Profile of Bobby Heenan on Famous Like Me

Raymond Louis Heenan (born November 1, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois), better known by his stage name of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, is an American professional wrestling manager and commentator. He is legendary in the business for his skill in drawing heel heat for himself and his wrestlers, and for his masterful on-screen repartee with the late Gorilla Monsoon as a color commentator.

Career

Early career

Always a fan of wrestling, Heenan started in the wrestling profession early on, carrying bags and jackets for the wrestlers, and selling refreshments at the events. Heenan entered the wrestling business as a wrestler in 1965 as "Pretty Boy" Bobby Heenan, a cowardly heel. Self-taught, he was not a gifted wrestler but his talent for giving promos led to some early success. He quickly found that his talent was not as a wrestler, but as a manager. At the time, heels were often given managers to speak for them in interviews, rile up the crowd during matches, and cheat on their behalf. Heenan, dumping the "Pretty Boy" moniker for Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, went on to manage some of the most successful wrestlers in the world, creating The Heenan Family, a stable that would exist (in several different reincarnations and wrestling promotions) for over 20 years.

The American Wrestling Association

Heenan started in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as a manager for Nick Bockwinkel and Ray "The Crippler" Stevens, a duo which became several-time AWA Tag Team Champions under Heenan's leadership. The AWA was the starting point for Heenan's first Heenan Family, which consisted of Bockwinkel, Stevens, Bobby Duncum Sr., Blackjack Lanza, and Ray Warren. In 1975, with Heenan in his corner, Bockwinkel captured his first of several AWA Championships, ending the 7-year reign of perennial champion Verne Gagne. While Bockwinkel was AWA champion, in 1976, Lanza and Duncum captured the AWA Tag Team Championship, making Heenan the only manager in history to simultaneously manage both a major promotion's Singles and Tag Team World Champions.

In early 1979, Heenan left the AWA to work in the National Wrestling Alliance's Georgia Championship Wrestling group. He returned in late 1979 and resumed managing Nick Bockwinkel to renewed championship success, including against a young up-and-coming challenger named Hulk Hogan in 1983.

The World Wrestling Federation

In 1984, Vince McMahon, Jr. lured Heenan away from the AWA to manage Jesse "The Body" Ventura; however, after Ventura suffered a heart attack in the ring, he was forced to end his active wrestling career. Heenan instead became Big John Studd's manager for his feud with André the Giant. He soon reformed the Heenan Family. Over Heenan's WWF career, the Heenan Family included Studd, King Kong Bundy, Andre the Giant, the Brainbusters (former Horsemen Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard), "Ravishing" Rick Rude, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, Harley Race, The Islanders (Haku and Tama), Hercules, The Barbarian, Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig, Terry Taylor, and The Brooklyn Brawler. As a manager, he was always one of the most hated men, often the most hated man, in the promotion.

Heenan and the Heenan Family had a monumental feud with wrestling icon Hulk Hogan in the 80's, and Heenan managed two WrestleMania challengers to Hogan's title, "King Kong" Bundy in 1986, and Andre the Giant in 1987. The 1987 edition of WrestleMania, WrestleMania III, set a record for the largest indoor attendance of a sporting event in the world, at 93,173. Andre did not win the title at that time, but later bested Hogan for the championship in 1988 in a controversial win.
Heenan managed several WWF Tag Team Champions, including The Colossal Connection (Andre the Giant and Haku), and the Brainbusters. He also managed Rick Rude and later Mr. Perfect to the Intercontinental Championship, and introduced the "Real World's Champion" (then-NWA Champion) Ric Flair to the WWF in 1991. He acted as an advisor and sometime manager to Flair during his first WWF run (and coined the phrase, "That's not fair to Flair").

In 1986, Heenan became a color commentator in addition to his managing duties. He replaced Ventura on "Prime Time Wrestling", aired on the USA Network, teaming up with Gorilla Monsoon. He also replaced Ventura to team up with Monsoon on the syndicated "All Star Wrestling." That show was replaced in the fall of '86 with "Wrestling Challenge." Heenan and Monsoon's usually-unscripted banter, with Heenan as the instigator and Monsoon as the voice of reason was very entertaining, and inspired many classic moments. Heenan, calling himself a "broadcast journalist" despite his obvious slant toward heel wrestlers, referred to his audience as "humanoids."

Heenan left the WWF towards the end of 1993, both to lighten his travel schedule and because Vince McMahon asked him to take a 50% pay cut. He soon signed on with the WWF's biggest competitor, World Championship Wrestling.

World Championship Wrestling

In WCW, Heenan ended his managing career to focus on commentary full-time. He served as color commentator on WCW flagship shows Monday Nitro and Thunder, as well as the Clash of the Champions specials and many pay-per-views. Heenan was largely uninspired in WCW due to the negative work environment, which he would later describe as night and day compared to the WWF. However, Heenan was still engaging in his Brain persona. At one notable Clash of the Champions event broadcast on TBS in 1996, Heenan screamed, "What the fuck are you doing?" when Brian Pillman grabbed him by his injured neck during Pillman's infamous "loose cannnon" gimmick.

Heenan was released by WCW in November, 2000.

Post-WCW career

Heenan kept busy after being let go by WCW, providing commentary to the Gimmick Battle Royal match at WrestleMania X-Seven and lending his talents to smaller promotions. In January, 2002, Heenan announced on his website that he was battling throat cancer:

~~~"I just want to let all the wonderful "humanoids" out there know how grateful I am for the good wishes...
~~~Yes, I do have throat cancer, but I plan on beating this too.
~~~If the late, Great Gorilla Monsoon couldn't shut me up, Cancer isn't going to either..

Heenan has since largely recovered from throat cancer, but lost a great deal of weight, dramatically changing his appearance, and suffered a drastically changed voice.

He has written two career memoirs, 2002's Bobby The Brain: Wrestling's Bad Boy Tells All, and 2003's Chair Shots & Other Obstacles: Winning Life's Wrestling Matches. Both books were co-written by Steve Anderson.

In 2004, Heenan was inducted into the WWE (WWF was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment in 2002) Hall of Fame shortly before WrestleMania XX. In his poignant acceptance speech, he paid tribute to his late broadcast partner, saying "I wish Monsoon were here."

Heenan is still involved in wrestling on a limited basis, giving interviews and making sporadic appearances. In 2004 he returned to the spotlight, feuding with fellow managerial legend Jim Cornette in Ring Of Honor. He is widely believed to be one of the greatest wrestling managers ever, and one of wrestling's unique personalities.

On April 2, 2005 Bobby Heenan inducted his former protege Paul Orndorff into the WWE Hall of Fame

Championships/Accomplishments

• Heenan won four Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Manager of the Year Awards during his career. He won in 1972, 1976, 1989 and 1991.

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