Today I will be covering the infamous Bobby Heenan an evil genius or a fantastic broadcast journalist. Just don’t call him “The Weasel.”
In a career over four decades, Bobby Heenan was the “The Brain” behind some of the most influential wrestlers in WWE history. Heenan was a mischievous manager by running his mouth on their behalf with a sarcastic wit is among the best in the business – and by often weaseling out of getting his ass kicked.
WWE wrestlers under Heenan’s guidance came to be known as the Heenan Family, a moniker meant to show the strength of their alliance over the average stable. (Heenan also disliked the lowly “stable” description that he felt was “A place where you keep a bunch of fly-infested horses.”) Members of the Heenan Family need no introduction, as they include such legends as AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel, the Blackjacks, Big John Studd, King Kong Bundy, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, the Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard), Harley Race, and of course, the first WWE Hall of Famer, Andre the Giant -- whom Heenan led to the ring at WrestleMania III before 93,173 Humanoids (Heenan’s nickname for the WWE Universe) at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1987.
While Hulkamania ran wild and fans adhered to the good vs. evil dynamic of kayfabe, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan served as the voice of reason. Urging a generation lost in hero worship to see the error of their ways, Heenan combated the blind idealism of wrestling storylines with an acute combination of wit and logic that fueled his actions as a manager and commentator.
As kayfabe - an era of wrestling where fans were led to believe the stories and actions were real - made way for more realistic stories in the '90s, it was clear that Heenan’s worldview contained a sense of logic that wrestling needed all along.
Bobby "The Brain" Heenan was a breath of fresh air in professional wrestling. During a time when idealistic hero worship was the norm, Heenan viewed things in a way that would shape the industry decades later. Heenan helped usher in a fresh perspective on storytelling that professional wrestling desperately needed. Bobby ‘The Brain" Heenan was the savior of not only the WWE but professional wrestling as a whole. We just never listened.