John Stanley "Stan" Hansen (born October 12, 1949) is a retired American professional wrestler.

Career

Stan Hansen began his wrestling career in 1973 for his hometown promotion in Amarillo, Texas. He had initially taken up wrestling as a part-time job while trying for the Detroit Wheels, but he began wrestling full-time with the team's folding. Hansen first teamed with future partner Frank Goodish (who later became Bruiser Brody) in 1975 while in Leroy McGuirk's Tri-State territory. He wrestled in the World Wide Wrestling Federation in the late 1970s, and achieved his first amount of infamy there by breaking Bruno Sammartino's neck; it was from this incident that both Hansen and promoters claimed enormous power for his Lariat move, although what had caused Bruno's broken neck was actually a botched bodyslam.