With all respect to James Dudley, the first real African American manager of note in the WWE was “The Doctor of Style”, Slick.  The jive talking street hustler was one of the more fun characters, but he was rarely paired with a wrestler who complimented his style.  Slick had a decent run, but it has to be wondered if an updated version of his character (even though there is no real manager of note today) could take off better now.