Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura at Wrestlemania VI

[thecrusherwi]

I watched Wrestlemania VI for the first time in years. It's still one of my favorite shows ever and a cornerstone of that era of the WWF. One thing I noticed while watching is that Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura really bring down the show with their commentary. That team is a classic duo and do an outstanding job with those early WWF PPVs, but boy are they obnoxious here. Bickering and arguing almost constantly for the middle 1-2 hours of the show. The Mixed Tag Team Match in particular is almost ruined by them (Ventura in particular) nitpicking and arguing throughout the entire thing.

Maybe it was a case of diminishing reps (I believe by Wrestlemania VI, Gorilla and Jesse had only worked a handful of times the prior two years), but their chemistry just seemed way off here. Which is a shame because this is their last PPV working together and might even be their last commentary pairing of any kind. What a lousy way to end their great commentary partnership.

[jb80]

Well if you believe Greg Valentine, this was around the time Monsoon had his privates removed because his condition was getting worse.

[tafkaga]

I always thought this whole show had a weird edge to it.

I owned 5 and 7 on VHS when I was a kid, and didn't see 6 until much later. To me, 6 just had a different personality than other WM shows in the era.

[thecrusherwi]

Apr 1, 2024 16:25:18 GMT -5 jb80 said:

Well if you believe Greg Valentine, this was around the time Monsoon had his privates removed because his condition was getting worse.

Um…I had not heard that before

[spagett]

Apr 1, 2024 16:25:18 GMT -5 jb80 said:

Well if you believe Greg Valentine, this was around the time Monsoon had his privates removed because his condition was getting worse.

Erm.

What?

[BorneAgain]

Apr 1, 2024 16:25:18 GMT -5 jb80 said:

Well if you believe Greg Valentine, this was around the time Monsoon had his privates removed because his condition was getting worse.

Heenan: I had heard you were removing a banana and coconuts, but I just figured you were changing your diet.
Monsoon: Will your stop!

[chrom]

Apr 1, 2024 16:25:18 GMT -5 jb80 said:

Well if you believe Greg Valentine, this was around the time Monsoon had his privates removed because his condition was getting worse.

Say what now?

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Apr 1, 2024 16:04:51 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

I watched Wrestlemania VI for the first time in years. It's still one of my favorite shows ever and a cornerstone of that era of the WWF. One thing I noticed while watching is that Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura really bring down the show with their commentary. That team is a classic duo and do an outstanding job with those early WWF PPVs, but boy are they obnoxious here. Bickering and arguing almost constantly for the middle 1-2 hours of the show. The Mixed Tag Team Match in particular is almost ruined by them (Ventura in particular) nitpicking and arguing throughout the entire thing.

Maybe it was a case of diminishing reps (I believe by Wrestlemania VI, Gorilla and Jesse had only worked a handful of times the prior two years), but their chemistry just seemed way off here. Which is a shame because this is their last PPV working together and might even be their last commentary pairing of any kind. What a lousy way to end their great commentary partnership.

In fairness, Jesse was set off by Fink implying Dusty only weighed 200lbs for that match.

[James Fabiano]

Add me to the list of people who wants this Greg Valentine story elaborated.

And after this, tell Joe Morotta too, so he can do an AI Gorilla roasting the Hammer.

[Aceorton]

Now I need to watch this in full again. I remember both of them had some clueless moments around that time (Ventura getting burned on an attempted Beefcake diss, Gorilla whiffing completely on Macaulay Culkin at the height of his fame at the next year's WM), but I don't recall the bickering getting worse, outside of Ventura's over-the-top fat-shaming of Sapphire and Dusty. Depending on what side of bed he rolled out of that day, Jesse could be pretty obnoxious with the constant focus on himself and his contrarian character, so I'm just going to pre-emptively blame him for their chemistry getting screwy.

[wildojinx]

Never heard that about Monsoon, though I did hear he got one of his feet amputated later in 1990.

[chrom]

Apr 2, 2024 10:25:30 GMT -5 wildojinx said:

Never heard that about Monsoon, though I did hear he got one of his feet amputated later in 1990.

Yeah, his toes had to be removed from his right foot I believe, that's why he wasn't at Summerslam

[Magnus the Magnificent]

Monsoon roasting Ventura during Beefcake's entrance is a classic, though.

[Limity (BLM)]

I specifically loved their bickering during the entrances for the mixed tag match, about the weight of Dusty and Sapphire and how much those little carts could carry.

[cjh]

Apr 2, 2024 9:38:09 GMT -5 Aceorton said:

Now I need to watch this in full again. I remember both of them had some clueless moments around that time (Ventura getting burned on an attempted Beefcake diss, Gorilla whiffing completely on Macaulay Culkin at the height of his fame at the next year's WM), but I don't recall the bickering getting worse, outside of Ventura's over-the-top fat-shaming of Sapphire and Dusty. Depending on what side of bed he rolled out of that day, Jesse could be pretty obnoxious with the constant focus on himself and his contrarian character, so I'm just going to pre-emptively blame him for their chemistry getting screwy.

It's cut from the Coliseum Video version, but right after Gorilla calls Culkin "that youngster," he says, "He wouldn't want to be Home Alone with the Nasties."

[Sir Woodrow]

Apr 1, 2024 16:25:18 GMT -5 jb80 said:

Well if you believe Greg Valentine, this was around the time Monsoon had his privates removed because his condition was getting worse.

That's a brand new sentence

[cjh]

Apr 2, 2024 10:35:06 GMT -5 chrom said:

Apr 2, 2024 10:25:30 GMT -5 wildojinx said:

Never heard that about Monsoon, though I did hear he got one of his feet amputated later in 1990.

Yeah, his toes had to be removed from his right foot I believe, that's why he wasn't at Summerslam

Heenan said Monsoon had one toe removed.  There's a story of Heenan calling him a "nine-toed Gorilla" when they were out together sometime after that.

Monsoon's toe amputation is also why Vince is on the Wrestling Challenge episode where Boss Man handcuffs Heenan to the guardrail, then Vince interviews Heenan at the end of the show.  Monsoon was back to work by the time that angle aired on TV, but since they taped the angle with Vince involved, Monsoon had to miss that episode even though he had returned on the previous week's show.

[fg]

Apr 2, 2024 13:11:10 GMT -5 cjh said:

Apr 2, 2024 10:35:06 GMT -5 chrom said:

Yeah, his toes had to be removed from his right foot I believe, that's why he wasn't at Summerslam

Heenan said Monsoon had one toe removed.  There's a story of Heenan calling him a "nine-toed Gorilla" when they were out together sometime after that.

Monsoon's toe amputation is also why Vince is on the Wrestling Challenge episode where Boss Man handcuffs Heenan to the guardrail, then Vince interviews Heenan at the end of the show.  Monsoon was back to work by the time that angle aired on TV, but since they taped the angle with Vince involved, Monsoon had to miss that episode even though he had returned on the previous week's show.

They should’ve pushed the episode where Bobby got handcuffed to the following episode just for the fun of hearing Gorilla having fun when Bobby having his compuppance. But no. Let’s have it during the taping where Vince had to do commentary. That’s why we can’t have nice things.

[fg]

Apr 2, 2024 13:03:56 GMT -5 cjh said:

Apr 2, 2024 9:38:09 GMT -5 Aceorton said:

Now I need to watch this in full again. I remember both of them had some clueless moments around that time (Ventura getting burned on an attempted Beefcake diss, Gorilla whiffing completely on Macaulay Culkin at the height of his fame at the next year's WM), but I don't recall the bickering getting worse, outside of Ventura's over-the-top fat-shaming of Sapphire and Dusty. Depending on what side of bed he rolled out of that day, Jesse could be pretty obnoxious with the constant focus on himself and his contrarian character, so I'm just going to pre-emptively blame him for their chemistry getting screwy.

It's cut from the Coliseum Video version, but right after Gorilla calls Culkin "that youngster," he says, "He wouldn't want to be Home Alone with the Nasties."

I have the 1992 home video release called Wrestlemania’s Greatest Matches (Vol.2). (It doesn’t say Vol.2 on the package but Sean “Who” Mooney calls it that. One of the matches is the Nasties/Harts match from WM7. They do show Culkin and Gorilla saying: “He doesn’t want to be Home Alone with the Nasties.”

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Apr 1, 2024 16:25:18 GMT -5 jb80 said:

Well if you believe Greg Valentine, this was around the time Monsoon had his privates removed because his condition was getting worse.

You can’t just casually hint at a possible castration story like this. You gotta elaborate, man!