Curtis Hughes

Curtis Hughes
Curtis Hughes in May 2009.
Birth name	Curtis Hughes
Born	(1964-12-07) December 7, 1964 (age 52) Kansas City, Missouri, US
Residence	Atlanta, Georgia, US
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	The Big Cat Big Cat Hughes Curtis "The Cat" Hughes Gotch Gracie Curtis Hughes Mr. Hughes
Billed height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Billed weight	250 lb (110 kg)
Billed from	Kansas City, Missouri
Trained by	Sonny Myers Bob Geigel
Debut	1988

Curtis Hughes (born December 7, 1964) is an American professional wrestler, better known under the ring name Mr. Hughes. He is best known for his stints in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation. He also worked on TV for the American Wrestling Association, the American Wrestling Federation and Extreme Championship Wrestling. He trained wrestlers at WWA4 wrestling school for more than 10 years and wrestles on the independent circuit.

While briefly attending Kansas State University, Hughes played on their football team. After leaving university, he trained for professional wrestling under Sonny Myers and Bob Geigel. He debuted in 1987 for Central States Wrestling, before moving to the American Wrestling Association as a face under the ring name Curtis "The Cat" Hughes.

He moved to World Championship Wrestling in November 1990, where he was called Big Cat. At Starrcade 1991 in Tokyo Dome, he was billed as Big Cat Hughes, and subsequently became known as Mr. Hughes, a heel enforcer gimmick with a suit and constant frown. He was a member of faction The York Foundation. He later became bodyguard for Lex Luger and his manager Harley Race, coming down to ringside with Race in the closing moments of Luger's win of the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship, distracting opponent Barry Windham so that Luger, under orders from Race, could administer a piledriver to win the match and the championship. Champion Luger, manager Race and bodyguard Hughes formed a heel faction, inflicting beatdowns to Luger's challengers and with Hughes and Race interfering in Luger's title matches. This ultimately resulted in Hughes being banned from ringside for Luger's high profile title defences against Ron Simmons at Halloween Havoc 1991 and Rick Steiner at Clash of the Champions XVII. Still managed by Race, in early 1992 he also teamed frequently with Big Van Vader, Cactus Jack and Vinnie Vegas.