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What wrestling is missing-part IV
Date Added: November 09, 2009
Story By: Rio Ashley
My people, I'm back again with another installment of "What Wrestling is Missing". In this world of Pro Wrestling there are different parts that make the whole great, you have the announcers, the referees, the wrestlers themselves but there is an aspect that has been missing for a few years: Managers. Back in the day, you could have a good time watching the guys in the ring; but more often than not, it's the guy outside the ring that kept the fans attention. Generally managers were guys that would be the mouthpiece of the guy the were representing, which was normaly a big guy that would be a monster character such as the Barbarian, George Steele, or The Missing Link, but as time went on, the managers were people that also took care of the wrestlers person business like travel arrangments, and personal appearances (like Paul Ellering), but mostly they were there to "help". Nine times out of ten, the person that was paired with a manager had either a stagnant career or was an up and comer that needed a push with a few notable exceptions named later. There were times when I was able to enjoy men like Jimmy Hart, Jim cornette, Bobby Heenan, Skandar Akbar, Gary Hart, Sir Oliver Humperdinck or Paul E. Dangerously (pictured), having a hand in their men winning a match, and all it did was enrage the crowd but not make the face look weak. Even the rare times when the face had a manager (Bob Backlund having Arnold Skaaland for example); their function was to thwart the cheating tactics of the heel manager. I would be remiss if I don't mention the recently departed Captain Lou Albano, he was a manager that was on both sides. The "Guiding Light" as he was called was a man the not only helped the likes of The Wild Samoans,The Valiant Brothers, Ivan Koloff, but he also managed the likes of the U.S. express(Windham, and Rotonto), The British Bulldogs and even Hulk Hogan for a couple of matches where he not only helped his guys win titles as a heel, but stopped other managers from helping their men win as well when he was a face. But a manager's best roles were when the had the supergroups (a point for a later column) and they would be the mouthpiece for them as well as accompany them to the ring. Nowadays, the people that are used as managers are the ones that were former wrestlers, that were recently put into the "hall of fame" ( another topic for later)such as Tony Atlas. the managers roles were a great thing back in the day when they were major part of pro wrestling and guys REALLY got over, as a matter of fact , guys like Rick Rude, The Iron Shiek and Randy Savage really made their marks becuase of their various managers; plus, the role of manager gave the people at ringside a chance to really interact in the match and it participants...something sorely missing today, so I say the wrestling would be better if the still had full time managers. I'll expand this point next time.
