How awesome was Bobby Heenan?

[Deleted]

My parents loved "the Weasel", especially when Verne Gagne or one of the AWA faces would finally get their hands on him sticking his nose where it didn't belong. The guy would sell a whip into the cage like a pro; he'd fly over the top rope as if his opponent had superhero strength. And the bleeding, aside from Ric Flair and maybe Dusty Rhodes, you've never seen a guy milk a gusher like "the Brain".

Bobby Heenan and Roddy Piper were probably the first two heels that would do promos and get us to laugh, which is why I have a soft spot for certain heels of that era.

[HMARK Center]

I never quite understood as a kid just why my entire family would come over to watch the big WWF PPV's from around 1991-early 1993.

Later I realized that they were there to hear Monsoon and Heenan.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Heenan is one of the few colour guys (only other one I can think of is Heyman) would do everything they could to put over every angle, every wrestler. He would never bury anything, and it made everything seemed like it mattered. If Heenan hated you, you were a great babyface, if he loved you, you were a great heel, or you were Hulk Hogan. I'm disregarding his WCW work in this case because he clearly hated everything that went on there.

[ratetankmark]

Ventura isn't even in Bobby's league, even though he was before my time, I imagine he would have been awesome if he was around today in his prime.

[tms]

Nov 23, 2013 12:08:50 GMT -5 ratetankmark said:

Ventura isn't even in Bobby's league, even though he was before my time, I imagine he would have been awesome if he was around today in his prime.

Bunk. Ventura was leagues ABOVE Heenan. Heenan was probably the greatest manager of all time; he could goof around and get his comeuppance but actually acted serious when the situation called for it. Once he became an announcer, though, he put the seriousness to the side and turned up the wisecracking, which often took away from the feeling of watching an actual athletic competition (kayfabe or not).

Ventura would get so invested in what was going on in the ring you could almost believe that what was happening inside was legit. With Heenan it felt like watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

[johnnytightlips]

His commentary made the 93' SS Harts vs. Knights match bearable to watch (even if it was mainly jokes directed at Stu).

That's the mark of an excellent commentator!

[arrx]

Nov 23, 2013 12:08:50 GMT -5 ratetankmark said:

Ventura isn't even in Bobby's league, even though he was before my time, I imagine he would have been awesome if he was around today in his prime.

Heenan was Very Good but Ventura was on another level above. Back when Ventura guess hosted raw and was on CC with McMahon for the RAW Main Event it made it feel like Wrestlemania.

[Boo!]

I liked Ventura but he was a little one-dimensional. I think as an audience if you have to listen to someone giving it the hard-sell from bell to bell throughout the card it can get a bit tiresome. The beauty of Heenan is that along the way he'd provide moments of relief for the audience. When it mattered he'd sell like a boss but at other times he'd be there to lighten the mood. Back then that was imperative as there would be large sections of the show that were taken up but a 5 minute headlock or a bearhug that would go on forever. You needed some other element to the show to engage with and Heenan provided that.

[Deleted]

The thing I always liked about Ventura commentary is that he was always (unfairly or not) pro-heel......but in those rare moments when you heard him either diss a heel, take a face's side or outright praise a face, it felt EARNED and more real.

Heenan to a lesser extent did that too (Bobby's great strength was making you love the hell out of him and then switching things at a whim so that you hated him and anyone he liked), but Jesse really made any "popular"/face stance of his seem like it was a big freakin' deal.

Which is why one of the last things he ever said on a WWF broadcast - "I think Hulkamania will live forever" (at WM6) - is one of the most amazing things he ever said. Because even after all those years of *hating* on the Hulkster, even Jesse respected him in the end.

[jason1980s]

Nov 23, 2013 5:32:19 GMT -5 Bad Moon said:

Still a fantastic manager though. You could stick him with the biggest jobber in the world and he could talk him up like a champ.

I was disappointed Brooklyn Brawler went back to jobbing as opposed to sticking with Bobby. He could have been a true Heenan Family member and got a win over the true jobbers but lose to the bigger names. He probably wasn't PPV material in a one on one match but could be a last minute replacement in a rumble or survivor series and wouldn't be a complete jobber. Maybe one step above Scott Casey as Brawler had a gimmick.

Maybe even put him in a few six man tags like 1987 with a combo of Rude, Race, Bundy or Hercules. Have one of the bigger names (Andre, Haku, Rude, Busters) get the win and have Heenan claim an undefeated record for Brawler under his guidance to which Gorilla can cite his prior losing streak and not having anything to do with the six man tag deciding fall.

[wildojinx]

As for WCW, he did kind of hate it there, but he had his moments, for example, "College? (cue non-stop laughing)"

[Cesaro Smirk]

I absolutely hated the guy when I was a kid so obviously I think he did what he did very well. Then again I think there were moments I laughed at what he said, which wouldn't be surprising because I tended to favor the heels so if he was trashing say, Hulk Hogan I'd have probably pissed myself laughing.

[jimmyjames]

Heenan's time with WCW gets ripped on a lot, but I liked it and think it's underrated. True, it's not on the level he was when he was with WWF (but really, how many were ever on that level), but it was still great. I know he wasn't exactly fond of his situation there, and because of that, I think that causes people to devalue it.

[RowdyRobbyPiper]

I put Bobby on my Mount Rushmore of managers along with Cornette and Heyman. He was truly a great talker who knew how to get you to buy a ticket to see him or his wrestler get their ass kicked. When I saw Punk and Heyman, I immediately thought Bockwinkel and Heenan. Watching Punk dishing out Heyman's comeuppance, I thought of Greg GGne or Bossman or Warrior trying to get Heenan into the weasel suit. WWF, of course, will be what the Brain will be rememberd for. The guy was a heat magnet and drew big bucks working with Hogan. It's 1987 and you're Vince McMahon. You are plotting out the angle where Andre turns heel against Hogan setting up Wrestlemania 3. Yet Andre needs a mouthpiece. Someone who will play the great manipulator in the story. Who do you ask? Jimmy Hart? Maybe, but he might be a bit too frenetic to gel with the aloof Amdre. Mr. Fuji? Perhaps a tad bit too cartoony. Slick? Maybe not quite there yet. You get the Brain, the guy who boasts that he is the smartest man in the room who can also con you like no other. Heenan deserves so much credit for helping put that angle over. It might not been as huge a deal as it was if he wasn't placed in that role.

As an announcer, he and Gorilla were a fun comedy team (while the Brain was awesome at managing and working audiences, I still feel Jesse Ventura was the best color guy in wrestling history and the best at playing the pro-heel commentator). They would have killed doing vaudeville. But his finest hour in wrestling was his commentary during the 1992 Royal Rumble match. He watches in despair at seeing Flair narrowing escaping elimination time and again and then becomes elated when Naitch finally pulls off the win. WCW Brain had flashes of his old brilliance, but the nWo redefined the heel character and Heenan's style started to look a little old hat compared to Hogan, Hall and Nash. Heenan in the WWE Attitude Era, I think would have killed because he would have done a better job of playing the suck-up heel than Lawler . (Lawler and JR were basically Gorilla and Brain with Southern accents). Could you imagine a Bobby Heenan sucking up to and maybe joining the Corporation? Or if his neck wasn't bad, Heenan eating a Stunner from Austin?

Bottom line: greatest manager and one of the best entertainers in wrestling history.

[mybraveface]

Jesse and Heenan were both great, but in different ways, which is why it's not easy for me to choose one over the other.