WWE Hall of Famer Jesse Ventura recently joined Talk Is Jericho for an in-depth conversation about all things pro-wrestling, including who Ventura’s favorite person was to wrestle. Highlights from the interview are below.
Names Tito Santana as his favorite person to wrestle:
“Without naming a single match, I’ll simply say Tito Santana was the most favorite person I enjoyed wrestling out of anyone in the business. I don’t know if you know this, but Tito has written a book … He gave me a copy, and the reason I’m so touched by the book and him, is because the title of his book is Don’t Call Me Chico.”
Explains the origin of the Chico phrase:
“At that time I had switched to the broadcasting, so I wasn’t seeing the boys except at television tapings. The wrestlers, they didn’t see TV cause they’re on the road. They’re either traveling or wrestling. Tito is showing up to all these venues and the fans are calling him ‘chico.’ It even got to the point that they’re holding signs that say ‘chico.’ Now Merced [Santana’s real name] is caught, because he’s a babyface, and he’s trying to figure this out, so he goes over and it first happens at an airport … They’re all yelling ‘chico,’ and they all come running over. Merced goes, ‘Well, you guys know my name’s Tito.’ And they go, ‘Oh, yeah we know that.’ ‘Well then, why are you calling me ‘chico?” They wouldn’t tell him.”
On the incident and how Tito addressed it in his book:
“Tito comes to me at TV, and we both laugh like hell over it. In his book, he took an entire paragraph: I want you people to know, there is not one racist bone in Jesse Ventura’s body. He said Jesse Ventura was so over as a heel he would make you money by being derogatory towards you. He said ‘The more he insulted me, the better it was for me.’ He finished it by saying ‘Jesse Ventura was a total credit towards the wrestling business.’ He said, ‘Jesse Ventura made me a ton of money,’ and he said, ‘and he was great at doing it.’ Chris, I laid in bed at that hotel, and it brought tears to my eyes, because no one in the wrestling business has said that about me.”
(H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)