In October 1986, Heenan purchased the contract of Hercules from his previous manager Slick. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff to win the title from Hogan, but they were all unsuccessful. Early on, Heenan turned to Studd, Bundy and Hogan's on-again, off-again friend "Mr. In addition to André, WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan was another frequent target of the Heenan Family (though in real life the pair were friends and, when he was leaving the AWA, Heenan had actually called Hogan about getting work in the WWF and then suggested him to WWF owner Vince McMahon). After winning a match, Harley would make his defeated opponent "bow and kneel" before him and Heenan would usually assist the defeated opponent to "bow and kneel" by grabbing their hair and forcing them to bow before King Harley Race.Īs part of a storyline explaining André's leave of absence from the WWF (due to health problems and a tour of Japan), the Heenan Family campaigned to have André suspended for failing to show for matches against Studd and Bundy, and later to require a lifetime suspension from the WWF if they could prove a masked man competing as the "Giant Machine" was André. After this, he referred to himself as "King" Harley Race, coming to the ring in a royal crown and cape, to the ceremonial accompaniment of the tenth movement (known as "The Great Gates of Kiev") of Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky. During a time when the WWF did not recognize the existence of other promotions and the accomplishments a wrestler made there, WWF officials came up with a solution to recognize his wrestling pedigree by having him win the King of the Ring tournament. In May 1986, Heenan managed longtime friend Harley Race, bleaching his hair blond and billing himself as "Handsome" Harley Race. At WrestleMania 2, Heenan would manage King Kong Bundy at the main event. Studd and Bundy also formed a successful tag team, though they never seriously challenged for the WWF Tag Team Championship, instead concentrating on Heenan Family feuds with André and Hogan. Bundy, along with Studd, continued to make life difficult for André, who turned to Hulk Hogan and Tony Atlas for assistance. In response, Heenan then traded Adrian Adonis and Missing Link to manager Jimmy Hart in September 1985 for King Kong Bundy. The Heenan Family scored the first major victory in the feud when Heenan helped instigate a 2-on-1 attack on André, an incident that resulted in Studd and Patera cutting André's famous locks of hair. The Heenan Family's first target was André the Giant, with whom Studd had been embroiled in a bitter feud over who was the true "giant" of wrestling. Heenan managed Buddy Rose From December 1984 to January 1985 and appeared with him on Piper's Pit.Īdrian Adonis and Missing Link joined the Heenan Family in May 1985. Studd officially became the first member of the WWF version of the Heenan Family, and it wasn't long before Patera joined the fold. While Jesse Ventura was originally supposed to be the first member of the WWF version of the Heenan Family, he was forced to retire due to health problems. Heenan made his debut appearance in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in September 1984, seconding Big John Studd to the ring. Toward the end of his time in the AWA, Mr. He added Super Destroyer Mark II shortly after arriving. He also led this version to numerous title reigns before he left GCW.Īfter leaving GCW, Heenan returned to AWA, where he reformed Heenan Family with Nick Bockwinkel. In GCW, Heenan formed his second version of Heenan Family, where Blackjack Lanza remained in the stable, while Heenan received new members in Masked Superstar, Killer Karl Kox, Professor Toru Tanaka, and Ernie Ladd. Heenan led his members to many title reigns, including the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and the AWA World Tag Team Championship before leaving AWA in 1979 to join Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW). He went on to later manage The Blackjacks ( Lanza and Mulligan). joined within the next year forming the first version of the Heenan family. History American Wrestling Association (1974–1979) īobby "The Brain" Heenan, a professional wrestling manager, joined the American Wrestling Association (AWA) full time in 1974 managing the team of Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens. 1.2 Georgia Championship Wrestling (1979).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |