Mt. Rushmore of wrestling managers

[tafkaga]

I hear this being asked a lot in shoots.  Who is in your Mt. Rushmore?  I included the names that show up on lists most often.  Pick four.

[FHgrad99]

This is a tough one. I went with Heenan, Cornette, Blassie and Albano. Heyman and Hart were tough guys to leave off.

[Ozman]

Paul Heyman, Bobby Heenan, Jim Cornette, Jimmy Hart.

[Urn Anderson]

Heenan, Heyman, and Jimmy Hart are on there for sure.

My wild card pick is Elizabeth. I think Savage would have been huge on his own, but the dynamic created by having Elizabeth as his manager got him so much more over as both a heel and face. Even though she really didn't do much, she was central to the Mega Powers storyline, a large part of the Savage/Steamboat/Steele angle, that great reunion moment at Wrestlemania 7, and everything surrounding the Summerslam '91 wedding angle.

I can't think of any managers besides Heenan, Heyman, and Hart that were crucial to that many huge landmark moments.

[tafkaga]

I went with managers whose work I enjoyed the most, so Heenan, Parker, Bearer, and Sherri. Sherri, in particular, I think is very underrated, and is one of my favorite performers of all time.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

I went with:

Bobby Heenan. The greatest of all time in my opinion and obviously a lot of other people feel the same way. Everything you can say a manager is supposed to do, Bobby was great at it.

Jimmy Hart. The quintessential ‘80s manager. As much as he’s known for his WWF run, he probably had more to work with in Memphis.

Jim Cornette. He’s tied so closely to one act, the Midnight Express, that it can be forgotten he even managed anyone else. The rapid-fire promos, and almost never stumbling on his words. Knew how to bring the heat and was never afraid of it.

Gary Hart. The most underrated manager of all time in my opinion. His run in ‘89 with Funk and Muta is tremendous, but he had decades before that, going across Texas, Georgia, Florida, and Australia. It’s often forgotten that he was a key part of launching Dusty Rhodes as “The American Dream” in Florida.

[Push R Truth]

Heenan, Jimmy Hart and Heyman seem like shoe-ins. The 4th one is what has my brain rumbling. Lot of good candidates. I probably lean towards Paul Bearer/Sherri as a near tie.

[Mayonnaise]

Heenan - The first you think of. The prototype of managers.

Blassie - Set the standard for the wrestler turned manager.

Heyman - For bringing the manager to a new generation when they seemed to be a dead role.

Gary Hart - For being so under rated and influential behind the scenes.

[lemonyellowson]

Heenan, cornette, heyman, sherri

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

Heenan, Blassie, Captain Lou and The Mouth of the South

[tirtefaa]

Washington - Arnold Skaaland
Jefferson - Lou Albano
Roosevelt - Paul Heyman
Lincoln - Bobby Heenan

[MolotovMocktail]

I really felt you need a good cross-section of eras and promotions. I went with Heenan, Gary Hart, Cornette and Albano.

[buckethead]

I hated to leave off OGs like Albano and Blassie...

Heenan - Truly iconic. A game changer. Hulkamania and 80s wrestling in general is completely different without him. He was that essential.


JJ Dillon - Similar to Heenan in NWA. Elevated everyone around him and added extra gravitas to the Horsemen.


Jim Cornette - The total package.


Other

I had to go with Paul Ellering... although I almost went with Jimmy Hart.

The Road Warriors career is entirely different without him. He was that influential.

I wish the concept of LOD as a stable had survived into AWA/NWA. Ellering controlling a stable...lots of potential there. It wasn't originally intended to be an alternate name for The Road Warriors.


Yeah Gary Hart is insanely underrated. Played a big role in the success of World Class.

[Mozenrath]

Dec 4, 2023 15:05:07 GMT -5 "Playboy" Don Douglas said:

I went with:

Bobby Heenan. The greatest of all time in my opinion and obviously a lot of other people feel the same way. Everything you can say a manager is supposed to do, Bobby was great at it.

Jimmy Hart. The quintessential ‘80s manager. As much as he’s known for his WWF run, he probably had more to work with in Memphis.

Jim Cornette. He’s tied so closely to one act, the Midnight Express, that it can be forgotten he even managed anyone else. The rapid-fire promos, and almost never stumbling on his words. Knew how to bring the heat and was never afraid of it.

Gary Hart. The most underrated manager of all time in my opinion. His run in ‘89 with Funk and Muta is tremendous, but he had decades before that, going across Texas, Georgia, Florida, and Australia. It’s often forgotten that he was a key part of launching Dusty Rhodes as “The American Dream” in Florida.

Gary Hart is such a blind spot in my knowledge on wrestling, and that's a shame given he had a really big influence. That's because he came early, but it also meant that even some others in the business did not fully appreciate him, like I remember Cornette saying he disliked how Gary Hart didn't really sell fear of the faces or bump for them, etc, and that he initially wrote him off due to that, not getting that Gary was from another time and that his credibility was a major asset to him in a way that later managers didn't really operate on since that was just a whole other approach to managing.

[J. Hova]

Can I vote for Heenan 4 times?

Heenan - He's the best of all time, numero uno. He drew so much heat as a heel, he was shot at in public. He instantly got whomever he was managing heat and over with the fans. He also took bumps better than most of his charges and was a better worker than anyone he managed with the exceptions of Bockwinkel, Stevens, and Perfect.

Cornette - I've never hidden the fact that I'm a Cornette guy on this board. He and the Midnight Express drew money everywhere they went, he could piss people off like none other. He could cut people to the bone with his promos and managed people across multiple promotions to success. I'm also a mark for anyone who willingly takes a bump from a scaffold since I'm scared to death of heights, as is James E.

Jimmy Hart - He was at his best in Memphis, but his WWF and WCW runs were great as well. His feud with Lawler was like a blueprint of how to draw money over an extended period of time. He also is either a vampire or has discovered the fountain of youth since he is 80 and looks 55 and has looked 55 for 30 years.

Paul Heyman - I'm not fact checking myself on this, but off the top of my head, I can't think of a guy who has managed more top guys or teams for as long a period of time. I know he had some significant breaks in those ~35 years, but let's see who all he has managed: Samoan Swat Team, Original Midnight Express, Dangerous Alliance, Big Show, Brock Lesnar, Cesaro, CM Punk, and Roman Reigns. Not too shabby.

I really struggled with keeping Gary Hart out of the Mount Rushmore, but I couldn't keep Jimmy or Paul off. I'll also give honorably mention to Lou Albano for managing so many teams to the championship and ushering in the rock and wrestling era, but he was such a goof and even with terrible picture of the 70s and 80s, you could see him gigging. If Saul Weingerof had more longevity and moved out of the southern territories, I might have put him in there as well. Anyone who can cause multiple riots has to get some consideration.

[Tiger Millionaire]

Less a Mt Rushmore, more of a Statue of Strategy with giant copper statue of Bobby Heenan there.

[Ganon83]

Don't let the current Cornette cloud your judgement- he was able to stand out in a territory with Dusty, Harley and Flair cutting all timer promos every other week. And that's not getting to physical stuff that Heenan couldn't really do the last decade he was regularly managing. The first three is easily Heenan, Hart, and Corny.

I had to go with Sherry over Heyman. Heyman is great with guys like Brock and Roman, but there were clients of his he was not able to make work out. Think Curtis Axel, Claudio. Whereas Sherry was always fantastic whoever she was with. She was like Elizabeth in that she could stand out and connect while only adding to her client instead of upstaging him, but unlike Elizabeth she had more than just Savage on her resume.

[saneiac]

Heenan, Heyman, Cornette, Albano

[Hit Girl]

Heenan, Cornette, Heyman, Jimmy Hart

[jason1980s]

Dec 4, 2023 20:33:56 GMT -5 J. Hova said:

Can I vote for Heenan 4 times?

Your list of Heenan, Hart, Heyman, Cornette is very solid and by the looks of the poll others agree. All four are in contention for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th place.