The death of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan at the age of 73 was somewhat expected as Heenan had been battling ailments for several years as throat cancer, a jaw infection, and later tongue cancer had reduced the Brain to being unable to speak.
Bobby Heenan had been in wrestling since the 1960s and managed about every big heel name that you could think of if the wrestler in question had been through the Midwestern AWA promotion based out of Minneapolis.
Heenan's main protege' through the years was the man that was the AWA champion through the late 70s in Nick Bockwinkel and the pair were a formidable and verbose act together.
The pairing had such a regal and elite air to them and their interviews infuriated the every day "Ham and Eggers" as Heenan often referred to the working-class fans of wrestling.
Bockwinkel and Heenan were the main act of the AWA, who despite being owned by Verne Gagne, didn't build the company around the owner (even though he rarely lost) and were the main reason for the success of the AWA throughout their run together.
Watching their interviews today and you marvel at how the pairing gets across such a simple message in the age across to get fans to come to the arena to see them get pounded.
Bobby Heenan also did such a good job in "selling" how much he hated the term"Weasel".
One word and Heenan would lose his mind and within in seconds, the entire arena would be chanting "Weasel".
His AWA matches with the Crusher and WWF matches with the Ultimate Warrior weren't exactly technical classics, but between Heenan's crazy bumps, working the crowd, and the big ending where an "asleep" Heenan would be stuffed into a weasel suit (complete with tail) never failed to have the crowd screaming.
Heenan once explained how "simple" his philosophy for success was in his role.
"Wrestle like a manager and manage like a wrestler" sounds easy, but few had that type of ability.
Jim Cornette and Paul E.Dangerously perhaps could challenge Heenan with the gift of gab but lacked the athletic ability of Heenan to believably look like he was getting murdered in the ring with the huge bumps and former wrestlers that transitioned into managing didn't always have the verbal skills to make their protege's as featured as they could be...
Then there were the quips and one-liners that so many associates with Bobby Heenan.
Too many to count and too good to feature just one, a Bobby Heenan interview or evening behind the microphone was filled with laughs and after a certain point in his WWF run ( and especially when he left for WCW) fans just couldn't help but laugh and like the guy.
An appearance from Bobby Heenan always delivered at least a few lines that you could use on someone else or you'd remember forever.
I still remember Heenan running through the sand in Atlantic City "training" for Wrestlemania as he huffed and puffed about being so quick "Come and get me Matlida, you miserable mutt" as he referred to the British Bulldogs pet that Heenan and his Islanders had stolen in another silly WWF angle.
Of course, you couldn't mention Bobby Heenan to a wrestling fan and not smile about his on-screen banter with Gorilla Monsoon.
The Monsoon-Heenan pairing may not have been the best team ever at calling a match, but they likely were the most entertaining duo ever and the two sitting behind a table for USA Network's "Prime Time Wrestling" was the main reason to watch that show!
Once I was married and had access to the NWA product, my WWF interest waned, but still, on Monday nights,I watched that show just for the interaction between Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan!
Heenan's work on the studio stage might have been more on the funny side, but behind the mic as a "broadcast journalist" as the Brain liked to refer to himself as he was wonderful at elevating a wrestler in the eye of viewers or even getting across emotion beyond that of a normal wrestling match.
Just watch Ric Flair's legendary Royal Rumble win and listen to Heenan, almost in anguish with every near-elimination of Flair's-the emotion is right in front of you and Heenan was able to make you feel what he was trying to emote.
Sadly, currently on YouTube, the entire Rumble is currently only posted with other announcers, so defeats the purpose of linking to it.
Heenan was in pain for his WWF run as his neck had been broken in Japan in the early 80s and it had never been truly fixed properly.
That means all of those flips, flops, and spectacular pratfalls that we all remember from the Brain were performed by a man with an injured neck.
Bobby Heenan wasn't all laughs as leader of the Heenan family as he infuriated fans as the man that turned Andre the Giant "bad", was behind the great betrayal of Hulk Hogan by Paul Orndorff and with Ken Patera and John Studd cut Andre's hair and showed up with this bag of hair all over this country.
Heenan was able to cross the line seamlessly from humorous to evil in the snap of his fingers and his proteges benefited from this gift.
Heenan's work in WCW wasn't quite as strong as his past, but he was still better than most of the broadcasters there, even though he was going through the motions as Heenan himself had said that he was doing.
Bobby Heenan spent a lot of time in retirement around the business as he did several shoot interviews with a three-part series with Jim Cornette being the highlight of this run as the conversations between the two.
Those were really the last interviews that Heenan could give as the throat cancer came first and then the issues that forced a jaw reconstruction that muted the Brain.
Heenan still did autograph shows and wrestling conventions and was reported to be able to draw a laugh with simple expressions.
Bobby Heenan was a pure entertainer and one gets the feeling that he could have entertained as a comedian, actor, talk show host (they tried with the Bobby Heenan Show before USA Network complained) and radio host just as well as being involved in professional wrestling-Heenan was that good.
One more personal story of the type of hatred that Bobby Heenan could bring up.About twenty years ago, there was a gentleman that I'll leave nameless that took his wrestling seriously-very seriously and he hated Bobby Heenan with a passion.
So a friend and I took a wrestling collectible that this guy raved about and would always have in his car and replaced it with the pictured figure of Bobby Heenan.
This fellow went crazy, threw Bobby Heenan as far he could throw the figure, and spent quite a time cussing at us and about "that damn Bobby "the weasel" Heenan in a loud voice.
The even funnier thing was that this was about the time Bobby Heenan was either just an announcer or might have already left wrestling and the animosity that he built from years before was still there!
It's not often that we have the chance in any profession to say we saw the best at it.
Oftentimes, current stars shine brighter or older people are better in memory than they were in actuality and it's hard to say with certainty just who was the greatest in any particular profession or area.
I'll say this and few disagree Bobby Heenan was the greatest manager that professional wrestling has ever seen.
I worked on this for over a day,so some things were put aside,but still plenty to come!
The Baltimore convention,Inboxes (both sports and non-sports) need cleaning and boxing ratings as well!!!
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