A Closer Look At…Vader Attacking Gorilla Monsoon

Profession

al Wrestling is a form of entertainment that is fueled by two things: wrestling matches and wrestling angles. The matches are pretty straightforward. The participants get into the ring and try to put on as entertaining a match as possible while fulfilling the purpose and/or story of the match. Wrestling angles, on the other hand, can be far more complex. As a result of this complexity, a good wrestling angle is far more difficult to pull off successfully than a good wrestling match.

All angles start with an idea. The writers for the program come up with a storyline that they hope will catch fans interest. This is very hard to do for a number of reasons. Since professional wrestling story lines all end with the same result 99.99% of the time (a wrestling match to resolve the issue), there are a limited number of stories to be told. Almost every story in wrestling is a variation on something that has been done in the past. It is the twists and tweaks of these story lines that keep things fresh.
At times, wrestling angles fail because the initial idea is not very good. No matter how well done the angle is, if the basic concept isn’t something fans want to see, it will fail. A story like the infamous Katie Vick scenario falls into this category. It was a horrible idea from the start, so no matter what was done with it, it was destined to become the punch line it is today.
Other times, the idea itself can be fine, but the execution of the idea is botched. The example that springs to mind is the “New Blood” story WCW tried to run towards the end of their existence. The idea of new, young talent fighting against the older wrestlers who were using their seniority and political pull to hold the new guys down is a good idea. it’s something that isn’t done often, and something a lot of fans can relate to from their own work experiences. However, in order for the story to work, the older wrestlers, who are doing all they can to hold on to their spots against younger, fresher, more exciting wrestlers, should be the heels. The scrappy youngsters, trying to claw their way to the top of the heap against all odds, should be the underdog heros the fans get behind. It would have been a great story that led to some exciting matches. instead, WCW decided to portray the newcomers as the villains and the older wrestlers/back stage politicians as the heros. It was booked backwards and as a result, didn’t click with fans. Further fumbling of the angle was done by including ridiculous stunts like gigantic cascading pools of red liquid falling from the ceiling onto wrestlers, like some bizarre twist on being doused with green slime on You Can’t Do That On Television. WCW started with a concept that was sound at it’s core, but completely bungled the execution of the story.
WWE has had it’s share of flops in the past in regards to angles. However, one angle in particular really stands out to me as a missed opportunity: Vader’s assault on Gorilla Monsoon.
In the early 1990s, no wrestler was more feared or more believable as a devastating monster than Vader. After carving a path of destruction throughout Japan, Vader was brought into WCW, where he quickly replicated his success overseas, becoming a multi-time WCW World Champion. Vader was famous for his brutality in the ring, legitimately inuring many opponents with his stiff style.
Vader’s reign of terror lasted until the arrival of Hulk Hogan in 1994. Vader was a perfect opponent for Hogan. Like most of Hogan’s opponents, Vader was a huge powerhouse of a wrestler who could physically beat down Hogan and draw the ire of the Hulkamaniacs who supported their hero when he faced his monstrous opponents. Unlike most of Hogan’s usual adversaries, Vader was also an outstanding performer in the ring, capable of putting on classic match-ups. According to a shoot injury with Vader, the original plan was for Vader to defeat Hogan cleanly with his feared powerbomb finisher. This would be a shocking finish to the match, as it had been over a decade since Hogan had been beaten cleanly. The thinking was, with Hogan having finally been beaten fairly by an opponent, a rematch between the two would set records at both the box office and with Pay per View buy rates. However, at the appointed time, Vader delivered the power bomb to Hogan, the same move that had defeated a vast amount of opponents, and Hogan popped right back up and defeated Vader with his patented big boot, body slam, leg drop finish, immediately destroying both the credibility of Vader’s finishing move and any interest in a rematch.
After this incident, it wasn’t long before Vader was gone from WCW. As a man who was still considered a big star in the business with a lot of good matches still in him, he was quickly signed by the WWF.
Vader’s arrival in WWF was highly anticipated. Several video packages were shown to promote his coming. Vader made an impact immediately upon his arrival, entering the Royal Rumble and eliminating several participants before being eliminated by Shawn Michaels. Vader re-entered the ring and assaulted everybody in his path until finally being removed from the ring.
The following night on Monday Night Raw, Vader faced Savio Vega, who who easily defeated. After the match, Vader once again showed his viciousness, attacking the referee that tried to get him to stop his rampage against his fallen opponent. With the referee down and unable to defend himself, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon entered the ring.
Monsoon admonished Vader for his actions, demanding he stop his behavior immediately. Vader threatened Monsoon, and Gorilla attacked Vader, hitting a series of chops against the big man, seemingly stopping him for the time being. Monsoon then announced that Vader was suspended indefinitely for his actions and turned his attention back to the injured referee and Vader took the opportunity to attack. Splashing Monsoon in the corner, Vader laid out the acting WWF President before moving him into position for a devastating Vader bomb.
This incident was significant for a number of reasons. Obviously, it showed the uncontrollable savagery of Vader. It was also the first time a WWF wrestler had ever put his hands on a WWF President. However, this wasn’t just any president or commissioner that was brutally assaulted. This was Gorilla Monsoon.
To an entire generation of wrestling fans, Gorilla was one of the most beloved people in all of wrestling. As the lead announcer for WWF programming for much of the 80s and early 90s, Gorilla was not only the voice of the WWF to millions of fans, he was the voice of wrestling itself. Monsoon was one half of the two most successful broadcast teams in wrestling history. He first teamed with Jesse “The Body” Ventura in an announcing tandem that set the standard that all subsequent announce teams have had to live up to. These two re-wrote the rule book on what a wrestling announce team was supposed to be and devised the formula that is still emulated to this day. every two man broadcast team since has tried to capture the magic of the Gorilla/Ventura duo, but the only team that has arguably achieved that goal was Monsoon himself teaming with Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. Monsoon and Heenan had a great chemistry that translated into a real life friendship and the two became the WWF’s version of Abbot and Costello, not only announcing countless wrestling programs together, but also performing in various comedy sketches, along with hosting WWF Prime Time Wrestling, the pre-cursor to Monday Night Raw.
In the history of the WWf, few men have ever been as beloved as Gorilla Monsoon. From his time in the ring, to his time in the announce booth, to his role as President, Monsoon was a fixture in WWF for decades. Fans adored him, respected him, and held him in the highest regard. Gorilla was one of the few people who transcended the character he played on TV. Fans didn’t just love the persona they saw on their televisions, they loved HIM.
When Vader attacked Gorilla Monsoon on monday Right Raw, he could not have done anything to make fans hate him more. He didn’t just attack the WWF President, he attacked the man who many saw as the heart and sole of the entire industry. He received rabid hatred for this act. Seeing Vader take out Gorilla Monsoon on national TV was like being forced to watch him brutalize your grandfather or favorite uncle. Monsoon wasn’t some flavor of the month wrestler fans would soon abandon when the new hot thing rolled into town. Gorilla was a fixture. He was an icon. Fans were incensed by the act and the angle was one of the hottest in a long time.
What happened immediately after this ground breaking angle? Vader was removed from television for several weeks. The story line reasoning was that Vader was suspended for his actions. In reality, he needed time off to recover from shoulder surgery and the angle was used as an excuse to get him off of TV.
In the weeks Vader was gone, all of the heat he got from the angle was lost. Right after the attack, fans wanted Vader’s blood. But with Vader gone and off of WWF programming, that hatred diminished and each week he was off of the program, the heat behind the story line faded. By the time Vader returned, it was too late. The opportunity had been missed and Vader was never able to recapture his past successes. he was eventually turned into a kind of cowardly heel, a persona that never felt right and failed to click with fans. From this point on, Vader’s career slowly went down hill and he soon faded from prominence in the United States.
Vader’s attack on Gorilla Monsoon is an unusual failed angle. The concept itself was a great one. Fans loved few people more than they loved Gorilla, and Vader attacking him and injuring him so severely made Vader one of the most hated men in all of wrestling. the execution of the angle was terrific, as Vader and Gorilla both played their parts to perfection during the incident itself. However, the timing of it was terrible and that is why it failed. Instead of using the assault on the President as an excuse to get Vader off of TV, they should have saved the idea for when he was healthy. There were any number of reasons they could have used to remove Vader from TV while he healed from surgery.
If Vader were suspended by Monsoon and taken off of TV, then attacked the President upon his return, his career might have been vastly different. Had WWF planned it better, Vader could have had a career resurgence, rather than having his otherwise successful career end with a fizzle as it did.
In the angle driven world of professional wrestling, pulling off a story line takes a lot of different things. You need a good idea, which is executed by talented performers. However, as the case of Vader/Monsoon shows it, sometimes a good idea and a good performance aren’t enough. A terrific story and a flawless performance of the story won’t mean a thing if it isn’t done at the right time.
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