WWE's Lost Art: Where Have All the Managers Gone?

Managers once matted in professional wrestling. 

No, scratch that. Managers were once a critical part of professional wrestling. They made for better storylines, gave guys who struggled on the mic a mouthpiece to do their taking and helped mid-carders become superstars. 

That’s what managers like Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Jimmy Hart, Paul Bearer, Jim Cornette and Lou Albano did. They helped the WWE, WCW and ECW. They helped pro wrestling as a whole. 

But now? Now, they’re gone. A thing of the past. A lost art, if you will. 

When you look at the WWE today, there is really only legitimate manager in the entire company: Vickie Guerrero. Sorry, Rosa Mendes, but you don’t really count. 

Now, whether or not you think Vickie generates “go away” heat, you can’t deny that she is incredible at what she does. Few people in recent WWE history have been able to get massive heat from the crowd simply by opening their mouths, but that’s exactly what Vickie does each and every week. 

She’s like an oven out there. No matter where she goes, it’s freakin’ hot. 

Vickie’s great skills as a manager have helped multiple superstars over the last few years, including Edge and currently, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger. Without Vickie, Ziggler probably wouldn’t have competed for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble in 2011 or for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble in 2012. Without Vickie, who knows exactly where Ziggler would be today. 

Yet, despite all of Vickie’s successes as a manager, the WWE has largely stayed away from using other managers for other promising superstars. 

We’ve seen teases of the return of the manager in recent years, such as when Tyson Kidd “tried out” different managers every week on Superstars in 2010, when Ranjin Singh did the talking for The Great Khali during his main event heel run or when Ricardo Rodriguez served as a manager/personal ring announcer for Alberto Del Rio. 

But none of these have ever been anything more than a flash in the pan. 

The days of full-time managers are long gone. The days of managers who stick with “clients” for years upon years are over and done with. The days of managers for main eventers are in the rearview mirror. 

And I can’t help but wonder why. 

Wrestling is cyclical, in that it changes with the times. Things—like blood—come and go, because they have to. But managers aren’t one of those things that have to go anywhere. 

In fact, they shouldn’t. 

Just like stables and factions, managers have an undeniable spot in pro wrestling. They serve a purpose that can’t be filled by girlfriends (like AJ with Daniel Bryan), tag team partners (Hey Usos, how you doing?) or whatever the hell Hornswoggle is. 

I really hate to use Wikipedia as a source, but it does provides us with a very good general breakdown of what it is that managers are supposed to do: 

"

A manager is somewhat like a storyline agent for an actor or an athlete; he helps his client to book matches and appearances, and otherwise works to further and guide their career. Within the context of storylines it is the manager who positions their charge for title opportunities, decides whom to trust as an ally, and generally acts as a mouthpiece on their wrestlers' behalf. Outside of storylines, a manager's job is to help the wrestler they're paired with get over. For this reason, managers are usually paired with wrestlers who the writers feel have great potential, but need a little help to the top. 

"

The key here: “A manager’s job is to help the wrestler they’re paired with get over.” 

It’s a very simple concept that has worked for years. Heenan did it for Andre the Giant, Hart did it for The Hart Foundation, Bearer did it for The Undertaker, Cornette did it for Yokozuna, Albano did it for Hulk Hogan on so on and so forth. 

But the WWE no longer seems to value managers like it once did. Apparently, none of the higher-ups in the WWE see a place for them in this day and age. 

That’s too bad, and it’s really untrue—because as long as there are wrestlers who aren’t over with the crowd, then there will always be a place for managers in pro wrestling.

Note: As part of the new WWE blog, I'll be asking all of the B/R wrestling readers for questions for a new mailbag that I will post on Fridays. It will be a slideshow featuring 10-20 questions and answers on a wide range of topics. You can submit questions either through Formspring or Twitter, and the best ones will be answered in the B/R mailbag.