LogFAQs > #905179595

#18 - Robert "The Brain" Heenan Nominated by: Eddv

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Bobby is the greatest color commentator in history because, if for nothing else, of the Royal Rumble in 1992. Heenan's character had one of the strongest senses of character internal logic and continuity of any commentator in wrestling history, and quite honestly, everyone today could learn from him. Heenan was able to weave a line of getting himself over as a fun character while also getting over the talent. Heenan also perfected the art of being the second commentator in a way no one else ever has.

In recent days, I've become less and less enamored with Corey Graves because he doesn't really provide any insight into the characters in front of him. In fact, he makes them less interesting. Inversely, Heenan was the perfect choice to be on commentary with Hulk Hogan in the ring, for example. No matter what Hogan did, Heenan saw it as blasphemous, utterly and completely immoral, virtually repugnant. But he almost always followed it with some sort of logic. Part of this is because the egos of Vince and Hulk saw the behavior Hulk displayed as good, and the rest of the world looks back at it as tantrum-throwing narcissism. Then here is Heenan saying exactly what you're thinking. But because Heenan is so damn good at being bad, you can't believe him. Heenan's character would harass and harangue people based on race, size, looks, and intelligence to such a degree that you just didn't want to believe him when he was right.

What's interesting is that Heenan maintained his consistency when all of wrestling flip-flopped. When Hogan turned heel in WCW, Heenan maintained his character personally. Somehow, Heenan was still a heel commentator and yet he just utterly hated Hogan for turning on WCW. This contributed immensely in making the NWO come across as a force behind normal heel antics. They were a real, shoot group of bad guys. This wasn't wrestling anymore; this was survival. In reality, Heenan was maintaining the same view he always presented in regards to Hogan, and yet his self-serving position now lined up with the good guys. And when you can unite Professor X and Magneto against the same threat, you know that threat is something special. Heenan continued to rant against the Hulkster-turned-Hollywood and that line of continuity really created something special in WCW.

But I do want to end this discussion with the '92 Rumble. Heenan is tasked with giving an hour of commentary on top of Ric Flair's run through the entire roster, and Flair ends up coming off like the biggest superstar ever thanks to Heenan. Every entrant is a threat to Flair, Flair is just being murdered, no one seems to care, this is NOT FAIR TO FLAIR. Poor Ric Flair, the cocky, arrogant out-of-towner, now he's being subjected to the hate of an entire roster. Why was he forced to draw #3 in a Rumble? How can each person come in and beat him like this? Don't they know who this is? Ric was supposed to win the title tonight, this is an outrage! I've never before or since (aside from JR's unhealthy love for Austin) seen a worker given so much setup by a commentator. And we should demand this from announcers. Sadly, Bobby Heenans are just few and far between.
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