Bobby The Brain Heenan Forum

To those who aren't wrestling fans, if asked to name a wrestler, you'll get respsones likely as Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, or The Rock.  While all those men played pivotal roles in wrestling, there is another man whose job was to sell the product and make the fans want to tune in.  He wasn't much of a wrestler, but he found a way to stay relevant.  His name was Bobby Heenan.  When you ask wrestling fans how you remember "The Brain", you'll likely get older fans say as a manager, and the younger fans say as an announcer.  Some, like me remember him as both.

As a manager,he is the top two managers of all time (and I place him at number 1).  His job was to put his wrestlers over basically as a salesman, highlighting the strong points while shying away on the weaknesses.  He was also responsible to tear down his wrestler's opponent any way possible.  The Brain was unmatched was unmatched as a manager, and his clients was a who's who including Andre The Giant, Ric Flair, and Harley Race among others.

After injuries made him slowly slide out of the role of manager, the WWF moved him into the announing booth.  He played the perfect heel announcer, and he also proved to be one of the best in announcing as well.  Working with the likes of Vince McMahon, Gorilla Monsoon, and Gene Okerlund among others, he made every event he called worth watching.  His disdain of Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan, and his love for Ric Flair showed, but it made his character better as well as the product.  His run with WWF ended in 1993, but he would soon make the switch to WCW.

In WCW he still provided great announcing working alongside Tony Schiavone, Eric Bischoff, Larry Zybysko, and former Chicago Bear Steve McMichael among a long list of others.  He would even reunite with Mean Gene Okerlund as well.  Heenan also saw many familiar faces from his WWF days to make it easier to call the action such as Hogan, Flair, Mr. Perfect, and more.  Heenan knew what he could get away with, and usually tried his best to get away with just a bit more.

However WCW wasn't as great as his WWF days and you could tell tension was building up, even despite him still calling as well as ever.  He was finally phased out of WCW in 2000, just before they ran out of business, but he still made some appearances in wrestling afterwards.

I know this is really long, and I apologize, but I see tribute posts on here for people, but never really biographies for them.  Some guys I don't know, some I do.  But when I heard Bobby Heenan passed, I knew all my wrestling friends/fans would be heartbroken, while everyone else wouldn't really know or remember him.  I just wanted to give a little bit of why he was special to so many of us.

Websites and twitter handles are dedicated to quotes he made throughout his career and I spent a couple hours reading them tonight.  A couple always stand out.  My favorite was him calling a match with Tony Schiavone that took place on a moving flatbed 18 wheeler.  As the truck passed a trailer court in rural Mississippi, Heenan quips "Look, they're making their way through downtown Tupelo."

My other one I remember is the night Hulk Hogan joined the NWO.  As Hogan made his way to the ring, both Tony and Dusty Rhodes were excited that the Hulkster was finally going to stick it to those bad guys.  As Hogan gets closer to the ring Heenan in full heel mode innocently says "Yeah, but whose side is he on?"  Dusty Rhodes was taken aback, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?  Heenan not only was quick witted, but he also just gave away the result.  Heenan loved it.  "I told you for years that Hogan was no good, but nobody believed me."

Bobby Heenan will be missed by so many in the wrestling community, and I wanted to say R.I.P.