HOOPS: The Top Ten Greatest Wrestling Managers of All-Time- Heenan, Cornette, Dangerously, Hart, Pringle...
Mar 19, 2009 - 12:43:39 PM
By Brian Hoops, Nostalgia Specialist
This column originally appeared in the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter #1068/1069, cover-dated Feb. 14, 2009 as a PDF bonus article. If you are not a subscriber to Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter, you are missing nostalgia columns from Brian Hoops like this one every week!
The days of wrestling managers being an integral part of a wrestling promotion have come and gone. Managers, in the nostalgia era, were a very important part of any wrestling organization. Managers were used by promotions to establish new talent who fans may have not been familiar with, as a way to allow the heels or instigators to “cheat” or “gain an unfair” advantage, or to sell matches to the fans using their verbal skills. In some cases, the manager would be the most entertaining part of the match or even the promotion. Sadly, the use of the wrestling manager has been phased out and seems to be as dormant as the old wrestling territories.
There is a list on the WWE website listing the top 25 managers of all time. (The list can be found at WWE.com in their list section) Normally, anything that is published by the WWE needs to be viewed with at least a degree of skepticism and this list is no exception. Everyone has an opinion on what makes a great wrestling manager and who is the greatest off all time. Here is my list.
10. Harley Race: Race is best remembered as a multi time NWA World Heavyweight Champion as well as a three time AWA World Tag Team Champion, however he was also an accomplished manager in WCW. When WCW turned Lex Luger heel in 1991 and placed their World Title on him, Race was paired with Luger to get Luger over as a heel. Race would manage Big Van Vader to the WCW World Heavyweight in 1992 after Luger left for the WWF. Vader would go on to become a dominant heel champion in 1992 and 1993, along with help from manager and advisor Harley Race.
9. Paul Ellering: Ellering was a powerlifter early in his career before turning to his boyhood love of professional wrestling. Ellering grew up in Minnesota watching the AWA and was trained to be a professional wrestler by Verne Gagne and Eddie Sharkey. Ellering wrestled for the AWA for a brief period of time before becoming a manager. One of my earliest childhood wrestling angle memories was Paul Ellering and Jesse Ventura having a test of strength each week on AWA television. One of the angles was a contest to see who could blow up a hot water bottle the quickest. Ellering is better remembered as the manager of the Road Warriors. Ellering started with the Road Warriors in 1983 and continued to manage the team until the WWF phased Ellering out of the picture in late 1992. Ellering not only was their manager on TV and at the matches, freely interfering on the Road Warriors behalf if needed, but Ellering would also make travel arrangements for the Road Warriors, handle their finances and other legitimate details that an actual manager would do for his talent.
8. Percy Pringle: Pringle was better known as Paul Bearer in the WWF, started wresting in 1978. Pringle would get his break in the business by managing Mark Calaway, Rick Rude, and Steve Austin in WCCW. After Rude moved to the WWF, Rude recommended Pringle to Vince McMahon Jr. McMahon brought in Pringle as a heel manager, teaming him with Calaway now known as The Undertaker and renaming Pringle Paul Bearer. Pringle would manage The Undertaker to the WWF World Title and would also manage Kane in a feud against The Undertaker as well as Vader and Mankind.
7. Sheik Adnan El Kassie: Mostly forgotten by wrestling historians, Kassie was a top level heel manager in the AWA and also managed in the WWF and smaller independent promotions such as the AWF and PWA. Kassie wrestled for Oklahoma State University before turning professional in the early 1960’s. Kassie joined the WWWF as Billy White Wolf, teamed with Chief Jay Strongbow and the duo won the WWWF Tag Team titles on December 7, 1976 from the Executioners. Kassie joined the AWA in 1981 and was pushed as a top foreign heel. Kassie failed in his attempt to win the AWA World Title and formed a tag team with Jerry Blackwell who challenged for the AWA Tag Team Titles. After a neck injury, Kassie became a manager and led Blackwell and Ken Patera to defeat the High Flyers for the AWA World Tag Team titles on June 26, 1983. Kassie would also manage Sgt. Slaughter to the WWF World Title in 1991.
6. Gary Hart: Hart started as a wrestler, but turned to managing in the late 1960’s and became known as “Playboy” Gary Hart. Hart is probably best remembered for his days in WCCW, which started in 1979 when he became the booker as well as on screen manager for Bruiser Brody, The Great Kabuki, The One Man Gang, Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez. Hart is also responsible for the famous heel turn by the Fabulous Freebirds at the Christmas Star Wars show in 1982 that sparked the territory over the next three years with the Freebirds against the Von Erichs. Hart would also manage Terry Funk and the Great Muta in WCW in 1989.
5. Paul E. Dangerously: Dangerously started as a ringside photographer as a teenager before making his managerial debut in the independent scene in 1987. Dangerously managed in the Florida, Alabama and Memphis territories as well as the AWA using a gimmick of a young, brash, fast talking New York yuppie that would use his cell phone as a foreign object in matches on behalf of the team he was managing. Dangerously would also be an assistant booker in the CWA under Eddie Gilbert and also booked and managed Windy City Wrestling before jumping to Jim Crockett promotions. Dangerously was at his best in 1992 as the manager of the Dangerous Alliance in WCW, a team that consisted of Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton and Larry Zbyszko. Heyman was a great talent as a manager in garnering fan heat for his team, although he is best remembered as the booker of ECW during its heyday.
4. James J. Dillon: Dillon began wrestling in 1971 but found his greatest fame as a manager. Dillon was known as a great talker and early in his career he managed such wrestlers as Ron Bass, Buddy Landell and Big John Studd. Dillon moved to Jim Crockett Promotions in 1984 to become assistance booker and also managed. He was paired with Tully Blanchard, one of the hottest heels in 1985. Dillon and Blanchard were pushed on top and soon began teaming with Ric Flair and Arn and Ole Anderson. Soon, the group would become known as The Four Horsemen with Dillon as the manager of the group. Dillon left the WCW in 1989 and went to the WWF in a front office job before returning to WCW in 1995 to replace Nick Bockwinkel as on screen commissioner.
3. James E. Cornette: Cornette was a huge wrestling fan ever since childhood. Cornette grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and worked for regional promotions as a photographer, correspondent and ring announcer before becoming a manager in 1982. Cornette managed in the Louisville territory, Memphis and Nashville; before going to Jim Crockett Promotions and eventually WCW. Cornette would found Smoky Mountain Wrestling in 1991 after leaving WCW, where he would become booker, writer, producer as well as on screen talent as a commentator and manager. Cornette would develop a talent exchange agreement with the WWF and would eventually manage talent in the WWF as well. Today, Cornette plays the role of “Commissioner” of TNA. Cornette is considered one of the best talkers of all time. Cornette will be forever linked to managing the Midnight Express against their long time rivals the Rock and Roll Express.
2. Jimmy Hart: In the 1960s, Hart was a vocalist member of the group the Gentrys. Hart went to high school with Jerry Lawler in Memphis and became Lawler’s manager in the Memphis territory. As a manager, Hart was an instant success, earning the nickname of “The Mouth of the South” and establishing “The Hart Family of Wrestling” to feud with Lawler in the Memphis territory. In 1982, Hart was the manager of the famous angle involving Lawler and comedian Andy Kaufmann that garnered the Memphis territory some national exposure. Hart would move onto the WWF in 1985 and manage there until 1993, where he was always placed with a tag team that needed a strong talker to get over with the fans. In 1994, Hart would manage Hulk Hogan in WCW before turning on Hogan in an angle at Halloween Havoc 1995.
1. Bobby Heenan: Arguably the greatest talker in the history of wrestling, Heenan began his wrestling career in Indianapolis in 1965. Heenan would move to the AWA in 1969 and become the hottest heel manager in the territory by 1972. Heenan’s first family consisted of Nick Bockwinkel, Ray Stevens, Blackjack Lanza and Blackjack Mulligan. In 1976, Heenan managed Bockwinkel to the AWA World Heavyweight Title and The Blackjack’s to the AWA World Tag Team Titles. Heenan would continue as a manager in the AWA until he left the promotion for the WWF in 1984. In addition to managing, Heenan would also become one of the best TV commentators in the WWF, until he left the company in 1993. Heenan left to join WCW and became a full time TV commentator.
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