RIP Bobby "The Brain" Heenan

Wrestling has lost a veritable titan
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Raymond Louis Heenan, who went by the name "Bobby" in his pro wrestling career, has passed away at age 73. He is survived by his wife Cynthia and his daughter Jessica. Heenan's wrestling career spanned 40 years, where he worked as a wrestler, manager, studio host, and color commentator for various companies. His big break came in Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association, which he parlayed into a bigger role in the burgeoning WWE (then World Wrestling Federation). He retired in 2000, but soon after, he developed the cancer that would rob him of his ability to speak. It's unknown what exactly caused his passing, but his health had been declining sharply for the last month.

Heenan broke into wrestling in the '60s, but star really started to rise in the AWA, where he was famously paired with Nick Bockwinkel. The two would be joined at the hip for most of their simultaneous tenure with the company. Heenan managed other wrestlers there, and he even had a few matches here and there, but it was his managing of Bockwinkel that gave him the most prominence. He stayed with the AWA until 1983, when he took a job offer from Vince McMahon. McMahon famously offered many others jumping from Gagne's flagging promotion to his rising one extra money to skip their final dates, but Heenan was the only one who refused and completed all his contractual dates to the AWA. This integrity led him to joining with Jesse Ventura's attempt at unionization, one that was famously ratted out to McMahon by Hulk Hogan.

Oddly enough, when Heenan got to WWE, he became the main antagonist to Hogan. He managed several of the Hulkster's early challengers, like King Kong Bundy and Andre the Giant. He and Rowdy Roddy Piper ensured that Hogan's early reign would have no lack of charismatic foils. One could argue Hogan may not have reached the heights he did without Heenan (and Piper) pressing onward and carrying him into the next phase of his career of MEGAFIGHTS with fellow titanic iconoclasts like Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior. Heenan's Family in WWE would also include wrestlers like Rick Rude, the Brainbusters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard), Mr. Perfect, and Haku.

Heenan would also find a secondary calling in WWE as a commentator, both in the studio for syndicated recap shows and at ringside. WWE's habit of rotating announce teams put him with many different partners, but the one with whom he shone brightest was Gorilla Monsoon. The affable, avuncular monster-turned-commentator played sterlingly with Heenan's quick wit and acerbic insights. The two would become one of the most beloved broadcast teams in wrestling history.

The peak intersection of Heenan's roles in WWE came upon the arrival of Ric Flair, who had spent decades in territories outside of McMahon's purview. Heenan was paired with Flair as his manager, and the two put together some of the best pure theatrics that any wrestler and manager ever did together. To wit, the 1992 Royal Rumble match is known perhaps more for Heenan's manic, biased commentary than anything else: Flair winning, Hogan double-crossing Sid, anything. Hell, I wrote for a blog named after his trademark rallying cry during that match. Heenan would be attached to Flair during the latter's entire run with WWE during the early '90s.

Heenan would leave WWE in 1994 to take a gig as a full-time color commentator for World Championship Wrestling. His work on Monday Nitro and other calls wasn't nearly as critically acclaimed for whatever reason, but he still had memorable moments, the most poignant coming right before the reveal of Hogan as the third man in the New World Order at Bash at the Beach '96, when his career mistrust of Hogan caused him to ask out loud whether he was Scott Hall's and Kevin Nash's partner. He'd retire from a full load when he left WCW in 2000, but he would pop up from time to time in WWE, most notably at WrestleMania X-7 when he and "Mean" Gene Okerlund called the Gimmick Battle Royale. In 2004, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Heenan developed throat cancer in 2002, and although he'd eventually get that into remission, cancer would haunt other parts of his body. Complications from various cancers cost him his jaw, robbing him of his ability to speak in one of the most cosmically unjust things this Universe has ever perpetrated. Regardless of what illness did to him, he remains an indelible part of wrestling's history. Few people get to a level where they are considered candidates to be the greatest of all-time in one area of specialization; Heenan arguably is the unquestioned greatest manager and color commentator. His presence was titanic, and his loss will be even more massive. In honor, this week on The Wrestling Blog is officially Brain Week.

Rest in peace, rest in power Bobby Heenan. The world is richer for having known you, and it is now poorer for having lost you.