6. Know How To Wrestle (Well)
My belief in the need for all wrestling managers to know how to wrestle well is initially borne of the fact that so many great managers were wrestlers who were too small (in their era) to be effective in-ring athletes, or otherwise were wrestlers in the twilight of their career. From Bobby Heenan (arguably the best to ever do it) to Gary Hart, Paul Jones, Captain Lou Albano and so many others, managers-as-solid wrestlers is a notion that was grandfathered into the industry. If a manager is able to wrestle (well), then there are so many variations on a story that can be told in a feud. As well, it adds to the credibility of the business being done in the sense that a manager (like me) who is terrible at taking bumps provides a jarring visual that cheapens the level of in-ring business being done. If one of these things is not like the other, then why pay attention to anything at all? I was a barely trained wrestler. Of course, this likely does not matter as much in an era that does not have the level of quality control that the territory era provided. That being said, I am incredibly thankful (in a manner most shameful) that oftentimes my glaring in-ring inadequacies were masked by the far more show-damning in-ring inadequacies of other poorly-trained grapplers on the same independent wrestling shows. It is my opinion that there's nothing worse than a manager who writes a check with his mouth that his ass can't properly cash. Now having distance from the pro wrestling industry, I'm oftentimes frustrated with my own level of under-preparedness and thus feel strongly about others who mirror my inabilities.