, John Cena and Rusev to protest his cause, and also led to Axel starting his own hashtag, #AxelMania. At WrestleMania 31, Axel participated in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but was eliminated by multiple wrestlers.

On the May 11 episode of *Raw*, Axel turned face when he shook hands with Damien Sandow (dressed as "Macho Mandow"), similar to the handshake of The Mega Powers when they formed a tag team. After this, Axel began impersonating Hulk Hogan while teaming with Sandow. The two were dubbed The Meta Powers. The Meta Powers were defeated by The Ascension on the Payback kickoff. Axel and Sandow ceased their AxelMania and Macho Mandow imitations on July 24 after WWE fired Hulk Hogan and severed all ties with him.

On the January 4, 2016 episode of *Raw*, Axel turned heel again when he, along with Heath Slater, Adam Rose and Bo Dallas, debuted a new stable and assisted Slater in defeating Dolph Ziggler, calling themselves "The Social Outcasts". Axel would enter the Royal Rumble match at number 5 before being eliminated by the debuting AJ Styles. On February 21 at Fastlane, Axel defeated R-Truth with interference from fellow Social Outcast members. Axel participated in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32, which was won by Baron Corbin. In May, The Social Outcasts took time out to film *The Marine 5: Battleground*. The Social Outcasts returned on the June 27 episode of *Raw*, confronting Enzo Amore and Big Cass. The following week on *Raw*, The Social Outcasts were defeated by Enzo and Cass.

On July 19, Axel was drafted to the *Raw* brand as its last draft pick, earning him the nickname Mr. Irrelevant. After losing to the returning Neville, Axel joined forces with former Social Outcast member, Bo Dallas. On the October 10 episode of *Raw*, Axel and Dallas were defeated by Neville and Sami Zayn. The following week on *Raw*, Dallas defeated Neville and then attacked Axel, who wanted to celebrate with him after the match. A week later, Axel receiving a pop from the crowd in his home state of Minnesota, before losing to Dallas. Axel then appeared on *Superstars* and *Main Event*, defeating the likes of Bo Dallas, Jinder Mahal, and Titus O'Neil. At WrestleMania 33, Axel participated in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which was won by Mojo Rawley.

On the June 19, 2017 episode of *Raw*, Intercontinental Champion The Miz approached Axel and Bo Dallas, offering to make them "the stars [they] deserve to be" if they become his entourage. Later that night, Axel and Dallas appeared in bear costumes during a in ring segment between Miz and his wife Maryse and attacked Dean Ambrose. Axel and Dallas, now dubbed "The Miztourage" began helping Miz in his matches and occasionally teamed him with him, including winning efforts against Dean Ambrose, Heath Slater and Rhyno on June 26 episode of *Raw* and Jason Jordan and The Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy) on the SummerSlam pre-show.

They started a feud with The Shield, which Miz and The Miztourage attacked Roman Reigns, mocking The Shield on the September 25 episode of *Raw*. On the October 16 episode of *Raw*, Axel was persuaded to look for Roman Reigns. Later that night, he was later found hanging upside down, Kane later returned for replacing Axel's place and joined Miz's team at TLC. At WrestleMania 34 on April 8, 2018, Axel participated in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but was eliminated by Kane. On April 16, during the Superstar Shake-Up, Miz was drafted to SmackDown, while Axel and Dallas remained on Raw. Axel and Dallas turned on Miz in his final match on *Raw* and later unsuccessfully offered their services to other wrestlers, including Finn Bálor and Seth Rollins.

On the May 14 episode of *Raw*, the duo adopted the new team name "The B-Team" and defeated Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango), their first win as a team since August 2017. On the June 4 episode of *Raw,* The B-Team won a tag team battle royal to determine the number one contenders for the Raw Tag Team Championships. At Extreme Rules, The B-Team defeated Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt to win the Raw Tag Team Championship. On the July 23 episode of *Raw*, they successfully retained their title against Hardy and Wyatt. In the following weeks, The B-Team transitioned into faces and adopted a new entrance theme and mannerisms.

At SummerSlam on August 19, The B-Team had their first successful pay-per-view title defense against The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson). On the September 3 episode of *Raw*, The B-Team were scheduled to defend their championship against The Revival. However, after attacking The Revival backstage, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre took their places instead. Ziggler and McIntyre were victorious, ending The B-Team's reign at 50 days. At Survivor Series, The B-Team made up part of Team Raw as they took on Team SmackDown in a 10-on-10 Survivor Series tag team elimination match, and Team Raw would go on to lose the match. At WrestleMania 35 on April 7, 2019, Axel and Dallas competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but neither won. On April 30, Axel and Dallas were moved to SmackDown as part of the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up. The following week saw them align with Shane McMahon and ambush Roman Reigns, effectively turning them heel.

After several months of inactivity, Axel was released from his WWE contract on April 30, 2020.

In April 2022, Axel was rehired by WWE as a producer. On the May 30 episode of *Raw*, he was seen breaking up the brawl between Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins.