Jesse Ventura looks back on his final days in WWE.
The Hall of Famer and former Governor of Minnesota famously departed the company back in 1990 after a dispute with Vince McMahon. During a recent interview with MSNBC, Ventura reminds the world that Hulk Hogan had ratted him out to McMahon when trying to form a wrestler’s union, which led to his eventual firing. He adds that he isn’t surprised to see Hogan now align politically with the Republican party.
It doesn’t surprise me because when I was in wrestling in the 80s, I tried to unionize wrestling. It was Hulk Hogan who cut my legs out from under me. Hulk Hogan went to Vince McMahon, ratted me out, and subsequently, later on, cost me my job. It doesn’t surprise me to see Hogan with the Republicans because Hogan is as anti-union as you can get. There is still not a union in professional wrestling. The reason I tried to do it. I was in an elevator and ran into Gene Upshaw, the great guard from the Oakland Raiders. Big Gene raised his finger up and looked at me and said, ‘You boys need to form a union.’ I tried to do it and it was Hulk Hogan that ratted me out to Vince McMahon and subsequently I was fired and lost my job.
Ventura did return to WWE in 1999, making sporadic appearances since including at a recent Raw in Minnesota. In some backstage footage released by WWE Ventura could be seen speaking to CM Punk, stating that he came back because he knew things must have changed after Punk returned. Check out Ventura’s full interview below.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)
