TPWW Greatest Manager of All Time Tournament: First Round
 

So, let's have some fun and break this down

Match 1: Paul Heyman Vs. Johnny Valiant

There are some guys that are so lucky to make it this far, and Valiant is one of them. There are few in this tournament I have less regard for than Luscious Johnny V. Heyman tap-dances all over him without breaking a sweat.

Match 2: Miss Elizabeth Vs. Luna Vachon

Interesting battle, two women that are less their own act so much as extensions of the guys they managed. Elizabath was higher up the card, a bigger star, and was responsible for WCW drawing big on house shows for the first time in the 90s when she turned heel, so she gets the nod.

Match 3: Bobby Heenan Vs. Arnold Skaaland

I can't fucking believe Skaaland won. I actually set up a second account to try and vote twice to prevent him getting through, such is my disregard for this useless buffoon. Going against the odds-on favourite, this is a squash. Hit the bricks, humanoid.

Match 4: Jimmy Hart Vs. James Mitchell

This is a fun one. Mitchell will always be one of those guys that really came along too late - he had the ability to be an all-time great, awesome look, brilliant promo, but unfortunately the most prominent he was ever used was TNA. In terms of natural born talent, this is close. Jimmy Hart, however, not only had the WWF run to make him more high profile, but was absolutely sensational in Memphis and makes this a fairly open and shut case for me.

Match 5: Paul Bearer Vs. Missy Hyatt

I liked Missy and thought more could have been done with her as a bitchy heel manager, but this is the end of the line for her. Bearer had this won based on his pre-WWF career alone, let alone being a staple of one the most iconic acts of the 90s with Undertaker. A guy that was actually a successful babyface manager, which is ridiculously rare when you think about it.

Match 6: Jim Cornette Vs. Sonny Onoo

Nephew, please. I can't remember who Onoo beat, but they must have sucked. Cornette was a major player and is an all-time great. Sonny Onoo was the shits.

Match 7: Paul Ellering Vs. Gary Hart

I'm not a big Ellering fan, in truth. Was with a great act, but I never felt like they needed him, and I don't think he added a whole lot. Gary Hart was superb, and may not get as far as he probably deserves in this tournament, but this is a win for him in my eyes.

Match 8: Col. Robert Parker Vs. Classy Freddie Blassie

It's Blassie all the way. The Hollywood Fashion Plate, manager of every turncoat in the WWWF against Bruno and helped do great business for years. I liked Parker, but he's not getting my vote here.

Match 9: Captain Lou Albano Vs. Vickie Guerrero

Albano may have drawn as much money as any manager ever did, and was an iconic character for the ages. I liked Vickie a lot, she got great heat and he was a focal point with Edge for a good couple of years there, but it doesn't compare to the Captain.

Match 10: Sir Oliver Humperdink Vs. Sunny

I hated Humperdink. In fairness, I've always been under the impression that his best work was with Jerry Brown and Buddy Roberts as the original Hollywood Blonds, but I haven't seen it, and nothing I've seen from him would be considered special. Sunny wasn't the most prominent and didn't have a prolonged run, but she was awesome in her role.

Match 11: JJ Dillon Vs. Harley Race

I'm not as big a fan of JJ as some, so this is actually a bit closer that it might be for most in terms of my opinion. I loved Harley with Vader, but Dillon was a part of a lot of greatness in the Horsemen, and that's getting the nod.

Match 12: Mr. Fuji Vs. Harvey Wippleman

FUCKING HELL. Two bums. Fuji managed Demolition. That's all I've got here.

Match 13: Zeb Colter Vs. The Genius

Genius was shown to be useless as soon as Heenan took Perfect and did his job far better. The Beverlys run was trash. Colter, while never a top flight manager, was a better promo.

Match 14: Ted DiBiase Vs. The Grand Wizard

DiBiase shouldn't have made it this far. Wizard was effective as garnish for guys like Superstar Billy Graham, Sgt. Slaughter and Ernie Ladd, and while he was never the guy that was needed to elevate guys, he was great in his role and was a bigger star as a manager than Ted.

Match 15: Joel Gertner Vs. Terri Runnels

Gertner was far better without the Dudleyz, and Terri with Goldust was good, and part of some extremely memorable angles, which is more than I can say for Joel.

Match 16: Ric Flair Vs. Sensational Sherri

What is Ric on the list for? Charlotte? Managing Trips? He was great as HHH's shadow in Evolution, but I never saw him as a manager because he was active at the same time and never cut HHH's promos for him. Sherri added to every act she was ever with, and being in the more traditional role, I think she deserves to go through here.

I threw out a few pitty votes in this one

Fairly straightforward round to start off.

My only real pity vote was Vickie. Argue all you want over whether the heat she got was the wrong kind of heat, but for a few years it was fucking nuclear every time she'd speak. So I threw her a vote expecting she'll get rightly demolished by Captain Lou.

The only one I struggled with was Ellering vs Hart

The spoiler tags are kind of pointless when you can just look at the poll

its makes the page shorter though which is nice

I went Hart. Ellering worked with LOD but my gawd what a fucking bore.

Luna for all intents and purposes is better than Liz. But Liz worked so fucking well with Macho and Lunas problems seemed to get in the way of her leaving a truly lasting impression.

Yeah. Page loads quicker. Also, maybe some people like the dramatic reveal before voting.

I'll say this: Sherri Martel with Macho was better than Liz with Macho IMO.

yes

I really think Sherri is underrated. She had attitude and charisma and always played her role really well.

She was always an asset to anyone she was with, without taking away their limelight. Wasn't afraid to get embarrassed either when time was right to put the face over.

You probably like Elizabeth better with Luger too. Shame on you!

If only Lex could have saved her

The only thing lex loser saved was all the drugs that he made miss Elizabeth take when he killed her.

The ones I struggled with most were Sunny vs. Humperdink and Albano vs. Vickie. I went with Mitchell over Jimmy Hart too. That's just a subjective thing -- I can understand Hart is more important and such, but I love Mitchell and never really got invested in Jimmy as much as I should. Speaking of Harts, Gary over Paul Ellering was pretty easy for me. It's not that I don't like Ellering or anything, but Gary was sublime as a manager.

If Sunny weren't insanely hot, she'd still have been great I think. Underrated promo.

She was certainly hotter than Paul Ellering.

Agree, he seemed to not respect Sherri as much and was more demanding of her in promos and such. Made for some entertaining promos while him and Miss Elizabeth was just a good love story kind of thing that fit him as a face. Sherri was great for the Macho King gimmick and a heel Savage.

Sherri was so entertaining during Macho's matches

I fucking love Sherri. She was great with HBK too. He should have kept her version of this theme.

Only choice I apparently went against the popular opinion on was Sir Oliver Humperdink over Sunny.

Only reason is honestly because of the Humperdink name and the great song from his "cousin" Ingleberg, "Lesbian Seagull".