Line #32 Wrestling/GorillaMonsoon


1	[[quoteright:209:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gorillamonsoon_1377.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:209: [[Main/OncePerEpisode "WILL YOU STOP?"]]]]
3
4	->''"And you know the Pearly Gates in Heaven? It's now gonna be called 'The Gorilla Position.' Goodbye, my friend."''
5	-->--'''Wrestling/BobbyHeenan''', ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'', [[http://www.cagematch.net/?id=93&nr=828 October 11, 1999]]
6
7	Robert James "Gino" Marella (June 4, 1937 – October 6, 1999) was an American amateur and {{professional wrestl\|ing}}er, announcer and executive from UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity best known for his work for [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} the WWWF/WWF]] from the 1960s to the 1990s as Gorilla Monsoon. He competed primarily for the then-[=WWF=], but also for the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico, for the WWA promotion in Los Angeles, for [[http://mapleleafwrestling.4t.com Maple Leaf Wrestling]] in UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}, for the Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance territories in UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}}, UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}} and [[UsefulNotes/StLouis St. Louis]], and for the [[http://www.worldchampionshipwrestling.com.au/index.html World Championship Wrestling promotion in Australia]] (not to be confused with Wrestling/{{WCW}}). He was a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwf-us-t.html WWWF United States Tag Team Champion]], holding the belt the first time with Killer Kowalski and the second time with "Cowboy" Bill Watts, a former [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/australia/wcw/au-iwa-h.html IWA (Australia) World Heavyweight Champion]], a former 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pr/wwc/wwc-na-h.html WWC (Puerto Rico) North American Heavyweight Champion]] and a former 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ca/s/wwa/wwa-t.html WWA (Los Angeles) World Tag Team Champion]]. After retiring from in-ring competition, he spent many years as a broadcaster on [=WWF=] TV and [=PPV=]s, often with Wrestling/JesseVentura or Wrestling/BobbyHeenan on commentary, and worked in the office and as the [[{{Kayfabe}} President]] of the [=WWF=] after Wrestling/VinceMcMahon had cut ties with the Tunneys, who were the main promoters in the UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}} area for decades. Monsoon was inducted into the Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame in 1994. His last public appearance was as a judge for the "Brawl for All" fight between Butterbean and Bart Gunn at ''[[Wrestling/WrestleMania WrestleMania XV]]'' , which Butterbean won in 35 seconds. He passed away from heart failure on October 6th, 1999.
8	----
9
10	!! "These tropes are literally hanging from the rafters here at the Garden":
11	* ActorAllusion: Wrestling/JesseVentura, in his role as commentator, would often criticize referee Joey Marella, who was Gorilla's son.
12	* ArchEnemy: (as a heel): Wrestling/BrunoSammartino; (as a face) [[Wrestling/GeorgeSteele George "The Animal" Steele]], Wrestling/SuperstarBillyGraham.
13	* AscendedMeme: He was the first one to say Bret Hart had "Excellence of Execution," which, [[SpellMyNameWithAThe once a "the" was added]], would become one of his {{Red Baron}}s.
14	** He commonly used the phrase about any good technical wrestler before it applied solely to Bret (Cowboy Bob Orton for example). Fans who don't remember that have found it jarring.
15	%%* BadassInANiceSuit
16	* BashBrothers: (in the ring as a heel): George "The Animal" Steele"; (in the ring as a face): Bruno Sammartino (on commentary) Wrestling/JesseVentura and Wrestling/BobbyHeenan.
17	* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame and ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: Whenever a face wrestler used this tactic against a villain – for instance, someone grabs Wrestling/JimmyHart's megaphone and clocks the villain with it – Monsoon would remark approvingly, "Turnabout is fair play!"
18	* BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine: with [=Heenan=].
19	* CoolOldGuy: Could be very sharp about pop culture at times.
20	** During [[Wrestling/SteveLombardi Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz (Steve Lombardi)]]'s TV debut match, against George Anderson on the September 18 (taped August 30), 1994 ''WWF Wrestling Challenge,'' he compared Abe's baseball face paint to "the baseball gang" from ''Film/TheWarriors.''
21	** On the February 17 (taped January 23), 1996 ''WWF Superstars'', Vince [=McMahon=] interviewed Wrestling/BretHart about his cage match against [[Wrestling/KevinNash Diesel]] the following night at ''in Your House #6.'' In the interview, Bret said in re Diesel, [[Music/MellonCollieAndTheInfiniteSadness "despite all his rage, he is still just a rat in a cage"]], and Gorilla recognized the reference.
22	* CoolShades:
23	** BlindWithoutEm: They were actually tinted glasses.
24	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: After winning a short match against Baron Mikel [=Scicluna=] in Philadelphia, PA, on June 2, 1976, UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli, the greatest boxer of all time, who was at ringside and was preparing for what would be a disastrous "match" with [[Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling Antonio Inoki]], ran into the ring and [[{{Kayfabe}} attacked Monsoon]]. Monsoon picked up Ali, gave him an airplane spin and set him back down on the mat. [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Vince [=McMahon=]]] interviewed Monsoon, who said, "This guy doesn't know a wristlock from a wristwatch."
25	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Before becoming a foreign heel under the Gorilla Monsoon name, he wrestled as "Gino Marella" an Italian-American babyface who would sing in Italian before his matches. The nickname stuck for the rest of his life and he would occasionally be called Gino on the air by Ventura and Heenan.
26	* FinishingMove: Airplane Spin, [=Manchurian=] Splash.
27	* ForeignWrestlingHeel: Billed from UsefulNotes/{{Manchuria}}. It would later be downplayed when he turned face and he started speaking English in interviews again.
28	* IResembleThatRemark: When Monsoon complained on commentary about cheating tactics at ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 87'', Jesse Ventura accused him of doing things like that in his in-ring career, and Monsoon said, "I may resemble that remark."
29	* {{Kayfabe}}: Believed in maintaining it so much he even had it on his [[VanityLicensePlate license plate]].[[note]][[FridgeBrilliance It works because anyone who saw it and didn't know what it meant would just think it was a made-up word, thus protecting [=Kayfabe=].]][[/note]]
30	* OncePerEpisode: Yelling, exasperated, "WILL YOU STOP?" to Bobby Heenan when they would be doing commentary.
31	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: As an on-air president of the [=WWF=], Monsoon would typically make fair calls, although the wacky booking did occasionally get in his way.
32	* RetiredBadass: Although his most famous work was out of the ring rather than in it, Gorilla Monsoon got his start as a dangerous heel and he would occasionally take a moment to remind everyone, to wild cheers, that he used to be a 440 pound Manchurian. Part of his chemistry with Bobby Heenan was that, at the end of the day, Heenan was just a shrimpy manager while Monsoon was an ex-wrestler who could [[TalkToTheFist silence him if the Brain got too uppity]], culminating in his literally dragging and tossing Heenan out of the company.
33	* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: Worked as a booker for a time and had ownership points with the [=WWF=] and with the World Wrestling Council.
34	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Would reference complicated and/or seemingly obscure medical terminology for the purpose of describing potential injuries suffered by the wrestlers, the most well-known being "the lower occipital protuberance."
35	** Lampshaded by Bobby Heenan: "There's one to the cervial dervial part of the back, Monsoon"
36	** Jesse Ventura got in a small dig in jest one time; during one particular match, a wrestler got hammered on the back of the head, after Monsoon gave the medical term for the exact location, Ventura quipped, "Back of the head for all you normal people out there."
37	* ShoutOut: The staging area behind the curtain is named the "Gorilla Position" in his honor.
38	** Born Anthony Carelli, Wrestling/SantinoMarella's last name is a tribute to Monsoon.
39	** The German DeathMetal band that named themselves for him.
40	* VitriolicBestBuds: with [=Heenan=]. On the air the two could barely stand each other, but in real life they were very close friends.
41	** After Gorilla Monsoon died, Heenan, then working for WCW Nitro, would say that the Pearly Gates of Heaven would now be "The Gorilla Position" -- an allusion not only in tribute of Monsoon, but also of the position wrestlers take just before they enter the main arena for a match or segment.
42	** Gorilla and Jesse Ventura was more of an in-character example.
43	* WrestlingFamily: As mentioned above under ActorAllusion, his adopted son Joey was a WWE referee. He died on July 4, 1994 in a car crash while driving to Newark, NJ after a ''WWF Superstars'' taping in Ocean City, MD.

Context Wrestling / GorillaMonsoon