Managers

[Adam Rush]

There is a new trend that I'm enjoying in the WWE right now. Managers are making their return. I, for one, love this trend. I never used to like managers because I loved the wrestling aspect of WWE, but now I love these people. Look at the managers and who they are managing.

Paul Heyman-CM Punk: The most successful manager-superstar combo that is currently out here. Now CM Punk definitely doesn't need Heyman, nor the other way around, but this combo is, IMO, making CM Punk bigger and bigger every day. I'm not saying he's John Cena by any means, but I'm seeing parallels between CM Punk and Stone Cold.

AJ Lee-Dolph Ziggler: I don't know if A.J. should be considered a manager, but for all intents and purposes...these two, and I may get some negative feedback on this, remind me a lot of Lita-Edge. I think A.J. is overall making Ziggler a bigger draw. I think Ziggler plays a great heel, despite the whole fact that I was one of the strongest "Ziggler should be face" advocators for awhile. I think this pairing is really solid.

Jack Swagger-Zeb Coulter: Oh. My. Gosh. I love this pairing and it's been a day. This might have the potential to be a ridiculously good manager-superstar combo for the forseeable future. Zeb seems to be the most ridiculous redneck ever, but the guy seems to be a genius! Plus it gives WWE an excuse not to put Swagger on the mic. I love this pairing.

Managers seem to be increasing where they're needed. What do you guys think?

Questions to discuss:
1) Managers- Good thing or bad thing?
2) Who do you think would benefit from a good manager?
3) Do you think managers are here to stay?

And anything else that relates.

 

[BaconBits]

1. Managers are a good thing, especially for wrestlers that lack mic skills.

2. I think Ryback would benefit from a manager. He created his own catch phrase and all, but his promo skills are God awful. I think somebody should be his mouthpiece. I think he would be an awesome Heyman guy, actually.

3. Managers will always be around wrestling in some form.

 

[GSM]

1.)

Manager are absolutely a good thing, they are there to compensate any verbal shortcomings a wrestler might have and there are quite a few of them that would need such aids.

But even better than that, managers can be used in such a manner without actually damaging the wrestler's reputation but actually improve it by not only making him look much more important and interesting but also take the focus off him in certain situations.

Managers can make a mediocre or even bad wrestler into the greatest thing on the planet since the Auto-Sentry guns in Aliens.

And sometimes the Manager can even be used as a sacrificial lamb in order to prevent the wrestler from looking bad, I refer to the quite literal sacrifice of Daivari when he went against the Undertaker for the sake of Muhammad Hassan.

2.)

I agree that Ryback needs a manager and so does Mark Henry (Yes still!) But I am glad to see that the person that needed a manager more than anybody in years finally got one and that person being Jack Swagger.

Dutch Mantell as his manager has already sparked more interest as well as controversy than every Jack Swagger promo and matches combined despite the fact that he once won the World Title.

3.) It all depends on who the manangers are that will be brought up. So far I am very pleased with Heyman and Mantell as these two are good mic-pieces but also can stay in the background and just draw heat to the managed party.

Managers are important and have been in wrestling for a reason, if they will stay however is entirely up to the WWE's management and we all know that their decisions are not always based on logic but numbers and accountant sheets.

 

[Radical]

Some of you guys are crazy if you really believe guys like Mark Henry and Ryback have "terrible" mic skills and that is you reasoning for why they need a manager.

You'd think you would know by now what a character is in pro wrestling and why some guys don't need to be able to talk on and on like CM Punk or Chris Jericho to be effective on the mic.

Ryback's character is a barbaric, terminator-type. When he speaks he speaks with conviction. You guys would be complaining more if he was speaking 'normally' like CM Punk or something. That would totally ruin his character if he talked like that. Instead he is saying what is necessary. So he does not NEED a manager. Brock Lesnar NEEDS a manager because his voice isn't actually as in intimidating as he looks and he doesn't know how to get real crowd reaction by what he says. Ryback, on the other hand, has got the crowd behind him using the mic and his physical attributes.

Mark Henry is another example of a guy who is playing a bruiting character and is very effective on the mic. He speaks strongly and has an intimidating voice.

That's not to say that Ryback and Mark Henry couldn't USE a manager ... same way CM Punk doesn't need a manager but he has one and it just helps him draw more heat overall.

Guys who NEED managers are guys like Great Khali who can't really speak English or (admittedly) guys like Jack Swagger who is trying to play a heel but has a lisp so his speaking voice doesn't come across as strong as it should.

And to answer the questions specifically:

1) Managers- Good thing or bad thing?

Good thing. Can be very useful in many different ways, especially for a heel.

2) Who do you think would benefit from a good manager?

As I said above, guys who need managers are guys who have trouble speaking English in a way that is effective for their character. Certainly Great Khali would have never made it past day 1 if he didn't have a manager who could speak for him.

3) Do you think managers are here to stay?

I think there will always be managers around in pro wrestling. I guess they have fallen by the wayside in recent years but seem to maybe be making a bigger return.

 

[RobstarEWN]

I think managers should be used as long as it's with superstars who need it in the case of Swagger

 

[RicSpade]

its not a matter of who does and doesn't need a manager, sometimes they are a good fit and sometimes there not, go back to the Heenan family, back in the day Bobby had almost the most random group of guys ever (including the Red Rooster at one time). A manager isn't just eye candy or a mouth piece, but rather an asset that brings more to a characters appeal that can stand out on their own, Virgil, Miss Elizabeth, Slick, Bobby Heenan, and the Genius are all great examples of this, and in the modern era its what we need, not necessarily as a mouth piece but just because there is something that one person can bring to someone. Rosa did good in the beginning of her WWE career when she was paired with Zack Ryder, but hasn't done much since, Zeb and Paul Heyman are great wrestling minds, Most people when they said Zeb Coulter, went who, but for those who didn't remember Dutch Mantell was Uncle Zeb and was paired with former WWE Champ JBL during his days as Justin Hawk Bradshaw. If you ever watch a Dutch Mantell interview from now or read anything he has written like Heyman pure genius, Mantell if they keep him around will be a great asset to any one man. AJ is the same way she is a stand out on her own just like Vicky Guerrero was. The key you have to realize is these people who are with most of these guys don't need a mouthpiece (CM PUNK, Lesnar, Ziggler) but just that little bit adds to their character, and thats what made them so great

 

[lil bitch Kid]

I think that managers are a good thing as long as they are used effectively. By this I mean two thing:
1) When the guy can’t talk for himself, or that talking for himself would hurt his character, such as with Swagger and Dutch. Jack isn’t BAD on the mic, but certainly Dutch will help. Suggesting that Ryback, as a face, needs a manager is just silly. Simply put, he just needs to not talk. It’s like the Undertaker and Kane ( with the exception of the last 6 months): They were always way cooler when they didn’t talk. Ryback, it’s the same thing.
2) When guys aren’t getting the reaction you want. Does Punk need Heyman to talk for him? No. Did the Horsemen need JJ? No. Did Perfect and Rude need Heenan to talk for them? No. This is also why AJ is useful with Ziggler. People will jeer the smarmy manager even when they want to cheer the wrestler.
Who could use a manager? A few guys, but not many. Mysticara could because Rey sounds like an 8 year old and Sin Cara doesn’t talk. Konan, anyone? I think is Cody and Damien stay split, which it doesn’t look like now, Cody could use a mouthpiece. Other than that, I think there are just a crop of guys who haven’t really been given a chance to see whether they do or do not need a manager. The one that also has an asterix is Randy Orton. If he stays as a face, then I could care less. As a heel, I think he’d be better off having someone do the talking for him
If I could predict anything in the head of Vince McMahon, I don’t think the longevity of managers would be what I’d go for. We all know that from week to week they may come and go.

 

[cm ben]

Hell yeah. I'm loving this as well.

1. Managers are a tremendous thing! They can add so much, from giving a guy with a hard time on the mic some support, to giving a guy with no problems on the mic an extra push. Great for interfering/distracting in matches. Great for adding humor/gimmicks to a wrestler's whole shtick, i.e. Ricardo's amazing entrance for Del Rio. Great for pathos--! Ricardo getting Brogue Kicked a while back, to start a slow Del Rio face turn.

2. Who needs a manager right now? I'm going to disagree with the suggestion of Mark Henry, because he is a monster who doesn't seem like he'd get along with a manager... I also don't want anyone stealing mic time from the guy--his promos are goddam gut-wrenching--his eyes are so sad. I love it. But that's for a different thread.

I could see Cesaro with a manager maybe? He's an amazing wrestler and is decent enough on the mic, but it seems he's still not "clicking" with some people. Maybe a good manager (better than Aksana...) can help out with that.

Another might be Cody Rhodes? He seems to be a little bit lost in the mid-card right now. Nothing to panic about yet. But without a good angle/feud soon, it might start to cause problems for him. If neither of those things happen, a good manager might bring some attention back to him. (Honestly I think he just needs to get his face mask back... also for another thread... but IMHO all his character development up to that point was erased when he ditched the mask. Very good wrestler, but a very vanilla character to me now.)

3. I feel like the managers are here to stay, yeah. They were oddly absent from the WWE for quite a while, it seemed like. The fact that they're springing up now, and in such numbers, suggests that maybe HHH or someone else backstage is pushing for this change.

It's interesting, tho. A wrestler with a manager is definitely a bigger investment for the WWE, money-wise--they're paying two people, after all, rather than one. In that sense, it's sort of a gamble for the WWE, that this manager will be be effective enough to mitigate those extra costs. The wrestlers who are receiving managers right now, therefore, must be people that the WWE sees something positive in, or else they wouldn't be coughing up the extra dough.

 

[SyndicateSaint]

I totally appreciate the manager aspect of pro wrestling. Had I not gone in to video game design, I think I would have tried to be a manager locally. I feel that I'm too old to try and wrestle now at 29, and that DDP got lucky.

Anyway, I see that everyone likes Dutch Mantell, I mean Zeb, as Swagger's manager. But the reasoning is because Swagger has a lisp. While I admit I have a hard time taking him seriously, it's because he's just not interesting to me. Cody Rhodes has a lisp. So does Dusty Rhodes. Arguably one of the greatest heels of all time has a bit of a lisp, Ric Flair. So that's not an excuse. But, I do like the idea of Zeb being a 'Nam vet and being fed up with the country. He's speaking for a lot of folks (not me) that actually feel that way. So while the character is a bit racist, so is a big portion of the country.

I think we are missing two things though if managers come back. First, we need a classy heel manager. Someone like Bobby Heenan. I'd mark out if they could convince Nick Bockwinkle to be an on air character or someone like that. Ted DiBiase (Million $ Man, not Jr.) re-inventing the Million $ Corporation could be cool too. We need a classy rich guy to start "buying" heel contracts and work like that. Vickie Guerrero sort of had a good thing going with Ziggler, Swagger, and I forget whom else, she was managing. That is a cool idea.

Second, we need a face manager. Not really a Jimmy Hart type, although he was a heel manager too, more like a...well...I hate to say it, Ted DiBiase character from when he managed the Steiners in WCW. Maybe have a manager that gets screwed or fired by a heel, beat up, and his next prospect comes and saves the day. There's really a lot of ways to go I suppose, but then again all "armchair bookers" probably think that.

 

[lgreene9187]

Absolutely right, Radical, about Ryback and Henry on the mic. They both do not need to talk much. Each promo I've heard from both was executed perfectly, IMO. No stumbling over there words and straight to the point. I don't need a 10 minute speech from a heel monster.

 

[Rabbid Wolverine]

Managers are def useful. They provide mouthpieces for guys who cant do promos. They also can run interference in a match to turn the tide without having run ins from other wrestlers. I would like to see the return of managers who have stables of wrestler (Heenan family, Jimmy Hart stable not sure if they had a name.) Atleast you have guys involved in something if not an actual fued.

 

[Jacjac]

I'm going to respond then take the opportunity to read the other responses. First off I would consider Bobby Heenan the greatest manager of all times. Managers in this era is a lost art. Managers are for wrestlers who ability and a look but have yet to perfect their mic skills. I've always felt Brock Lesnar had no business opening his mouth on the mic. He was all action. He was a BEAST! Abyss was a BEAST! Kane was a BEAST! Beast don't talk they rip people a part. Next to Heenan I would have to say Sherri Martel was just an awesome manager who performed her role brilliantly. Managers add to the wrestler what is needed and often deflect the audiences attention from their flaws. Could Shawn have become HBK with Sherri? Without her we would have seen him for the arrogant prick he was.

 

[Rocky84]

I love managers. Look what Alex Riley did with the Miz. It especially works with heels, since they tend to cheat all the time. Miz and Riley were a pretty legit combo. They were crooked as hell which is entertaining.

Definitely agree that Aj and Zigs, with Big E is legit and fun to watch. Same obviously goes for Punk and Paul E.

One thing I've really really really wanted to see was Del Rio with the Bella twins and Ricardo, and more recently with the chic Rosa Mendes. They always have Alberto flirting with these girls backstage, and I think it's pimp as hell. I really wish they had either of them (twins or Rosa) stick with him. That'd be badass IMO and long overdue.

Also would LOVE to see Fit Finley manage Sheamus. Kinda as the old school Irishman, like the Florist's bodyguard from that movie The Town. Same thig goes for William Regal and Wade Barrett ...I would love to see that serious crime type of angle with these two.

I also think there should be more stables...they are basically extinct. I think good stables like DX, Nation, NWO, Evolution etc are great for business...not so much the Nexus or those corny type of groups, but legit badass groups would benefit the product. Shield is a great start IMO, but we need more. I mean who doesn't like gang/group type battles?? lol

 

[MINISTRYrising]

1. By far a good thing. if you look back over the years at guys like Bobby the Brain, The Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart, Mr Fuji and Paul Hayman and you will start to realise that a lot of the wrestlers that they managed would not have gotten where they did if it was not for these guys being in there corner. Sure some of them would have made it on there own but there are a lot that just would not have cut it without a manager to do the talking for them and to get them over on the mic.

2. the name that springs to mind is Cesaro. The guy has a cool look and while he is great when it comes to his in ring abilitie, His Mic skills do let him down a bit, But putting him with somebody like Hayman or Vickie could really help get him to the next level.

3. I hope so. The one thing that I miss about the late 80's early 90's is that you had a lot of really good managers around. I used to love the Heenan family and would love to see somebody like Paul Hayman or Vickie Guerrero start there version to help out some of the lower card guys. Even bring back asomebody like the Million $ man and have him reform the Million $ corporation would be awsome.