Vincent Kennedy McMahon’s pairing of Monsoon (Robert Marella) and Ventura (James Janos), as he tried to attract mainstream interest in wrestling and capture the MTV generation, was shrewd.  For one, they were both former wrestlers and well-known to the old-school fans the WWF couldn’t afford to lose.  At 6’5 and over 300lbs, Marella was a decorated NCAA wrestler before he found stardom in sports entertainment.  He had started life as an Italian-American ‘babyface’ – wrestling slang for the hero – before his metamorphosis to ‘heel’ in his later in-ring years, playing a vicious monster from Manchuria.  After retirement, he kept the Gorilla Monsoon name but became a surprisingly eloquent play-by-play commentator.  Favouring his fellow babyfaces, and serving as a moral compass for fans, Monsoon was always immaculately dressed in tuxedo and bow tie.  Most significantly, though, he did something that almost no pro-wrestling commentator after him would try to; he spoke in words that elevated wrestling.  It was through listening to him that wrestling fans the world over learned that the bump at the base of the skull was called the external occipital protuberance, and that we first heard the lyrical phrase, ‘The irresistible force meets the immovable object’ to describe a showpiece main-event match.

 

Yes, the late Monsoon was a touch repetitive, and there are a variety of drinking games to be found as proof; don’t take a sip every time he misuses the word ‘literally’ or you’ll end up unconscious.  The perfect colour commentator for him, therefore, was the razor sharp and verbally dexterous Ventura, whose arrogant heel persona added a necessary showmanship.  Ventura told the villain’s side of the story, with his gruff, deep, booming Minnesota voice the opposite of the lighter-sounding Monsoon.  Their great – but hidden – respect for each other was the security blanket that allowed them to engagingly attack the other’s argument and present a three-dimensional story told from both hero and villain’s point of view.  As a well-known actor, starring in Predator and The Running Man, Ventura was recognisable to exactly the sort of new fans that the company was reaching out to.  His spell with the WWF was a successful chapter in a diverse career that included being a US Navy SEAL, bodyguard to the Rolling Stones, and – perhaps most famously – Governor of Minnesota.

 

Never was their work better than when Hulk Hogan faced André the Giant at the Pontiac Silverdome in March 1987.  The main event of WrestleMania III has gone down in pro-wrestling history as one of its great stories: the all-conquering hero facing the unbeatable colossus in a rematch from Greek mythology.  So effectively do Monsoon and Ventura tell that story that it’s easy to miss that virtually nothing happens in the entire match.  An ill and in-pain André could barely walk unsupported as Hogan, Monsoon, and Ventura all played their part in helping him have the greatest moment of his career.