In addition, McMahon needed a new announcer team to head up his television programming, and installed Marella with the recently retired Jesse "The Body" Ventura as the new announcing team.
![gorilla monsoon gorilla monsoon](http://www.gluxus.com/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Robert-Gorilla-Monsoon-Marella.jpg)
The younger McMahon agreed, and in 1982, Vince bought Marella's shares in the company in exchange for a guarantee of lifetime employment.Īs he had been to his father, Marella became a close confidant of the younger McMahon, and assumed a prominent backstage role. The elder McMahon asked his son to take care of long-time employees that had been loyal to him. McMahon, began assuming the reins of the promotion from his father. McMahon's son, current WWE CEO Vincent K. The next phase of his career began, as the voice and backstage manager of WWF. Monsoon lost the match and stayed true to his word, retiring several weeks later and returning just four times: wrestling a match in 1982 as a substitute for André the Giant, taking part in Big John Studd's "Body Slam Challenge" in 1983,a six man tagteam match at Madison Square Garden, and participating in a special "old timers" battle royal in 1987 which was won by Lou Thesz. On August 23, Monsoon put his career on the line in a match against Ken Patera. In an interview, he commented, "I never saw him before and haven’t seen him since."Īs the 1980s began, Marella's in-ring career wound down. Marella would never reveal whether the incident was preplanned. Ali removed his shirt and started dancing around Monsoon while gesturing and throwing jabs at him, to which Monsoon responded by grabbing Ali in his Airplane Spin and slamming him to the mat. Ali, preparing for his upcoming crossover bout with Antonio Inoki in Japan later that month, jumped into the ring as Monsoon was concluding a short match against Baron Mikel Scicluna. On June 2, 1976, a very famous incident occurred in Philadelphia involving boxing great Muhammad Ali. Monsoon turned babyface in 1969, befriending former arch-rival Sammartino. Despite his huge size, which was now in excess of 400 pounds, Monsoon had great agility and stamina, often wrestling Sammartino to one-hour time-limit draws. McMahon reformed the Capitol Wrestling Corporation into the World Wide Wrestling Federation (He also became one of the promotion's top heels, feuding with popular babyface champion Bruno Sammartino in sellout arenas across the country.
#Gorilla monsoon series
Marella first wrestled Bruno Sammartino for the Monsoon's disqualification win over Sammartino in NJ triggered a series of rematches at Madison Square Garden, and they would renew the feud again there in 1967.
![gorilla monsoon gorilla monsoon](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uqy0XkmP32Y/maxresdefault.jpg)
Gorilla Monsoon and "Crazy" Luke Graham in the ring Supposedly born on an isolated farm, "Monsoon" traveled across the countryside with a gypsy caravan wrestling bears, spoke no English, ate raw meat, and drank his victims' blood. Marella totally revamped his image, growing a long beard and billing himself as Gorilla Monsoon, a terrifying giant from Manchuria. Marella garnered moderate popularity, but soon realized that fans paid more attention to outlandish monster heel gimmicks, and they therefore made more money. Even after changing his stage name, "Gino" stuck as Marella's nickname among friends and colleagues, including Jesse "The Body" Ventura, who would call Marella "Gino" on the air. Marella originally billed himself as Gino Marella, a proud Italian-American babyface who would sing in Italian prior to his matches. Gorilla Monsoon and "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers At the time, he weighed over 300 pounds (136 kg), and was affectionately called "Tiny" by his teammates. Marella attended Jefferson High School in Rochester, New York, becoming a standout athlete in football, amateur wrestling, and track and field.
#Gorilla monsoon professional
In professional wrestling, the staging area just behind the entrance curtain at an event, a position which Marella established and where he could often be found during WWF shows late in his career, is named the Gorilla Position in his honor. He is famous for his run as one of the great super-heavyweights, and later as the voice of the World Wrestling Federation as announcer and as backstage manager during the 1980s and 1990s, and added on-screen President to his duties in the latter decade. Robert James "Gino" Marella (J– October 6, 1999), better known by his ring name of Gorilla Monsoon, was an American professional wrestler, play-by-play announcer, and booker.