Thank God There's No More Gorilla Monsoon

[Afro-Ameri-Spawn]

To be honest, I think that you are jumping the gun here by condemning the job that Gorilla Monsoon did. During his time, his role was to be just another ring in a three ring circus. And he played his role appropriately. The first ring was the wrestler or wrestlers(if it were a main event) in the ring who the audience watched. The second ring was the endless promo boxes that seemed to pop up during each match where either the performer in the ring was bragging about themselves or their rival was ranting about revenge or an impending beating that was to take place down the road. The third ring was just as important as the other two rings, and that was the banter between the two announcers. Most notably between Gorilla and his nemesis, Bobby The Brain Heenan.

It's not his fault that everything was structured to be such a clusterfuck of organization. It's management's fault. Gorilla's job was to sit and bide the time between when the named guy who would step into the ring and when he would have his hand raised after being victorious over whatever journeyman jobber drew the job that night. I mean it's not like he was calling Shawn Michaels versus Mr. Perfect. No wait, bad example. Michaels was a singles jobber back then. But you get my drift.

See, the thing is that you remember the weekly Gorilla Monsoon who would be calling matches on WWF Superstars or WWF Monday Night. This was a severe contrast to the man who called matches on Saturday Night's Main Event, when you would actually have more than one wrestler who mattered in the ring. I mean who really gives a shift about Iron Mike Sharpe or The Duke of Dorchester? Gorilla did. And I think he did an admirable job of actually giving some life to guys who I frankly could never give a shit about. But in the end, they had one man who did give a shit. And that man was Gorilla Monsoon.

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

Gorilla Monsoon was amazing... His chemistry with Heenan was awesome. I mean... the play-by-play got a little tiresome after a while. He didn't really do that well... But his arguments with The Brain and knowledge of the industry during that era were second to none.

I wish Monsoon was still around to show some of these goofballs they have announcing right now how it's done.

 

[rustygiggins]

I think it just depends on when you grew up or when you first started watching. I started watching in '90, which was Monsoon's heyday, so I love Monsoon's commentating. Someone who grew up during the attitude era would probably hate Monsoon because of the lack of storytelling that went on back then.

/wow I feel old
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[Mustang Sally]

Monsoon got the term "Excellence of Execution" over for Bret Hart.

Gorilla Monsoon had style. The concept of "The wrestling announcer as a gentleman" is something that many of today's fans can't understand, but that's okay because wrestling today isn't the same thing as it was in Gorilla's time.

But I always enjoyed it when he would call Bobby Heenan "A fountain of misinformation" or would make reference to a wrestler who wasn't technically proficient by saying "He doesn't know a wristlock from a wristwatch."

 

[Remasked Kane]

Gorilla Monsoon was fantastic in his role as announcer. The 'he's dumb' stuff is ridiculous. I'm sure it's based on the fact that, no, Gorilla did NOT call matches move for move, because I know he did not actually know the move names for a lot of moves that guys would start using (moves that were never around in his day).

But Gorilla NEVER made his announcing about 'move for move' announcing. Jim Ross is a great guy for that (and J.R. is so underrated these days it's ridiculous), but Gorilla was a personality driven guy. He focused on making you like the good guys and boo the bad guys while being a good foil to his color man. (Gorilla and Ventura is one of the all-time best announce teams in wrestling history).

He didn't play a dork or nerd like Michael Cole or Todd Grisham do when they are being the 'face' announcer. He was a respectable face announcer. He had no shame in being a, for lack of a better term, 'goody two shoes', but he wasn't a nerd who'd make you embarassed to be on the face side. He had an enthusiasm for wrestling that was infectious.


Outside of Jim Ross, there is no PBP commentator at the tables today who can hold a candle to Monsoon.

 

[TheBogShow]

I'm not glad he's dead. I'm just glad he's no longer on TV. Boy did he suck. The guy never once said anything insightful. He's like the Michale Cole of his day. But he get's nothing negative said about him becasuse most of use grew up watching wrestling with the guy talking shit over it. It's nothing more than a nostalgia trip.

Does anyone reallyy need it pointing out to them that Jim Duggan has just performed what looked like a Double Ax Handle? Or that Demolition have studs all over their panties? No, it's there for all to see. You can expect comments like that from Ventura & Heenan. But Monsoon was the lead, and he was shit at it.

Meh?!? I get kicked out of another forum and come here and this is the first post i see

Could anyone else have carried the hulkamania era as a pbp better than Monsoon? i don't think even good old JR, or Gordon Solie could have matched him at that particular moment in time

 

[klunderbunker]

I'm going to have to change my opinion on this. I was watching Hogan vs. Andre from WM 3 and it was Gorilla's commentary that sucked me up into the match all over again. The words he uses are just great and he was every bit as good as JR. Both men go completely overboard sometimes, but they know their stuff. They love their faces, and it just works. Sure he had his times where he wasn't as great, but you could just feel that he loved his job, which is something severely lacking in a lot of today's commentators.

 

[T2KFreeker]

Man, what a bummer of a thread topic. To be quite frank; Monsoon was the man back in his day. He site in the same place as Jim Ross, Joey Styles, and Gordon Solie. The guy was awesome with what he did. He wasn't always on the ball, but even Jim Ross has his off moments. Want to talk about some bad commentators? What about Eric Bishoff and Vince McMahon? Those two should have NEVER been behind the Mic during a match. They both sucked major. Gorilla Monsoon was a great face commentator and if half the commentators out there strived to be half as knowledgeable as he was, well, wrestling on television would be a far happier place.

 

[realblackhart]

I would have to disagree with the starter of this thread. Gorrila was awesome, he was the voice of Hulkamania, Macho Madness, The Warrior among others. Listening to him made you love these guys more, and hate Heenan more, lol. He made you detest the heel Jake the Snake, and other guys. But seriously Gorilla was very good at what he did and he was great with whoever he announced with. You have to also understand that he announced at a different time. Different things were in, and different things were expected from the announcers. The announcing and commentary times are different, just ask Joey Styles.

 

[tsull2121]

to the person who started this thread, i have to comment on how ignorant you truly sound.

gorilla monsoon and jesse ventura set the STANDRD for color commentary and play by play in the wrestling industry... one which was only REACHED.. and arguably surpassed, by jim ross and jerry lawler... however, if it came down to voting one over the other.. i'd give the nod to gorilla monsoon and ventura.

why? easy.. BOTH ventura and monsoon PARTICIPATED in the ring actively and each knew what needed to be done to "get the performer over" from a psychological standpoint. they did it with such ease that it was taken for granted and commonly overlooked.

the main difference between the monsoon/ventura and ross/lawler teams is simply put... monsoon had the KNOWLEDGE while ross has the STATISTICS. nobody on the planet today can call a better match than jim ross, dont get me wrong... ross can rattle off statistics at the drop of a hat and be accurate, but monsoon gave you the "inside scoop" as to what the wrestlers themselves were going thru in a particular hold, and how to possibly counter the hold or why it was being applied incorrectly.

i remember the match between hogan and andre at WM3 (i believe it was that match) and an abdominal stretch was applied. i pointed out to my brother's friend "it wont work, he doesnt have his foot hooked behind the leg" and as i said it, gorilla monsoon said the same exact thing.. and dont you know.. thats EXACTLY what happened. monsoon TAUGHT the fans, ross INSTRUCTS... monsoon gives you the emotions and the thought processes and ross describes the details of what is going on.

the OTHER factor that tips the scales in the monsoon/ventura favor is jesse ventura himself. compared to lawler, ventura is a genius. while lawler has blatant oneliners directed at whoever is in the ring (or sometimes at ross himself) ventura had a more tongue in cheek, sarcastic biting sense of humour that you had to PAY ATTENTION To if you wanted to "get it".

Lawler spends WAY too much time obsessing over "puppies and divas" and ventura spent his time counter-pointing monsoon... the way ONLY another ring vetran could have done. while lawler arguably had a better career than ventura, it wasnt in front of crowds as HUGE as the ventura/monsoon team were in front of.

ventura was the perfect "anti-monsoon" while lawler is the "anti-ross".. but things taper off in ventura's favor since he came to the broadcast booth almost instantly after his retirement from the ring... lawler still jumps into the ring from time to time, and that takes away from his solid presence in the broadcast booth.

can the two broadcast teams be comapred? yes and no... is it fair to say that one team was BETTER than the other? Again, no.. mainly because they BOTH played to different audiences. the monsoon/ventura audiences were interested in kowing what these moves were, how they affected the people they were applied to, and what chances their "heroes" had of escaping the holds. the ross/lawler audiences are more interested in the statistics, and an occasional mention of the possible affects of certain moves.

they play to different types of audiences and that is what sets both teams apart.

i go back to this past monday night raw (12/29/08) and the manu/matt hardy match-up. my brother was watching along with me and he said that manu is terrible, boring, and slow... perhaps.. in the ROSS/LAWLER era.. but in the MONSOON/VENTURA era he would have been methodical and ruthless and plotting.

its all about the adjectives i suppose.. and gorilla monsoon had a never ending plethora of unequivocal insurmountable amount adjectives from which to choose.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

to the person who started this thread, i have to comment on how ignorant you truly sound.

I probably sounded more ignorant in September when I made the thread.

its all about the adjectives i suppose.. and gorilla monsoon had a never ending plethora of unequivocal insurmountable amount adjectives from which to choose.

So what your saying is that like most people you're defending Gorilla Monsoon because you grew up watching him? Just the same as people who grew up in the 90's or now will talk about how great Jim Ross is. Even today when he's nothing but a parody of himself.

 

[GameOver]

Gorilla Monsoon go rest his soul, was the best at that time.
Without Monsoon WWF commentary was boring.

Jessie Ventura (The Ultimate) Heel commentator in my opinion.
and Gorilla Monsoon were a Dynamic Duo. and then the days of Monsoon and Bobby Heenan was even more entertaining.

And without Monsoon who would have ever known that the External Occipital Pertuberance area, was the little bump on the back of your head

That was something that made him stand out too, he not only was highly educated in language but he also was a legit doctor and was better able to portray the pain the "Superstars" were going through in a given match

Not too mention as was mentione4d b4, that back in those days the commentary centred on the match, not on generic shit thats goes on during the WWE week whis is how commentary is these days with the exception of JR who still sells the story of a given match well.

Returning to the attitude era and onwards, JR is his own standard, they both are really good at what they did and do. No comparison needs to be made.

"As God Is My Witness He's Broken In Half" now how many attitude era fans can't remember that line? What does that tell you.

Monsoon entertained and educated a plethera of fans in the 80-90's.
JR took the candle and has run with it ever since.