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AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com

I’m on vacation, so I’m posting my usual July 4 column a bit early…this week.

When I post this column each July 4th holiday, I remember how many years it’s been since the death of former WWF referee Joey Marella in an automobile accident on the New Jersey Turnpike, while traveling to Newark, NJ from a WWF show in Ocean City, MD.

But since that tragedy happened, so much has happened in our world and in all of our lives since that day 14 years ago. The world is a very different place than it was in 1994, with terrorism and war now an everyday concern for those of us in the United States, as well as the rest of the world. The fruit of our country’s youth is coming home in bodybags from Iraq and Afghanistan on an almost daily basis.

Nonetheless, the death of one person and the need to remember them, still stands out above and beyond things that we often can’t understand or control, like terrorists using the name of God as a justification for what they do, or the actions of countries toward other countries, or the actions of countries against their own as in Zimbabwe. We have to remember those who are and who were important within our lives…or within our areas of personal interest, like wrestling.

Remembering keeps them alive, even if just in our hearts.

Thus, a remembrance of former WWF referee Joey Marella, who left this world 14 years ago on July 4th. I thought I’d again add last year’s foreword from Kathy Fitzpatrick, who is, as always, is mentioned in the article below. Her remembrance from 2 years ago adds to the yearly AS I SEE IT that I do remembering Joey:

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“On this 4th of July after the picnics and parades, I always do one thing that I thought I wouldn’t ever have to start a tradition of doing…going to the cemetary to remember a dear friend, Joey Marella. Joey was taken away from his friends and family way too soon, and this is the 12th anniversary of his passing.

Kathy Fitzpatrick”

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“Looking back on the memory of…
The dance we shared…
‘neath the stars alone…
For a moment…
all the world was right…
How could I have known…
that you’d ever say goodbye…

Dance, (Garth Brooks and Tony Arata, 1989)

Every July 4th, most people remember the holiday for fireworks, barbecues, and patriotic speeches. But some of us remember it each year for different reasons.

I remember July 4, 1994, all too well. I was sitting down, eating lunch, getting ready to watch an early round World Cup soccer game when the phone rang…two friends, one of whom was a ECW referee; had left messages on my phone within five minutes, but I didn’t think anything of it.

Then the phone rang again. I finally picked it up, realizing something had to be wrong. I heard the agonized voice of a friend over the line… I could make out about every third word being said. Gradually, I pieced together the news.

Joey Marella had been killed in an automobile accident while returning from a WWF show in Ocean City, MD the previous evening. He had fallen asleep at the wheel on the New Jersey Turnpike; and was involved in a one car accident together with Bruno “Harvey Whippleman” Lauer. Joey wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and was killed only miles from the Marella family home in Willingboro, NJ.

Only hours before, my friend had been with Joey and friends after the show…they’d tried to get him to crash with them up in Baltimore, but Joey told them he had to get going, up to Newark Airport before going overseas. The person was on the phone going through horrible, but unnecessary, guilt for somehow not making Joey come to Baltimore with her.

For many readers of this column who might not have been around back then, Joey Marella was a WWF referee who worked many high-profile WWF matches during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Joey’s career highlights include PPV main events, such as the legendary Hogan-Andre the Giant match at WrestleMania III from the Pontiac Silverdome in March 1987, Ric Flair’s first WWF title win at Royal Rumble 1992, Bret Hart-Davey Boy Smith at Summer Slam 1992 from London’s Wembley Stadium, and Owen Hart-Razor Ramon in the final match at King of the Ring 1994 from Baltimore. He also worked many high profile WWF TV events, including the NBC and Fox Saturday Night Main Event shows, and the 1993 debut of Monday Night RAW. Joey even made a brief appearance as himself in the Hulk Hogan movie “No Holds Barred”.

Aside from the ring, some readers may even know he was the adopted son of Robert (Gorilla Monsoon) Marella. This led to a running inside joke on WWF TV of Monsoon telling viewers how “horrible” that referee Joey Marella was each time Joey “missed” heel interference in a match.

But some knew another side to Joey.

Joey Marella was a “big brother” to many within the wrestling business, particularly the World Wrestling Federation. He was always there with a shoulder to lean on, or with time to listen to those who needed it. Joey was loved by many, including a friend of mine who was quite close to him, who’s kept a special place in her heart for him to this day….the same friend of mine I told you about earlier.

I knew Joey through this friend, so on that July 4th, the feelings weren’t from the death of someone distant. They were strong and deeply personal. Joey’s loss was felt deeply by many in and out of the World Wrestling Federation. The loss is still felt deeply to this day.

As one example, WWF ring announcer Tony Chimel (the announcer on Smackdown and house shows) named his newest son after his friend (who had been Godfather to his other two children) Joey Marella. Some would argue the young Joey Chimel is just as mischievous as his namesake. One hopes he’s half as good a person.

On this upcoming July 4th holiday, please keep a special place in your thoughts for Joey Marella, who left this world at the age of 31. Keep also in your thoughts those others who left wrestling far richer for having been a part of it, yet poorer for having left the business and their loved ones too soon, including Owen Hart, Rick (Renegade) Wilson, “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert, Art Barr, Brian Pillman, Louie Spicolli, Sylvester Ritter, Jay Youngblood, Rick McGraw, David, Mike and Chris (Von Erich) Adkisson, and Buzz Sawyer.

Finally, on this upcoming July 4th weekend, I’ll repeat the motto I leave you with frequently: Be sure to treasure those in your own lives… for we are never promised tomorrow.

“And now, I’m glad I didn’t know…
The way it all would end…
The way it all would go…
Our lives are better left to chance…
I could have missed the pain…
But I’d of had to miss the dance…”

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There are far too many within wrestling that have left this world too soon, just since that list above was first compiled; people who have left this world by natural causes after a long life…or due to the recreational and growth-enhancing drugs, and emotional turmoil so endemic to professional wrestling (or in the case of the first two, not so natural causes): Daniel, Nancy, and Chris Benoit, Sherri Martel, Flash Barker, Cowboy Lang, Cocoa Samoa, Bam Bam Bigelow, Bob Luce, Mike Awesome, Ray Stern, Badnews Brown, Black Shadow, Ernie Ladd, Arnold Skaaland, Angel Azteca, Abe Coleman, Sonny Myers, Sandy Barr, Elizabeth “Miss Elizabeth” Hulette, “Bruiser” Brian Cox, Kodo Fuyuki,”Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, Naoto Morishita, Yukon Braxton, “All American” Jeff Peterson, Billy Travis, Davey Boy Smith, Shoichi Arai, Randy “Pee Wee” Anderson, Dave Casanova, Jeff “Rattlesnake” Raitz, Russ Haas, Rhonda Singh, Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy, Masakazu Fukuda, Bobby Duncum Jr., Gary Albright, Tony Rumble, Brian “Mark Curtis” Hildebrand, Jackie Sato, Alex “Big Dick Dudley” Rizzo, Dave Casanova, Chris Adams, Mike Davis, Gary Albright, Jumbo Tsuruta, Rick Rude, Rodney “Yokozuna” Anoai, and The Sheik.

There was Stu Hart, Road Warrior Hawk, “Classy” Freddie Blassie, Michael “Crash Holly” Lockwood, Anthony “Pitbull #2″ Durante, Hercules Hernandez, Larry “Moondog Spot” Booker, Jerry “The Wall” Tuite, Mike Lozansky, Sandor Kovacs, Buck Moore, Jack Tunney, Beetlejuice, Hard Boiled Haggerty, Dave Levin, Dinty Parks, Danny Hawke, John Heath, Dano McDonald, Hercules Hernandez, Power Mike, Texas Outlaw #1, Dr. Destruction, Stephan DeLeon, Goliath, Rattlesnake Brooks, Pepper Gomez, Kurt Von Brauner, Malcolm Monroe, Victor the Bodyguard, Pat O’Hara, Balk Estes, Sandor Kovacs, Billy Redwood, Pat Roach, Gentleman Ken Timbs, J.W. Hawk, Dr. Wagner, Jim Barnett, Enrique Llanes, Ray “Big Boss Man” Traylor, Chuck Molnar, Billy Spears, Jack Donovan, Misterio de la Muerte, Xtreme, Samson Kutsuwada, Ray Villmer, Pez Whatley, wrestling photographer Tony Lanza, Roger Mackay, George Culkin, Chris Candido, Guy Brunetti, Spider, Ricky Romero, El Texano, Emory Hail, Jackie Pallo, Johnny Grunge, Kay Noble, Sammy Steamboat, Bull Ramos, Prince Pullins, Earthquake, and Crazy Luke Graham, Antonio Pena, Joey Maggs, Ill Kim, Huracan Ramirez, Sputnik Monroe, Tiger Conway, and The Spoiler.

There were also Arman Hussein, Tony Olivas, Johnny Weaver, Don Curtis, Gary Hart, Chase Tatum, Yvon Robert Jr., Omar Williams, Penny Banner, Rudy Kay, Boogie Woogie Brown, Biff Wellington, Moondog Nathan, Devil Bhudakhan, John Kronus, Eugene Stezycki, Ronnie P. Gossett, Tor Kamata, Karl Gotch, Scotty Williams, Bronko Lubich, Crush, Dewey “Missing Link” Robertson, Frank Butcher, Frank Fozo, Karloff Lagarde, Billy Darnell, Enrique Torres, Dave Diamond, Sean Evans, Great Kabooki, Fabulous Moolah, Gran Markus, and Dave “Angel of Death” Sheldon.

I once received a kind letter from Joey’s sister Valerie regarding the version of this column that was published in 2002:

” I just happened to come across your article about Joey while I was at work, and I wanted to thank you. You really seemed to know alot about him, not just as a referee, because we both know he was so much more than that.

Thanks for making my day.”

Hopefully…in an era when lives seem to mean a lot less, with deaths of Americans and others in foreign lands reported on the evening news as if scores in some obscene video game; we can remember Joey’s passing in some manner similar to the way his sister did…and take time to remember those important in our own lives.

Take a minute to say a prayer for or give a thought to them, as well as all within wrestling who’ve left us too soon as you approach this holiday weekend; and remember to see human beings, and not just as anonymous performers when you watch RAW, Smackdown, TNA, or your local independent promotion…because some of those performers were and are remarkable human beings.

Until next time…

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