Best Candidates for Face Manager in WWE?

[gasM]

"This shows the WWE desperately needs an over face manager badly."

That's an interesting response I just read to the Cesaro/Heyman pairing. It made me think of who could pull this off in today's WWE. Heyman definitely just because of what a fantastic actor he is, though that would be a massive waste of the Streak heat. Besides that, who do you think could pull off the babyface manager role right now in 2014's WWE?

I'll post mine later on, but one obvious one for me is Hulk Hogan. At least in the short term, his star power could add to a prospect's overall connection with the crowd, and being endorsed by the Hulkster would be a shot of adrenaline in an up-and-comer's career. A guy like Mojo Rawley could have a few angles with Hogan as the manager that deepen their character beyond the initial gimmick, and any heel that gives Hogan a manager bump would draw pretty sizeable heat.

That's all for now, but over to you: who could get over as a babyface manager in today's WWE and if so who would you pair them with?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't see how it's a sign of WWE desperately needing an over face manager. Most, if not all, of the best wrestling managers in history have been heels or did their best work when they were heels. Kevin Sullivan with his "Army of Darkness" bit during the 70s & his "Varsity Club" in the late 80s. There was Bobby Heenan managing Bockwinkel & Stevens in the AWA and "The Heenan Family" of the late 80s & very early 90s. James J. Dillon with The Four Horsemen. Jim Cornette with a slew of wrestlers during the 80s, Captain Lou Albano, Paul Bearer, Paul E. Dangerously and others. Off the top of my head, the only really notable babyface manager that springs to mined was Paul Ellering when he managed The Road Warriors.

You could always have a hot chick running around as a babyface manager but, let's face it, nobody's gonna care. She'll get labeled as some ditzy bimbo based on her actions or what she's wearing, otherwise she'd usually be labeled as "boring" or generally uninteresting.

As far as I'm concerned, if WWE wanted to have a babyface manager, they'd be better off using a beloved and/or well known veteran in the role of helping to elevate a hungry young babyface. You'd need someone with a ton of personality and/or passion that can be used to "inspire" his young protégé. As a result, two of the guys that spring to mind are Hulk Hogan and Mick Foley.

The problem, potentially, with Hogan would be the possibility of his legendary status overshadowing the younger guy. That could be especially true unless the spotlight isn't shining squarely on Hogan, which means the guy he'd be managing would need to be someone fans could see had loads of ability and/or potential.

Mick Foley has this "every man" appeal about him and he's given some of the most emotional, passionate promos in the history of the business. He wasn't particularly good looking, was never athletic, didn't have a good body and was pretty damn low on technical ability; but he had that fire and passion that swept people up. I could see him being more of an inspirational/motivating father figure and/or big brother type of role to a promising, up & coming talent.

 

[Softcore Holly]

I always thought Santino would make a great manager. His silly antics could really help a team like say, International Airstrike get over since he naturally draws attention, which in turn would get people to notice the great things the 2 guys are doing in the ring. And really his kind of humor is best in small doses, not for full length matches.

Teddy Long doesn't really do anything anymore and he's still pretty good on the mic, so they can give him a shot at managing.

And last one's probably going to make you all groan, but I say Zeb could easily pull off a face role. The RA got lots of "We the people" chants as xenophobic heels, if Zeb started saying patriotic things instead of bashing the crowd/foreigners he can get a ton of cheers that way.

 

[TheLittleOne]

i believe a strong beautiful female would make a good face manager, someone who has a strong relationship with the male wrestler, maybe even a real life couple. then more realism would be brought into the storylines, like a heel hurting the woman, or the woman saving the day with random distractions ( SS 88) or a female talent that could also work and bump... but does it rarely so it means more... i was hoping fangango and summer would be one day a face couple... just like sable was for marc mero when he debuted in the wwe...

i dont like the idea of a man managing another man unless they use paul heyman type realism ( advocate) but why would a "GOOD GUY" need a guy in his corner, the bad guys use them to cheat and i always remember gorilla mentioning that heenan or hart or fuji was probably taking alot more the wrestler's pay then they realized!!! does cole ever pay attention to gorilla...

i like the idea of a manager in a babyface's corner during an " i quit " match where its up to them to throw in the towel... shows care for their talent's wellbeing or great way to turn a manager heel...

they were doing with brodus clay and the girls... then girls were ready to work, but they didnt have to stop being in brodus' corner... but i think , i know they both are more over than brodus so that can never happen for a babyface... heel that is ok... pat patterson used to always mention that hogan vs andre gets the credit for filling the silverdome... but he says it was hogan's battle with the evil heenan and andre that sold it out.... if it wasnt for heenan's mouth, you could imagine.. that goes for haku, race, studd, bundy, many more..RUDE and PERFECT could talk but it was awesome to let heenan do most of it for them so they let their presence & ring work talk for them


try bringing a beautiful innocent looking female in to manage a good ring worker and talker, i bet it would work

 

[Kris Benwa]

I always thought Santino would make a great manager. His silly antics could really help a team like say, International Airstrike get over since he naturally draws attention, which in turn would get people to notice the great things the 2 guys are doing in the ring. And really his kind of humor is best in small doses, not for full length matches.

Teddy Long doesn't really do anything anymore and he's still pretty good on the mic, so they can give him a shot at managing.

And last one's probably going to make you all groan, but I say Zeb could easily pull off a face role. The RA got lots of "We the people" chants as xenophobic heels, if Zeb started saying patriotic things instead of bashing the crowd/foreigners he can get a ton of cheers that way.

Came in to post this. I thought this was where they were going with Cesaro anyway. If he absolutely had to separate from Swagger I think Zeb should have too. Say Swagger you're a failure and Real Americans don't fail Real Americans are winners! That kind of thing. They could have put the Hogan spin on it and have them be the good American heroes even though Cesaro isn't I still think it would have worked. Have Cesaro and Zeb be two good guy Americans who talk about how much America is awesome or whatever. Then if they wanted to they could have even put Swagger with Heyman and have them as the heels and Cesaro and Zeb as the faces. Have Swagger admit he's been losing and turn to Heyman the one who manages the 1 in 21-1 to turn him back into a winner. I thought that would have potentially worked a lot better in that Swagger could get a rub from it and Cesaro would possibly be even more over because he's saying good things about America. I'm a little confused on why they didn't go this way but lets see how it plays out.

 

[PingPongBundy]

And last one's probably going to make you all groan, but I say Zeb could easily pull off a face role. The RA got lots of "We the people" chants as xenophobic heels, if Zeb started saying patriotic things instead of bashing the crowd/foreigners he can get a ton of cheers that way.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I would like to see him as a face before he retires. I don't think he has ever been a face as a wrestler or manager. Someone suggested on here once about having Zeb talk about his granddaughter and turning face that way. I hope they don't do anything like that. He could very easily go over as a face by slightly changing his character. A great time for this would have been in 2003 when La Resistance was at its most despised.

 

[Pedigree1]

I necessarily dont agree Hogan would be a wise choice. Short term absolutely yes,but hogan would no doubt be more popular than the pupil he is tutoring. It wouldn't be hogans fault but he well Hulk Hogan.. And lets face it,Hogan loves the attention. Mick Foley probably would be the wisest choice to mentor a younger talent..

Foley could be somewhat of a father figure to said talent. He could shape and mold him into a future superstar and a possible world champion.. The plus side is,Foley wouldn't take attention away.. He would in fact make him more popular and help him to get over with the audience! The lady valets are IMO long gone as far as managers goes! Heel managers are always the best way to go,but Hogan and Foley (Foley long term and Hogan short term are the only faces that would work,as far as managers goes)

 

[JJ15776]

I think I agree with what pretty much every person has said so far. "Over face manager" is almost like an oxymoron in professional wrestling...they're about as rare as guys who get cheered for cheating(RIP Eddie). Female managers, if you want to call valets managers, certainly worked quite well at one time, and they could work again, though I'm not sure it's a perfect fit for the PG environment. They can't use their sex appeal as much, plus it'd be harder to really put them in danger or have them getting attacked by heels.

I definitely think Zeb Coulter could make a good face manager, with his current gimmick only slightly modified, and I hope we see that someday.

And I 100% agree with the people who said Hogan wouldn't really work, long term. He would be so much more over than anybody you'd pair him with, I think he would overshadow them more than he would help them. IMO, it's better to just have him in segments here and there with guys, that will be enough to help them.

The one guy I wanted to come here and add is Road Dogg. He's obviously got charisma for days, and the fans already know and love him. I think he'd be great doing the introductions for his guy(s)(for some reason I envision him managing a tag team), and I'm sure he would be very entertaining at ringside, as either a face or a heel. And as I'm writing this, I just remembered that he came into the WWE as basically Jeff Jarrett's manager, and he was definitely good then. If I was going to turn any former/current wrestler into a manager, I think it'd be him.

 

[Sabutage]

Bring back booker t as a manager for someone like kofi Kingston or dolph ziggler, they can play up his championship wins and say he wants to help someone realise their potential.

 

[Loganity]

I think Ric Flair would be a solid choice for a manger. The only downside would be his star-power over shadowing whoever he's managing. I've always wanted to see Flair manage Ziggler.

 

[Hem]

100% with Loganity when he said Ric Flair with Ziggler.

I think Mick Foley would be a great manager for someone like Brodus Clay, if WWE were to make Clay a baby face then I think Foley/Clay could work.

Booker T is another good choice for someone like Kofi because I think Kofi is deserving of a push and at least association to Booker could get him some recognition.

Bill Demott I think is someone who could be a really good manager for another big guy, however I feel this would work under heel circumstances.

Rey Mysterio should stop wrestling and come out in street clothes Plus mask with Sin Cara (hunico) and be his mouth piece.

 

[tvcolosi]

Outside the box? Kurt Angle.. Credible guy, maybe a few big matches in the tank and its very believable he could mentor a guy (Swagger as babyface?) and lead them to the top.