The word legend is one so easily tossed around in the world of pro wrestling that, truly, it long ago has lost its effectiveness. That being said, regardless of one’s definition, in the world of women’s pro wrestling, arguably the best women’s wrestler of all-time — the Fabulous Moolah — truly stands a legend among legends. In memory of her passing at the age of 74, today for our Old-School Sundays, we are pleased to offer fans a glimpse into this illustriou women’s career, one that spanned more than 50 years including a reign as WWF Women’s Champion for an unprecedented 28-straight years. It was finally broken by Wendi Richter in July 1984, although Moolah — under the guise of the masked Spider Lady — would eventually recapture the title. After various other title wins and losses in subsequent years, she became a cameo performer almost right up to the time of her death on WWE TV, appearing with Mae Young in a series of highly-entertaining and popular vignettes on WWERAW and various WorldWrestlingEntertainment pay-per-views. Moolah’s legacy will live forever. Rest in peace, Lillian Ellison, you will live forever in the world of pro wrestling as the Fabulous Moolah.
For anyone who grew up watching pro wrestling in the 80s, this man really needs no introduction — but for those who may be a tad younger, here’s a lesson in Pro Wrestling 101 for you: by any definition, when you think of a pro wrestling manager, surely, you can find no better template to define this role than Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, our focus today here on Old-School Sundays (our regular weekly feature here at WrestlersRamblings with your host, Mr. Mal Occhio). Here’s our bio on “The Brain” for everyone’s enjoyment, complete with snippets of video interspliced between that begin to tell only a sampling of this man’s career. Best of luck to Bobby in his health battles as well, detailed below. Mr. Mal will always regard Heenan as the best pro wrestling manager of all-time, and that’s no easy feat when considering such other greats as “Classy” Freddie Blassie and Jimmy “Mouth of the South” Hart. That being said, for those not-in-the-know, let’s show (and tell) you why Bobby Heenan earned such a distinguished honor from Mr. Mal (one, I’m sure, that “The Brain” would cherish above all other accolades received in his illustrious career).
Bobby “The Brain” Heenan biography
Raymond Louis Heenan was born far removed from his announced home of Beverly Hills, namely Chicago, ILL on Nov. 1, 1940. He began his pro wrestling career at local events carrying bags and jackets for the wrestlers, eventually becoming a worker himself both inside the ring and at ringside, where he would go on to truly make his name as one of the most-famous pro wrestling managers of all-time. Equally adept at taking a big, crowd-popping bump to conclude a babyface comeback or unleash a quick-witted quip with the skill of a Wild West gunslinger while calling the action for television, few men have even had half the career of the great Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.
Joining the old American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1969, Heenan guided TheBlackjacks (Mulligan and Lanza) before moving on to the team of Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens — earning AWA tag team gold in the process, and eventually, AWA World Championship gold for Bockwinkel. It was in the AWA where Dick “The Bruiser” would first dub Heenan a “weasel”. It would be a nickname he would carry the remainder of his career. Check out this classic with Heenan teaming with the Original Sheik against Bobo Brazil and Dick the Bruiser:
It would be in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), however, where Heenan would leave his largest legacy as leader of the Heenan family, a group of heels that, at one time or another, consisted of the following luminaries: Paul “Mr. Wonderful” Orndorff; Hercules Hernandez; King Kong Bundy; Big John Studd; The Brainbusters (Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson); Ken Patera; Rick Rude; Harley Race; The Islanders (King Tonga aka Haku and Toma aka The Tonga Kid); The Barbarian; Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig; Lex Luger; Ric Flair; Red Rooster aka Terry Taylor and Steve Lombardi aka The Brooklyn Brawler. Heenan’s biggest coup, literally and figuratively, would be securing the services of the legendary Andre the Giant in an effort to snag the WWFWorld Championship off Hulk Hogan in the epic WrestleMania III match. He failed, but the match is one of the most-famous of all-time, earning all participants pro wrestling immortality. Interestingly, the coupling of Andre-Heenan would come after years of feuding, including breaking Andre’s sternum and cutting the Giant’s hair:
Heenan would also make his mark behind the microphone as well, partnered with Gorilla Monsoon. Their on-air squabbling was the antithesis of their off-air friendship, with both men playing off each other with the skill, at times, of a vaudevillian comedic duo. Heenan, the self-dubbed “broadcast journalist” would commonly refer to the viewing audience as “ham and eggers” or “humanoids” all the while earning the “scorn” of Monsoon, often times ending with Gorilla’s famous, “Gimme a break!” So close were the two that, despite having never worked for the company, Monsoon’s death in 1999 was announced on live WCW TV — at the insistence of Heenan, who broke down in tears revealing the news to fans. Check out this great compilation of Heenan-Monsoon interaction!
Speaking of WCW, it woudl the mid-90s when Heenan would leave the WWF for the Ted Turner’s World Championshiop Wrestling, citing a lighter schedule as well as their offer to pay for health insurace. The Brain still legitamately suffered from a broken neck suffered years earlier. After finally having surgery on the neck, Heenan had an infamous on-air incident with the late Brian Pillman during the grappler’s “Loose Cannon” gimmick. Pillman, unaware of Heenan’s neck problems, grabbed Heenan on-air in an unplanned episode, leading to Heenan dropping an F-bomb on live TV — for which he later apologized. Pillman, in turn, also reportedly apologized to Heenan. Eventually, with WCW, citing a need for a younger personality, replaced Heenan on WCW Nitro. See (and hear) for yourself! CAUTION – cursin’s a comin’!!
In recent years, Heenan has battled several health problems, chief among them throat cancer that has dramatically altered the tone of his voice and left him a physcial shell of his former stocky self. Of note, just this past week, Heenan had successful mandible reconstructive surgery using part of his innomiate bone. Or, to keep it simple for the humanoids, he had to have his jaw redone using parts of his hip. He has written two books on his wrestling days, Bobby The Brain: Wrestling’s Bad Boy Tells All, and Chair Shots & Other Obstacles: Winning Life’s Wrestling Matches.Heenan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004. All of us here at WrestlersRamblings.com wish Bobby a speedy recovery and a long, healthy life. You’re the best, Brain!
Mi, mi, mi . . . me!Mr. Mal, that is, as in — it’s my birthday today, so we’re going to make this edition of Old School Sundays nice and quick in order to allow me to get to celebratin’! For those that are new to the site, Sundays is the day that we take a look at the days of yesteryear in the world of pro wrestling, focusing on performers and performances worth remembering. There’s no set pattern as to who we honor, however, and each week is the proverbial ForrestGump box of chocolates. This week is no exception. Given that Mr. Mal is a wrestling fan reared in the Yellow Finger-era of HulkHogan’sWWF(not to mention Ric Flair’s NWA, Nick Bockwinkel and Curt Hennig’s AWA and Owen Hart’s Stampede) I always celebrated my birthday knowing that somewhere elese, two well-known names of that era were likewise doing the same: Danny Spivey and Nikolai Volkoff. No better time that the present that to honor both of these veterans with a look back at their abilities, thanks to YouTube.
For Spivey, Mr. Mal found a match that he was actually at, meaning, in the arena — to see this one live, when it happened — eleven rows from ringside. It is from a Saturday Night’s Main Event, featuring Spivey teaming with TitoSantana against the HartFoundation. This was back in the day when Spivey was being pushed as a BarryWindham-clone, after taking over Windham’s role in the tag team coupling of he and MikeRotundo. Interesting note here, however, as the week prior to this match, Rotundo left the WWF and Santana was a late substitution in the advertised match. The duo of Spivey and Santana would be short-lived, as Tito would go on to form Strikeforce with RickMartel (after TomZenk left the Can-AmConnection team of he and Martel) and Spivey would job heavily in the WWF before leaving a few years later for the NWA, eventually forming the powerful Skyscrappers duo with SidVicious, and for a short time, “Mean” MarkCallous — best known today to wrestling fans as TheUndertaker. Also included here for your enjoyment is a more ruggest, vicious Spivey during this NWA era, as part of the Skyscrappers duo as they face-off against the legendary Legion of Doom, the Road Warriors.
As for Nikolai Volkoff? What more can you say? Part of the immortal teaming of he and the Iron Sheik – managed originally by Mr. Mal fav “Classy” Freddie Blassie — Volkoff was the strong man and Sheik the devious, technical suplex machine that dominated the 80s WWF like few other teams. Featured here are these two WWE Hall of Famers as they enrage the crowd pre-match with Volkoff’s singing of the Russian National Anthem, plus, a great treat for true old-school fans, as I’ve found a rare treat of Volkoff tangling with the late, great “King Kong”Bruiser Brody from Sam Munchnick’sSt. Louis’ Wrestling promotion. A true battle of the big men!
In addition, I’d like to set out a song dedication of the tune, “Happy Birthday to Me” by the band Cracker (one of my favs) to all those who likewise share this special day with Mr. Mal,Nikolai and Spivey. As a bonus, I’ve also dug up a humorous vocal rendering by TheRock, serenading StephanieMcMahon from a WWERAW long, long ago . . . in a galaxy far, far away. Now let’s hear ya! Mi, mi, mi, mi . . . Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to Mal! Happy Birthday to me!! Thanks for stopping by! Now pass me a present and an extra big slice ‘o cake!!!
The word legend is one so easily tossed around in the world of pro wrestling that, truly, it long ago has lost its effectiveness. That being said, regardless of one’s definition, in the world of women’s pro wrestling, arguably the best women’s wrestler of all-time — the Fabulous Moolah — truly stands a legend among legends. In memory of her passing at the age of 74, today for our Old-School Sundays, we are pleased to offer fans a glimpse into this illustriou women’s career, one that spanned more than 50 years including a reign as WWF Women’s Champion for an unprecedented 28-straight years. It was finally broken by Wendi Richter in July 1984, although Moolah — under the guise of the masked Spider Lady — would eventually recapture the title. After various other title wins and losses in subsequent years, she became a cameo performer almost right up to the time of her death on WWE TV, appearing with Mae Young in a series of highly-entertaining and popular vignettes on WWE RAW and various World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-views. Moolah’s legacy will live forever. Rest in peace, Lillian Ellison, you will live forever in the world of pro wrestling as the Fabulous Moolah.