Should career managers come back?

[Decarow]

I'm not talking about Diva valets or enforcers. I'm talking about people who made their careers out of managing superstars. Bobby Heenan, JJ Dillon, Jimmy Hart, Paul Bearer, etc.

Right now, besides Ranjin Singh and Vickie Guerrero (who occasionally competes). I don't even really classify Vickie that much of a star manager seeing as how she semi-runs the whole show anyways. Ricardo Rodriguez is only an announcer and would rather wrestle.

In recent memory, we had guys like Armando Estrada (managed Umaga until GMing on ECW), Daivari (managed Muhammad Hassan, Kurt Angle, Mark Henry and the Great Khali before becoming a full time wrestler and ruining his career in WWE).

What I'm trying to say is WWE needs to have more on screen managers. Ones that do it full time. A wrestler can get as much heat or pop as their manager can, and vice versa.

What is your opinion?

 

[GI Cake]

I find managers a rather cheap way to get over as a heel. One exception would be Kane, he needed Paul Bearer in order to win at Hell in A Cell against the Undertaker. Then Edge used Paul Bearer to play mind games with Kane.

But then their are times that managers are just useless and do not need to be on the show at all...

 

[bringbackwrestling]

JOERICKYRUNN I have to disagree with you good managers make average talent into stars, look at the work of Bobby Heenan he made average wrestlers look like legitimiate top guys. Building the heel in this fashion then made the babyface and enchanced the careers of Hogan and co.

Today more than ever we are desperate for good managers, image what Ted Dibease Snr could do for Jnr or remember how much better Abyss was with James Mitchell.

The main worry is we might never see managers again as who is their for young uns to look up to and say i want to be - Paul Bearer occassionally.

 

[Uncle Phatso]

Managers are a great way to get a wrestler over, you can have a young superstar who is great in the ring but shit on the mic. Without the mic skills he really can't do the main thing in wrestling, and that is tell a story. Now put a slick rick manager in with him to do the talking and let him do the work in the ring. You've got it made, let him take that rub and slowly work him up on taking over the stick.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Hell YES. Back in the day, you could build stories around managers, contracts and their clients. Paul E. Dangerous versus Jim Cornette in their war over their respective Midnight Express tag teams, Jimmy Hart and Gary Hart in the NWA and AWA. It one of those old-school territory things that I wish to high heaven would come back.

 

[8thwotwATG]

There is no doubt in my mind that the return of career managers would be beneficial to the careers of some of the young talent that are now working matches for the two major organizations. A quality manager, as has already been noted here on this thread, can give a rub to a ring performer that is good in the ring, but not so good on the stick, make an average heel into a monster, or help to push guys w/average talent into the spotlight.
Take the skills of some old school managers like Capt. Lou Albano(RIP), whose antics and nonstop chatter helped to get over some 17 tag teams and brought them to the WWF?E championship. In particular, his management of the Moondogs was especially important, as neither one of the wrestlers were particularly glib or talented inside the ring. Guys like Bobby Heenan, The Grand Wizard, et. al, could have nothing but a positive effect on some of the talent working matches in the business today.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Managers are a great way to get a wrestler over, you can have a young superstar who is great in the ring but shit on the mic. Without the mic skills he really can't do the main thing in wrestling, and that is tell a story. Now put a slick rick manager in with him to do the talking and let him do the work in the ring. You've got it made, let him take that rub and slowly work him up on taking over the stick.

I think Phatso got it spot on here.

Managers such as Bobby Heenan, Paul Bearer, Paul E Dangerously, James Mitchell etc were all brilliant at getting their talent over whether they could talk or not and helping to make them into legitimate stars. I think this is something that is severely lacking in modern day wrestling.

I would love to see another manager come along and build a faction himself, rather than a wrestler putting together a clique. Another Heenan Family, Dungeon Of Doom or Dangerous Alliance style group would be awesome to see, and be something fresh in the WWE.
Flair was doing this with Fortune, but not anymore.

Sadly, I cannot think of anyone really capable of doing this, unless a retired wrestler comes back and puts together a new faction to wage war on a past rival, or WWE or TNA sign James Mitchell again, but he does seem limited to an evil, satanic style group which wouldnt really fit in with WWE's image right now.

 

[The_Gene_Genie]

I agree (and would love) for the career manager to make a return to our television screens.

I used to love the likes of Bobby Heenan, Mr Fuji, Slick and Jimmy Hart and the different avenue of storyline that they were able to provide the writers. They were always hiring wrestlers to do their bidding in order to beat the top face, to win gold or to simply outdo each others stables.

The role of the manager is to act as a mouthpiece for a superstar who may have the look, but may not be proficient with their verbal skills, or to help their wrestler cheat during matches, subsequently helping them gain heat. There are more than enough superstars on the roster who fit this bill, who have unlimited potential but for whatever reason have so far failed to get over. Perhaps they need a career manager to give them a little boost? It certainly didn't hinder the careers of many of the old school superstars.

I was trying to rack my brain for active/alive performers today who could fulfill this challenging role and decided on the following:

Ric Flair - Exceptional on the mic and is currently fulfilling a similar role in TNA with Fortune/Immortal. He could be the new Harley race, the manager who takes men to the title.

Armando Estrada - Still young and was highly entertaining as Umaga's handler. I'd like to see him with a full stable, comprising of an upper mid card stalwart, a promising lower mid card star and a tag team (The Uso's - could be the flair that they are somewhat lacking).

Roddy Piper - The man himself provides a plethora of angles as both heel and face. His mic work is unparallelled and his motivation could be having never held a main event title in WWE.

Ted DiBiase Sr - Already played this role as the benefactor of the Million Dollar Corporation. Could provide the rub Ted Jr requires for a start.

DDP - Started his career as a manager, before becoming a successful wrestler in his own right. Could return to his early wrestling role now his in ring days are behind him.

JBL - Would probably be utilised in a similar manner to Ted DiBiase Sr. His character and motivation to succeed is already set in stone from his in ring days.

I'm sure there are more out there that I'm not thinking of.

 

[Ryan RAGE]

I definitly feel like WWE needs more managers these days. Theres alotta guys vince can bring in to simply get over the guys in the youth movement, much like Paul Heyman did for Brock Lesnar. Of the top of my head..this is what I got.

Finlay -
Finlay would be a perfect manager for Sheamus. It would be perfect. Sheamus is starting to get lost in the mid card draw and needs someone to get him over as a heel big. Finlay could go around with the Shalaighleigh and give it to Sheamus to use in matches.

Jonathan Coachman -
I always thought if WWE brought back coach to manage MVP that it would save his career. I almost wish they did. MVP and The Coach? Gold

 

[Tastycles]

No. Managers were used for two purposes back in the day, neither of which are relevant today. Their primary purpose was to get heels over quickly. Managers would remain in a territory, while the wrestlers would travel from promotion to promotion. By introducing a wrestler, usually a heel, alongside a manager the crowd would instantly have an opinion about that wrestler. The second reason they were used is that the majority of wrestlers were kept off the mic because it was seen as a secondary skill to being massive and looking intimidating. The Warlord would not be employed by the WWE today, and when you compare today's heels like Kane to those of 25 years ago, its easy to see how far wrestling has come on. There are enough wrestlers who are engaging enough to talk without paying for someone else to be employed to do it for them.

That's why they aren't needed, now for the reasons they are detrimental. Managers stop the fans from truly engaging with the wrestlers. That wasn't important in the 80s, when the roster changed every five minutes and heels just came to lose to Hogan, but nowadays, heels stick around a lot longer and are often carrying the company and selling merchandise. How many heels from before 1995 are remembered fondly now? How many people consider King Kong Bundy to have been a significant wrestler? Not many, and that's because Heenan was doing everything memorable in that period from a heel perspective. Less people would care about Orton now if he had a mouthpiece during his heel period. Look at Eric Escobar, he came in alongside Vickie, and got a huge reaction when he was with her, but when she was gone, he bombed on his arse.

The other problem is with the depth the roster needs to have now. Nowadays we have weekly television where big stars face off every week. By having managers, who would have to have more than one client to be worth their money, you make the pool of weekly matchups smaller, because you start making de facto stables.

I enjoy seeing managers in old wrestling shows, and without them the whole thing would have unquestionably been worse, but since the dawn of Raw, managers are not only unnecessary, they would be detrimental. It is no coincidence that they began to disappear around that time, and they should not be returned as long as wrestling is presented in its current format.