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In the Rafters *Special Edition* Story By: Steve Parker May 20, 2002 Yes, its that time of the month where I send out a “In The Rafters” Special edition, if you are new to my column I write a special column once a month going over a wrestler or someone related to the wrestling business. This month’s lucky guy is Gorilla Monsoon, a wrestler to a commentator, to heaven. Last month was about The Von Erich’s, which was praised by many of you. These Special Editions are for all wrestling fans to help understand the past, as well as the present. I believe that my job is not only to give you my opinions but it is to inform you. This is why I have them, to inform you about great wrestlers that some may not know about, or some that have forgotten. So without further or do with my advertising, lets go back in time, to the glory days of wrestling. Gorilla Monsoon wrestled as a professional wrestling in the late sixties all the way to the seventies. As you saw tapes of him wrestle, you could easily tell he was a large, bulky man. At the time when Gorilla was wrestling, a wrestler would feel very reluctant if you were to be on TV. Back then there were mostly house shows, fans were less intelligent than usual also. Back in that day that Gorilla wrestled, all the fans thought it was real. So when you saw Gorilla beat down a face you could hear people yelling, “stop him, look at what he’s doing to him!” That was the role that heels had to do back in that day in age, but Gorilla did it far better than anyone. For those who are not familiar with Gorilla, many things make him famous in the world of wrestling set aside his trademark commentating. Gorilla Monsoon was known for a major thing, in the wrestling world, that no wrestler has ever done or for that matter, anyone. He is the only man to wrestle Muhammad Ali! Ali jumped in the ring in 1969, very fast and energetic, and apparently a "shoot" (he really was going to try and attack Monsoon.) Gorilla picked him up and put him on his should spinning around doing the airplane spin, and sent him flying outside the ring. After this incident Ali didn’t make it public so there was nothing following this incident. Gorilla said that it was a work not a shoot after the incident. But you never knew back then if they were telling the truth, because wrestling wasn’t treated or had the reputation as it does today. Back then they considered wrestling as a sport, but a sport that wasn’t real popular kind of like Rugby in the US. Today wrestling is considered to be entertainment, with no real athletic ability (people who don’t watch wrestling) needed. Fans today in wrestling don’t think of him as a wrestler, but instead a commentator, possibly the greatest of all time. You could always tell when Gorilla Monsoon was commentating he would be set alongside of Jesse “The Body” Ventura, and you would have your common “Good Guy” and “Bad Guy” commentators. Ventura would always root for the bad guys and Gorilla would always root or say whatever was right. In my mind he has got to be one of, or the best Play-by-Play commentator that has ever put spoke into the microphone during a wrestling match. As we go back to that time and look at wrestling matches, wrestling wasn’t flashy at all, and you can clearly see that the moves didn’t hurt. The hardest thing back then was to keep the commentating going, the matches were like 30 to 60 minutes back then so you know it would be hard to talk about the same match for that long. One of the funniest times listening to Gorilla Monsoon is when Gorilla is commentating when they put on a submission hold and he makes up a body part, saying it hurts this kind of muscle. He didn’t always make up body parts but sometimes you could catch him doing it and it was hilarious. A famous quote Gorilla had is “would you stop it!” He would always tell Jesse that when he advocated to cheat or an insult to a wrestler. Gorilla Monsoon is in the WWF Hall Of Fame, one of the first inductees in the Federation's Hall Of Fame. This was in 1994. Before Vince McMahon Jr. bought the whole WWF stock from his father, Monsoon owned 1/6 of the WWF. Other stockholders were Arnold Skaaland, and Phil Zacko. McMahon Jr. held 50% of the stock. Monsoon, along with Skaaland and Zacko, sold their stocks to Vince McMahon Jr., which made him have 100% of the stocks. In 1996 he was named as WWF President, but then he had to stop due to heart problems. Monsoon then vanished from the federation TV later that year, although he was still an employee of Titan Sports. Then, in March of this year, he made an appearance at WrestleMania XV, and by the looks, you could see that the man was ill. His face was different, and lost quite a number pounds. You almost couldn’t even recognize him, the way he looked. This was Monsoon’s last Wrestlemania he attended before passing away. In the recent weeks, his health was going downhill, with several heart attacks and kidney problems. His son, Joey Marella - who was also employed by the WWF as referee - passed away in 1993 in a car accident while returning to a hotel from a WWF event. Gorilla Monsoon passed away due to complications from a heart attack. He was also was diagnosed with diabetes. He was 62 years old. “Gorilla Monsoon” or as his family and friends knew him as Robert Morella, loved the sport of wrestling and everything about it. Even if you never heard of Gorilla Monsoon, you have most likely heard his voice without even realizing it. From the classic matches you can hear his commentating, and his enthusiasm for the sport that he loved. From In the Rafters, later. Comments, Questions, and Praises please send to my email of wzspeakyourmind@yahoo.com Link: |
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