Collection: Stan Hansen " the Lariat "

He had a scowl on his face, a bullrope in his hand and tobacco dripping from his lip, but Stan Hansen was no ordinary cowboy. The Bad Man from Borger, Texas was a wild bucking bronco who became one of professional wrestling’s most revered international competitors during a career that spanned three decades from WWE to The Land of the Rising Sun and earned Hansen a spot in the WWE Hall of Fame

A collegiate football standout, Hansen attended the fabled West Texas State University, an institution that produced no fewer than a dozen ring greats. It was there that the big Texan met lifelong friend Bruiser Brody, with whom Hansen would travel the world competing in the squared circle. Soon after going pro, The Bad Man from Borger joined WWE in 1976.

Two months after his debut, Hansen made his first appearance in Madison Square Garden when he challenged Bruno Sammartino for the WWE Championship. And he made the most of it. The vicious cowboy unleashed a brutal clothesline that broke the champion’s neck — a move that quickly defined him as The Lariat. That summer, Bruno returned to the ring to battle his rival in the main event of a supershow at New York City’s Shea Stadium in front of 32,000 fans.