10 greatest wrestling managers of all time

#1: Bobby "The Brain" Heenan

Bobby Heenan was the quintessential heel manager throughout his career.

Bobby 'the Brain' Heenan was an extremely gifted performer. He made it so easy to hate him when he was on commentary and when he was ringside during matches.

He did have a career as a wrestler, but he made his mark as a despicable heel manager throughout the 1980s and 1990s in WWF. Heenan originally was a wrestler in AWA and Georgia Championship Wrestling, but he became best known when he entered the WWF in 1984.

He initially managed Big John Studd against Andre the Giant at the first Wrestlemania, but his Heenan Family would include several famous wrestlers at various points of the stable's shelf life.

Wrestlers like Studd, Andre, Rick Rude, Ken Patera, King Kong Bundy, Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff, the Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) and the Islanders (Haku and Tama) were all members of the stable at one point.

He usually interfered in his client's matches and but often got his comeuppance when faces like Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage got their hands on the Brain. One of the most notable matches in which he interfered was when he held the Ultimate Warriors' legs down so that Rick Rude could pin the Warrior for a three count. It gave Rude and Heenan the Intercontinental Title.

He would also later lead the Brain Busters and the Colossal Connection (Haku and Andre) to runs as tag team champions. He gained even more heat as the infamous 'heel commentator' when he would champion Ric Flair during Flair's tenure in WWF.

He'd often mention on commentary that 'You have to be fair to Flair' and he would accompany Flair and Mr. Perfect to the ring. Often on commentary, he'd champion the villainous heels while running down the faces. The interactions between him and Gorilla Monsoon were often as entertaining as the matches they were calling.

He later left WWF and joined WCW for commentary duties in 1994. One of his most famous moments came when Hulk Hogan returned to WCW in 1996 to presumably help the face team of Sting, Lex Luger, and Macho Man Randy Savage.

As history would have it, Hogan would turn on the faces and his former friend to help create the NWO. Heenan famously shouted 'Whose side is he on?' as Hogan walked to the ring.

Heenan left WCW in 2000 and the company went on to be purchased by WWE a year later. During his time away from the ring in 2001, he announced that he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2002.

During his battle, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004. His deterioration was sad to watch in photos as he would lose parts of his jaw. He kept his spirits up, however, as he often attended conventions and willfully took pictures with colleagues and friends throughout his battle with throat cancer. He battled the disease until his death in 2017 due to complications and organ failure caused by cancer.

He truly was an inspirational person in and out of the ring and as he battled his cancer for almost 15 years.