Bobby Heenan- The Brain of wrestling and it's greatest manager dies at age 73 .
By: Karl Stern (@dragonkingkarl, @wiwcool, karl@whenitwascool.com)
"Raymond Louis "Bobby" Heenan, generally considered the greatest pro wrestling manager of all-time, passed away this afternoon. He had been battling serious health issues for many years after contracting cancer first in 2002. Heenan was 73." - WrestlingObserver.com (09-17-2017)
Dave Meltzer reported the death of legendary pro wrestling manager and hall of famer Bobby "The Brain" Heenan this afternoon at the age of 73. It was well known that Bobby Heenan had been suffering from cancer since 2002 and had undergone multiple surgeries over the last fifteen years.
Originally, Bobby Heenan was a wrestler in the Great Lakes region and saw his career really skyrocket as the manager of Blackjack Lanza (Jack Lanza). Bobby Heenan became a big success in Verne Gagne's AWA promotion managing a series of tag teams and ultimately became manager of the Blackjacks when Blackjack Mulligan joined Lanza in a tag team.
By the mid-1970's Bobby Heenan was managing one of the most highly lauded tag teams in pro wrestling history- Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens. This transitioned into Heenan managing Nick Bockwinkel as the singles AWA World champion and Ray Stevens & Pat Patterson as tag team champions. Heenan also famously managed Jesse "The Body" Ventura.
If that wasn't successful enough, Bobby Heenan's career exploded nationally and internationally when he jumped from the AWA to the WWF where his "Bobby Heenan Family" became the top heel stable in the WWF feuding with WWF champion Hulk Hogan through the peak of the Hulkamania era including one of the most famous matches in pro wrestling history: WWF WrestleMania 3 where he managed Andre the Giant against Hulk Hogan.
For a number of years, Bobby Heenan formed an announcing duo with his real life good friend Gorilla Monsoon where Monsoon played the straight man to Heenan's slapstick comedy in the fondly remember announcing team.
Eventually, Bobby Heenan managed Ric Flair during his tenure as the WWF heavyweight champion. This afternoon on Twitter Ric Flair had this to say about Bobby Heenan:
By the mid-1990s, Bobby Heenan had left the WWF for WCW where he was used as a color commentator into the WCW Nitro era. He left WCW in 2000 and fought his first bout with cancer in 2002.
Wrestling Observer story on the death of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan- http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/bobby-heenan-passes-away-73-years-old-242991
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