Inducted by LWO4Life
It is my ultimate privilege to write this piece on maybe the most interesting personality in wrestling history. Throughout wrestling’s history, many interesting figures have come and gone, left their mark on the business, and maybe once in a while one would leave their mark on the greater society. But none ever left a mark as big as Jesse Ventura.
This is an induction of Jesse Ventura as a personality/manager, therefore I will briefly gloss over his wrestling career, which honestly wasn’t the best. After his career in the Navy’s Underwater Demolition Team, Jesse would hang out with Hell’s Angels rivals, the Mongols in San Diego. Just as a war was going to erupt between the Mongols and Hell’s Angels, Jesse would return to Minnesota and one year later enter the world of professional wrestling. Taking the personality of what he saw in California, Jesse picked his name as he used Ventura, his favorite California city to visit, and Jesse because it was the first name of outlaw Jesse James. Mixing an outlaw personality he adopted with the Mongols, with the Hollywood personality of California, adding in a liberal dose of “Superstar” Billy Graham, and you had Jesse “the Body” Ventura.
Now, anyone can adopt a personality, but to execute it takes a special skill. The AWA was notoriously a worker’s territory. Verne Gagne loved his wrestlers to be excellent wrestlers. While Jesse was not that. Jesse was fully a character and a great one. From his interviews to doing commercials for the local liquor store, Jesse was as close to Hollywood as Minneapolis would have. That was until Hulk Hogan arrived. Both Jesse and Hogan used Billy Graham as their base template. Jesse and Hogan wrestled many times in AWA and developed a friendship. And once Hulk Hogan went to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Jesse Ventura would be a wrestler he’d suggest to Vince McMahon, so he could have people to work with that he felt comfortable with.
Jesse was no stranger to the WWF. In 1981 and ‘82, Jesse would team with Adrian Adonis in WWF, as well as even challenge Bob Backlund for the WWF title on many house shows. So when Jesse came back to WWF, he didn’t need much of an introduction. Throughout 1984 and 1985, Jesse would challenge Hogan for the WWF title. The rivalry seemed to be a natural one. But after a series of three matches in 1984, Jesse discovered he had pulmonary embolisms or blood clots. Sadly, in 2002, during his time as Minnesota governor (more on that later), Jesse would be hospitalized for blood clots in his lungs. So this is a condition that would follow him throughout his life. But in 1984, Jesse would return to the ring after only three months of recovery, and work his way up to challenge Hogan again in a series of matches throughout 1985. Luckily, Jesse wouldn’t need to wrestle to stay in the business. Vince was looking to change the industry and thought of having Jesse do color commentary.
Ring-side announcing in the territory days was very basic. You had a main play-by-play announcer, like Gordon Solie, Lance Russell, or a Vince McMahon. These announcers played the straight character; they called everything down the middle. Then you might have a color commentator, usually a former wrestler who gave the perspective of the wrestlers in the ring. This commentator was usually a babyface, who called wrestling as if it was a legitimate sport. VInce’s idea was to have a heel color commentator, someone who spoke up for the heel and told the match from their perspective. It was genius. This opened up an element of wrestling that was never seen before. When Roddy Piper hit someone with a chair, Jesse was there to justify it to the crowd. This changed wrestling commentating forever. Soon you saw Jim Cornette and Paul E. Dangerously in color commentary in WCW, but when AWA didn’t adapt, they saw a drop in business.
Jesse’s quick wit, and ability to see things differently made him a star. By 1986 Jesse was doing color commentary full time. His last match was two weeks before WrestleMania 2, in March. This would mark a big change for Jesse, as he’d retire to film Predator. During the filming of Predator, many cast members were in and out of filming. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the star, left for three days to get married, and Jesse himself left to call Wrestlemania 2. It was here that Jesse showed his political activism side, rallying the wrestlers in the Los Angeles locker room to form a union. Maybe if Jesse had been sent to Chicago, he would have gained traction. But instead, Hulk Hogan was the main event that night in LA, and Hulk decided he needed to tell Vince what was happening. This wouldn’t be told to Jesse for years, and he was always left confused as to why the wrestlers didn’t want to act in their best interest.
After Wrestlemania 2, Jesse would return to filming the Predator in Mexico, but he’d never wrestle again. It would be months before he was back on WWF TV, outside of his appearences on NBC for Saturday Night’s Main Event. Jesse would spend the rest of 1986 filming The Running Man with Arnold, and from my count only missed on NBC show. But his WWF contract was winding down, and there were a lot of opportunities for the Body.
The contract negotiations Jesse and Vince had will go down in history, but the important thing to remember here is Vince wasn’t fully sold on bringing Jesse back. Jesse had tried to start a union, and once his contract ran out in 1987, Vince was happy to let Jesse walk. NBC though stepped in and they said they paid for Saturday Night’s Main Event’s whole package, which included Jesse Ventura. Vince had to make it work out between them. Jesse had given WWF something different, something that no sport could ever have. It’s like, in 1987, Magic Johnson calling a Boston Celtics game annoying Mike Gorman all night long, or seeing Reggie Jackson next to Vin Scully calling a Dodger game, highlighting all the errors the Dodgers are making. NBC knew they had something special.
The key to all personalities is to make yourself so special, the company can’t be the same without you. Jesse Ventura separated WWF from WCW or AWA. Eventually, WCW copied the same formula, but it was too late, WWF had such a huge lead. Even when WWF tried to put Bobby Heenan in that position, it didn’t work quite the same. The formula to create Jesse Ventura was simple enough. But to execute it, only Jesse himself could do that. You’ll also notice, that I’ve never mentioned his real name, James Janos, and that’s because the character of Jesse Ventura was so big, that he got elected mayor of his hometown, Brooklyn Park, MN, and eventually governor of the state of Minnesota. Jesse Ventura’s personality had people gravitate to him. And to top it all off, in his political career, he always ran as an independent. He was not bound by a political party.
In the end, Jesse Ventura did it his way. He took Vince McMahon to trial, which exposed the business Vince was doing at the time. He also found out Hulk Hogan was the snitch that prevented him from starting a union. But no matter what, Jesse was such a critical part of the WWF machine, that Vince could not let go for several years. (But the less time spent on his WCW career, the better.) And the greatest thing about Jesse, he never shied away from his wrestling persona. He could have run as James Janos, he could have run a normal campaign against the two-party system. Instead, he embraced it all, ran as Jesse “the Mind” Ventura, he ran commercials with a new governor action figure. Jesse Ventura never stopped being Jesse Ventura. No matter what. And for that, he has to go down as one of the greatest personalities in the business. I am honored to induct him to this spot in the Hall of Fame, and look forward to more appearances from Jesse in the now WWE in the future.
