.jpg) Heenan in 1989 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Raymond Louis Heenan (1944-11-01)November 1, 1944[4] |
| Died | September 17, 2017(2017-09-17) (aged 72) Largo, Florida, U.S. |
Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Bobby "The Brain" Heenan Ray Heenan[1] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[2] |
| Billed weight | 242 lb (110 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Beverly Hills, California[3] |
| Debut | 1965 |
| Retired | April 1, 2001 |
Raymond Louis Heenan (November 1, 1944 – September 17, 2017) was an Americanprofessional wrestlingmanager,color commentator, and wrestler. He performed with theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA), theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) andWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) under thering nameBobby "The Brain"Heenan.
Heenan was known for his skill in elevatingvillainous on-screen talent by drawingnegative reactions for himself and his wrestlers from the crowd. He was paired with numerous wrestlers, includingNick Bockwinkel, whom he led to win theAWA World Heavyweight Championship, and he became an integral figure in the1980s professional wrestling boom by managingKing Kong Bundy andAndré the Giant in WWF main event matches withHulk Hogan atWrestleMania 2 andWrestleMania III respectively. The wrestlers under his tutelage were collectively known as "The Heenan Family" at various times throughout his career.
Known for his quick wit and comedic ability, Heenan also served as a color commentator and is remembered for his on-screen repartee withGorilla Monsoon. Outside of wrestling, Heenan authored two books, appeared on numerous television shows, and briefly hosted a parody talk show titledThe Bobby Heenan Show onWWF Prime Time Wrestling. Heenan retired in 2001 atWrestleMania X-Seven after a seventeen-year stint as a commentator in professional wrestling but he continued to make sporadic appearances in several promotions. In 2002, he was diagnosed withthroat cancer, which limited his appearances in later years, and died from complications of the disease in 2017. Among other honors, he has been inducted into theProfessional Wrestling,WWE, andWrestling Observer halls of fame. Multiple wrestling commentators have described him as the greatest professional wrestling manager of all time.
Heenan was born inChicago, Illinois, on November 1, 1944.[5][6][4] His father Robert Heenan was a railroad worker, and his mother Mildred Bernadette Kambrz was a hotel manager. Heenan dropped out of school in the eighth grade to support his mother and grandmother.[7] He grew up a fan of pro wrestling and baseball. As a fan of wrestling growing up in Chicago andIndianapolis, he started in the wrestling profession early on, carrying bags and jackets for the wrestlers, and selling refreshments at events.[7][3]
In 1965, Heenan became a regular in William Afflis' (known by his in-ring personaDick the Bruiser) Indianapolis-basedWWA promotion under the moniker "Pretty Boy" Bobby Heenan.[8] In 1966, he wrestled his first match against Calvin "Prince" Pullins.[3] Heenan said he was never trained as a wrestler and it came naturally. He was booked – both as a manager and wrestler – after the promoters saw how well he handled the physical aspects of his managerial duties.[9] During his time in WWA, he managedAngelo Poffo andChris Markoff, the Assassins (Guy Mitchell and Joe Tomasso),The Valiant Brothers andThe Blackjacks. In particular, Heenan was credited with makingBlackjack Lanza one of the top wrestling villains in the country.[8] This impressed promoterSam Muchnick, who typically hated wrestling managers, and Heenan is believed to be the only heel manager to work in Muchnick'sSt. Louis Wrestling Club.[8] He also occasionally wrestled with a storyline "brother" Guy Heenan, portrayed by Guy Mitchell, from the Assassins.[10] In 1974, he left the WWA. He attributed his departure to a dispute with Afflis over pay for his participation in the first-ever wrestling event held atMarket Square Arena, emphatically stating that he never returned to the promotion as a result.[7]
After leaving WWA, Heenan announced he was now to be known as "The Brain" at his AWA debut in 1969. He took up managing the team ofNick Bockwinkel andRay "The Crippler" Stevens, a duo which won a thirdAWA World Tag Team Championship under his leadership.[7] While Bockwinkel and Stevens feuded with The Crusher and Dick the Bruiser, Bruiser famously called Heenan "Weasel"; this led to his rivals calling him "Weasel" throughout the rest of his wrestling career.[7] The AWA was the starting point for the first incarnation of his eponymous heelstable, TheHeenan Family, which initially consisted of Bockwinkel, Stevens,Bobby Duncum Sr., and Blackjack Lanza.[3]
On January 25, 1975, an angry fan fired a gun at Heenan in Chicago'sInternational Amphitheatre after Heenan interfered in one of Bockwinkel's matches.[11][12] Heenan was unharmed, but five people sitting ringside were injured, one of them critically.[11][12] Later in 1975, Bockwinkel captured his first of severalAWA World Heavyweight Championships, ending the seven-year reign of perennial champion and AWA promoterVerne Gagne. While Bockwinkel was AWA Champion in 1976, Lanza and Duncum captured the AWA World Tag Team Championship, making Heenan the first manager in history to simultaneously manage both a major promotion's singles and tag team champions.[13]
In early 1979, Heenan left the AWA (suspended one year, instoryline) to work inGeorgia Championship Wrestling (GCW). During his short tenure in GCW, Heenan managed a stable of wrestlers that included the likes ofKiller Karl Kox,Masked Superstar,Ernie Ladd and Blackjack Lanza.[3] Heenan met a youngHulk Hogan while in Georgia and later told AWA promoter Verne Gagne that he should hire him.[14] According to Heenan, he moved his family toAtlanta after being told by GCW promoterOle Anderson that he could work for the promotion as long as he wanted, only to release him less than a year later. Anderson admitted to releasing him but denied promising him indefinite employment.[15]
In late 1979, Heenan returned to AWA and resumed managing Nick Bockwinkel to renewed championship success, including against Hogan in 1983.[13] During AWA's tour ofJapan in 1983, Heenan suffered a neck injury in a match withAtsushi Onita that would limit his in-ring ability going forward.[13]
In 1984, Heenan left AWA to join theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF). While most of the AWA talent left for the WWF during this time without giving proper notice (the AWA required departing talent to work a six-week notice for booking andsyndication-based reasons, with most talent claiming that WWF promoterVince McMahon paid them extranot to work out their notices with the AWA), only Heenan worked out his notice in good faith to the Gagne family.[7] He was written out of AWA television whenWally Karbo announced on the September 28 broadcast ofAWA All-Star Wrestling that Heenan had been suspended indefinitely by AWA President Stanley Blackburn for initiating an attack onThe Fabulous Ones by Heenan Family members Nick Bockwinkel andMr. Saito.[13]
Heenan was signed by the WWF in 1984 with the intention of him managingJesse Ventura, however Ventura's retirement due to blood clots in his lungs prevented this from happening.[13] Instead, Heenan managedBig John Studd (whom Heenan was best friends with in the AWA) in his feud againstAndré the Giant. Studd challenged André to aUS$15,000 bodyslam match at the firstWrestleMania, with the stipulation being that André would have to retire had he lost. André won the match and then took the bag with the $15,000 and started throwing it out to the crowd before Heenan snatched the bag.[13]
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Heenan reformed the Heenan Family,[3] which over the years in the WWF would include Studd,"Olympic Strong Man" Ken Patera,"Playboy" Buddy Rose,"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff,King Kong Bundy, André the Giant,High Chief Sivi Afi,the Brain Busters (formerFour Horsemen membersArn Anderson andTully Blanchard),"Ravishing" Rick Rude,"King" Harley Race,the Islanders (Haku andTama),Hercules,The Barbarian,Mr. Perfect,The Red Rooster, andThe Brooklyn Brawler.[16] Heenan and the Heenan Family had a feud withHulk Hogan in the 1980s, and Heenan managed twoWrestleMania challengers to Hogan's title. In 1986, Heenan managed King Kong Bundy in his main event bout atWrestleMania 2. During theAndré the Giant–Hulk Hogan rivalry precedingWrestleMania III, André sided with Heenan and challenged Hogan at the event. While neither Bundy nor André won the title at that time, André later bested Hogan for the championship onThe Main Event I on February 5, 1988, in a controversial win after he aligned himself with"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.[7]
After being derided by announcers for his first five years in the WWF (mostly by Gorilla Monsoon) for never managing a champion,WrestleMania V was promoted (mostly by Jesse Ventura and later Gorilla Monsoon) as Heenan's quest, and best chance sinceWrestleMania III to manage a champion. Heenan finally managed his first champion in the WWF when "Ravishing" Rick Rude upsetThe Ultimate Warrior for theWWF Intercontinental Championship, a match Heenan ensured Rude would win by holding Warrior's leg down so he could not break the pin.[3] Shortly thereafter, he led the Brain Busters to win theWWF World Tag Team Championship.[17] After the Busters had lost the titles back toDemolition a few months later,[17] he led theColossal Connection (André and Haku) to win the Tag Team Championship when they defeated Demolition.[18] Demolition would win the titles back atWrestleMania VI.[19] Immediately after the loss, Heenan began blaming the loss onAndré the Giant going as far as slapping him.[19] A few months after that, he led Mr. Perfect to Intercontinental Championship success.[20]
Heenan also wrestled sporadically in his WWF run. In his in-ring debut atMadison Square Garden in November 1984, he cleanly pinnedSalvatore Bellomo.[21] Most of the matches he was in were tag team matches. AtWrestleMania IV, he teamed with The Islanders to defeatThe British Bulldogs andKoko B. Ware.[22] The following year, he was defeated in 30 seconds by former client The Red Rooster atWrestleMania V.[23] Heenan also wrestled a series of "Weasel Suit matches" against The Ultimate Warrior, who defeated Heenan by forcing him into a weasel costume.[24] His final in ring match came on August 2, 1991, at a house show in Long Island, New York, where he defeatedMr. Fuji.[25]
Heenan retired from managing in 1991 to become a full-time commentator. Nonetheless, Heenan crossed the line to managing sporadically. When the WWF signedRic Flair, Heenan spent several weeks talking Flair up as "The Real World's Heavyweight Champion", appearing onscreen with Flair'sBig Gold Belt.[24] He continued to act as an adviser to Flair during his WWF run from 1991 to 1993. Though he nominally managed Flair, Heenan's former protégé Mr. Perfect, who temporarily retired due to injury, would regularly accompany Flair to ringside as his "Executive Consultant".[26] At the1993 Royal Rumble, he introduced"The Narcissist" Lex Luger to the WWF to exact revenge on his former protégé, Mr. Perfect.[27]
In 1984, WWF owner Vince McMahon took full advantage of his microphone and comedic skills and Heenan became acolor commentator in addition to his managing duties. He replaced Jesse Ventura onPrime Time Wrestling andAll American Wrestling, aired on theUSA Network, teaming up withGorilla Monsoon. He also replaced Ventura to team up with Monsoon on the syndicatedAll-Star Wrestling, which was replaced in the fall of 1986 withWrestling Challenge. Although the purpose of these shows were to summarize weekly WWF events, viewers tuned in to see Heenan and Monsoon's interactions.[24]
Heenan, calling himself a "broadcast journalist",[28] bashed fan favorites and cheered for their opponents while they cheated or did something under-handed.[29] For instance, Heenan claimed thatMarty Jannetty was trying to escapeShawn Michaels' attack on the Barber Shop after Michaels threw him through a glass window. He referred to the fans as "humanoids", and fan favorites, especiallyenhancement talent, as "ham-and-eggers." Another moment between the pair often occurred when Heenan would go on a long rant supporting the villainous wrestlers, until an exasperated Monsoon would say either: "Will you stop?", "Give me a break!", or a sarcastic, "Please!"[7][30]
Heenan, still suffering from the broken neck he received ten years earlier and unable to cope with the long working hours, decided to leave the WWF at the end of 1993. He was given an on-air farewell by Gorilla Monsoon on the December 6, 1993 edition ofMonday Night Raw, broadcast from theWestchester County Center inWhite Plains, New York. Fed up with Heenan's constant insults, Monsoon threw him and his belongings out of the arena and onto the street. After the show, Heenan stated that he and Monsoon embraced each other and wept for over an hour in the hotel where they both were staying.[13]
Heenan's original plan was to retire, spend time with his family, and relax, but he was contacted by WCW soon after he left the WWF. He was unsure at first, but accepted their offer once he found out that WCW provided lighter work schedules and health insurance. Heenan also cited the short driving distance between WCW's home base ofAtlanta and his daughter's school inAlabama.[31][7]
On January 27, 1994, Heenan made his debut inWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW). He was originally brought in to replaceJesse Ventura, his former client, as the color commentator forWCW Saturday Night and eventually took over Ventura's position as the company's lead commentator, replacing him for pay-per-view events and on the syndicatedWCW Worldwide andClash of the Champions events produced forTBS. WhenWCW Monday Nitropremiered in September 1995, Heenan leftSaturday Night to work on the new show full-time and joined formerChicago Bears defensive linemanSteve McMichael as an analyst alongside play-by-play manEric Bischoff.[13] He was later frequently paired withTony Schiavone.[14]
On the January 23, 1996 episode ofClash of the Champions XXXII, during a match betweenEddie Guerrero andBrian Pillman, Pillman left the ring and grabbed Heenan, who had a history of neck problems, by the collar, causing him to blurt out: "What the fuck are you doing?" live on the air. Five months later that year in June 1996, Heenan made a one-off return to ringside atThe Great American Bash as the manager of two of his former clients, Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, in a tag team match against his broadcast colleague Steve McMichael and thenCarolina Panthers linebackerKevin Greene. Heenan was instrumental in convincing McMichael to turn on his partner, which enabled Flair and Anderson to win the match, and fill the open spot inThe Four Horsemen that Brian Pillman left behind when he departed from the company earlier in the year.[32]
At the following pay-per-view,Bash at the Beach, Heenan reacted incredulously when his old rival Hulk Hogan walked out during the main event match betweenThe Outsiders (Kevin Nash andScott Hall) andSting,Lex Luger andRandy Savage by shouting "Whose side is he on?"[13] Hogan subsequently turned his back on the fans and joined Hall and Nash to form theNew World Order (nWo). Despite no longer being a fan favorite, Heenan continued to bash Hogan on commentary by gloating that he had been right about him all along, continuing a rivalry that dated back to their time in AWA.[33]
Starting in late January 2000, WCW replaced Heenan onMonday Nitro and pay-per-view events withMark Madden. Heenan continued to commentate onThunder along withMike Tenay, and later Schiavone, until he was replaced byStevie Ray beginning in July 2000. Heenan was then only seen with Scott Hudson onWorldwide until he was released by WCW in November 2000.[3][13] Heenan said he was uninspired in WCW due to the negative work environment and due to conflicts with Schiavone. WCW went out of business less than six months after his release.[34]
On April 1, 2001, Heenan returned to the WWF and provided commentary to the Gimmick Battle Royal match atWrestleMania X-Seven alongside"Mean" Gene Okerlund.[13] Heenan was inducted into theWWE Hall of Fameclass of 2004 (WWF changed its name to WWE in 2002) byBlackjack Lanza. The following night, he appeared atWrestleMania XX in a skit with Gene Okerlund,Mae Young andThe Fabulous Moolah.[3] He inducted his protégésPaul Orndorff,The Blackjacks andNick Bockwinkel into the WWE Hall of Fameclass of 2005,class of 2006 andclass of 2007 respectively.[35] In his last WWE appearance, he was one of the speakers for "Mr McMahon appreciation night" on the June 11, 2007 episode ofRaw.[36]
Heenan made several appearances on theindependent circuit. In February 2001, Heenan did color commentary for theWOW Unleashed pay-per-view. Also in 2001, Heenan worked briefly as a "sports agent" in theXcitement Wrestling Federation withCurt Hennig under his tutelage.[7] In 2004, he feuded with fellow managerJim Cornette inRing of Honor.[37] Heenan made a series of appearances forTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in December 2005, culminating at theTurning Point pay-per-view, where he provided commentary for the Six Man Tag Team Basebrawl match betweenThe Diamonds in the Rough andChris Sabin,Dale Torborg andSonjay Dutt.[38] His final appearance for TNA was on the September 7, 2006 episode ofImpact!, when he appeared to make a bid to manage "free agent"Robert Roode.[39]Pro Wrestling Report honored Heenan at the annualBlizzard Brawl event on December 5, 2009, inMilwaukee,Wisconsin, as he was given their Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to this, the mayor of Milwaukee,Tom Barrett, declared December 5, 2009, to be "Bobby Heenan Day".[40] Despite declining health in his final years, Heenan continued to make appearances at fan conventions. He enjoyed staying in touch with former colleagues and fans.[14]
Heenan made appearances as a guest on various television shows, including:Family Feud,Live with Regis and Kathie Lee,The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon,Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards,The Arsenio Hall Show, andThe Dennis Miller Show. He also made an appearance in the 1995 filmTimemaster.[20] Heenan had a parody talk show known asThe Bobby Heenan Show, which was broadcast in four segments during the second half of WWF's regular weekly programPrime Time Wrestling.[7]
In 1988, Heenan was named toPro Football Hall of Fame Coach and BroadcasterJohn Madden's 'All-Madden Team' as the manager.[41]
His first memoir,Bobby The Brain: Wrestling's Bad Boy Tells All, was released byTriumph Books on September 1, 2002, with a foreword fromHulk Hogan.[42] A second memoir,Chair Shots and Other Obstacles: Winning Life's Wrestling Matches, was released by Sports Publishing on February 1, 2004, and has an introduction byRic Flair. Both books were co-written by Steve Anderson.[3]
In 2004, he joined former WCW commentatorsTony Schiavone andLarry Zbyszko in providing commentary for the video gameShowdown: Legends of Wrestling.[43] After his Hall of Fame induction, Heenan provided comments for use in WWE documentary releases. In December 2010, WWE released a retrospective two-disc DVD on Heenan's career titledWWE: Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.[13]
Heenan was married to Cynthia Jean Perrett (known as Cindy) from June 21, 1978, until his death. Together they had a daughter, Jessica.[13] He also had two grandchildren.[13]
Although on-screen they were often at odds, Heenan was actually very close with his WWF broadcast partnerGorilla Monsoon.[7] He was also close friends with announcersGene Okerlund andMike Tenay.[28] Various other people involved with the wrestling business, includingJim Ross, on-screen adversaryHulk Hogan andTed DiBiase, noted their close friendships with Heenan on theirTwitter accounts after he died.[44]
In January 2002, Heenan announced that he hadthroat cancer.[8] By 2004, the cancer had gone into remission.[29] The treatments caused a great deal of weight loss, dramatically altering his appearance and voice.[45] In December 2007, Heenan had reconstructive surgery on his jaw, after the first surgery was unsuccessful. He was placed in a medically induced coma and was slowly brought out.[13] In the second half of January 2008, he had come out of his medically induced coma. For a time, Heenan was unable to speak and had to communicate with his eyes.[13] In December 2009, Heenan was hospitalized after an examination of his rebuilt jaw found an infection that needed to be treated.[13] In the last few years of his life, he suffered a series of falls. In 2010, he broke a hip and his shoulder in a fall that also fractured his pelvis.[46] He fell out of bed and broke a shoulder in April 2014.[8] In May 2016, he fell again and broke a hip.[47]
On September 17, 2017, Heenan died at the age of 72 while surrounded by family at his home inLargo, Florida. His cause of death wasorgan failure due to complications from the throat cancer that had been in remission since 2004.[29]
Heenan is often described as the greatest wrestling manager of all time,[7][8][44][48] including WWE, who placed him at the top of their 25 greatest managers list in 2011.[49]The Post and Courier columnist Mike Mooneyham said Heenan became a blueprint for managers and fellow managerJim Cornette said: "He formed in my mind as a fan and performer what I thought a manager should be."[50] Author Brian Shields notes that many consider him "one of the most significant figures in professional wrestling history".[20] For his work in promotingAndré the Giant's match withHulk Hogan atWrestleMania III, often cited as the most famous American professional wrestling match,[8] Heenan received a six-figure payoff—arguably the largest pay day in any managerial career.[7] BroadcasterPeter Rosenberg considers Heenan a personal hero and describes him as the best commentator, manager and bad guy in WWE history. Rosenberg stated that Heenan "operated on multiple levels", adding: "If you were a little kid, he was the foil to your hero. As an adult, you look back and appreciate just how much of a comedic genius he was."[30]
Longtime on-screen rival Hulk Hogan wrote in the foreword to Heenan'sBad Boy Tells All: "Bobby was a legendary wrestler ... He will go down in the books as someone who mastered the craft".[42] These comments were echoed byTriple H, who said that Heenan was one of the best in-ring talents but chose to be a manager.[51] JournalistWade Keller states that what sets him apart from other managers was his ability to take "tremendousbumps" (falls to the mat after being attacked). Pro wrestling historian George Schire praised his in-ring ability, commenting: "Bobby was a good athlete – flipping over the ropes, he could do it all. And whether it was as the manager or as a wrestler, he could get the crowd going as well as anyone."[14]
His comedic ability was praised byDave Meltzer of theWrestling Observer Newsletter, who wrote that Heenan could have been a successful television actor.[8] ComedianDavid Letterman became a fan of Heenan after seeing him in WWA.[42] WWE Hall of Fame commentatorJim Ross selected Heenan as the greatest talent in the history of the wrestling business. Ross praised Heenan's ability as a color commentator, stating:
He was naturally funny ... and enhanced every single talent, including the heroes, even though Bobby did not support the fan favorites as the bad guy announcer. [Heenan] did what every announcer should strive to do and that is to make talent bigger stars than they are and to embellish every talent's TV persona.[52]
I was born Raymond Louis Heenan in Chicago on November 1, 1944.
On November 1, 1944, the world was introduced to Bobby Heenan.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)[Heenan] is widely regarded as the greatest pro wrestling manager of all time and among the greatest performers – period – in pro wrestling history.– via PWTorch.com(subscription required)
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