Reason why Curtis Axel was backstage at WWE SmackDown - Reports

Former WWE star Curtis Axel was reportedly backstage during the July 30 episode of WWE SmackDown in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Axel, real name Joe Hennig, is the son of WWE Hall of Famer “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig.

According to PW Insider’s Mike Johnson, the former Intercontinental Champion was simply there to visit. The 41-year-old, who received his release from WWE in April 2020, is based in Minneapolis.

Last night…🤔

— Joe Hennig (@JoeHennig) July 31, 2021

As the post above shows, he appeared to cryptically reference his WWE SmackDown visit the following day on Twitter.

Unlike many released WWE stars, Axel has not spoken much about his exit from the company. The former B-Team member worked for WWE from 2007 to 2020.

Axel’s biggest WWE accomplishment came in 2013 when he won the Intercontinental Championship from Wade Barrett at WWE Payback on Father’s Day. He also became a Tag Team Champion during his time as a member of The New Nexus (w/David Otunga) and The B-Team (w/Bo Dallas).

Arn Anderson discussed Curtis Axel’s WWE career after his release

Arn Anderson produced matches involving Curtis Axel in WWE

Curtis Axel’s name was created to pay homage to his father (Curt Hennig) and grandfather (Larry “The Axe” Hennig). Before that, Axel was known as Michael McGillicutty and his family history was not alluded to on WWE programming.

Former WWE producer Arn Anderson said on his ARN podcast in 2020 that he could not understand why Axel’s lineage was not referenced more often.

“His lineage was huge in this industry,” Anderson said. “Why he wasn’t able to take advantage of that? You just go that way. That was something else that guys would come up and they wouldn’t get to be who they were, who their dad was, or who their uncle was. That just makes the business bigger, that you have second and third-generation wrestlers that are doing well and you see what an edge they have.”

Curtis Axel is one of many WWE stars to leave the company over the last 16 months. Watch the video below to hear Sportskeeda Wrestling's Jeremy Bennett and Greg Bush discuss last week's release of Bray Wyatt.