5 Wrestlers That Bobby Heenan Loved & 5 He Didn't

The legacy of Bobby Heenan sees him as arguably the greatest manager and color commentator in wrestling history. Heenan was a wrestling genius known for giving his all to help the product outside of the ring. Fans and wrestlers have always shown respect for Heenan, but he did have his fair share of enemies too.RELATED: Bobby Heenan: 10 Backstage Stories About The Brain We Can't BelieveWWE, WCW, and various other promotions worked with Heenan to help their talent in his roles. However, Heenan developed a dislike for a select few wrestlers he couldn’t get along with. Others had closer bonds with him and loved the time working together. The history of Heenan sees the following wrestlers loved or hated by him.

10 Loved: Ric Flair

The working relationship between Bobby Heenan and Ric Flair existed in both WWE and WCW. Heenan had stints managing Flair in both promotions as two of the greatest heels of all-time formed chemistry together.

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Flair has spoken glowingly about Heenan throughout the years and made it clear that he was the best manager of all time. Heenan had a preference for wrestlers like Flair who would work longer matches in the ring and talk even louder than him on the microphone.

9 Didn’t: Hulk Hogan

Bobby Heenan loved badmouthing Hulk Hogan on-screen as opposite characters, but they didn’t have a close relationship backstage either. Hogan complained for years about Heenan “ruining” his WCW heel turn by questioning which side Hulk was on when he walked to the ring to form the New World Order.

Heenan revealed that he didn’t always enjoy the methods of Hogan as a worker during a Ring of Honor shoot interview. The two had drastically different approaches to wrestling and the unspoken heat added to Heenan’s heelwork.

8 Loved: Andre The Giant

Bobby Heenan managed Andre the Giant in WWE, but that wasn’t the only time they spent working together. Andre enjoyed Heenan and used to hang out with him after shows during the legendary drinking sessions for the big man.

Heenan shared a funny story about a stewardess bringing Andre a screwdriver tool on a plane when he asked for it. The task of traveling with the big man saw Heenan sometimes having to help or protect him with the infamous drinking stories of getting hammered after shows.

7 Didn't: Ole Anderson

Ole Anderson had an important role in the original version of The Four Horsemen, but he was still among the most hated men backstage. Other wrestlers felt that Ole was a bully and showed little respect to his peers in real life.

Bobby Heenan had the following to say about the kind of person Anderson was behind the scenes:

" A person that has that kind of personality doesn’t have that much of a heart, I feel. That’s what I think of Ole Anderson. I think Ole Anderson is a piece of sh**. Right out there and back."

Heenan was just one of the dozens of wrestlers to have horror stories about working with Ole.

6 Loved: Harley Race

The 2004 WWE Hall of Fame induction wasn’t put out there in the same way as future classes, but it featured an all-time great speech. Bobby Heenan reminded everyone how entertaining he was by sharing details of his career, including thanking Harley Race for their time working together.

Race was praised for being one of the toughest men in wrestling by Heenan. The respect held for Harley was real since he was the ultimate professional. Heenan had praised Race numerous times for having great memories together when managing the legend.

5 Didn't: Ken Patera

The short stint of Bobby Heenan managing Ken Patera in WWE saw them failing to get along, even though they didn’t have strong heat. Bruce Prichard revealed that Heenan hated working with Patera due to his stiff nature in the ring:

"Ken was just so damn strong and you know Kenny was Kenny and world’s strongest man at the time. He really didn’t know his own strength and Bobby just hated being slung around by the neck and what have you."

Patera was one of the few wrestlers who didn’t make a big leap when having Heenan as his manager.

4 Loved: Goldberg

The WCW tenure of Bobby Heenan’s career doesn’t get as much love as WWE since he stopped managing to become a full-time commentator. Goldberg still ended up becoming a favorite of Heenan when calling his matches and interacting backstage.

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Heenan criticized WCW on multiple occasions for doing things that harmed Goldberg’s magic as the most unstoppable wrestler. The belief of Heenan was that Goldberg should have remained undefeated longer and led the company to new heights.

3 Didn't: Davey Boy Smith

The British Bulldogs tag team became two wrestlers that Bobby Heenan didn’t enjoy working with due to their reckless nature. Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid were known for working rough in the ring and trying to scare non-wrestlers.

Heenan felt that they took liberties with him and tried to hurt him. Smith was specifically an enemy of Heenan since his strength was more powerful than Dynamite and it led to the manager feeling real pain after their spots together.

2 Loved: Gorilla Monsoon

The commentary team of Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon is still considered one of the all-time great duos. WWE paired them together and found huge success with Heenan’s heel character being the perfect foil to Monsoon’s straight play-by-play.

The passing of Gorilla saw Heenan demanding that WCW give him a minute before Nitro to share a message honoring his old partner. Monsoon and Heenan developed a bond that was shown in their commentary and grew even stronger behind the scenes.

1 Didn't: Ultimate Warrior

Few wrestlers received as many public insults from Bobby Heenan as the Ultimate Warrior did. Heenan viewed Warrior as one of the most unprofessional and disrespectful people he ever encountered in the wrestling business.

Warrior was stiff in the ring whenever working spots with Heenan and injured him on a few occasions. The low class of Warrior featured him making statements about Heenan deserving cancer later in his life. Most wrestlers voiced support of Heenan over Warrior who had more than enough reasons to dislike the controversial figure.