10 Hidden Wrestling Jokes Everybody Missed
1. Gorilla Monsoon: Far More Problematic Than You'd Like Him To Be
In a heightened cartoon battleground fought between tasselled incoherent warriors, rich men you knew were rich because they had dollar signs all over their attire, and men who carried snakes to the ring, the WWF's broadcast team between them had such authoritative gravitas that it still felt real, or at least like a serious concern. The wisened Gorilla Monsoon was the impartial, warm and avuncular presence who made it feel like there was a sense of justice and fairness at the core of the promotion.
Also, he made fun of alleged victims of sexual harassment.
Monsoon made more than one crack about a wrestler "graduating with honours" from the 'Terry Garvin School of Self-Defence', a line that mocked Garvin's alleged predatory advances as something an aspiring WWF star could parlay into their defensive wrestling game. Garvin resigned from the WWF following the "ring boy" scandal that, last year, ultimately ended in horrific tragedy.
To be clear: Monsoon was never once implicated in anything, but the casual way with which the (alleged) culture was treated scans as disgusting in retrospect. But of course, you weren't to know at the time. At the time, you looked upon all of this as something that shaped your moral code.
Honestly, between Monsoon's casually cruel jokes and the Twitter posts liked by Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler isn't quite the runaway leader of the 'Most Problematic Commentator' award.