Hayes reverted to babyface and began a feud with fellow manager Bobby Heenan after an incident in November 1979 where Super Destroyer II fired Hayes and replaced him with Heenan. In other territories however, Hayes remained a heel. In Florida in 1980, Hayes began managing Bobby Jaggers while his regular manager Oliver Humperdink was busy acting as Dusty Rhodes' servant for thirty days (after another protege of his, Ivan Koloff lost a match to Rhodes with that stipulation.) When "Rooster" Humperdink, who had become a figure of sympathy during his thirty days' servitude, returned to management and attempted to claim back Jaggers, Hayes and another protege Nikolai Volkoff brutally beat on Humperdink, thus starting a feud with Humperdink and Rhodes.