The 411 Wrestling Top 5 6.10.09: Week 26 – Managers

Posted by Michael Bauer on 06.10.2009

From "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart and Bobby Hennan of the 1980's WWF to Jim Cornette from Smokey Mountain Wrestling and to Sherri Martel, Tammy Stych and the escorts, the 411 Staff ranks their Top 5 Managers in the latest edition of the 411 Wrestling Top 5! What did they select? Check out the full article for all the details.

Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling's Top 5 List. What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions. At the end, based on where all these matches rank on people's list, we will create the 411 Wrestling Top 5 list. The scoring is very similar to the Wrestler of the Week as it looks like this:

#1 Choice – 5 points
#2 Choice – 4 points
#3 choice – 3 points
#4 Choice – 2 points
#5 Choice – 1 point
Honorable Mentions will break ties, but get no points.

Also, in the case of a tie, the most votes win, regardless of where it is listed in the individual Top 5. I will also use this rule in the event that one item is mentioned more often, but is one point behind. For example, one second place vote and two Honorable Mentions will defeat simply one first place vote.


So, on to this week's topic…

THE TOP 5 MANAGERS

Managing is such a lost art in the world of wrestling today. The WWE has Tony Atlas, Natalya, and Katie Lea in ECW and unless you ever counted Hornswoggle, that's really it. TNA is even more manager empty, since James Mitchell is out and Team Canada is gone. And the Indies, where managers always seem to crop up, has nothing more than Larry Sweeney. The art is lost, but it doesn't mean we can't enjoy the fruits of the past greatness. The 411 Staff has come up with their Top 5 Managers and made a little history in the process.

So what did our group of writers select? Let's find out…



Jeremy Thomas

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Jim Cornette - It pains me, for the record, to leave some people off the list or to rank them as low as they did. But that's the way the cookie crumbles. Jim Cornette was a fantastic manager during his heyday, and he certainly had a gift for getting his charges over. I just wish I could have ranked him higher; it's through no fault of his own that he's here.

Sherri Martel - Sensational Sherri was for many people the first example of a real heel lady manager, and she is certainly the best of them. She was incredibly influential on the position of a manager, and her many gigs alongside for such people as Harlem Heat, Randy Savage and Shawn Michaels cement her among the top managers.

The Grand Wizard - Ahh, good ol' Wizard. Talk about a guy who was influential. Any flamboyant, bizarrely-dressed manager or comedy character these days owes their gig to the Wizard. He managed two World Champions in Stan Stasiak and Billy Graham and made himself stand out with his obnoxious promos that would really get a crowd riled up. Good times.

5.Paul Bearer - Paul Bearer is what most readers will know him as--and deservedly so, as that was where he found his most fame in wrestling. Many people will remember him before he was the pasty-faced, howling manager to the Undertaker, when he was Percy Pringle in WCCW and the USWA and where he managed Rick Rude and Steve Austin while they were just getting their starts. Paul/Percy had an uncanny knack at getting his wrestlers over and while one can't take credit away from 'Taker or the WWF marketing machine for his push, Bearer was an integral part of that, and of the rise of Kane. He has some of the best managerial facial expressions of all time and that distinctive, high-pitched wail of a voice will always get the crowd going.

4.Jimmy Hart - Jimmy Hart is probably a bit higher-ranked in my personal all-time mark-out lists for managers. As the Mouth of the South, Jimmy was the most annoying man in the WWF during his heyday in the late 80's and early 90's. Jimmy helped get the Hart Foundation over, giving the young tag team of Jim Neidhart and Bret Hart a mouthpiece to keep the crowd pissed at them as they rose through the ranks, and he is also largely responsible for helping get Greg "The Hammer" Valentine over. The image of Jimmy with his megaphone, shouting into the ring at the ref during matches or delivering his motor-mouth promos that made people just want to kick his ass, is an iconic one that no wrestling fan of that period will ever forget.

3.Freddie Blassie - And here we have a wrestling manager so influential and famous, he has a novelty song that soared to the top of the charts. Freddie Blassie single-handedly made "pencil-necked geek" a household term. After a long and very successful in-ring career, he turned himself to managing and found himself acting as the mouthpiece for foreign heels and wild men. He was able to get the crowd just utterly incensed at him and, by extension, the wrestlers he managed. He helped launch a lot of careers, people who would become icons in the industry such as the Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, King Kong Bundy, Peter Maivia, Jesse Ventura and even Hulk Hogan--and Mr. Fuji, who would become one hell of a manager in his own right (and who is one of those people it pained me to leave off). "Classy" Blassie was and always will be the man.

2.Miss Elizabeth - In the days of women "valets"--which more or less means hot women, often with little personality, who slink their way skankily to the ring at a wrestler's side--it's hard to remember what a true valet used to be. To be reminded, look no further than Elizabeth Hulette. The girlfriend and eventual wife of Randy Savage exemplified what for every young wrestling-watching man was the perfect woman. She was beautiful, classy and cool, and she was at the side of some of our favorite wrestlers. I daresay that, as good as Savage was, he wouldn't have gotten over as well as he did without Elizabeth by his side. She is inseparable from Savage in memory and even after Savage's real-life issues tore their marriage apart and she eventually spiraled downhill to die of a massive drug overdose in then-boyfriend Lex Luger's home, it's impossible for me not to think of her as one of the greatest and classiest women in the history of wrestling and easily one of the top managers, second to only one.

1.Bobby Heenan - And here's that one. Really, did you expect anyone else? Bobby "The Brain" Heenan was the man that you just loved to hate. He was smart, he was witty, and he could make fans laugh at the same time that we booed him. There's not much more I can say here that my esteemed colleagues haven't said. The Brain--or the Weasel, if you prefer--is simply the top manager in the history of the business, and I don't know how anyone can really disagree with this one.



Aaron Hubbard

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Jimmy Hart - Growing up watching WCW, I knew this guy as Hulk Hogan's cheerleader, and so I instantly liked him. Later, I found out what an annoying twerp he was in the WWF in the 80's and fell in love even more.

Paul Bearer - Annoying, weird, and largely responsible for getting the Undertaker over despite one of the most preposterous gimmicks of all time.

Lou Albano - Do the Mario! Iconic heel manager for two decades and iconic babyface manager during one of wrestling's hottest periods. He was also the most successful manager of tag teams in terms of sheer number of teams holding gold.

5.Paul Heyman - Unlike a lot of the older folks, I've never gotten a chance to see a lot of Heyman's "Paul E. Dangerously" days, so I don't really know how good he was then. However, if he was anywhere as close as good in that role as he was in 2002-2003, then I'm sure he was great. Heyman took his cowardly, evil, creative genius character and turned into the wrestling equivalent of Dr. Frankenstein, and his monster was Brock Lesnar. Brock had every natural gift except for mic skills, and Paul certainly overcompensated in that area. Heyman's knack for opportunity and betrayal led him to manage THREE straight WWE Champions in a row (Lesnar, Big Show, and Kurt Angle). Heyman excelled at everything he did, and he was a great manager.

4.Sherri Martel - I love Sherri. Whether she was Sensational or Sensous, a Queen or a "Sistah", Sherri was one of the best managers of all time. She was able to adapt to her charges, changing her mannerisms ever so slightly and her wardrobe much less slightly. It was that attitude that allowed Sherri to augment her charges rather than overshadow them. She has managed some of the best: Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, and Shawn Michaels, and always played a perfect foil for them.

3.Jim Cornette - If Jimmy Hart hadn't already gotten the label, I would argue that Cornette is the true "Mouth of the South". Blessed with a gift of gab and cursed with a scrawny frame, Cornette was able to use what he had to become very successful in the business as a manager. He was iconic in his role as the Midnight Express' manager, and later found success in the WWF accompanying the likes of Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, and Vader. Cornette was not afraid to take a few lumps for the sake of other's entertainment. Sadly, Cornette's run as evil heel manager in the 1990's was one of the last truly successful runs of a manager in that company.

2.Freddie Blassie - One word: hatred. Blassie was as over a heel as their ever was, a villian of the worst kind. He was hated by fans as a wrestler and that hatred carried over to his charges. Blassie was able to take a relative newcomer like Hulk Hogan and get him over enough as a monster heel that people thought he could beat Andre the Giant. Whether he was "Classy" or an "Ayatollah", Fred put heat on his charges and made them instantly despised. And that's enough for me to give him the #2 spot. Got a problem with that? Shut up, you pencil-necked geek!

1.Bobby "The Brain" Heenan - If you grew up watching the World Wrestling Federation, then I would imagine that you associate the word "manager" with Bobby Heenan. Call him "The Brain" or "The Weasel", Heenan was pure entertainment. Bobby managed a lot of the big names in this sport, such as Nick Bockwinkel, Big John Studd, King Kong Bundy, Mr. Perfect and Rick Rude, and some less popular but still iconic characters like Hercules and Haku. But he is best known for managing Ric Flair during his first WWF tenure and for managing Andre the Giant during his heel run. The biggest match in wrestling history featured Bobby Heenan as the manager for the evil giant. Bobby is, in my mind, the greatest manager to ever grace the ring.



Julian Bond

HONORABLE MENTIONS

James Mitchell - This man in my opinion is one of the most underrated managers and talkers of all time. Either by having people do his bidding as "The Sinister Minister" in the old ECW or being a great mouthpiece with essentially getting the Abyss character over big-time in TNA, Mitchell was one of the best talkers and managers around.

Sunny - A lot of people may jump to call her just "eye-candy", but Sunny did a whole lot of good as an actual "manager" with the likes of the Bodydonnas, the Smokin' Gunns, and of course Chris Candido. Oh…and she was hot as hell too.

"The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase - I know that Dibiase was mainly a wrestler first and a manager second, but the man provided me some many awesome memories as a youth watching him control "The Million Dollar Corporation" stable. "Money, money, money, money, mooooooooooneeey".

5."The Mouth of The South" Jimmy Hart - Jimmy Hart wasn't just one of the best all-around managers with him looking over greats such as Hulk Hogan and the Hart Foundation, but he was also one of the most memorable look-wise. Who in their right-mind would wear such loud-looking bright jackets going around the ring constantly carrying and yelling through a big megaphone? Only Jimmy Hart. Definitely one of the best.

4.Paul Bearer - It could be heavily argued that without the help of Paul Bearer, the Undertaker character could have possibly not gotten over. Think about it. If the Undertaker just came out, started chokeslamming people, and then did his trademark deep-voiced threats of destruction, then people may have written him off as a joke. But with Bearer's eerie facial expressions (accelerated by the awesomely bad make-up job) and his funny, but ultra-creepy promos hyping up the Dead Man, the Undertaker kept a horribly mysterious persona until he was able to fully break out on his own. On top of this, Bearer's antics around the ring with the constant rubbing and caressing of Taker's "powerful" urn along with his effective match interferences (which later included the likes of Mankind and Kane) made him an awesome manager.

3.Sherri Martel - The debate I had in my head (and I'm sure in some other writers here) was with the differences between a valet and a manager. A valet is usually considered a woman who walks with a wrestler down to the ring, but doesn't really interfere that often nor cuts promos on a constant basis. A manager is usually someone who teams up with various different wrestlers in their lifetime and often makes a significant difference in the outcomes of their matches. So no offense to Miss Elizabeth (whom I was tempted to place here), but Sherri Martel takes the cake of manager and then some. This gal has managed SO many wrestlers that it's hard to count (Harlem Heat, Shawn Michaels, Sting, Ric Flair, etc). Plus when she got involved in the matches, she REALLY got involved via slapping, beating, and even taking down some male wrestlers double her size. She definitely had set the standard high not only for female managers, but for the whole field of managers in wrestling period.

2.Jim Cornette - When I was young watching wrestling in the 90s, all I knew of Cornette was that he was a funny looking guy who always carried a tennis racket around and hung out with the likes of Yokozuna and Vader. But looking back at his work, the man as a manager was awesome as hell. I watched the old matches back in the day with the Midnight Express tag team and seeing Cornette as the manager who interfered in their matches on their behalf like 110% of the time and drew SO MUCH heat from the crowds was a sight to behold. His promos were sick as hell, his tactics were perfectly heelish, and the man always had everyone watching his every move to see what crazy thing that he'll do next. Almost picture perfect heel manager.

1.Bobby "The Brain" Heenan - When I think of the best managers of all time, I first think of Bobby Heenan. The man defined what it meant to be a heel manager and what he did inside and outside of the ring was almost pure genius. I knew that this man was one of the best because every time I watched him on my TV screen, I actually believed every word that came out of his mouth. I knew that wrestling-wise that every word of smack talk was absolute BS, but that didn't matter because Heenan seemed so believable as a chicken-shit heel. No matter who he was looking over (such as Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect), Heenan always managed to be the center of attention when it mattered and always got fans to boo the living crap out of him as a manager. Set the standard for how a true heel manager should be.



Dan Torkel

Honorable Mention

Slick - 3 words: JIVE SOUL BRO!!!

5.Capt. Lou Albano - I remember renting the Best of the WWF Tag Titles when I was much younger, it was a Coliseum video that featured nearly every title change from the mid 70's to mid 80's. Albano was EVERYWHERE. He redefined the way managers aided tag team wrestling by constantly interjecting himself into matches. He also worked as both heel and face managing the Samoans and British Bulldogs, as well as many many many others.

4.James E. Cornette - I grew up in NYC and thus didn't get to appreciate Cornette till much later being a WWE junkie, but he was a great example of a manager that could talk his wrestler to superstardom. Think about the Midnights without Cornette doing their match commentaries. Big Bubba (Bossman), all the stars of SMW would not be where they are without Cornette. Best thing about him, was that he genuinely loves wrestling and it always showed.

3.Paul E. Dangerously (Heyman) - Paul E, was a loud mouthed stable man in the early 90's WCW and his Dangerous Alliance was one of the things that saved WCW after Flair's exit mid 1991. His Alliance of US Champ Rick Rude, TV Champ Steve Austin, and veterans Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, and Larry Z gave him the most diverse and one of the best heel stables ever. He constantly annoyed us with his phone and interference. Then he returned to managing and led Brock Lesnar to fulfill his NEXT BIG THING moniker in 2002.

2."The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart - There was no one more hated by the young mark fan in the 80's WWE than Jimmy. His megaphone drew ire whether it was the never quieting voice or its use as a weapon for his stable of wrestlers. He was at one point the manager of both the IC (Honky Tonk) and Tag Team Champs (Hart Foundation) when they were important titles, and he then went on to manage Hogan to several World Titles.

1.Bobby "The Brain" Heenan - No one did more to help his wrestlers than good ole Bobby Heenan. The Brain was great and managing several world title contenders in his never ending attempts to destroy Hulkamania (Bundy, Orndorff, Andre, Race, Rude, etc.) He was always abused, beaten and battered by the popular faces but never left his family behind. He is what all managers should aspire to be.



Shawn S. Lealos

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Gary Hart - Gary Hart was a perfect manager in that he was a mouthpiece that both pissed the fans off and put over his wrestlers while remaining on point and moving the storylines forward. I remember him best from his World Class days managing Gino Hernandez and Chris Adams, although he also managed Bruiser Brody, Abdullah the Butcher and The Great Muta over the years.

Classy Freddie Blassie - Pencil Necked Geek. During his wrestling career, he was at one point managed by Capt. Lou Albano and learned everything he needed to know. During his time as a mouthpiece, he managed Nikolai Volkoff, Peter Maivia, Jesse Ventura, The Iron Sheik, King Kong Bundy and an early heel Hulk Hogan.

James J. Dillon - JJ Dillon managed the greatest faction to ever exist in professional wrestling, The Four Horsemen. As a manager, he was never afraid to put his body on the line, as evidenced in The War Games. As Tully Blanchard's, the two created one of the greatest bad guys ever in the NWA.

5. Paul Heyman - Why is Paul Heyman ranked above Blassie and Dillon on my list? He was probably involved in the greatest manager vs. manager feud in professional wrestling history. Paul E. Dangerously got his start in the CWA as he led Tommy Rich and Austin Idol in a war against Jerry Lawler. He moved on to the AWA where he managed Loverboy Dennis and Ravishing Randy, The Original Midnight Express. It was only a matter of time, and when Paul E. brought his "originals" to Crockett Promotions the war between himself and Jim Cornette of the New Midnight Express was on. He would also manage Mean Mark Callous (The Undertaker) at the time. He left the scene for awhile but got a second life when he started the Dangerous Alliance, managing Beautiful Bobby Eaton, Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Steve Austin and Larry Zbyszko. His group ruled the scene in WCW throughout most of 1992. His next stop was in ECW where he managed Sabu and 911 but soon he took over leadership of the entire promotion and it seemed his tenure as a manager was over. He would get one more chance in the spotlight when he left his announcement position in the WWE to manage rookie Brock Lesner all the way to a WWE Championship win over The Rock, turned on Lesner to manage The Big Show to the title and then turned on Show to manage Kurt Angle becoming the first man in history to manage three consecutive world champions. Paul Heyman is one of the greatest talkers to ever step into a ring and had a career most managers would kill for.

4. General Skandar Akbar - I have lived in Oklahoma my entire life so my earliest memories of professional wrestling was Bill Watt's Mid South Wrestling. There was no man more hated in that promotion then evil manager Skandar Akbar and no force more powerful than his Devestation Inc. He would spend most his time in Mid South/UWF and World Class Wrestling and was best known for smoking his cigars at ringside, taunting ringside fans and managing the most ruthless monsters you could ever imagine against the greatest baby faces in the promotion. Whether it was feuding with the Von Erichs or Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Akbar would always be the most hated man in the arena. Look at a small portion of the men he managed: Abdullah the Butcher, Wild Bill Irwin, Cactus Jack, Dirty Dick Murdoch, Kamala, The Missing Link, Great Kabuki, Hercules Hernandez, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang, Nord the Barbarian. He was the manager of monsters and no manager has come close to matching the heat he could build for himself in any arena in the country.

3. Captain Lou Albano - Captain Lou Albano managed 15 different tag team champions. Think about that - this man, with his rubber band pierced face, managed 15 different teams to tag team gold. While he started as a wrestler, Bruno Sammartino encouraged him to move into the position of manager and, thanks to his wit and charismatic demeanor, he quickly became wrestling's most hated manager in the 70s. He would earn the wrath of fans when he managed Ivan Koloff to a victory over world champion Sammartino. It was his only taste of a world title but he would lead men such as Pat Patterson, Don Muraco and Greg Valentine to the Intercontinental Championship. But his greatest accomplishment was in the tag team division where he would lead teams such as Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito, Jimmy and Johnny Valiant, The Wild Samoans and The Moondogs to tag team gold. He was also responsible for the Rock ‘n' Wrestling Connection, which brought wrestling to new heights in the 80s. He became a hugely popular figure at this time and would lead The British Bulldogs to tag team gold before finally retiring from the business. As a tag team wrestling fan, no list of managers would be complete without the master of the division, Capt. Lou.

2. Jim Cornette - He managed the greatest tag team in the history of the sport, and that is really all that needs to be said. Jim Cornette had the perfect gimmick, a mama's boy who did whatever his mama told him to do. He was a privileged preppy jerk and happened to manage the Midnight Express, a team that made life hell for fan favorites such as The Rock n Roll Express, The Road Warriors and The Fantastics. When it seemed the Express had reached their peak, he improved the team by replacing Loverboy Dennis with Sweet Stan Lane, formerly of the Fabulous Ones, and the Midnight Express was better than ever. He brought in a bodyguard, Big Bubba Rogers, making himself more cowardly and hated. I said Akbar could rile up a crowd with his mouth like no other manager, but Cornette came damn close. And who can forget that fall from the scaffold that legitimately broke his leg. He would leave WCW and create Smoky Mountain Wrestling, where he would remain on camera as the manager for The Heavenly Bodies. When the doors closed, he would go to the WWF with the Bodies and soon would move on to manage Vader, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog. He's now the commissioner in TNA but is widely considered the smartest manager to ever exist in the sport.

1. Bobby "The Brain" Heenan - This is easy. Bobby "The Brain" Heenan was perfect as a manager because he lied, cheated and stole everything he could to try to reach the top. You hated men like Cornette, Akbar and Heyman but you wanted to see a man like Heenan get humiliated. It was a different kind of hate you held for Heenan. I have early memories of him managing Nick Bockwinkel in the AWA and while managing the man who would end Verne Gagne's title reign, he earned the nickname The Weasel. It was also at this time that he proved he would humiliate himself and put himself in physical danger every night of the week if it meant putting over both himself and the wrestlers. But it was in the WWF that Heenan would be a star. He was second to only Jesse Ventura when it came to preaching the evils of Hulk Hogan. Heenan would help turn Hogan's own friends against him by showing them how the Hulkster was holding them down. He would lead King Kong Bundy, Paul Orndorff, Rick Rude and Harley Race all against Hogan. He might be best known as the man who convinced beloved fan favorite Andre the Giant to turn on Hogan and demand a match. During all this time, Heenan was never able to achieve his goals. Finally, he was able to lead Rick Rude to an upset of The Ultimate Warrior for his first WWF gold. He would go on to manage Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson, and then later Haku and Andre to World Tag Team gold and then Mr. Perfect to two Intercontinental title reigns. Heenan was only just getting started. When Ric Flair jumped to the WWF, Heenan brought out the NWA World Championship Belt on WWF television and announced the real World Champion was coming. Flair would return, and under the advisement of Heenan would capture the WWF World Championship. Bobby Heenan is the greatest wrestling manager of all time, no contest.



Chris Lansdell

Honorable Mentions:

Slick - What you talking bout baaaaaby? I don't do nothin' but tell the truth! (Insert skeezy laugh) If only for that song, this man deserves a spot. He also managed some of the biggest, meanest guys in WWF and did it in style.

Sherri/Sunny - Sorry, I just could not separate these two. Although Sherri paved the way for Sunny and was a tremendous manager in her own right, Sunny brought the sexy valet to a new level and paved the way for Trish Stratus...and we all know what she did.

Jimmy Hart - The Mouth of the South was loud, he was annoying, he had the essential accessory-cum-weapon that all heel managers needed, and he had some star clients.

5. Paul Bearer: Controversial, perhaps, to include him behind the next guy on the list, but I have my reasons. First, as iconic as his relationship with Taker was, he really didn't do much outside of that and its tangents. Regardless, he fit the character perfectly, played some good roles in angles related to Taker, and that voice...

4. Father James Mitchell: In my mind Mitchell took Bearer's spooky, removed the soft cartoony edges and dialed the freaky up to 11. Mitchell's work with Abyss, The New Church and later against Abyss was always top-notch, as he made the best of some shite material.While Bearer was a good character, Mitchell genuinely freaked me out from time to time.

3. Skandor Akbar: What would a Top 5 be without a nostalgia pick? In all seriousness, how this man hasn't been mentioned is a mystery to me. He was one of the biggest heels in WCCW and GWF, managing the likes of Kamala, Cactus Jack, Missing Link and One Man Gang. He was so over that he used to have to wear a bulletproof vest in public. Only misses number 1 because of the brilliance of the 2 ahead of him, and his slightly less than stellar mic work.

2. James E Cornette: Yes, this means my number 1 is the same as everyone else, but it's such a slam dunk number 1. However, this is Corny's spot. You've probably heard of him: he's the man who oversaw the biggest and most celebrated tag team feud in wrestling history: Midnight Express vs Rock n Roll Express. His single-minded determination to destroy the RnR and the sheer magnitude of the feud, combined with his amazing mic skills, would be enough to get him a spot on this list. When you add in the NWA-WWF invasion angle, the Owen and Davey Boy stuff, Yokozuna and his work in RoH and TNA, including the Great Managerial Debate with Bobby Heenan ("Will you just DIE and let me be number 1 already!")...Only one man has ever been or will ever be better.

1. Bobby "The Brain" Heenan: The standard by which all managers past, present and future will be judged. He manahed champions from Haku and Andre to Ric Flair. He fought a rooster. He's been a broadcast journalist, and a damn good one. The Weasel, the head of the Heenan Family. Need a promo? He'll cut one. Need interference? He can do that too. Dry wit? In spades. Heenan is awesome. Case closed.



Ryan Byers

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Paul Bearer/Percy Pringle III - I had to bump him down to honorable mention status because he was really only successful with one act on a national level, but he was DAMN good with that one act and a very proficient manager outside of the Bearer gimmick, even if not as many people have seen that work.

Slick - This one is more of a personal favorite than anything else. Though his character smacked of racist overtones and appeared to have walked out of a minstrel show, if you got past that, the guy who was doing the work was a solid promo and took some of my favorite cartoonish manager bumps in history.

Tammy Sytch/Sunny - Sunny is to managing what Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin were to music. They weren't around long enough to amass a large body of work, but what they did do was genius. At least Sytch has (thusfar) avoided the early death that hit the other two.

5.Sherri Martel - Every generation or so, there is a female performer in wrestling who stands out significantly more than any other female performers in the business. She stands out so much that she has to be given some role other than that of the undercard lady wrestler who gets five minutes of face time on any given show. In the late 1990's in the WWF, that performer was Chyna. Nowadays, it's Vickie Guerrero. In the 1980's, it was Sherri Martel. Though not as good a promo as other legendary managers, her timing and her bump taking were so great that she was practically destined to be something bigger than the heir apparent to the Fabulous Moolah. As such, she got paired with the likes of Randy Savage and Ted DiBiase, becoming the perpetual foil for the virtuous Miss Elizabeth, and, as a result, a constant pain in the ass for wrestling's biggest star, Hulk Hogan.

4.Ernie Roth/Grand Wizard of Wrestling/Abdullah Farouk - I expect to be the only person on the panel who votes for this fellow, which shouldn't be a surprise when you consider the age and of the people who write for and read the site. That's not to say that I'm older than the majority of the people here . . . but, having done some reading up on Roth and having viewed a fair amount of footage of his interviews, I have to put the Grand Wizard on the list. He was the brains behind all of the top rivals for WWWF Champions Bob Backlund and Bruno Sammartino, possessing a promo style and a gaudy fashion sense that inspired generations of managers, including all three of the guys who I have higher up on this list. Perhaps most notably, though, he stood in the corner of the original Sheik, who was the most feared and respected heel of his territory and his era. Roth (as Abdullah Farouk) was a big part of that package and did just as much to establish the Sheik as the Sheik did.

3.Paul E. Dangerously/Paul Heyman - There is a cult of pro wrestling fans who idol worship Paul Heyman as the greatest booker of all time. Of those fans, a lot of them don't even stop to think that, as good of a booker as he may have been, he was even BETTER in his role as a manager. He managed several different men early in his career, but, when the calendar turned to 1991, he embarked on the angle that would make his career as a cornerman. The Dangerous Alliance, consisting of Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson, and Larry Zbyszko, was perhaps wrestling's best example of how a heel stable should come in to existence, dominate a promotion, and ultimately break up. The key component of all of that (on camera if not creatively) was Heyman, whose promos pulled everything together in one beautiful package. That wasn't the end of Heyman's managerial career, though, as he went on to become one of the saving graces of the largely DOA Invasion angle of 2001, and then turned in to the biggest reasons that Brock Lesnar is a household name today.

2.James E. Cornette - I'm almost at a loss as to what to say about my number two and number one entries, because they have been praised for years as the best at their craft. However, after thinking about each of them for a while, I realized that they both have the same strongest suit: Versatility. True, a lot of his detractors will try to paint Jim Cornette as the guy who is stuck in 1989 and unable to adapt to the modern times of professional wrestling. However, I don't think that anything could be further from the truth. Cornette can and has performed in just about every managerial role imaginable in professional wrestling, and he's done it better than almost anybody else. He started out as the sniveling, cowardly momma's boy. Though he never completely shed that image, it evolved as he aged, and we quickly saw him become the evil, villainous mastermind behind the Midnight Express in the NWA, Camp Cornette in the WWF, or the Heavenly Bodies in Smokey Mountain. You want comedy? Cornette can also do comedy, as evidenced by quite a few SMW skits in which he was humiliated by midgets and cakes to the face. To top it all off, if you want to throw the supposedly hokier, supposedly less realistic world of pre-"Attitude" professional wrestling out of the window, JC can also portray a character that is right in line with modern tastes, as evidenced by his rants at the height of Monday Night Raw and by his work in Ring of Honor. The man with the tennis racket has seen it all, done it all, and will hopefully be doing even more when they invent new things for him to do.

1.Bobby "The Brain" Heenan - Like Cornette, Heenan's greatest strength is his versatility. Unlike a lot of the individuals on the list, he's got an extra dimension in that he himself used to compete in the ring on a regular basis. However, a small body and an unflattering natural physique quickly resulted in the Brain's in-ring performances being limited to the odd comedy match in which the loser would have to wear a weasel suit. Despite that, everybody who I have heard talk about Heenan's pre-managerial wrestling days talks about him as a pretty solid little performer, which would definitely translate to his days as a mouthpiece for those who were more physically suited to being in the ring. Yes, everybody probably best remembers the Heenan as the buffoonish lout who appeared on All American Wrestling alongside Gorilla Monsoon, but that was not his only role. In fact, it probably wasn't even his best role. He was also the king of the dastardly heels when he was allowed to be, whether it was hatching schemes to bring down Hulkamania or backing up the cerebral Nick Bockwinkel in his glorious AWA Title reign. Simply put, Heenan is the kind of guy that columns like this were invented to praise.



Michael Bauer

Paul Bearer - Very one dimensional, as without the Undertaker, he wouldn't be anywhere near a list.

Larry Sweeney - The best today. If he gets out of the Indies, he could be a Top 5 easily someday.

Lacey - Hey, it's my list and I am picking the hottest manager I have ever seen! The lovely Lacey is as much of a bitch as she is beautiful, with a sweet side to match.

5. Paul Heyman - His work in WCW was a thing of beauty and it does get lost on the shuffle when you think of Paul as the mad genius behind ECW. But his work in the WWE with Brock Lesnar was just as genius as anything else he did.

4. Tammy "Sunny" Stych - Sunny is the only manager to manage three consecutive tag team champions in the WWF. Captain Lou, Bobby Hennan, and Jimmy Hart never did that. And yes, she started as the prima donna workout out girl with Skip of the Body Donnas, everything after that was so classic that she was dubbed the Original Diva of the WWF.

3. Jim Cornette - First, let's get rid of everything Jim Cornette has (or hasn't) done with TNA. Now look at the results. He has led Tag team to major gold in three federations, inclduing the WWE and NWA. He has had the ability to adapt to just about any team he worked with and yes, he has the comedy to go along with it. But the longevity of his career is also a thing to note. He has managed the Midnight Express, Yoko and Owen, and even went to Ring of Honor to manage the Briscoes. But of course, for every Vader, there was Mantaur.

2. Jimmy Hart - He is mostly known as Hogan's left hand man now, but Jimmy has arguably the greatest collection of champions under him. The first person he managed was Greg Valentine in 1985, as Intercontinental Champ. He also worked with King Kong Bundy, the Funk family, Honky Tonk Man, and Earthquake. He formed the Hart Foundation of Bret and the Anvil, led the Nasty Boys to gold, and fought against Hogan as the voice in the Dungeon of Doom. And there are many more, but very few names are unknown to the world. Hart had the voice and the greatest gift in the world… the Megaphone!

1. Bobby "The Brain" Hennan - Is there any doubt? Bobby was the most outgoing personality in wrestling for the 1980's after working with the AWA for years, managing the Blackjacks and Nick Bockwinkel. In the WWF, he was paired with Big John Studd to strat the Hennan Family, working with Andre the Giant, The Brainbusters, Rick Rude, Harley Race, Mr. Perfect, Terry Taylor, among others. He left that world to do commentating, but had Hennan been around longer as a manager, he would no doubt never leave the #1 spot ever!



So with all said and done, here is the 411 Wrestling's Overall Top 5 Gimmick Matches.

Honorable Mention: Classy Freddie Blassie - 7 points (1 2nd place vote, 1 3rd place vote, 1 Honorable Mention)

5. Sherri Martel - 6 points (1 3rd place vote, 1 4th place vote, 1 5th place vote, 2 Honorable Mentions – 2 More Mentions than the Honorable Mention)

4. Paul Heyman/Paul E Dangerously - 9 points (2 3rd place votes, 3 5th place votes)

3. "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart - 11 points (2 2nd place votes, 1 4th place vote, 1 5th place vote, 2 Honorable Mentions)

2. Jim Cornette - 24 points (4 2nd place votes, 2 3rd place votes, 1 4th place vote, 1 Honorable Mention)

1. Bobby "The Brain" Hennan - 40 points (8 1st place votes) – THIS MARKS THE FIRST EVER CLEAN SWEEP ON THE 411 WRESTLING TOP 5!