Editing Gorilla Monsoon
Appearance
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Marella stepped down as the WWF's lead commentator at [[WrestleMania IX]] (where he was Master of Ceremonies) to make way for [[World Championship Wrestling|WCW]] recruit [[Jim Ross]]. He was phased out of ''Wrestling Challenge'' with Bobby Heenan and was moved to ''All-American Wrestling'' with [[Lord Alfred Hayes]] on April 11, 1993. He commentated with Jim Ross on WWF Radio for the broadcasts of [[SummerSlam (1993)|SummerSlam 1993]], [[Survivor Series (1993)|Survivor Series 1993]] and [[Royal Rumble (1994)|Royal Rumble 1994]]. He returned to the television broadcast team to call the [[King of the Ring (1994)|King of the Ring 1994]] with [[Randy Savage]] as well as covering a few episodes of ''[[Monday Night RAW]]'' in 1993 and 1994 whenever Vince McMahon was unavailable. He was also called upon sporadically to return to ''Challenge'' from 1993 to 1995, calling action with [[Stan Lane]], [[Ted DiBiase]], and Ross again. Monsoon also did various work for [[Coliseum Video]]. Marella's last pay-per-view commentary was for the [[Survivor Series (1994)|1994 Survivor Series]], with Vince McMahon on play-by-play. Marella remained in his backstage role and appeared on-air frequently, becoming the storyline WWF President in the summer of 1995 (replacing [[Jack Tunney]]). The WWF President's role was to arbitrate disputes between wrestlers and make matches, similar to later WWE "general managers".<ref name=":0" /> |
Marella stepped down as the WWF's lead commentator at [[WrestleMania IX]] (where he was Master of Ceremonies) to make way for [[World Championship Wrestling|WCW]] recruit [[Jim Ross]]. He was phased out of ''Wrestling Challenge'' with Bobby Heenan and was moved to ''All-American Wrestling'' with [[Lord Alfred Hayes]] on April 11, 1993. He commentated with Jim Ross on WWF Radio for the broadcasts of [[SummerSlam (1993)|SummerSlam 1993]], [[Survivor Series (1993)|Survivor Series 1993]] and [[Royal Rumble (1994)|Royal Rumble 1994]]. He returned to the television broadcast team to call the [[King of the Ring (1994)|King of the Ring 1994]] with [[Randy Savage]] as well as covering a few episodes of ''[[Monday Night RAW]]'' in 1993 and 1994 whenever Vince McMahon was unavailable. He was also called upon sporadically to return to ''Challenge'' from 1993 to 1995, calling action with [[Stan Lane]], [[Ted DiBiase]], and Ross again. Monsoon also did various work for [[Coliseum Video]]. Marella's last pay-per-view commentary was for the [[Survivor Series (1994)|1994 Survivor Series]], with Vince McMahon on play-by-play. Marella remained in his backstage role and appeared on-air frequently, becoming the storyline WWF President in the summer of 1995 (replacing [[Jack Tunney]]). The WWF President's role was to arbitrate disputes between wrestlers and make matches, similar to later WWE "general managers".<ref name=":0" /> |
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In January 1996, Monsoon was attacked and ([[kayfabe]]) severely injured by [[Big Van Vader|Vader]]: [[Roddy Piper]] became interim WWF President until [[WrestleMania XII]], when Marella assumed the position again. Health concerns forced him to relinquish this role during the summer of 1997.<ref name=":0" /> Instead of naming a replacement, the WWF decided to retire the role of "President" and introduced [[Sgt. Slaughter]] as the new WWF Commissioner in August 1997. Marella's health deteriorated from there. In late 1998, Marella returned briefly to call the international version of ''[[WWF Superstars of Wrestling|WWF Superstars]]''. In 1999, Marella appeared in a WWF Attitude commercial featuring [[Freddie Blassie]], [[Ernie Ladd]], [[Pat Patterson (wrestler)|Pat Patterson]] and [[Killer Kowalski]]. He appeared as one of three judges for a ''[[WWF Brawl for All|Brawl for All]]'' contest between [[Mike Plotcheck|Bart Gunn]] and [[Eric Esch|Butterbean]] at [[WrestleMania XV]]. Because of his frail appearance and rapidly declining health, the camera only focused on Monsoon during his introduction as a judge, for which he received a standing ovation.<ref name=":0" /> His final occasion on television with WWF would be as a guest commentator on the August 29, 1999 international version of ''[[WWF Superstars of Wrestling|Superstars]]''.<ref>{{cite tweet|number=1342239352206860288|user=maskedwrestlers|title=This may be the latest footage...|date=24 December 2020}}</ref> |
In January 1996, Monsoon was attacked and ([[kayfabe]]) severely injured by [[Big Van Vader|Vader]]: [[Roddy Piper]] became interim WWF President until [[WrestleMania XII]], when Marella assumed the position again. Health concerns forced him to relinquish this role during the summer of 1997.<ref name=":0" /> Instead of naming a replacement, the WWF decided to retire the role of "President" and introduced [[Sgt. Slaughter]] as the new WWF Commissioner in August 1997. Marella's health deteriorated from there. In late 1998, Marella returned briefly to call the international version of ''[[WWF Superstars of Wrestling|WWF Superstars]]''. In 1999, Marella appeared in a WWF Attitude commercial featuring [[Freddie Blassie]], [[Ernie Ladd]], [[Pat Patterson (wrestler)|Pat Patterson]] and [[Killer Kowalski]]. He appeared as one of the three judges for a ''[[WWF Brawl for All|Brawl for All]]'' contest between [[Mike Plotcheck|Bart Gunn]] and [[Eric Esch|Butterbean]] at [[WrestleMania XV]]. Because of his frail appearance and rapidly declining health, the camera only focused on Monsoon during his introduction as a judge, for which he received a standing ovation.<ref name=":0" /> His final occasion on television with WWF would be as a guest commentator on the August 29, 1999 international version of ''[[WWF Superstars of Wrestling|Superstars]]''.<ref>{{cite tweet|number=1342239352206860288|user=maskedwrestlers|title=This may be the latest footage...|date=24 December 2020}}</ref> |
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==Personal life== |
==Personal life== |