Raymond Louis Heenan was an American professional wrestling manager, color commentator, wrestler, and comedian.
62 Facts About Bobby Heenan
2.
Bobby Heenan performed with the American Wrestling Association, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling under the ring name Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.
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Bobby Heenan was known for his skill in elevating villainous on-screen talent by drawing negative reactions for himself and his wrestlers from the crowd.
4.
Bobby Heenan was paired with numerous wrestlers, including Nick Bockwinkel, whom he led to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, and he became an integral figure in the 1980s professional wrestling boom by managing King Kong Bundy and Andre the Giant in WWF main event matches with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 2 and WrestleMania III respectively.
5.
Outside of wrestling, Heenan authored two books, appeared on numerous television shows, and briefly hosted a parody talk show titled The Bobby Heenan Show on WWF Prime Time Wrestling.
6.
Bobby Heenan retired in 2001 at WrestleMania X-Seven after a seventeen-year stint as a commentator in professional wrestling but he continued to make sporadic appearances in several promotions.
7.
Raymond Louis Bobby Heenan was born in Chicago, Illinois, on November 1,1944.
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Bobby Heenan's father Robert Heenan was a railroad worker, and his mother Mildred Bernadette Kambrz was a hotel manager.
9.
Bobby Heenan dropped out of school in the eighth grade to support his mother and grandmother.
10.
Bobby Heenan said he was never trained as a wrestler and it came naturally.
11.
In particular, Bobby Heenan was credited with making Blackjack Lanza one of the top wrestling villains in the country.
12.
Bobby Heenan occasionally wrestled with a storyline "brother" Guy Heenan, portrayed by Guy Mitchell, from the Assassins.
13.
Bobby Heenan attributed his departure to a dispute with Afflis over pay for his participation in the first-ever wrestling event held at Market Square Arena, emphatically stating that he never returned to the promotion as a result.
14.
Bobby Heenan took up managing the team of Nick Bockwinkel and Ray "The Crippler" Stevens, a duo which won a third AWA World Tag Team Championship under his leadership.
15.
Bobby Heenan was unharmed, but five people sitting ringside were injured, one of them critically.
16.
In early 1979, Bobby Heenan left the AWA to work in Georgia Championship Wrestling.
17.
Bobby Heenan met a young Hulk Hogan while in Georgia and later told AWA promoter Verne Gagne that he should hire him.
18.
In late 1979, Bobby Heenan returned to AWA and resumed managing Nick Bockwinkel to renewed championship success, including against Hogan in 1983.
19.
In 1984, Bobby Heenan left AWA to join the World Wrestling Federation.
20.
Bobby Heenan was signed by the WWF in 1984 with the intention of him managing Jesse Ventura, however Ventura's retirement due to blood clots in his lungs prevented this from happening.
21.
Andre won the match and then took the bag with the $15,000 and started throwing it out to the crowd before Bobby Heenan snatched the bag.
22.
In 1986, Bobby Heenan managed King Kong Bundy in his main event bout at WrestleMania 2.
23.
Bobby Heenan finally managed his first champion in the WWF when "Ravishing" Rick Rude upset The Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Intercontinental Championship, a match Bobby Heenan ensured Rude would win by holding Warrior's leg down so he could not break the pin.
24.
Immediately after the loss, Bobby Heenan began blaming the loss on Andre the Giant going as far as slapping him.
25.
Bobby Heenan retired from managing in 1991 to become a full-time commentator.
26.
Bobby Heenan continued to act as an adviser to Flair during his WWF run from 1991 to 1993.
27.
In 1984, WWF owner Vince McMahon took full advantage of his microphone and comedic skills and Bobby Heenan became a color commentator in addition to his managing duties.
28.
Bobby Heenan replaced Jesse Ventura on Prime Time Wrestling and All American Wrestling, aired on the USA Network, teaming up with Gorilla Monsoon.
29.
Bobby Heenan replaced Ventura to team up with Monsoon on the syndicated All-Star Wrestling, which was replaced in the fall of 1986 with Wrestling Challenge.
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Bobby Heenan, calling himself a "broadcast journalist", bashed fan favorites and cheered for their opponents while they cheated or did something under-handed.
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For instance, Bobby Heenan claimed that Marty Jannetty was trying to escape Shawn Michaels' attack on the Barber Shop after Michaels threw him through a glass window.
32.
Bobby Heenan, still suffering from the broken neck he received ten years earlier and unable to cope with the long working hours, decided to leave the WWF at the end of 1993.
33.
Bobby Heenan was given an on-air farewell by Gorilla Monsoon on the December 6,1993 edition of Monday Night Raw, broadcast from the Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York.
34.
Bobby Heenan was unsure at first, but accepted their offer once he found out that WCW provided lighter work schedules and health insurance.
35.
Bobby Heenan cited the short driving distance between WCW's home base of Atlanta and his daughter's school in Alabama.
36.
On January 27,1994, Bobby Heenan made his debut in World Championship Wrestling.
37.
Bobby Heenan 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.
38.
When WCW Monday Nitro premiered in September 1995, Bobby Heenan left Saturday Night to work on the new show full-time and joined former Chicago Bears defensive lineman Steve McMichael as an analyst alongside play-by-play man Eric Bischoff.
39.
Five months later that year in June 1996, Bobby Heenan made a one-off return to ringside at The Great American Bash as the manager of two of his former clients, Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, in a tag team match against his broadcast colleague Steve McMichael and then Carolina Panthers linebacker Kevin Greene.
40.
Bobby Heenan was instrumental in convincing McMichael to turn on his partner, which enabled Flair and Anderson to win the match, and fill the open spot in The Four Horsemen that Brian Pillman left behind when he departed from the company earlier in the year.
41.
Bobby Heenan continued to commentate on Thunder along with Mike Tenay, and later Schiavone, until he was replaced by Stevie Ray beginning in July 2000.
42.
Bobby Heenan was then only seen with Scott Hudson on Worldwide until he was released by WCW in November 2000.
43.
Bobby Heenan said he was uninspired in WCW due to the negative work environment and due to conflicts with Schiavone.
44.
Bobby Heenan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004 by Blackjack Lanza.
45.
Bobby Heenan inducted his proteges Paul Orndorff, The Blackjacks and Nick Bockwinkel into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005, class of 2006 and class of 2007 respectively.
46.
In February 2001, Bobby Heenan did color commentary for the WOW Unleashed pay-per-view.
47.
Also in 2001, Bobby Heenan worked briefly as a "sports agent" in the Xcitement Wrestling Federation with Curt Hennig under his tutelage.
48.
Bobby Heenan made a series of appearances for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in December 2005, culminating at the Turning Point pay-per-view, where he provided commentary for the Six Man Tag Team Basebrawl match between The Diamonds in the Rough and Chris Sabin, Dale Torborg and Sonjay Dutt.
49.
Bobby Heenan enjoyed staying in touch with former colleagues and fans.
50.
Bobby Heenan made appearances as a guest on various television shows, including: Family Feud, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon, Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, The Arsenio Hall Show, and The Dennis Miller Show.
51.
Bobby Heenan made an appearance in the 1995 film Timemaster.
52.
Heenan had a parody talk show known as The Bobby Heenan Show, which was broadcast in four segments during the second half of WWF's regular weekly program Prime Time Wrestling.
53.
Bobby Heenan was married to the former Cynthia Jean Perrett from June 21,1978, until his death.
54.
Bobby Heenan was close friends with announcers Gene Okerlund and Mike Tenay.
55.
In January 2002, Bobby Heenan announced that he had throat cancer.
56.
In December 2007, Bobby Heenan had reconstructive surgery on his jaw, after the first surgery was unsuccessful.
57.
Bobby Heenan was placed in a medically induced coma and was slowly brought out.
58.
In December 2009, Bobby Heenan was hospitalized after an examination of his rebuilt jaw found an infection that needed to be treated.
59.
Bobby Heenan fell out of bed and broke a shoulder in April 2014.
60.
On September 17,2017, Bobby Heenan died at the age of 72 while surrounded by family at his home in Largo, Florida.
61.
Bobby Heenan is considered by many to be the greatest wrestling manager of all time, including WWE, who placed him at the top of their 25 greatest managers list in 2011.
62.
Comedian David Letterman became a fan of Bobby Heenan after seeing him in WWA.