Bobby Heenan: Looking Beyond The Brain (part 2)

Upon his arrival in the AWA Heenan would not only have a fresh set of talent to work with, he would also be reunited with his old pal Ray Stevens.

It was actually Ray Stevens who would coin the term “The Brain” because Larry Henning had rights to the name ”Pretty Boy” Heenans old ring name.

Just like in Indiana he would quickly become a popular figure in the AWA. He would start of managing guys like Dr X “also know as the Destroyer” and Black Jack Lanza.

Heenan’s biggest career jump in the AWA would be when he managed Ray Stevens and Nick Bockwinkel.

Like most of the guys Bobby would work with, these three would become inseparable.

In fact during a trip to Hawaii Bobby Heenan would be knighted in a ring after a match. After that Nick would forever call Heenan “Sir Robert”.

They would be paired together for years traveling all over the world. Often to pass the time their would be a lot of ribbing.

One of the funny ones mentioned by Heenan was when right before a match they took a cigar and burned a whole in the front of Nick’s trunks.

So right before the match started Nick removed his Belt and gave the audience a showing that would never be forgotten.

The AWA was also where Heenan would get the name “Weasel” from by the Crusher because he was one of the few that never liked or trusted Heenan.

Despite Heenans good fortunes and friendships formed in the AWA. He decided to leave the AWA and try is luck in the NWA.

This was partly done as a favor to Lanza, but he also did this because he wanted to test the waters.

Verne would explain his absence by saying Heenan was suspended for a year.

His time in the NWA was not very fruitful. He didn’t get along with Ole Anderson nor did he like the politics of the NWA. He did manage to become good friends with Geordie Sole one of wrestlings greatest color men.   

They would go on to become good friends for many years. In fact when Gordie passed away he would speak very fondly of him at his funeral.

 Heenan made his big return to the AWA back in 1979.

He would go back to managing Nick and things were good their for a while. Heenan and Bockwinkel would also go on to help make Hulk Hogan a star.

Heenan would even step back into the ring for a brief period.

The AWA would run a series of matches where if Heenan lost he would be forced to put on a weasel suit. Those would be remembered as some of his fondest matches.  

Things just weren’t the same though; business was starting to get ugly between Verne and the boys in the back. A lot of it stemmed over payouts and who was getting pushed and who wasn,t.

Heenan would begin to see the writing on the wall and would try many times getting into the WWWF.

Vince sr would often blow Heenan of though. It wasn’t until he passed of cancer that Heenan would get his break.

Problems would continue to get worse in the AWA, as most of their talent was leaving.

With a little Help from Hogan, Heenan would finally be offered a contract with the WWF.

Now the problem was how would he break the news to Verne? All the guys that left prior were very unprofessional about it and would leave with no notice.

This caused a lot of bitterness between Verne and the boys in the back. Heenan would finally have to tell Verne that he was going.

When the day finally came to tell Verne he was so nervous that who would bring a blade to the meeting for protection.

It wouldn’t be needed though, as it turned out Verne Just wanted to try to find a way to keep Heenan their.

As hard as Verne tried though Heenan would not be persuaded to stay. He did though out of respect for Verne finish out his dates and matches for the year.

It was a gesture that was never forgotten, as he and Verne would remain friend’s years after the AWA folded.