Joey Marella
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| Birth name | Joseph Anthony Marella |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 28, 1963 Willingboro Township, New Jersey, United States |
| Died | July 4, 1994 (aged 31) New Jersey Turnpike near Willingboro, New Jersey |
| Family | Gorilla Monsoon (father) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Joey Marella |
| Debut | 1983 |
Joseph Anthony Marella (February 28, 1963 – July 4, 1994) was an American professional wrestling referee for the World Wrestling Federation and the adopted son of former wrestler and then WWF announcer Gorilla Monsoon (Robert Marella) from Willingboro Township, New Jersey.
Joey Marella joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1983, and moved through the ranks until he was often assigned to referee feature promotion matches. In 1987, he served as the referee for the much-hyped match between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant at WrestleMania III as well as their rematch in 1988 at Wrestlemania IV. Marella was also the official for the 1992 SummerSlam main event of Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith at London's famous Wembley Stadium. Marella was briefly suspended for a substance abuse problem in 1993 and then later re-hired. He was also part of the controversy at the 1994 Royal Rumble match in which he and former WWF referee Earl Hebner couldn't decide between Lex Luger and Bret Hart as to who had won the match.
During Marella's career as a WWF referee, while becoming one of the Federation's most respected in-ring officials, he also became the butt of jokes for heel based commentators especially when they were teamed with Marella's father Gorilla Monsoon with Monsoon regularly using one of his catch phrases "Will you stop" (mostly said to either Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan) when they would criticize his performance. This was actually an inside joke as the fact that Monsoon and Marella were actually father and son was not well known by fans until after Marella had died.
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