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Les Thatcher and Victor Sosa are back with a super sized edition of Wrestling Weekly featuring Brian Solomon, author of Irresistible Force: The Life and Times of Gorilla Monsoon.
We discussed several things about Gorilla’s early career that weren’t as well known, how close he came to being the principal owner of the WWF, and a number of topics regarding the life of a man who helped define the wrestling fandom of a generation.
Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!
My rotation of classic pro wrestling history topics continues on this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show.
On a “From the Pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter” edition, we look back at Dave Meltzer’s biography on the death of Gorilla Monsoon which subscribers can read here.
Not only was Monsoon a notable commentator during the Hulkamania era of WWF, the man known as Robert Marella was a main event level pro wrestler and owner of percentages of two major pro wrestling companies as well in both WWF and WWC.
This is the story of Gorilla Monsoon.
Bob “Gino” Marella, who under the classic ring name Gorilla Monsoon was a fixture in the pro wrestling world for four decades, passed away officially at about 6:15 a.m. on 10/6 at his home in Mooresville, NJ at the age of 62.
Marella had been in poor health and nearly passed away more than one year ago but made a strong recovery. His condition took a turn for the worst after a mild heart attack on 9/19 causing complications from diabetes to worsen. Those close to him noted that he went out like a man’s man, in that he would have been able to stay alive being constantly hooked up to a pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat and on kidney dialysis, but, rather than have to live out his life being unable to leave the house, as a “house vegetable” as he termed it, he made the call that it was time to “check out” about ten days before his death. He took himself off the dialysis and died a slow death. He came home on the afternoon of 10/5 largely to die in peace after being hospitalized in Philadelphia.
Marella’s career in pro wrestling, which began in 1959 after being a three-sport star in college and an Olympic hopeful in wrestling, took on many forms.
The Greatest.
Simply the most appropriate nickname for one of the biggest mega-stars ever. Few people in modern history have reached the level of fame that Muhammad Ali did.
Ali was a force beyond stardom in the 1970’s. If you were old enough to be aware of sports then Ali was as big as they came. He fought George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Antonio Inoki, and even Superman.
Ali had a lot in common with pro wrestlers, in fact, it was the entertainment aspect of pro wrestling, when combined with the incredible boxing skills of Ali, that made him a world-wide superstar.
Ali, of course, crossed over into the wrestling world multiple times. He created catchphrases and stood tall above his peers in a way that probably only Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has in modern times.
Say my name — Muhammad Ali.
