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10 Greatest Wrestling Managers

#1 - Bobby “The Brain” Heenan

Mr Heenan tops our list of the greatest managers ever.  This is due to the plethora of stars that Heenan managed including King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, and Harley Race.  But, the biggest star that he managed, both literally and figuratively, was Andre The Giant.

Heenan managed Andre to his WWF Title and led him in to the ring for his colossal match with Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemanie III.  Now normally being the manager of someone at their first loss in almost 15 years would not land you high on this list, but being “The Brain” outweighs that.  

WWE.com has a line in Bobby’s bio that says “Nobody could take a beating like “The Brain.”  Bobby was never afraid to get physically involved in a match to try to help his guys win, even if he was going to take a beat down by whomever he was involved with.  Andre turned on “The Brain” after losing his Tag Team titles at Wrestlemania VI,

Bobby would go on to the announcer booth to work for Raw and Monday Nitro after his career as a manager is over. While Bobby’s work with Mr. Perfect and the other superstars made him a great manager, I feel like his work with Andre cemented him as the greatest of all time.  What do you guys think?  Did we get it right?

10 Greatest Wrestling Managers

#2 - “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart

Jimmy Hart was a mouthpiece to the stars, making liberal use of his trademark megaphone, he made many a superstar into a champion.  Jimmy spent some of his earlier time in WWE managing Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and King Kong Bundy.  

Jimmy also managed the likes of the Hart Foundation, Money Inc., The Nasty Boys, The Glamour Girls and the Honky Tonk Man.  You will probably remember that Hart was HTM’s manager during his record 15 month Intercontinental Championship reign and led The Glamour Girls to their Women’s Tag Team Title win.  

Never afraid to get involved and take a swing of the megaphone at somebody, Jimmy was always able to get a rise out of the audience.  Jimmy jumped ship from the WWE to WCW when Hogan left and led him to a WCW World Title Reign and cemented his legacy as one of the best ever.

10 Greatest Wrestling Managers

#3 - Jim Cornette

Jim Cornette is one of the most recognizable managers in wrestling history.  With his trademark tennis racket he had a knack for inserting himself in to a match at exactly the right time and using his high pitched voice to incite near riot level reactions out of fans.  

Cornette managed the likes of The Heavenly Bodies, Yokozuna, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog, Vader, Dan Severn, Jeff Jarrett and Barry Windham,  Cornette was the guy that everyone loves to hate.  Jim could just talk and whip the opponent and fans into a bloodlust.  That is why he is one of the greatest.  

10 Greatest Wrestling Managers

#4 - “Sensational” Sherri Martel

Sherri, an accomplished women’s wrestler in her own right, got her start in managing in the AWA, managing “Playboy” Buddy Rose and “Pretty Boy” Doug Somers to an AWA Tag Team title reign.  Sherri’s first client in the WWE was “Macho Man” Randy Savage leading to the classic rivalry of Sherri and Savage vs Miss Elizabeth and Hulk Hogan.  After her relationship with Savage dissolved at Wrestlemania VII her services were enlisted by the “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase.

Sherri also spent a good deal of time in WCW managing Ric Flair in his rivalry against the likes of Sting, and Hulk Hogan, and taking on the role of “Sister” Sherri to manage Harlem Heat to 7 WCW Tag Team title reigns making them one of the most successful tag teams ever.  

Sherri is known more for her time managing the “Heart-Break Kid” Shawn Michaels and is responsible for his theme song “Sexy Boy.”  Shawn had success with Sherri until he threw her in front of a full length mirror that was meant to hit him and thus breaking up the couple.  

Sherri Martel was one of the most world renowned managers ever and her clients had a large amount of success while she was managing them.  Who do you guys think was the most successful of Sherri’s clients?

10 Greatest Wrestling Managers

#5 - Captain Lou Albano

Captain Lou is a well known fixture throughout not only the wrestling world but through all of pop culture.  You may know him from his wrestling days, from his time playing Mario on Super Mario Bros, Super Show, but a lot of you will remember him as a wrestling manager.  

In 1971, Albano managed Ivan Koloff to a World Title win over Bruno Samartino, which was the only member of his stable to ever win a World Title.  He did also lead Don Muraco, Greg Valentine, and Pat Patterson to the Intercontinental Championship, and over a dozen teams to the Tag Team Titles.  You probably remember him most from his interactions with Cyndi Lauper which led to “The Brawl to End It All” on MTV which saw a Lauper managed Wendi Richter upset the Captain Lou managed “Fabulous” Moolah landing Richter a Women’s title for the first time.  Albano would later convert and join forces with Cyndi Lauper and Hulk Hogan which only furthered the move to the “Rock N Wrestling Era.”  

Albano spent some time away from the ring in the late 80’s and early 90’s but proving that he is “often imitated and never duplicated” he returned in 1994 to manage The Headshrinkers to a Tag Team title making that his record 15th team to win the prestigious championship.  

Albano is one of the greats.  When you guys think about Captain Lou, how do you remember him?

10 Greatest Wrestling Mangers

#6 - Paul Bearer

William Moody a.k.a. Percy Pringle a.k.a. Paul Bearer is possibly one of the most recognizable managers in the history of the sport.  Bearer managed the likes of The Executioner (Terry Gordy), Vader, Mankind, Kane, and of course, The Undertaker.  

Most of you will remember that Bearer, in a bizarre twist, turned on the Undertaker to take over the reigns as the manager for Mankind.  Paul Bearer’s gothic appearance are based from his actual experience with his family funeral home, but just so happened to land him a niche with the odd assortment that he managed in the WWE.  

He was the only character that was out there enough to manage the likes of the Undertaker, Kane and Mankind and his shrill shrieks were enough to drive even the most hardened competitor into a fetal positioned shaped huddling mass in the corner.  His promos were literally terrifying and just from the tone in his voice you could just imagine all the ways that Taker was going to take your soul or just how hard Mankind was going to hit you with a barbed wire baseball bat.

Bearer is one of the all time greats and you can feel free to let us know what you think about him in the comments section.

10 Greatest Wrestling Managers

#7 - James J. Dillon

JJ Dillon has been in the wrestling business since 1960 where he started as a referee in the WWWF and spent a lot of time in the ring a wrestler.  He is probably best known for his time as a manager.  Dillon managed many tag teams in the old territory days, worked as a manager for Abdullah the Butcher for a while but as you can see above, is being enshrined to the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the Four Horsemen.  

JJ was the manager of the Horsemen from their inception, leading the group to a list of title accomplishments that is too long to list here.  To me JJ was oft overshadowed in this group of superstars but he was still a vocal leader and you definitely can’t fault their accomplishments as a group.  

10 Greatest Wrestling Managers

 # 9 = Paul Heyman (Paul E. Dangerously)

Paul Heyman is best known for his role in the original ECW and revolutionizing the Wrestling genre, but most of us consider him a polarizing personality that is one of the most successful wrestling managers of all time.  Not only did Heyman manage Sabu among others in ECW, but he managed the original Midnight Express, The Dangerous Alliance in WCW which included Rick Rude and Steve Austin, and he managed The Undertaker before he became The Undertaker.  

Oh yeah, he also managed 3 Superstars in WWE, each of them winning the WWE Championship under Paul.  Brock Lesnar, Big Show and Kurt Angle all won Heavyweight titles with Paul E as their manager.  By the way, those titles were consecutive, as in after being dismissed by Lesnar, Heyman managed Big Show to defeat him and likewise with Kurt Angle to the Big Show.  

Paul could make you boo at the sound of his voice, but you also respected the level of talent that he kept around him.

Greatest Managers of All Time

#10 - “Classy” Freddie Blassie

“Listen, You Pencil-Neck Geek” is all the great Freddie Blassie had to say to captivate an audience.  He managed High Chief Peter Miavia, Mr. Fuji, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, George “The Animal” Steele and even Hulk Hogan,  Perhaps his mos successful run was with Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik.  He led Sheik to a World Title win and the Pair to a Tag Team Championship on Wrestlemania 1.  Blassie was a man who’s mere voice would make you want to punch his lights out, and at the same time you can step back and tell he was excellent at what he did.  Blassie passed away in 2003 but towards the end of his life he made a few WWE appearances and heard nothing but respect from the fans in attendance.  It just shows that no matter how much you hated the character, everyone learned to respect the person.