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| No one like him, ever Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Okay, maybe some personality types are hardwired to be annoyed by a guy who fits the oeuvre that Heenan occupied during his active career, but for sarcastic and cynical kids like me, even ones who when it came to wrestling rooted for the guys Heenan railed against, he was inspiration. Heenan showed that one could be successful in life by being sarcastic to a fault. He projected wittiness and always had a comeback, even in the face of that counter-comeback containing some kind of violence against his person.
And yet, Heenan always had an avuncular way about him, maybe not in a warm, loving way, but in the "always making holiday dinners interesting" way with his witticisms (and not in the way the Zeb Colter character would have made it interesting with his... ahem, views). Even at his most acerbic, Heenan always had a great rapport with his most famous broadcast partner, Gorilla Monsoon. They disagreed all the time on what tactics were right, but the disagreements came off like two old friends having a spat rather than two political rivals spewing vitriol at each other (like Jim Ross and Paul Heyman).
Of course, wrestling is a business that chews up people and spits them out, but in an industry plagued with early death and tragedy, the cruelest fate befell Heenan, who was robbed of his amazing gift of gab by cancer. He still lives, but it's like a piece of wrestling has been eroded away from a guy who, by all accounts, was as cool and kind in his normal life as he was acerbic and snarky in his wrestling persona. No did what Heenan did as well as he did, and it's a tall order to think someone could ever surpass him. Even if someone ever does, few people will hold a place in my wrestling fan heart that "The Brain" will.