Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[BillThompson]

As a manager he was top notch, and as a wrestler he was certainly a great bump machine and could bleed with the best of them. The reason I would say no though is because he was always a gimmick, at least in all the footage I've seen. There's nothing wrong with that, and he filled that role splendidly, but when it comes to the greatest wrestlers of all time I can't see that type of wrestler making my list.

[Matt D]

Heenan is a guy who is immensely talented, who is a favorite, but who is someone I'm not convinced we have the variation of footage on.

[PeteF3]

I want to see more of the Heenan that we saw against Buck Zumhoffe, working on top and dropping offensive bombs. Bobby actually looked like a complete wrestler from what we saw of that match.

[thebrainfollower]

If this list was GOAT Top 100 performers in wrestling history Bobby's an easy top 5 but as a worker too much of a gimmick for a list of just wrestlers.

[goc]

He has a lot of matches on tape from WWA. I'm already getting some Ladd stuff off those discs, I might as well see what Heenan looked like before he went to the AWA.

[JerryvonKramer]

goc are these the Luce tapes from Chicago?

[goc]

I don't think so. These are WWA, Dick the Bruiser's promotion out of Indianapolis.

[JerryvonKramer]

It looks like this guy has put a lot of the WWA stuff on youtube.

KELLY - there is a Denucci tag match here for your viewing pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMeK8L0UC1U

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

I love Bobby as much as the next guy, but he seems a bit of a joke candidate for a list like this. Great bumper, but you can't build a match around just bumping.

[Grimmas]

I love Bobby as much as the next guy, but he seems a bit of a joke candidate for a list like this. Great bumper, but you can't build a match around just bumping.

He could sell and bleed too.

 

Davey Richards was nominated and how is Davey Richards better than Bobby Heenan?

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

I don't believe I said or implied that Davey Richards is better than Heenan.

[Dylan Waco]

I actually think Heenan is a perfectly reasonable bottom five-ish pick. There are very few performers who could command a crowd as well as him, and that command was not reserved for his ringside role as a manager. There are AWA tags where he is at the level or better than the people surrounding him, and lots of times those people are great workers. He is an all time great bumper and bleeder, but to me what makes him viable for something like this is the fact that he was so good building heat when working on top, working the crowd when on the apron in tags, and just generally playing his role as a slimy, cheating heel. I would prefer to see him have a really great singles match on tape, but I wouldn't think it was odd at all to see him on someones list.

[JerryvonKramer]

Heenan's case has to be built primarily on his performances in those 70s cage matches from Chicago with anything he did in the 80s as supplemental (Survivor Series 89 adds to his case).

 

His character work, bumping and blade jobs are off the charts, I don't think a top 100 placement is impossible for him. In fact, I might have been the original nominator.

[Timbo Slice]

I think he'll be my #100. Like a few guys, I'm gonna pepper the bottom of my list with personal faves, and Bobby is a shoe-in.

[Matt D]

I've been tempted to put HTM as my 100

[Timbo Slice]

I don't blame you. For as much as we shit on HTM in the ring, he's got one of the best heel runs of all time to his name, plus his stuff in Memphis.

[goodhelmet]

His lack of one great singles match and embarrassing performance in 1994 WCW would disqualify him from my list. I like his work with the Blonde Bombers but I am a bigger Larry Latham fan than Wayne Ferris fan.

[JerryvonKramer]

Just randomly googling Sal Bellomo, I came across this.

 

 

I thought it might be see interesting to see Heenan against an absolutely atrocious worker like Sal. I am not sure what to make of it, but it was interesting to watch. Bellomo was fucking awful -- there were times when it seems like even Monsoon and Lord Al were picking up on the fact that he just wasn't doing anything when he should have been at least attacking Heenan. Bobby did his best here to still come off as weaselly and beatable, but stripped of his bumping he mainly had to fall back on schtick and cheapness. Just interesting to see what Heenan does in a slightly different scenario from the one we're used to seeing him in.

[elliott]

I was pretty happy when I looked at my 2016 list and saw I voted for Heenan. 96th overall. The more I think about it and rewatch footage, the more I think of him as like a top 26 candidate. He's the greatest "non wrestler" wrestler ever. The greatest "cowardly" wrestler ever. The greatest comedy wrestler ever. One of the all time bumpers and bleeders. When he goes on offense he can be pathetic and ineffectual or he can be vicious enough to show he probably would have been awesome if he was just a normal heel wrestler. Understood how to control a crowd as well as anyone you'll ever see. His presence in a match makes it feel bigger and more important than it might otherwise. Another one of those people I really want to focus on because for what he brought to the table (which was a ton) he was about as good as it gets. 

[strobogo]

From the little in ring footage I've seen of him, almost all well outside his physical prime, I bet he was a fucking blast to see when he was an actual worker. 

[Ricky Jackson]

I'm pretty sure Heenan was always a manager/wrestler outside of very, very early on. He was a top (the top?) manager in Indianapolis when he was only 21, or maybe still 20

[elliott]

Is there a boring Bobby Heenan match?

[elliott]

I ranked Bobby Heenan 96th in 2016 and I blew it with that one. I haven't figured out how high I'm going to go with Heenan on my list, but I don't think top 10 is out of the question for me. He might not have the great matches that Kenta Kobashi has, but Bobby Heenan had a complete understanding of pro-wrestling and performed it at the highest level just like Kenta Kobashi. It just looks a little different. Like Kobashi, Bobby Heenan was the star of every single match he was in. He would work his ass off and put his opponent over completely in every match and make everyone look like a million bucks, but you can't come away from a Kenta Kobashi match thinking anyone's the star other than him. The same rule applies to Bobby Heenan. Whether he's in the ring bumping around like a complete maniac or outside on the ring apron jawing with the fans, Bobby Heenan commands your complete attention at all times. He could be in there with Hulk Hogan and Nick BOckwinkel and the guy you can't take your eyes off is Heenan.  He was a master at working the crowd like few others. And he combines that understanding with truly breathtaking spurts of athletic ability. He has that Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu, Randy Savage, Akira Maeda, Rock sort of charisma where everything he touches feels bigger and more special simply because he's part of it. Heenan was the best. Put any Heenan match in front of me and I'll watch it.