Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan: The Best We Will Ever See

Bobby Heenan

On September 17th 2017, the wrestling world lost one of its greatest sons when Bobby Heenan passed away at the age of 73. Instead of running through his career, I am going to explain why I think Bobby Heenan is the best we will ever see at what he did.

I was born in 1984 and I started watching wrestling at a young age. We didn’t have Sky (satellite TV in the UK) in our house but somebody I knew used to get all the new WWF SilverVision VHS tapes. I ate up every single one of those tapes, from WrestleMania to SummerSlam to The Best Of Hulkamania, and almost all of them had one thing in common, Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan.

Whether he was a manager or commentator, his presence was huge, and it could be argued that he was the most consistently excellent heel they had. He was so good at being a heel that as a youngster I absolutely hated him. He would always find a new way to try and get one over on my heroes, be it Hulk Hogan, the British Bulldogs or Ultimate Warrior, and I was always so happy when he got his comeuppance. It speaks to Heenan’s charisma and ability that fans cared more about him than almost anyone he managed.

In 1994, Heenan left the WWF for WCW. At the time, we used to get WCW Worldwide on a Saturday afternoon in the UK so it was a pleasant surprise to hear him calling matches for Ric Flair or Vader. One of my favourite Bobby Heenan moments came during his WCW run, at Bash At The Beach 1996. When Hulk Hogan joined the NWO, Heenan told everyone that he had been saying Hogan was a scumbag for years but nobody would listen. It was as if Heenan was smarter than us all and he was finally justified in all of his actions in the past.

It was only as an adult, rewatching all of the old shows, that I fully appreciated how good ‘The Brain’ really was. He excelled in everything he did. As a manager, he cut exceptional, passionate promos that put most of the roster to shame but that wasn’t what was most impressive. I have never seen a manager that did the little things better than Bobby Heenan. He treated every match like his life depended on it, reacting to every near fall with animated expressions and taking any shortcut he could. He was the best manager that professional wrestling will ever see.

His prowess as a manager would be enough to cement his place as an all-time great but that wasn’t the only string to Heenan’s bow; he was also part of arguably the greatest commentary duo ever. The partnership he formed with Gorilla Monsoon was the perfect representation of the heel/face commentary team. The close friendship between the two meant that every time they called a show it always felt so natural. They were outstanding together. The best example of their quality can be found during the 1992 Royal Rumble match, with Monsoon playing the straight man to an increasingly exasperated Heenan, who is the representative of eventual winner Ric Flair. It is the best hour of commentary you will ever hear.

Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan was a one of a kind personality the like of which us humanoids will never see again. Thank you for everything, Bobby, you will be sorely missed.

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