The Missing Manager

[Bob Hubbard]

Back in the old days, managers had stables of wrestlers. They'd speak for the guys who just sucked on the mike but could perform in the ring, and could interject into story lines.

Today, there are few left, and those are but a shadow of the past. Gone are greats like Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Hart and Jim Cornette. A shame really, and they added a dimension to the story that is sadly missing today.

 

[Steel Tiger]

I think the death of the manager came about when they started replacing talkers with grinning, vacuous beauty-queens. In an attempt to heat up the scene with a bit of skin they threw away a powerful aspect of the melodrama.

Interestingly, it did force the wrestlers to learn how to handle themselves when confronted by a mike. The end result being the wrestlers become the talkers and the beauty-queens costumes get smaller and smaller and smaller ...

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Ironically, as big a fan of the female form as I am, I prefer the gals who can actually wrestle or who stepped way up to learn, over the big breasted butt floss airheads. Gals like Lita, Trish Stratus and Gail Kim do more for me than "Kelly Kelly" or even Stacy Keibler. (Though.....I make an exception for Stacy, LOL)


I just miss the days where you'd have fueding factions, and year long storylines.

 

[Steel Tiger]

I guess the thinking nowadays is that the audience just doesn't have the patience or attention span for storylines that last more than a month.

Then again, maybe they're worried the wrestlers won't remeber what they are supposed to be doing in such a long storyline. Though the Undertakers storylines are often quite long and involved.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I blame "creative" in the WWE. They rarely remember their own work a few weeks later. The workers are scripted to such a huge extent anymore it's crazy. This is why guys like Flair and a few of the oldtimers are still so magical on the mike...they are allowed leeway to go off script. It's a common complaint from the guys who go work elsewhere and enjoy more control over their characters.

 

[Grenadier]

'rasslin hasn't seen nearly the same kind of evil managers the likes of Ted Dibiase, Mr. Fuji, etc., in a long time.

Those guys had such charisma, that they could turn 'rasslers who couldn't put a complete sentence together, into attractions that generated lots of heat. They knew how to work up a crowd into a frenzy, by hitting the spots that really counted.

Even the ladies in management were much more charismatic (note, charisma does not necessarily equate to beauty...). I'm sure many folks here remember the hatred felt for Sensational Sherrie Martel.