The so-called Gorilla Position — a backstage nook at wrestling events named for late WWE legend Gorilla Monsoon, who often stood there — has a wholly different meaning in the ancient sex manual The Kama Sutra.

Whereas most professional wrestlers know the Gorilla Position as the spot just behind the curtain where they wait to be introduced by the ring announcer, many experts in Sanskrit Hindu literature instead know the Gorilla Position as a particularly acrobatic feat of lovemaking.

“I was quite surprised to learn it has a connotation in wrestling too,” said Prof. Benjamin Emerson, a Kama Sutra expert at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. “Then again, I suppose the Kama Sutra version of the Gorilla Position could be considered a bizarre, naked type of wrestling.”

According to a recent translation of The Kama Sutra, successfully achieving the Gorilla Position requires tremendous feats of flexibility and stamina. It is likely a mere coincidence that drawings of the Gorilla Position in ancient Hindu texts closely resemble the step-over toehold facelock (STF).

Many people in the wrestling world were surprised to learn about the double-meaning of the term “Gorilla Position.”

“One time in the ring, Val Venis whispered to me ‘See you in the Gorilla Position,’” recalled ring announcer Lillian Garica. “I thought I knew what he meant, but now I’m not so sure.”