wrestling / Columns

The Magnificent Seven: WWE’s Top 7 Female Managers

June 8, 2017 | Posted by Mike Chin
Randy Savage Elizabeth WWF WWE Network Image Credit: WWE

There was a period when managers dominated the WWE landscape. There were main event managers like Bobby Heenan, mid-card and tag team managers like Jimmy Hart, and more niche managers like Paul Bearer, Mr. Fuji, and Slick. In generations preceding them, people like The Grand Wizard and Freddie Blassie did the talking and provided the outside interference for numerous heels.

The business changed. There came a point when there were far fewer managers on the WWE landscape and then hardly any at all. Still, there have been resurgences, small and large, and in recent years Paul Heyman has quite thoroughly proven the value of the role and justified a small come back for this part of the roster on the whole.

You’ll notice that everyone I mentioned so far was a man. So what of the female managers? While they tend to get short shrift in conversations of all-time great WWE managers, there are a number who certainly deserve consideration, whether they physically got involved in the action, cut killer promos, or otherwise added intrigue to storylines they were involved with. So, this week’s column look at WWE’s top seven female managers of all time.

In compiling this countdown, there were some tricky distinctions. I did very much include women who wrestled concurrently with their managerial work, though I tried to consider the work as a manager in as much of a vacuum as possible (so, not factoring what they did as wrestlers into the equation, unless the two roles were unavoidably intertwined at the time). In order to be eligible, the woman in question did need to be a regular presence as a manager for at least half of a year cumulatively, so, for example, one-off appearances or isolated storyline alliances were not enough (not that she’d make the cut in my book anyway, but this would disqualify, for example, Cyndi Lauper who briefly managed Wendi Richter).

The criteria for this one are pretty unscientific, but geared toward the entertainment value and positive influence a manager had on the people she managed, and her impact on the business a whole. As always, my personal opinion weighs heavily.

#7. Sable

Sable made her first appearance for WWE at WrestleMania 12, just the latest in a string of young women who’d accompanied young Hunter Hearst-Helmesley to the ring. After The Ultimate Warrior bested Helmesley, the heel blamed Sable for the loss and berated her backstage, only for newly arrived Marc Mero to come to her rescue. Little did we know, we were witnessing the debut of one of the WWF’s most iconic female stars.

In the two years to follow, Sable became a popular manager backing up Mero, and before long outshone him, gradually becoming one of the most popular acts in the WWF while Mero slowly turned heel out of his character’s jealousy toward her. This story gave way to angle all about women’s empowerment, culminating in Sable standing up for herself and actively battling against Luna Vachon, Goldust, and Mero himself before transitioning to much more of a wrestler than a manager in her own right. She’d make an on and off return to managing in her second WWE stint including 2003 and 2004 kind of-sort of managing Vince McMahon as she engaged in angle cast as his mistress, and more earnestly backing A-Train.

Through it all, Sable effectively played three very different tropes to a tee—the damsel in distress, the empowered heroine, and finally the heel vixen, making her a well-rounded and talented wrestling manager who was far more than the pretty face some dismissed her as.

#6. AJ Lee

The dynamic has repeated itself all too many times throughout WWE history: an unlikely act gets super over, until WWE over-exposes it and ultimately cuts off that character’s momentum. It happened with Eugene, Eric Bischoff’s loveable, mentally challenged nephew who wound up a fringe main eventer for a brief period. It happened with Hornswoggle who went from a fun sidekick to Finlay to Mr. McMahon’s bastard son. It happened with AJ Lee—though she acquitted herself nicely and came out all right—when she went from popular underdog wrestler to main event manager involved with Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Kane, John Cena, and Dolph Ziggler, not to mention a short-term GM for Raw. It was only after that that she got a solid run as a wrestler.

Lee’s time as a manager, more so than her time as an authority figure did, if nothing else, produce intrigue. First, she played Daniel Bryan’s on-air girlfriend who added valuable heat to this character for helping him come off as a borderline abusive ass. She’d transition from that role to an intriguing spin on the crazy girlfriend angle, bouncing between him, Punk, and Kane. All of this gave way to her dating, then turning heel on John Cena and aligning herself with Dolph Ziggler to more firmly establish her heel persona and transition into more full-time wrestling.

Ultimately, Lee walked the line between becoming too much of a factor in storylines and distracting from the wrestlers at hand (jamming up what might have been a more serious, more wrestling-centric focused CM Punk-Daniel Bryan beef), to adding just the right accent of additional personality in top angles and making rivalries more personal (particularly the case for Ziggler rising up against Cena).

#5. Chyna

The story is well-archived now, but as the WWF grew more serious about Triple H, there was talk of giving him a heater—a bruising outside the ring presence to help him win and to make his overall persona more intimidating. Mr. Hughes was up for the part first, but when that pairing didn’t work out Triple H got his way, bringing in little-known female bodybuilder Joanie Laurer as Chyna.

Chyna was instantly effective as a woman who was big and powerful enough to believably hold her own against men. Moreover, her gender earned Triple H extra heat for the oddity of a male professional wrestler having a woman fight his battles for him. This original dynamic would be enough to earn Chyna consideration for this countdown, but she more firmly earns a mid-tier spot because of the way the relationship evolved as they turned face together and became a popular pair of warriors, fighting side by side.

The lines get fuzzy between Chyna as a manager and Chyna as a wrestler from there, as she worked the two roles with fluidity as part of the Corporation before turning face when she transitioned more fully to a wrestling role (first against men, then finally into the women’s ranks).

#4. Lita

Similar to Chyna, much of Lita’s time as a wrestler blends in to her managerial work in WWE. While Chyna certainly accomplished more in kayfabe in the ring (more titles, more groundbreaking performances) Lita gets the nod ahead of her in this countdown for the unique and sustained talents she bought to the part of wrestling manager.

Though Lita started off at the side of Essa Rios, she rose to fame clustered with The Hardy Boyz as Team Extreme. While the brothers probably would have been just fine without her, LIta’s sex appeal, edgy look, and willingness to get down and dirty in the action helped bolster the tag team’s popularity at a key point in their development. While she occasionally played the damsel in distress, more often she was just part of the crew as a wildly popular manager.

While Lita had a period of looking a little lost—backing Matt Hardy when the brothers became singles wrestlers, then bouncing to Kane—she found her footing again in a heel persona, in the corner of Edge. Edge had been knocking the door of the main event for about five years when the news broke that he’d had a real-life falling out with Matt Hardy over Lita. While the actual details of the story remain fuzzy and widely contested, the perception that Edge and Lita had had a backstage affair got the both of them booed out of the building. When WWE embraced this dynamic, casting them as a heel tandem, Edge finally had the complete package necessary to headline as a real-deal main eventer.

So, for doing spectacular work as a face involved in the tag scene, and as a femme fatale mixed up in the main event, Lita lands herself in a prime spot in WWE manager history.

#3. Miss Elizabeth

Most of the women on this countdown walked the line between manager and wrestler, and earned their spot, at least in part, for their willingness and ability to get physical with male counterparts. Miss Elizabeth worked the opposite end of the spectrum. Her gimmick—a beautiful damsel in distress who was loyal to the love of her life—might not play as well to the contemporary culture in which women are more empowered. For its time, however, she was the quintessential face that launched a thousand ships. Or, more precisely, the face that drove Randy Savage nuts in his protective instincts and jealousy. Sometimes, that drive was a good thing, as he Elizabeth was his inspiration in running the gauntlet at WrestleMania 4 to win the world title, or when he defended her honor against Jake Roberts and Ric Flair. Sometimes, that was a very bad thing, like when he let his feelings turn him sour on his greatest ally, Hulk Hogan.

Elizabeth managed other wrestlers, too—Hogan as half of The Mega Powers, and the team of Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire for a one-off appearance, but her WWF character rarely drifted far from The Macho Man’s orbit, and she thrived in his corner. Indeed, she was his perfect complement, quiet and dignified, which made it all the more spectacular when she was pushed to do something out of character, like when she stripped down to distract The Mega Bucks so The Mega Powers could beat them, when Ric Flair’s lascivious nature got her to slap him at WrestleMania 8, or when she was compelled to pull Queen Sherrie’s hair and throw he from the ring when she had the audacity to kick Savage when he was down.

Miss Elizabeth’s WCW work showed the character was wearing a little thin and that the performer wasn’t nearly as in her element as a heel. Just the same, for her WWE work—which is the focus of this countdown—she remains a one-of-a-kind icon for her time, and of her type.

#2. Sunny

Like Miss Elizabeth, Sunny was a non-wrestler for the WWF. She started out at the side of her real-life partner and long-time pro wrestling associate Chris Candido, as they played The Bodydonnas, a heel fitness guru pair. But Sunny’s sex appeal, not to mention her gift for gab, quickly transitioned her to more prominent placement, advancing from The Bodydonnas tag team to hopping between tag team champions, playing something of a gold digger gimmick. While some will argue that she overshadowed the teams she worked with, it can also be said that she added a lot of attention and heat to a sagging tag team division at the time.

Sunny moved on to briefly work with Faarooq upon his debut, before he moved on to head up the Nation of Domination. Sunny would wind up her time in the WWF with another stint in the tag ranks, backing the lightly rebranded LOD 2000.

What Sunny lacked in longevity and main event placement, she made up for as an electric personality and a vivacious personality that helped awaken the WWF to the idea that sex could sell in pro wrestling. We can debate whether or not that was a good thing in the long run (particularly for the damage it may have done to women’s wrestling for a time), but she was nonetheless hugely influential on the business.

#1. Sensational Sherri

Bobby Heenan famously claimed that the key to working as a heel was to wrestle like a manager and to manage like a wrestler. Thus, his combination of kayfabe cowardice and willingness to get beat up in the ring were key components to his long-term success, and why so many of us readily rank him as the greatest manager of all time. While Sensational Sherrie was no match for Heenan as a manager on the whole, I’d argue that she was something like the female equivalent of him. When she managed in the WWF, she was still more or less in her prime as a wrestler—a skillset she got to put on display altogether too infrequently. Just the same, that prowess allowed her to take her share of physical punishment in confrontations with the likes of Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior, and, toward the end, from Shawn Michaels and from Luna Vachon.

Sherri became a manager largely because the WWF decided to phase out women’s wrestling when she was close to her peak, and managed to hang on in the managerial role. She wound up as manager of top-shelf heels, starting with Randy Savage, moving on to Ted Dibiase, and finally helping to immediately make Shawn Michaels as a brand new heel presence. For each man she backed, she tweaked her character, playing a queen for Savage, acting infatuated with Michaels. Each time, the dynamic worked well, and she was instrumental in playing the cheating manager who helped her charge pick up wins, as well as the extra obstacle for faces to overcome en route to big victories.

Little less impressive, after almost five years as a major heel manager, Sherri transitioned seamlessly to a face role, jilted by Shawn Michaels and victimized by Luna Vachon, effectively backing Marty Jannetty and Tatanka toward the end of her tenure.

Which managers would you add to the list and how would you order them? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Read more from Mike Chin at his website and follow him on Twitter @miketchin.

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The Magnificent Seven, WWE, Mike Chin