10 Famous Wrestlers Who Had Only One WWE Title Match
4. Gorilla Monsoon
Before he was the straight man commentator alongside the likes of Jesse Ventura and Bobby Heenan, Gorilla Monsoon was one of the most feared wrestlers in the land.
Billed at 6' 7" and over 400lbs, Monsoon terrorised babyfaces up and down the country during the 1960s and 70s. He once famously tussled with Muhammad Ali, giving the boxing legend an airplane spin and actually living to tell the tale.
Monsoon was one of the first major threats posed to Bruno Sammartino during the early days of his legendary World title run. He fought the Italian Strongman in all sorts of matches - two-out-of-three falls, Texas Deathmatches, Stretcher matches - but only one of them ever made it to TV.
Sammartino and Monsoon squared off on Boxing Day 1968 as part of an episode of WWWF TV. The taped show, which emanated from Washington, D.C.'s National Arena, closed with Sammartino retaining the gold after almost 25 minutes of hellish tussling with the future WWE President.
The Hall of Famer's final WWE title match was in 1971, when he lost to Ivan Koloff by countout, but, in another universe, he would have been a phenomenal monster heel champion.