The Heenan Family

The Heenan Family
Stable
Members	See Below
Debut	1969
Disbanded	1991
Promotions	AWA GCW WWF

The Heenan Family was a stable of heel wrestlers managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan beginning in the 1970s. Heenan managed wrestlers under the Heenan Family name in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the National Wrestling Alliance's Georgia Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The term "stable" refers to a group of wrestlers in an ongoing alliance, often under a single manager. Heenan notoriously disliked the term, stating "A stable is a place where you keep a bunch of fly-infested horses," and instead referred to his collective wrestlers as his "family." The name moved with him, and changed members frequently.

History

American Wrestling Association (1969-1979)

Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, a professional wrestling manager debuted in American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1969, where he began managing teams like The Blackjacks (Lanza and Mulligan), the team of Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens, and Bobby Duncum, Sr. forming the first version of Heenan Family. Heenan lead his members to many title reigns, including the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and the AWA World Tag Team Championship before leaving AWA in 1979 to join Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW).

Georgia Championship Wrestling (1979)

In GCW, Heenan formed his second version of Heenan Family, where Blackjack Lanza remained in the stable, while Heenan received new members in Masked Superstar, Killer Karl Kox, Professor Toru Tanaka and Ernie Ladd. He also lead this version to numerous title reigns before he was fired by GCW.

Return To AWA (1979-1984)

After his firing from GCW, Heenan returned to AWA, where he reformed Heenan Family with Nick Bockwinkel. The stable got its newest member, Ken Patera in 1982, but Patera left the group in 1983 when Heenan suffered an injury in Japan.

WWF (1984-1993)

Heenan made his debut appearance in the World Wrestling Federation in September 1984, seconding Big John Studd to the ring. While Jesse Ventura was originally supposed to be the first member of the WWF version of the Heenan Family, he was forced to retire due to health problems. Studd officially became the first member of the WWF version of the Heenan Family and wasn't long before Patera joined the fold.

The Heenan Family's first target was Andre the Giant, with whom Studd had been embroiled in a bitter feud over who was the true "giant" of wrestling. The Heenan Family scored the first major victory in the feud when Heenan helped instigate a 2-on-1 attack on Andre, an incident that resulted in Studd and Patera cutting Andre's famous locks of hair. Andre regained the upper hand, prompting Heenan to bring King Kong Bundy into the Family. Bundy, along with Studd, continued to make life difficult for Andre, who turned to Hulk Hogan and Tony Atlas for assistance. In 1986, as part of a storyline explaining Andre's leave of absence from the WWF (due to health problems and a tour of Japan), the Heenan Family campaigned to have Andre suspended for failing to show for matches against Studd and Bundy, and later to require a lifetime suspension from the WWF if they could prove a masked man competing as the "Giant Machine" was Andre.

In addition to Andre, WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hogan was another frequent target of the Heenan Family. Early on, Heenan turned to Studd, Bundy and Hogan's on-again, off-again friend "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff to win the title from Hogan, but they were all unsuccessful. In early 1987, Heenan appeared to score a major coup for his stable when Andre turned heel and challenged Hogan for the title at WrestleMania III. However, Hogan was also successful in his match against Andre.

After going more than four years without a champion, the Heenan Family got its first title when "Ravishing" Rick Rude (with help from Heenan) upset The Ultimate Warrior to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania V. Shortly thereafter, he led the Brain Busters (former Horsemen members Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) to the WWF World Tag Team championship (over Demolition), giving the Heenan Family two champions at one time. Late in 1989, the Colossal Connection (André and Haku) won the Tag Team Championship, again defeating Demolition. In the spring of 1990, the Heenan Family got its fourth title when "Mr. Perfect" won a tournament to fill the vacant Intercontinental Championship.

Other wrestlers who were part of the Heenan Family, at one time or another, were The Missing Link, Harley Race, The Islanders (Haku and Tama), Hercules, The Barbarian, Terry Taylor, and The Brooklyn Brawler. Several of them -- most notably Race -- challenged Hogan for the WWF Heavyweight Championship, while others played key roles in various mid-card and main-event storylines.

Members

AWA members

• Nick Bockwinkel
• Ray Stevens
• Blackjack Lanza
• Blackjack Mulligan
• Bobby Duncum
• Ken Patera
• Super Destroyer Mark II
• Stan Hansen

WWA members

• Angelo Poffo
• Chris Markoff
• Jimmy Valiant
• Johnny Valiant
• Baron von Raschke

NWA Georgia members

• Blackjack Lanza
• Masked Superstar
• "Killer" Karl Kox
• Professor Toru Tanaka
• "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd
• Bobby Jaggers
• Ron Bass
• Austin Idol

WWF members

• Adrian Adonis
• The Missing Link
• Ken Patera
• Big John Studd
• King Kong Bundy
• Paul Orndorff
• Harley Race
• André the Giant
• Rick Rude
• Hercules Hernandez
• The Barbarian
• Haku
• Tama
• "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig
• "The Red Rooster" Terry Taylor
• The Brooklyn Brawler
• The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard)

Championships

• World Wrestling Federation

• WWF Championship (3 times) – André the Giant (1 time), Ric Flair (2 times) (As an advisor)
• WWF Intercontinental Championship (3 times) – "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig (2 times), Rick Rude (1 time)
• WWF World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) (1 time), Colossal Connection (Haku and André the Giant) (1 time)
• King of the Ring (1986) – Harley Race

• Georgia Championship Wrestling

• NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (5 times) – Masked Superstar (4 times), Killer Karl Kox (1 time)
• NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (2 times) – Professor Toru Tanaka and Mr. Fuji (1 time), Professor Toru Tanaka and Assassin #2 (1 time)
• NWA National Heavyweight Championship (3 times) – Masked Superstar
• NWA National Tag Team Championship (2 times) – King Kong Bundy and Masked Superstar (1 time), Super Destroyer and Masked Superstar (1 time)

• American Wrestling Association

• AWA World Heavyweight Championship (4 times) – Nick Bockwinkel
• AWA International Heavyweight Championship (2 times) – Ken Patera
• AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time) – Nick Bockwinkel
• AWA World Tag Team Championship (6 times) – Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens (4 times), The Blackjacks (Blackjack Lanza and Blackjack Mulligan) (1 time), Bobby Duncum, Sr. and Blackjack Lanza (1 time)

See also

• Alliance to End Hulkamania
• The Blackjacks
• Colossal Connection
• Dangerous Alliance
• Faces of Fear
• The First Family
• The Islanders
• Stud Stable