Report: Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan passes away at age 73
By Jack Crosby
One of the greatest professional wrestling managers and broadcasters of all time, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, has passed away at the age of 73
The professional wrestling world was rocked on Sunday afternoon with the news that quite possibly — actually, no, he was — the greatest professional wrestling manager of all time is no longer with us. Longtime friend and commentator Jim Ross announced the news on Twitter that Bobby “The Brain” Heenan has passed away at the age of 73.
One of the more colorful personalities in the history of the business, Heenan made his mark in many ways. He was a wrestler, a manager, and maybe most famously of all, he was a broadcaster for both the then-WWF and WCW. He would make a name for himself in a number of wrestling territories, but he was most well-known for his time in the AWA, WWE and finally WCW.
The news has been confirmed by WWE.
When it came to getting “heat,” as they say in the industry, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who was better in history at pulling off that heat than Heenan. Not only would he generate nuclear heat for himself, but he was one of the best at his occupation of pro wrestling manager because he was able to draw all of it onto the wrestlers that were by his side as well.
However, for as good as he was in his managerial role, many may know him best from his time as a broadcaster. He and the late Gorilla Monsoon formed possibly the greatest broadcasting tandem in history, especially with their work on Prime Time Wrestling, the Monday night predecessor to what we now know as RAW. Their banter and skits that came along with their partnership made for some of the best pro wrestling television that we as fans have ever seen.
In recent years, Heenan was valiantly battling throat cancer, all the while though, he was able to maintain that amazing personality and humor that endeared us to him in the first place.
The professional world truly lost one of its greatest legends on Sunday. RIP, Brain!