Heenan notoriously disliked the term, stating that "a stable is a place where you keep a bunch of fly-infested horses", and instead referred to his collective wrestlers as his "family".

Heenan made his debut appearance in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in September 1984, seconding Big John Studd to the ring.

While Jesse Ventura was originally supposed to be the first member of the WWF version of the Heenan Family, he was forced to retire due to health problems.

In response, Heenan then traded Adrian Adonis and Missing Link to manager Jimmy Hart in September 1985 for King Kong Bundy.

Bundy, along with Studd, continued to make life difficult for André, who turned to Hulk Hogan and Tony Atlas for assistance.

After this, he referred to himself as "King" Harley Race, coming to the ring in a royal crown and cape, to the ceremonial accompaniment of the tenth movement (known as "The Great Gates of Kiev") of Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky.

[1] On December 14 at the following Saturday Night's Main Event IX taping in Hartford, CT, he would manage Paul Orndorff in steel cage rematch against Hogan, who again won the match.

[2] Although John Studd had departed at the end of 1986, Heenan scored a major coup for his stable in January 1987, when André turned heel and challenged Hogan for the title at WrestleMania III.

[4] The feud was transferred over to the newly formed tag team Strike Force (professional wrestling) after Tito Santana replaced Tom Zenk in the now defunct Can-Am Connection.

At this point, the group was at its largest, with André, Bundy, Orndorff, Rude, Race, Hercules, Haku and Tama all managed by Heenan.

On December 7, Heenan would again lead Bundy in an effort to dethrone Hulk Hogan at a Saturday Night's Main Event XIV taping in Landover, Maryland.

[6] "High Chief" Afi joined the tag team to make a trio for one episode of Superstars, taped April 21, 1988 and aired on May 7, 1988.

[7] On March 7, 1988 in Nashville, Tennessee, Heenan would lead Harley Race against former champion Hulk Hogan on Saturday Night's Main Event XV.

The two slots in the Family were then filled on October 5 in Fort Wayne, Indiana when Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard joined as The Brain Busters.

[4] Early in his Red Rooster stint, the heel Taylor was portrayed as a novice wrestler who could not navigate his way through matches without constant instructions from Heenan.

At the end of the year, Harley Race did come back, setting up a friendly match with King Haku for the crown at the upcoming Royal Rumble.

Also that month on the January 7, 1989 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event XIX, The Red Rooster lost a match to Tito Santana due to being distracted by an argument with Heenan.

At WrestleMania VI in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Demolition regained the titles from The Colossal Connection and after the match, Heenan angrily berated Andre, leading André to turn on him and depart.

Perfect defeated former champion Tito Santana and won a tournament at a Superstars taping on April 23 in Austin, Texas to fill the vacant Intercontinental Championship.

Perfect faced Big Boss Man at WrestleMania VII in Los Angeles, where a disqualification loss after Bossman was attacked by Heenan Family members Haku and The Barbarian meant that he retained his title; during the match, Perfect had been hit in the head with the Intercontinental Championship title belt by former Heenan member André the Giant, though he managed to kick-out of a pin attempt.

On the July 26, 1993 episode of Monday Night Raw, an excited Heenan left the announce booth to welcome his "good friend" Jim Cornette to the WWF.

[14] Other wrestlers who were part of the Heenan Family, at one time or another, were Ken Patera, Paul Orndorff, Adrian Adonis, The Missing Link, "The King" Harley Race, The Islanders (Haku and Tama), Hercules, The Barbarian, The Red Rooster, and The Brooklyn Brawler.