Ray Heenan
Acting
Biography
Raymond Louis Heenan was an American professional wrestling manager, color commentator, wrestler, and comedian. He performed with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), WWE and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the ring name Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Heenan was known for his skill in elevating villainous on-screen talent by drawing negative reactions for himself and his wrestlers from the crowd. He was paired with numerous wrestlers, including Nick Bockwinkel, whom he led to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, and he became an integral figure in the 1980s professional wrestling boom by managing King Kong Bundy and André the Giant in WWE main event matches with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 2 and WrestleMania III respectively. The wrestlers under his tutelage were collectively known as "The Heenan Family" at various times throughout his career. Known for his quick wit and comedic ability, Heenan also served as a color commentator and is remembered for his on-screen repartee with Gorilla Monsoon. Outside of wrestling, Heenan authored two books, appeared on numerous television shows, and briefly hosted a parody talk show titled The Bobby Heenan Show on WWE Prime Time Wrestling. Heenan retired in 2001 at WrestleMania X-Seven after a seventeen-year stint as a commentator in professional wrestling but he continued to make sporadic appearances in several promotions. In 2002, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, which limited his appearances in later years, and died from complications of the disease in 2017. Among other honors, he has been inducted into the Professional Wrestling, WWE, and Wrestling Observer halls of fame. After his death, multiple wrestling commentators described his manager persona as the "greatest professional wrestling manager of all time."
Known For
A regularly scheduled, live, year-round program featuring some of the biggest WWE Superstars.
Raw
WWE's flagship show of the early-90s featuring great in-ring action, news from the world of sports-entertainment, and more.
WWF Superstars
The biggest WWE Superstars of the late 1980s and early '90s settle their differences in the ring on "Wrestling Challenge"; featuring exciting matches and memorable interviews, this weekly television series captures an important era of WWE history.
WWF Wrestling Challenge
A professional wrestling television program produced by the World Wrestling Federation banner on NBC airing in place of Saturday Night Live. The series was made up entirely of star vs. star bouts in a time when weekly programming consisted primarily of established stars dominating enhancement talent.
WWE Saturday Night's Main Event
The American professional wrestling promotion WWE has been broadcasting PPV events since the 1980s, when its classic "Big Four" events (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series) were first established with the company's very first PPV being WrestleMania in 1985. The company's PPV lineup expanded to a monthly basis in the mid-1990s following the introduction of the In Your House series of pay-per views before expanding even further in the mid-2000s during the first WWE brand extension. Following WWE's original brand extension in 2002, the company promoted two touring rosters, Raw and SmackDown, representing its television programs, Raw and SmackDown. The traditional "Big Four" continued to showcase the entire roster, while the remaining PPV events alternated between Raw and SmackDown cards. In March 2007, WWE announced that all subsequent PPV events would feature performers from all brands. In 2008, all WWE PPV events began broadcasting in high-definition.
WWE Pay Per View
Discover rarely-seen matches from the 1970s, '80s, and '90s featuring countless WWE Hall of Famers such as Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair.
WWE Old School
The stories behind some of the most memorable WWE Superstars of all time.
Biography: WWE Legends
WCW's flagship show led to the famous Monday Night War. Featuring the nWo, Lex Luger, Ric Flair, Sting, and the Cruiserweights.
WCW Monday Nitro
Hosts Vince McMahon and Lord Alfred Hayes welcome the popular WWE Superstars and feature entertaining segments in WWE's original talk show.
Tuesday Night Titans
WWF Prime Time Wrestling was a professional wrestling television program produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It aired on the USA Network from 1985–1993. A precursor to Monday Night Raw, Prime Time Wrestling was a two-hour long, weekly program that featured stars of the World Wrestling Federation. The program featured wrestling matches, interviews, promos featuring WWF wrestlers, updates of current feuds and announcements of upcoming local and pay-per-view events. WWE Hall of Famers Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan highlight the best of early-1985s WWE in Prime Time Wrestling.
WWF Prime Time Wrestling
Celebrate the pioneers who made WWE what it is today in this WWE Network original series featuring every WWE Hall of Fame ceremony.
WWE Hall of Fame
WCW Thunder was a professional wrestling show produced by World Championship Wrestling.
WCW Thunder
Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper in a Boxing match Battle Royal featuring superstars and athletes from the WWF and NFL Hulk Hogan (c) vs. King Kong Bundy in a Steel Cage match for the WWF Championship
WrestleMania II
The first annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event taking place on March 31, 1985, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show featured nine professional wrestling matches with the main event match pitting Hulk Hogan and Mr. T against Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff.
WrestleMania
The best and most memorable matches from Hulk Hogan's career.
WWE: Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology
The American Wrestling Association takes its unique brand of sports-entertainment to locations around the world; these classic AWA events feature the top competitors in the Minnesota-based territory, and many were never broadcast on television.
AWA Arena Shows
No description available.
WWE Greatest Wrestling Factions
WOW! Women of Wrestling, aka WOW!, is a professional wrestling promotion founded in 2000 by David McLane, previously the founder of Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. It is based in Los Angeles, California and relaunched in 2012. Using a similar format of character driven performers, with names befitting a comic book series, such as Jungle Grrrl, an inmate tag-team complete with orange jump suits named Caged Heat, a Hollywood starlet named Lana Star and the Persian Princess, WOW launched a series of syndicated programs in the 2000-01 television seasons in 102 TV markets. WOW programs were able to stand out from other wrestling programs by offering television viewers and live event audience an all female troupe of performers who played campy villains and heroines in all sizes and nationalities. By being the only entertainment source of its kind, WOW captured a strong adult demographic following with its primary audience, the male television audience generating 25% higher ratings than its secondary audience of young women, teens, and tweens.
Women of Wrestling
Young Jesse is traveling through time in order to stop some evil virtual reality fight managers from a parallel universe trying to destroy Earth.
Timemaster
An ambitious and wide-ranging documentary exploring Andre’s upbringing in France, his celebrated career in WWE, and his forays in the entertainment world.