He was unselfish when it came to getting other people over, and his masterpiece was the 1992 Royal Rumble when the obviously partisan Heenan was basically rooting for Ric Flair to win the WWE world championship during the main event. Here, watch:Įven on his way out, Heenan put on a show and made sure his good friend got a babyface pop. When Heenan came to Vince McMahon to talk about going to WCW, Heenan and Monsoon wrote The Brain off of WWE TV in the most hilarious way possible. He and Monsoon developed a deep friendship after being involved as on-air adversaries for so many years. Purchase this Gorilla Monsoon and “The Weasel” Bobby Heenan “Oh, will you stop?” shirt on today! What He Was Like Behind The Scenesīehind the scenes, Bobby Heenan was even funnier. He’s only got a 50 percent chance of getting the good eye.”Īnd that’s the stuff that Heenan got away with ON CAMERA. Heenan: Do you know what Koko calls his new hairstyle?Īnd half a shoot about the often absentminded Texas Tornado (Kerry Von Erich): “He’s the only man who can hide his own Easter eggs.”Īgain, a half-shoot, commenting on Shawn Michaels poking the notoriously visually challenged Hacksaw Duggan in the eye: “That’s a difficult move. Or how about this one, when Koko showed up with his hair dyed to match Frankie, the parrot he carried for his WWE singles run: Heenan: Boy, can Tito’s sister belt one out!Īnd then there’s the classic “A friend in need is a pest.” Tito Santana enters the ring after Reba McEntire sings. In the meantime, there was no joke so ridiculous, no claim so outrageous that The Brain wouldn’t try it on Monsoon. Heenan got himself over, he got Monsoon over, and he got the WWE over. Later in his career, Heenan would take that same work ethic and attitude toward his time as a “broadcast journalist” for WWE, acting as the foil for the babyface Gorilla Monsoon. Heenan’s heat was so great that fans seriously wished him harm - in fact, one fan in the crowd shot at Heenan during a show. Meltzer called Heenan one of the five most important talents in Verne Gagne’s AWA, along with talents like Nick Bockwinkel, Mad Dog Vachon, Dick the Bruiser, and Crusher. He’s selling the babyface’s offense better than they are, in many cases. Watch Heenan at ringside during some of his proteges’ matches. “I decided I was going to wrestle like a manager and manage like a wrestler.” In his first book, Bobby The Brain: Wrestling’s Bad Boy Tells All, Bobby Heenan distilled his success in wrestling down to a simple sentence: But what he doesn’t talk about is the philosophy that made Heenan rise to prominence in Dick the Bruiser’s WWA, then the AWA, and finally in the WWE. Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer has an excellent write-up on Heenan’s career here. He managed Blackjack Lanza, Nick Bockwinkel, Ray Stevens, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Andre the Giant, Paul Orndorff, Rick Rude, and a host of other wrestlers who went on to have Hall-of-Fame careers. Heenan changed his gimmick to “The Brain,” and became one of the biggest stars in the Midwest. He broke into the business as “Pretty Boy” Bobby Heenan, but when he went to the AWA, they already had a “Pretty Boy” - Larry Hennig. As a young boy, he carried ring jackets to the back and sold programs at cards in and around his native Chicago. Raymond Louis “Bobby” Heenan started his career by being a fan. A special gift from us awaits after signing up! Early Life Sign up to receive our five most popular pro wrestling stories, plus subscriber-exclusive content. We have hundreds of great Pro Wrestling Stories, but of course, you can’t read them all today. A young Bobby Heenan in 1967 has a bright future ahead. No less than Hulk Hogan has called Heenan the greatest all-around wrestling talent there ever was. He was a great wrestler too, one of the premier bump-takers of his era during his AWA heyday. He had a second career as an announcer for WWE and WCW. Jim Cornette and Paul Heyman can have a tuxedo match for second place, but The Brain is No. The Life and Times of Bobby Heenanīobby Heenan was the greatest wrestling manager of all time. Bobby Heenan – the greatest wrestling manager of all time. There was nobody like him, and there never will be again. On September 17th, 2017, some of the magic went out of this world as cancer took the voice of Bobby Heenan, the funniest and most talented man ever to grace a wrestling show.
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