“Irresistible Force: The Life And Times Of Gorilla Monsoon” by author Brian R. Solomon will be released later this month via ECW Press. Ahead of its release, Solomon chatted with Web Is Jericho via Youngstown Studio about the book including the most surprising things he learned in his research, Gorilla’s financial success in the business, Monsoon’s relationships with both Bobby Heenan and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and much more.
Later in his career, Monsoon was part of two of the most highly celebrated commentary teams in wrestling history alongside Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. Both are beloved, but which was better? Solomon weighed in with his opinion.
“It’s a good comparison,” Solomon said. “As a young fan at the time watching, I preferred Gorilla and Jesse, because when you’re a teenager and all that, you’re very serious, especially if you’re a boy. I liked the fact that they were more sports-like. They would argue, but they acted like equals. They would criticize each other but they would also agree with each other, and it wasn’t super over the top. Jesse would give Gorilla credit for things, and Gorilla would give Jesse for things, they seemed like equals.”
Solomon continued: “The Heenan and Monsoon team was more like a straight up comedy team. It was Abbott and Costello. It was the Skipper and Gilligan. And they were not equals. Bobby was the coward, and Gino would put him in his place and yell at him, and Bobby would exasperate Gino. At the time as a kid, I didn’t enjoy it as much because I wanted more of the focus on the matches and less of on the interactions. Because Bobby would say the most ridiculous things to validate the heels. He would go so far where Jesse wouldn’t even go.”
“But as I got older and got more mature and got a little more of an ironic view of wrestling and started enjoying the fun aspects of wrestling, to me Bobby and Gorilla are the tops. They are so endearing and entertaining and genuinely funny that you just have to love it.”
Check out Solomon’s full interview below, and preorder his book via ECW Press.
