10 Shocking WWE Superstar Firings No One Saw Coming

7. Curt Hennig

As you can no doubt already tell from reading through this feature, there are many different, strange reasons why a WWE superstar ends up being fired by Vince McMahon. However, very nearly causing a company plane to crash has to be somewhere near the top of the list of very worst offences. Part of the infamous 2002 Plane Ride from Hell, Curt Hennig got into a drunken altercation with Brock Lesnar on a trip back from Europe, and the fight the two had about the latter's amateur wrestling credentials very nearly led to the airhatch door being smashed open. While some believe Hennig was made the scapegoat to protect the up and coming and inexperienced Lesnar, reports of misconduct on a number of other flights left WWE management with serious concerns, so they cut his triumphant return (he had come back as Mr. Perfect in the Royal Rumble earlier in the year) short and sent him packing...straight into a short TNA run, as it happened. Sadly, Hennig died in 2003 as a result of acute cocaine intoxication. Despite things not ending particularly well with the WWE and the fact that he'd almost immediately jumped ship to the then competition, the company has always treated him respectfully, inducting him into the Hall of Fame in 2007, and allowing his son - Curtis Axel - to use the Perfect Plex to win his first Intercontinental Championship on Father's Day.