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 the 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 the Heenan Family. Heenan led his members to many title reigns, including the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and the AWA World Tag Team Championship before leaving the AWA in 1979 (for the storyline reason of being suspended from the AWA for one year) 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 led this version to numerous title reigns before he was fired from GCW by booker Ole Anderson.
Return To AWA (1979-1984)[]
After his firing from GCW, Heenan returned to the AWA, where he reformed the Heenan Family with Nick Bockwinkel. The stable got its newest member, Ken Patera in 1982, but Patera left the group in 1983 and joined Jerry Blackwell to form the Sheiks tag team under the management of Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie when Heenan suffered a neck injury in a match against Atsushi Onita in Japan.
Members[]
American Wrestling Association[]
- Nick Bockwinkel
- Ray Stevens
- Angelo Poffo
- Bobby Duncum, Sr.
- Blackjack Lanza
- Blackjack Mulligan
- Ken Patera
- Boris Breznikoff
Georgia Championship Wrestling[]
World Wrestling Federation[]
- The Missing Link
- Ken Patera
- Big John Studd
- King Kong Bundy
- Paul Orndorff
- Harley Race
- High Chief Sivi Afi
- André the Giant
- Rick Rude
- Hercules Hernandez
- The Barbarian
- Haku
- Tama
- Mr. Perfect
- "The Red Rooster" Terry Taylor
- The Brooklyn Brawler
- The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard)
Championships[]
- 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 & Ray Stevens (4 times), Blackjack Lanza & Blackjack Mulligan (1 time) Bobby Duncum, Sr. & Blackjack Lanza (1 time)
- 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 & Mr. Fuji (1 time), Professor Toru Tanaka & Assassin #2 (1 time)
- 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) Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (1 time), Haku & André the Giant (1 time)
- King of the Ring (1986) Harley Race
