Managers

[buddyboy101]

I'm going back and watching some classic PPVs, and noticed managers are almost exclusively affiliated with heel wrestlers (or are heels, themselves). Maybe this is common knowledge, or even obvious, but to me this is news! Some examples I've noticed:

- Yoko: heel managed by Fuji

- Demolition: heels when managed by Fuji, face when they left Fuji

- Powers of Pain - faces when alone, heels when managed by Fuji

- DiBiase - heel managed by Virgil

- Millian Dollar Corp (managed by DiBiase): strictly heels (e.g. Tatanka face when solo, heel when managed by DiBiase)

- Kamala: heel, managed by Harvey Wippleman/Kim Chee

- Cornette: all of his wrestlers were heels

- Heenan family: all heels (note: Perfect turns face when he LEAVES Hennan)

- Hart Foundation: heel when managed by Jimmy Hart

- Jimmy Hart: managed heels for the most part

- LOD: dropped Ellering and became ultra-faces

- HBK: heels when managed by Diesel and Sherri (though face when managed by Jose Lothario briefly)

- Undertaker: straddled the heel/face card, but became super-face when Paul Bearer betrayed him for Kane

-Savage/Elizabeth: a close call but Savage was quite a heel especially during feud with Hogan (reminds me of Sable/Mero - Sable was very popular even though Mero was abusive/heel; also like Jeff Jarret and Debra)

- HHH/Chyna

- Goldust/Marlena

A pattern I've noticed is that when a wrestler breaks away from his manager, he generally makes an unmistakable face turn (and if he was semi-face before, he's even more face w/out the manager).

I think this manager/heel role started to break down during the late 90's when the distinction b/w heel and face disintegrated as well (ex: Molly Holly, Trish Stratus, Lita, Ivory, etc).

I guess the reason for this heel position for managers is that it was simply more interesting. If the manager is a face, then what's he going to do at ringside - hug/comfort his wrestler? Rather, as a heel, the manager can cheat, yell, distract, etc.

[Raine]

You've summed up what a heel manager is primarily for in your last paragraph. Also heel managers were sometimes used as mouthpieces for heel wrestlers that were poor on the stick. Example: Slick for The Warlord or Heenan for Haku

[Deleted]

ah heel managers.......a totally absent life form in todays wrasslin world.

a good heel manager could totally make a feud.half the time I wanted Heenan to be beaten up and could have cared less about the guy he was managing

take Mr Fuji.The Powers Of Pain were hired in 88 to feud with Demolition when Vince tried for the second time(unsuccessfully) to snare Hawk and Animal.

POP were so devoid of personality they couldnt cut it as faces.....even if Demo werent already being cheered putting POP with Fuji automaically made them heels-such was Fujis power.

[tnafan17: The Total Package]

I miss when managers were a big thing. So different in todays day and age of wrestling.

[Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai]

Aside from the key role of heel managers in interfering with finishes or simply being better with promos than the guys they managed, they were also vital for the large number of heels whose gimmicks made it so they couldn't (or wouldn't) talk.

All of the wildman types like The Sheik, George Steele, Kamala, The Missing Link, The Samoans, etc. needed someone to do the talking for them in interviews. You also had the guys with foreign gimmicks -- or guys who were actually foreign -- that used managers to get the bulk of their talking done for them.

Also, heel managers were great for opening up the possibilities for match finishes that helped the heel or his opponent lose without "losing their heat." If the babyface lost clean to the heel, they could get their heat back and send the fans home happy by attacking the heel manager after the match. (See Brutus Beefcake cutting Jimmy Hart's hair after failing to win the IC title from the Honky Tonk Man -- they must have done that spot 250 times in 1988 -- or the numerous times Bobby Heenan, Jim Cornette, Paul E. Dangerously, Slick or Jimmy Hart got beaten up after a match, letting the babyface dominate them so they wouldn't do it to their heel wrestler, killing his heat.)

[fair2flair]

Bobby Heenan=GOD!

[redypiper]

besides skaaland and albano i can't think of any significant face managers.

[K5]

what about michael's manager for the iron man match, jose lothario?

lod: sunny. maybe that's more of valet though?

[Himmy!]

Think managers have died out because the wrestlers are now more expected to be almost as good on the mic as they are in the ring and therefore there's no need. There's many cases where this isn't true but just my oppinion.

A good one of the more modern era IMO is James Vandenberg aka James Mitchell, very comfortable on the mic.

[redypiper]

Feb 24, 2011 14:06:23 GMT -5 K5 said:

what about michael's manager for the iron man match, jose lothario?

lod: sunny. maybe that's more of valet though?

yes, you're right but they weren't around long enough to be metioned with the others.