Gorilla Monsoon Tribute

[Guest Alex Nelson]

I started watching wrestling in 1987. Therefore, I never really knew Gorilla Monsoon the wrestler, but I did know Gorilla Monsoon the play-by-play announcer.

 

And what an announcer he was.

 

As much as I like and respect men such as Joey Styles and “The Dean” Gordon Solie, Gorilla gets the top spot as my favorite play by play announcer of all time. Joey Styles was awesome--a one man broadcast team. Gordon Solie was an announcer who just loved to enjoy the sport of professional wrestling. And all three men had things in common: they were clean announcers, they called the matches they were announcing right down to the last detail regardless if the match was a huge main event or just a preliminary bout and all three just presented themselves well. But as dedicated to their craft and as educated in the pro wrestling business as those men were, there were just some small things that won me over with him and made me set him atop the pedestal higher than Solie and Styles. And one of those things was his voice.

 

I know I can’t speak for everybody, but I’ve always thought that Gorilla could make any match, move, or situation sound great. I know there are a few people out there who got annoyed with Gorilla’s anatomy terms, but I personally loved them. He was able to tell you what a wrestler was a attacking, why it was important, and all the ways the attacked wrestler would be affected later in the match. And who can forget his phrases like “the irresistible force meeting the immovable object”, “tombstone city”, and “stick a fork in him, he’s done”? To me, Monsoon was blessed with a voice that was just perfect for commentating.

 

And who can forget his debates with Jesse Ventura and his arguments and skits with Bobby Heenan? A lot of people can agree that Monsoon and Heenan put on some of the funniest pro wrestling skits this side of Booker T and Goldust and had some hilarious dialogue between them to boot. Just slide in a copy of “WWF All American Wrestling” or an old Coliseum Video compilation and prepare to be entertained.

 

If there’s one match that I love to watch constantly, it’s Hogan vs. Andre from WrestleMania III. It’s not only because it was my favorite match to watch growing up, and not only because that it featured my favorite wrestler, Hulk Hogan winning arguably the biggest match (notice I didn’t say “the best” or “the greatest”) in pro wrestling history. But it’s because it featured the father/son team of Robert and Joey Marella. Robert (Monsoon) with the play-by-play and Joey with the refereeing. Sadly, Joey died in an auto accident in 1994.

 

To my knowledge, the last appearance of Monsoon on WWF television was at WrestleMania 15 as a judge for the Brawl-4-All match between Butterbean and Bart Gunn. Unfortunately, Gorilla looked awful. He just wasn’t shining like his old self and after seeing him that night, I just had this strange feeling that he wasn’t going to be around for much longer.

 

On October 7, 1999, Gorilla Monsoon passed away at the age of 62 due to heart disease and diabetes. He was well-respected and loved by friends and wrestling fans worldwide. Thanks for all the memories, Gorilla.

[Guest Choken One]

Nice gesture but It's not the appros folder.

[Guest CanadianChick]

I loved Gorilla too. He was truly the best play-by-play announcer I have ever heard. He could have a good banter with any colour man, whether it be Ventura, Heenan, and even Johnny Polo (Raven). One of my favorite things about him was when the colour man was saying something ridiculous (you know, like any heel commentator), Gorilla would say "Would you stop?". That had to be my favorite line of his. I don't know why, but it always brought (and still brings) a smile to my face.

[Guest MillenniumMan831]

Gorilla is definitely my favorite play-by-play man of all time. He made everything appear legit but still stayed entertaining. Even in the days of Skinner, Repo Man, and the Berzerker, he'd still try to instill some common sense and logic behind what the wrestlers were doing while fighting off the hilarious nonsense of Bobby Heenan or Jesse Ventura. I could spend all night listing off Monsoonisms, but there is a great thread about him at kayfabememories.com that have most/all of them about 5 or so pages down.

[Rendclaw 0]

Gorilla was the best of them all, and it saddened me to hear that he had died. To me, with his style he gave the WWF and pro wrestling in general a modicum of believability and dare I say it, respectability with his commentation style.

 

Gorilla and Jesse Ventura remain the best commentating team in the sport, very closesly followed by the team of Gorilla and Heenan. Both made the sport more enjoyable and I learned a great deal about ring psychology from Gorilla's explanations of certain holds and moves.

 

I will always miss that man, and the mark he left only on a wrestling promotion, but on the sport in general.

[Guest Boo_Bradley]

"this could be a main event in any arena in the country!"

 

[Guest DarkHollywood]

Watching RR 92 is great just to listen to Monsoon yelling at Heenan to shut up. They made the Bushwhackers/Beverly Bros. Match ENJOYABLE, just because of Heenan not being one bit relentless on Jameson

[Guest Vern Gagne]

The entire RR '92 are Gorilla and Brain at their best.

[Guest bababooey]

anytime strike force/can-am connection were in the ring:

"They have no trouble getting a date on saturday night"

[The Dames 0]

Brain about to have a seizure at Ric Flair being number 3 in the '92 Royal Rumble while being egged on by Monsoon is one of my favorite memories of that announce squad.

 

Monsoon and Ventura were also just as good and made some mediocre matches at Wrestlemania 3 just a tad more memorable.

 

Dames

[Guest bababooey]

"will you stop it"

[Guest MillenniumMan831]

"Boy, that'll give you a negative attitude."

 

"He just hit the concrete floor, not the place to be."

Edited July 17, 2003 by MillenniumMan831

[Guest CanadianChris]

"History has been made here!"

[Guest Trivia247]

"Unloading with the Heavy Artillery"

[Guest AlwaysPissedOff]

Damn good thread, but wrong folder.

[Rendclaw 0]

is it?

 

its been what, three years since the man diead, and at least fou, if not five since he actually did any announcing?

 

Gorilla is old school, as his best days were right along with the up and coming days of the WWF, as well as in its heyday.

[Guest Frankie Williams]

A few of my favorite Monsoon moments:

 

At Royal Rumble 1993 he said that the over 40 year old Carlos Colon was a "youngster with alot of fire left in him"

 

A Monsoon/Heenan exchange:

 

Monsoon: "He just landed on his externalobsiberalpatuberence"

 

Brain: "His what?"

 

Monsoon: "The bump on the back of his head"

 

Talking of Greg Valentine when he was part of Rhythm and Blues

 

"If they hung Boxcar (Valentine), for being a good singer, the would have hung an innocent man"

[Guest Stunt Granny]

"This is a miscarage of justice."

 

"You don't want to go to the well once to many times."

[Guest Caliban]

"It's crazy here, here in the Hoosier Dome!"

[Guest BAR]

I loved Gorilla & Brain, Or Jesse. They made it fun to watch even if it was a bad match (And, it usually was in the WWF).

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

"The irresistable force meeting the immovable object"

 

And of course you had to love the technical body part terminology that he used and always confused Heenan.

 

Monsoon - he hit him in the left clavicular mandible

Heenan- so you mean he hit him in throat?