Brian Damage
Trades are a very common occurrence in all of sports. Players get traded for other players or sometimes even for cash considerations. It doesn’t matter if it is baseball, football, basketball or hockey…it does happen on a regular basis. It is a bit more uncommon in the world of professional wrestling, but it has happened. I’m not referring to promoters exchanging talent with one another…but rather the kayfabe trades between managers.
One of the biggest and most notable trades between managers occurred in the World Wrestling Federation in September of 1985. It was at that time, that two of the WWF’s biggest named managers swapped talent. The managers in question were ‘The Mouth of the South’ Jimmy Hart and Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan. The trade was a two wrestlers for the price of one…but that one was a 450 pound behemoth who was a rising star within the company.
Jimmy Hart was managing King Kong Bundy, a wrestler Hart was very familiar with considering he once managed him down in the Memphis territory. Bundy was becoming one of the WWF’s top heels. A fast rising star who was beating his opponents in seconds rather than minutes. King Kong Bundy was in the middle of a big feud with Andre the Giant. The two had faced off in a huge main event at a sold out Madison Square Garden entitled ‘The Colossal Jostle.’
The match ended in a disqualification victory for Andre, but it still helped Bundy establish himself as a monster heel. As Bundy was continuing his feud with Andre in several other matches at house shows…Bobby Heenan’s charge of Big John Studd was being put on the back burner. Heenan had his fair share of wrestlers in his stable which included Studd, Ken Patera, Adrian Adonis and a newcomer to the company by the name of The Missing Link.
The Missing Link was a star in various other territories and when he arrived in the WWF, he was given Heenan as his manager. Rumors were that Dewey Robertson (Link) and Heenan did not hit it off behind the scenes. According to Link, both Bobby Heenan and Vince McMahon never “got” what the Missing Link was supposed to be. The two had no real chemistry from the start and it hurt Link’s time within the company.
While we know how quick witted Heenan could be on the microphone, he was also a very shrewd businessman in real life. Heenan realized that his partnership with Link wasn’t going anywhere. He also saw that King Kong Bundy was quickly becoming a main event attraction. It is rumored that Heenan used his influence to convince Vince McMahon to switch the Missing Link for King Kong Bundy. Heenan did have some influence due to his friendship with Hulk Hogan behind the scenes.
While a vignette never aired of the trade, it was announced all over WWF television. The Missing Link was traded to Jimmy Hart…along with the then street tough Adrian Adonis and Bobby Heenan obtained Bundy. The Missing Link never lasted long with Hart and he was gone from the company after only eight months. Jimmy Hart’s other acquisition, Adrian Adonis eventually transformed into The Adorable One. Meanwhile, King Kong Bundy would continue to move up the card to challenge Hulk Hogan for the WWF title at Wrestlemania 2.
David Fullam
I can see it. Link was just not the type of wrestler or personality that would go with Bobby Heenan.