I finally saw the news on Twitter one of the most important voices of my childhood has finally passed away. Where do I begin to discuss The Brain? Pro wrestling entered my life when my parents split up. My Dad was living in a tiny apartment in Bardonia following the initial separation and I would visit him on the weekend and he showed me World Class Championship Wrestling which aired on ESPN at that time. I had caught the wrestling bug but since my mom didn’t get cable yet I would watch the NWA on WPIX but it wasn’t until I found the WWF which aired on WNYW Saturday and Sunday at noon that it became an obsession. As an 9 year old kid I loved the faces and hated the heels. Nobody got my ire up like the manager Bobby “The Brain Heenan. I was a Hulkamaniac and he wanted to bring down my hero and he got Andre the Giant to turn on his friend. My Dad took me to the Mid Hudson Civic Center to watch WrestleMania 3 which pretty much sealed the deal for me that I was going to be watching wrestling for the next 30 years.
Even though I was a solid mark for the babyfaces I started to pay attention to what Heenan had to say. Even though I would chant “weasel” to myself when the crowd on the TV did I came to admire him. Since the 80s wrestling scene was the land of the giants especially for the WWF and yet I was constantly the shortest in my class or at least the 2nd shortest my dreams of becoming the next Hogan or Ultimate Warrior would only remain as dreams. I wasn’t a tough kid and I was overly sensitive which made me a target for bullying. Subconsciously I was identifying more with Heenan because like me he had a lot of enemies and people jeered him but he kept going and would respond with fire. I wanted to have that ability to verbally cut down those that would try to hurt me.
When it came time to choose my quote for the yearbook some Metallica lyrics came to mind but I had to go with The Brain “A friend in need is a pest.” To me that was as perfect as I could get. Rest In Peace Mr. Heenan, you were the best.
