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[1993-12-06-WWF-Raw] Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon


Loss

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Not to be too overdramatic, but with Okerlund and now especially Heenan's departure--on top of all the other horrible shit happening to the company--the WWF has felt like its completely lost its soul. I've been critical of Lawler's commentary but with him *and* Heenan gone, not to mention JR soon to follow, the announcing situation is going to be a total mess for the next few months. And Bobby won't ever quite be the same, either.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think that's accurate. There is frankly a depressing feeling I get watching the company from this period. The chips began to fall a few years before, but by this time it was really apparent how much of the soul was lost as you put it. Them losing Bobby was more of a blow to the product then Gene, because Bobby was the perfect foil for Vince and Gorilla.

 

To me the real sad thing is what Bobby would say later in interviews, that the only guy on the roster who came up to him to say he was sad to see him go was Owen.

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Not to be too overdramatic, but with Okerlund and now especially Heenan's departure--on top of all the other horrible shit happening to the company--the WWF has felt like its completely lost its soul. I've been critical of Lawler's commentary but with him *and* Heenan gone, not to mention JR soon to follow, the announcing situation is going to be a total mess for the next few months. And Bobby won't ever quite be the same, either.

 

This. The only guy to come close as a good color man foil for Monsoon is Johnny Polo. I liked Monsoon and Stan Lane but Lane gave Gorilla nothing comedic to work with. But the entire timeframe before Lawler finally returns isn't that great commentary-wise. Dibiase was a step in the right direction but even he wasn't that good.

 

I think that's accurate. There is frankly a depressing feeling I get watching the company from this period. The chips began to fall a few years before, but by this time it was really apparent how much of the soul was lost as you put it. Them losing Bobby was more of a blow to the product then Gene, because Bobby was the perfect foil for Vince and Gorilla.

 

To me the real sad thing is what Bobby would say later in interviews, that the only guy on the roster who came up to him to say he was sad to see him go was Owen.

 

That is pretty depressing, yeah. :(

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  • 1 year later...

Fitting but sad, as watching RAW in 1993, Bobby felt like one of the few "older" guys who still had a place. I think RAW got better from about the fall of 1993 going into 1994 (I'm at just after WMX in my viewing right now), but they were aimless as far as commentators go.

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  • 1 year later...

I'll bet that final salute was unscripted.

 

If you didn't know how close Gino and Bobby were in real life, you probably wouldn't be able to figure out why Gino was the one who got to throw Bobby out as opposed to his being suspended indefinitely by Jack Tunney or some such. After all, Gino had no official position in the WWF at this time except as an announcer. Fortunately, we do ​know, and that's what makes the moment so special. It was a classy gesture by Vince to let it happen, and to allow Heenan to play it for laughs to boot. I could have stood for him not to throw in his two cents on play-by-play so we could hear what Gino was saying, but that's a nitpick.

 

I can't wait to hear some of the things Bobby said about Gino to get himself tossed; I wonder if they'll be on the Waltman-Michaels match, which I have yet to watch.

 

I'll always remember Heenan talking about how he and Gino cried in the hallway once they got back to the hotel after this show. I often wonder if Gino might have made it to Atlanta eventually if he hadn't been part of the McMahons' inner circle. He most likely wouldn't have stayed long due to his health problems. but hearing him call Hogan's heel turn, among other things, would have been something else. Hell, just to hear him and Heenan cutting up in the studio again would have been something else. One thing's for sure; he was never the same, and neither was Bobby. It wasn't just on the air, either; a lot of their mutual zest for the business left when they separated, although their individual health problems also played a part. The same could be said for Okerlund.

 

And so the expansion era well and truly ends, at least for me. See you in Atlanta, Brain, and I hope you enjoyed your toilet paper!

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