Blast From The Past...Joey Marella

[Mr. Old School™]

Hey,

Back again here and for this latest "Blast From The Past", I decided to feature former WWF Referee Joey Marella.



And no, he is in no way related to current WWE Superstar Santino/Santina Marella. He actually got his name from Robert Marella a.k.a. Gorilla Monsoon.

Joey Marella was actually the adopted son of Gorilla Monsoon, but during their tenure in the WWF together neither one let that fact be known.

Joey got his big break with the WWF way back in 1983 and was often assigned to officiate many main event matches.

He was even the referee for what many believe is the biggest match in wrestling history. The main event of WrestleMania III at The Pontiac Silverdome for the WWF Heavyweight championship between defending champion Hulk Hogan and "The Eighth Wonder of the World" Andre the Giant.

At one point, early on into the match, Hogan went to bodyslam Andre, but Hogan's back gave out and Andre toppled on him. Many believe Joey Marella made a controversial 3-count because Andre's size blocked out Marella's view of Hogan's shoulders.

Obviously, Andre wasn't supposed to win that night, so even if it was a 3-count that Marella made, he decided it was only a 2 and a half count instead. You watch the clips and decide for yourself.







He was also one of the referees for the infamous "double-winner" steel cage match on Saturday Night's Main Event between Hulk Hogan and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff.

For those that don't recall, Hogan climbed out on one side and Orndorff on the other and of course, Danny Davis was on Orndorff's side and Marella was on Hogan's side.

Davis said Orndorff won and Marella said Hogan won. This lead to Davis shoving Marella down because he was an evil referee at the time and then they eventually re-started the match and Hogan won.

I would post some clips of it, but I can't seem to find any. WWE took them down from Youtube.

*Edit*

I almost completely forgot, but Joey Marella even made his way to the silver screen. Albeit, it was only a small role still as a referee of course, but he was in the movie No Holds Barred which starred Hulk Hogan as Rip and Tom "Tiny" Lister Jr. as Zeus.

I just finished "ripping" the opening scene from my DVD-R of No Holds Barred which features Rip defending the WWF Heavyweight championship against a formedable contender in Jake Bullet.

I also just added it to my Youtube page and while it's still up, check out the entire clip right here!!



For Joey Marella, history eventually repeated itself in 1994 at The Royal Rumble.

Thanks to this clip on Youtube, I'll let it do the talking:



He was also the referee for the Intercontinental title match between Razor Ramon and I.R.S. earlier on in the night at the '94 Rumble, which again featured controversy.





For a tiny referee like Joey Marella was, he sure had his share of controversy, that's for sure.

I wish I could end this "Blast From The Past" on a happy note, but tragically, Joey Marella died in car-wreck on July 4th, 1994 when he fell asleep at the wheel.

He was driving home after refereeing at a house show and just simply dozed off at the wheel and crashed his car on the New Jersey turnpike.

Bruno Lauer a.k.a. Harvey Whippleman was also in the car with Joey Marella at the time of the crash. Luckily he was wearing a seatbelt, but unfortunately Joey wasn't.

Joey Marella was only 30 years old.

Not too many people pay attention to the referees in wrestling, but I always have. Hell, as a kid I always wanted to be a referee in wrestling because you are right in the middle of the action and I thought it would be fun as hell.

Just for the fun of it, here are two WWF LJN referees. One in the white shirt and the other in the blue shirt.





Even though wrestling is pre-determined and the referees know when and how a match is supposed to end, I believe Joey Marella was probably the greatest referee in the history of wrestling. It's either him or Earl Hebner. But that's a story for another time.

There you have it. Another "Blast From The Past" in the books. If you have any thoughts or memories of Joey Marella, please share them here. Thanks for reading.

[Jimmy]

I loved how Jesse Ventura always used to go nuts on Marella's officiating.


And it's always been sad to me that, as far as I know, the WWF never really acknowledged Joey's death. In fact, they just went on showing the matches he reffed that they taped before he died.

[Kenny Powers]

Joey Marella was my favorite old school referee. I remember being at a house show in 1993 and some fans in the front row were holding up a sign that read "Joey Marella Fan Club". Every time Joey came out to ref a match he would acknowledge them with a fist pump. I thought that was really cool.

I didn't realize until after his death that he was Gorilla Monsoon's son. Now it makes commentary between Jesse Ventura and Gorilla or Bobby Heenan and Gorilla even more funny when Jesse or Bobby complains about the ref when its Marella.

[Kenny Powers]

Jan 17, 2010 10:40:12 GMT -5 Jimmy said:

I loved how Jesse Ventura always used to go nuts on Marella's officiating.


And it's always been sad to me that, as far as I know, the WWF never really acknowledged Joey's death. In fact, they just went on showing the matches he reffed that they taped before he died.

There was a page in one of the old WWF magazines that was a tribute to him, acknowleding his death and even giving the date and reason, that it had been in a car accident. It was pretty classy and was actually how I learned he had died.

[Mr. Old School™]

^ You are absolutely right. In the October 1994 edition of WWF Magazine, they did pay tribute to Joey Marella. And after searching long and hard in my collection, I finally managed to track it down. Here's a scan of it.

[DTP.]

Ah yes, Gorilla Monsoon's son. I remember the story Bret Hart told of being with Joey Marella the night he died.

[Deleted]

always loved the way Jesse used to rip on Marellas reffing too.

I didnt know he was dead though,saddened to hear that.

[roth630]

Joey was a really good and kind person. I would always get a chance to talk with him when the WWF came to the Rosemont Horizon (Allstate Arena) here in Chicago. He would always have a smile on his face and always took the time for everyone. He'd take pictures and was a great kid. Broke me heart when I heard he was killed. Gorilla was never the same after that. Who would be? But that was the beginning of the end with Gorilla and wrestling. His heart just wasn't in it anymore.

Miss ya Joey!

[Dynamito™]

Ahh yes I too believe Joey was one of the best along with earl.
Saddened to hear he died a couple of years back.
Good read
and has anyone ever seen that tribute wwe did to joey and some others back in 2003?
Its great btw and was from the raw tenth anniversary,it was short but good.Peep it out guys