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Where Have All the Good Managers Gone?

By Tobey Johnson

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Why has wrestling gone away from managers?

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Way back in the “Golden Ages” of wrestling and even the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Wrestling” era – there were great managers. From The Grand Wizard, Captain Lou Albano, Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Heart, Paul E. Dangerously, J.J. Dillon, and Paul Ellering. These guys talked the talk while their wrestlers backed it up.  Not all the great managers had to be heels. but it helped. They brought an extra bit of excitement and character that made you drawn to the shows. So why is it that when wrestling is so much in need of viewers and everything is about ratings and buy rates, do we not have those kinds of characters in wrestling anymore?

It used to be that if you have a wrestler who the “bookers” or “creative” wanted to get over or keep active on the shows and they couldn’t talk to save their life – they’d be teamed up with a Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Hart, or Paul E. Dangerously to do the talking for them.  Think of how many wrestlers now who can’t talk their way through an average promo let alone something that will keep your attention drawn to them. Even as great of a wrestler as some of them are – if you don’t have personality, you’re not going to make it as far as you want.

Recent examples: Think of how much better Jack Swagger was when he had Zeb Coulter with him. He was actually watchable in the WWE.  Now that Zeb has been written off of television, Swagger hasn’t done anything and not many could really care about his character.

Now Brock Lesnar will get attention no matter if he had Paul Heyman with him or not. But how much more do you look forward to Brock coming out knowing that he has the best talker in the business speaking for him? It is must see television when Heyman is there. I know when he is on talking – I have everything else blocked out around me and I’m focused on what is being said because it’s pure gold.

Look at Cesaro and Tyson Kidd and how good of a tag team they are. Both guys can wrestle with anyone in the world and have a great match – there is no reason for either of these guys to be anything less than champions and major players on the roster. Now just think if they had a Bobby Heenan or Jimmy Hart with them – how much more over they would be? These guys would have the tag team title’s for as long as they want.

It’s not just the guys who can’t talk as well that have benefited from managers. I think of Rick Rude, who was an excellent talker – one of the better heels of his time.  He had Bobby Heenan and Paul E. Dangerously as managers at one time. What did they add to his character?  The fact that they were with him it didn’t matter who they wrestled – you thought they could and may win that match because of those managers and what they may do for their client to win. I never thought in a million years Rude would have beaten the Warrior at WrestleMania V – but the element of The Brain being in his corner made it possible.

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Even as unstoppable as Hulk Hogan was during his peak of HulkaMania in the late 80’s – you knew he could win his matches but when he went against King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, Paul Orndorff and they had Heenan in their corner – it kept you guessing the entire match on who was going to win.  Was this going to be the time that Heenan was finally going to get one over on Hogan and steal the title for the Family? The surprise element was always there with a great manager.

I think the problem now with the lack of managers is two things. One, there are scripted interviews so nothing can be organically created by the talent to feed off the crowd and react. Two, extra talent means extra money. It is another contract that is being paid so, unless this manager is on the level of Heyman, the WWE at least doesn’t see it as a profitable investment. But they keep wrestlers on the roster like Ryder, Slater, and a handful of Divas that are hardly ever even on Main Event never mind Raw or SmackDown.

It is another lost art in wrestling today and it is too bad. Those great managers like I named above made not only their wrestlers interesting and memorable but they made the shows and product better for being on there. One thing the WWE Network has done was given the new fans a glimpse at what wrestling used to be like and how great it was. Maybe creative and management needs to pony up $9.99 a month and look back at what used to work and what isn’t working now and connect the dots.

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