The Heenan Family was a stable of wrestlers managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan beginning in the 1970s. Brought in to be a commentator, Heenan made his debut with the company in January 1994 and replaced Jesse Ventura on WCW Saturday Night, also serving as lead color man for pay-per-views. [12] Instead, Heenan managed Big John Studd (whom Heenan was best friends with in the AWA) in his feud against Andr the Giant. Bobby "The Brains" Heenan. He was inducted into the Hall prior to WrestleMania 20 and paid tribute to Monsoon during his speech. He died on September 17, 2017. He was on the call when Hulk Hogan famously turned heel in the summer of 1996, hilariously making sure to let people know that he knew that Hogan was always a horrible human being. ", "Give me a break! 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 Gorilla Monsoonas a color commentator. Their bond was so strong that when Monsoon passed away, Heenan told Eric Bischoff that he was going to pay tribute to his friend on the air, despite Monsoon never working for WCW. To have cancer is already horrible enough. 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. Fooling everybody is pretty funny, but really his own reaction to the prank that makes this so priceless. With minimal production value, they could turn a banal situation into comedy. Heenan was so good on Prime Time, in fact, that the WWF decided to experiment in 1989 by taking the last half hour of the two-hour show and turning it into The Bobby Heenan Show, a talk show where . Cancer took the voice of the funniest man ever to grace a wrestling show, and eventually, complications from the disease took his life. Related: The Blindfold Match & 9 Other Gimmick Matches That Made No Sense. Ray Stevens breaks Bobby "The Brain" Heenan's trophy, December 25, 1976. With a career spanning more than four decades, Bobby Heenan was the The Brain behind some of the most prolific Superstars in sports-entertainment history. As time went on, Heenan also began managing King Kong Bundy, who challenged Hulk Hogan for the WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 2. @RyanClarkWZR new picture of Bobby Heenan pic.twitter.com/24tLHC7S7n 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. [3] Heenan said he was never trained as a wrestler and it came naturally. [12] In the second half of January 2008, he had come out of his medically induced coma. "Let me tell you exactly what happened when Bobby . Feel free to add your own jokes about how much better off he'd be had he been serious about leaving WCW. Most wrestlers voiced support of Heenan over Warrior who had more than enough reasons to dislike the controversial figure. Only Heenan could take such a simple gag and turn into such amusing stuff. While plenty of fans knew full-well that wrestling was staged, it was still real to plenty of people, and heels like Heenan knew how whip crowds into a blood-thirsty frenzy. It was here that Heenan first met Hulk Hogan, who he recommended to Gagne, and his long-running feud with the Hulkster began after Heenan returned to the AWA. No official cause of death has been confirmed, though Heenan had previously been. [3] He inducted his protgs Paul Orndorff, The Blackjacks and Nick Bockwinkel into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005, class of 2006 and class of 2007 respectively. Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, legendary professional wrestling manager and commentator, has died at the age of 73, according to multiple news sources. Not only does Heenan smear humor over every word that comes out of his mouth, but he has a wealth of experience and inside information. He was the best ever at what he did. The Tragic Death of WWE Hall of Famer Sensational Sherri Martel. Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, a legendary professional wrestling manager who also made a name for himself as a wrestler and color commentator, has died at the age of 73, WWE confirmed on Sunday.. Fuji. Bobby Heenan was born on 1 November 1944 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. [35], Heenan made several appearances on the independent circuit. While he was always treated with great respect and reverence WWE, Bobby Heenan was looking to not only get off the road, but get insurance, and perhaps a pension plan. One of Heenans staple achievements in his over four decades in the industry was forming the Heenan Family, a group whose name was derived from their strength of alliance. [6], After leaving WWA, Heenan announced he was now to be known as "The Brain" at his AWA debut in 1969. At WrestleMania 20, Heenan made a return to the commentators table with Okerlund. Heenan wouldnt have to do house shows and was able to be closer to his daughter, who was in college at the time. During his time with WWA, Heenan also appeared in a number of other promotions in the Midwest, one of them being Verne Gagnes American Wrestling Association (AWA) in Minnesota, which is where he first used The Brain nickname in 1969. He stayed with the company until 2000 before leaving and making sporadic appearances with the WWE. [14], In late 1979, Heenan returned to AWA and resumed managing Nick Bockwinkel to renewed championship success, including against Hogan in 1983. "The Brain" joined WCW for six years before returning to WWE at WrestleMania 17 to call the Gimmick Battle Royal. A loving couple walked over and asked him to take their picture. He ended up going to WCW, mostly because they offered a lighter schedule and better insurance. Few wrestlers received as many public insults from Bobby Heenan as the Ultimate Warrior did. He was previously married to Cynthia Jean Perrett. [44] He fell out of bed and broke a shoulder in April 2014. Hearing Heenan berate McGuirk makes me curious to the material he could have come up with for Lilian Garcia or Justin Roberts. But Pillman didnt get the memo, or just didnt care. He tells all about his experiences with Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Vince McMahon, and all the other personalities that every wrestling fan knows like a relative. Though he nominally managed Flair, Heenan's former protg Mr. Heenan also cited the short driving distance between WCW's home base of Atlanta and his daughter's school in Alabama. Sept. 18, 2017 Bobby Heenan, a professional wrestler who found greater success managing other wrestlers and working as a quick-witted commentator, becoming one of the most colorful figures in a. [39] Despite declining health in his final years, Heenan continued to make appearances at fan conventions. [Photo: June 25th, 1988] Bobby Heenan and Ultimate Warrior had a disdain for one another. [8] During his time in WWA, he managed Angelo Poffo and Chris Markoff, the Assassins (Guy Mitchell and Joe Tomasso), The Valiant Brothers and The Blackjacks. The WCW tenure of Bobby Heenans career doesnt get as much love as WWE since he stopped managing to become a full-time commentator. What an insulting way to go. The legacy of Bobby Heenan sees him as arguably the greatest manager and color commentator in wrestling history. The belief of Heenan was that Goldberg should have remained undefeated longer and led the company to new heights. Leave it to Bobby Heenan to take a silly joke like telling kids that Santa Claus isn't real and turn it into a face-reddening spectacle. It'd be easy to fill this entire list with Gorilla Monsoon and Heenan moments. For brief moment in between stints with the AWA and WWE, Heenan took his considerable talents down south to Georgia Championship Wrestling. Sept. 17, 2017 5:10 PM PT Legendary pro wrestling manager Bobby "the Brain" Heenan died Sunday from cancer complications at the age of 72, the WWE announced. according to WWE. Just like his career, this tell-all has no holds barred. Doesn't think that the porn actress that was on the show was attractive. Wrestling 93: Rulebreaker, Spring 1993 Issue, Article "Bobby Heenan and Lex Luger: The Total Package of Brain and Brawn! TIL Bobby Heenan used to smoke pot to calm down after seeing some of Vince's creative decisions back in the day As told on the new JR podcast with Conrad, Bobby would get so irate at having to put over characters like Repo Man on commentary, he and JR used to smoke the weeds after or during TV tapings. Several times during his career, Heenan ended up nearly giving fans blood. [18] A few months after that, he led Mr. He was both a wrestler and a manager during his 13-year run with the promotion, which he left in 1974. In this promo he deftly rattles off insults, dogging the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the High Flyers. Heenan doesn't have his usual amount of witty lines here, but his weaseling is enough to make us laugh. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. Not only does Heenan smear humor over every. He was unsure at first, but accepted their offer once he found out that WCW provided lighter work schedules and health insurance. In this segment, after a beating handed out by Ken Patera, Bobby Heenan donned a neck brace and did a lot of complaining. He died on 17 September 2017 in Largo, Florida, USA. The 2004 WWE Hall of Fame induction wasnt put out there in the same way as future classes, but it featured an all-time great speech. Whether you remember him from his days in the AWA, as the manager of legends like Mr. Bobby "The Brain" Heenan was one of the biggest wrestling villains of . Last May, Heenan was back in a hospital after falling inside of his Florida home. I think Ole Anderson is a piece of sh**. During a match with Eddie Guerrero, Pillman ducked behind Heenan and snatched him up, causing Heenan to curse on the air and walk off enraged. Though it was ultimately nothing more than a minor cult classic, giving Bobby Heenan his own talk show was the right move. He was originally brought in to replace Jesse Ventura, his former client, as the color commentator for WCW 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 syndicated WCW Worldwide and Clash of the Champions events produced for TBS. [40] These comments were echoed by Triple H, who said that Heenan was one of the best in-ring talents but chose to be a manager. [3], In 2004, he joined former WCW commentators Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko in providing commentary for the video game Showdown: Legends of Wrestling. Billy Jack Haynes fought Hercules (w/ Bobby Heenan) to a double count-out at 7:52 when both men fell through the ropes and Haynes applied the full nelson on his opponent on the floor . Heenan's wearing a tux with a ruffled shirt that looks like it is out of a 70s prom scene. 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