Top 10 Wrestlers With Amateur Backgrounds In WWE History

10. Gorilla Monsoon

Depending on your age, you’ll either remember Gorilla Monsoon as WWE’s on-screen President in the mid-'90s, Bobby Heenan’s long-time announce partner, or as a gigantic super-heavyweight battling the likes of André the Giant and Superstar Billy Graham. Monsoon made a huge impact on the company regardless of the role he was playing, and the foundations for his 30+ year WWE career were laid in college.

An outstanding multi-sport (football, track and field, and amateur wrestling) athlete throughout his high school career, the 350lbs Monsoon continued his sporting excellence at New York’s Ithaca College. Finishing second in the 1959 NCAA Wrestling Championships at the age of 21, Monsoon set a number of athletic records at Ithaca (including an 18-second wrestling pin), became captain of the school’s wrestling team, and was named its Most Valuable Performer in 1959.

Monsoon was a freakish athlete who combined imposing size with supreme stamina and athleticism. His pro-wrestling career started after signing for a New York promoter who’d scouted him throughout his college career, and by 1963, Monsoon was wrestling the legendary Bruno Sammartino for the old WWWF World Championship. Elected into his college’s Hall of Fame in 1973 and WWE’s 21 years later, Monsoon blazed a trail in both forms of wrestling.