Jesse The Body Ventura was a colorful character in the world of wrestling who had a noteworthy career in the ring before transitioning to a better-remembered broadcast run as a color commentator as WWE surged in popularity from the mid 1980s to early 1990s, followed by several years calling matches for World Championship Wrestling.
The most unlikely turn of his career would come several years later in politics, highlighted by his 1999-2003 run as governor of Minnesota. For all his noteworthy times in and out of wrestling, though, there are a number of details, moments, and developments that managed to escape the attention of most fans or have been forgotten.
10 Jesse Ventura Was An Interesting Set Of Life Experiences Before Wrestling
Jesse Ventura rose to celebrity status as a professional wrestler, but had an interesting journey through life prior to that point as well. For one thing, Ventura was among those wrestlers with a military background, as he served the US Navy from 1969 to 1975, garnering multiple honors.
From there, he wound up a bodyguard for no lesser celebrities than The Rolling Stones, a unique assignment that may have offered some unlikely preparation for hitting the road with WWE years later.
9 Before Jesse Ventura Was “The Body” He Was “The Great”
The nickname The Body became synonymous with Jesse Ventura across over a decade of use. That wasn’t his first moniker during his time in the pro wrestling business, though. Dating back to his run in the Pacific Northwest under promoter Don Owen, he was billed as Jesse “The Great” Ventura.
Some of the look and style he’d become famous for were in place as he borrowed heavily from Superstar Billy Graham and feuded with other major names like Jimmy Snuka twice winning the Pacific Northwest Championship.
8 Jesse Ventura Challenged Hulk Hogan For The WWE Championship
One of Jesse Ventura’s signature elements as a color commentator was playing a heel, and specifically acting as a vocal critic of Hulk Hogan, including more than once suggesting he ought to get back in the ring to challenge The Hulkster for the WWE Championship.
Many fans forget Hogan did have matches with Ventura, early in THe Hulkster's time as the champ, shortly before issues with blood clots would force Ventura out of the ring.
7 Jesse Ventura Shared His Talk Show Space With Don Muraco
Jesse Ventura quickly became better known for his broadcast work than his wrestling in WWE, and that included hosting The Body Shop--a forgotten wrestling talk show segment.
To fit into “The Body” persona, the set was made up to look like a weightlifting gym, and Don Muraco more than once stepped up to fill in for Ventura. The Rock was a bit less equipped for the speaking role, but certainly did fit the gym rat element of the gimmick, given how chiseled he was in that era.
6 Jesse Ventura Threaded The Needle On His Commentary Work For WrestleMania 6
Though Jesse Ventura worked all but exclusively as a heel broadcaster, and maintained a kayfabe beef with Hulk Hogan (which, interestingly, only afterward gave way to real life animosity). WrestleMania 6 put his character in an interesting spot, though, as he had no heel to root for in the main event collision between Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior.
The situation set up a skilled performance by Ventura as he didn’t quite praise or bash either performer, and even gave Hogan a small compliment after the match for his sportsmanship in accepting defeat gracefully.
5 Jesse Ventura’s WWE Broadcast Work Earned Him Accolades From The Wrestling Observer
The Wrestling Observer is a polarizing institution in professional wrestling for its at times spurious news reporting and for mixed reactions to Dave Meltzer’s match ratings and opinion-based writing.
The newsletter’s annual year-end awards carry some prestige, if only because recipients are voted on by The Observer’s readership, as opposed to just being Meltzer’s choices, thus offering some sense of consensus choices across a reasonably knowledgeable and passionate fan base. So, it was a noteworthy accomplishment for Jesse Ventura to win the Best Color Commentator superlative for four years running from 1987 to 1990.
4 Jesse Ventura And Roddy Piper Shot A TV Pilot Together
It's true that not every wrestler can succeed in Hollywood, but Jesse Ventura and Roddy Piper were each ahead of the game in taking a stab at acting, and each enjoyed a degree of success in the endeavor. Interestingly enough, 1991 saw them combine efforts as they were booked to co-star as retired-wrestlers-turned-cops in a series titled Tag Team. Unfortunately for the duo, the show didn’t get picked up.
IMDb reports the lone episode aired as an afterthought on a Saturday night, despite Ventura originally understanding them to have had a guarantee of running for thirteen episodes.
3 Jesse Ventura Only Learned In 1994 That Hulk Hogan Had Betrayed Him In Real Life In 1986
Jesse Ventura and Hulk Hogan never got along on screen, but were by most accounts friends behind the scenes for years. However, in WWE’s 1994 steroid trial, it came up under oath that Hogan had undermined Ventura’s attempts to organize wrestlers into a labor union, when The Hulkster leaked the plans to Vince McMahon before they could get momentum. Ventura was understandably upset and Hogan has been on poor terms with him ever since.
2 Eric Bischoff Was Not A Fan Of Jesse Ventura’s Broadcast Work
Eric Bischoff has more than once spoken on his 83 Weeks podcast about Jesse Ventura’s broadcast work for WCW. Bischoff did not appreciate The Body’s efforts, including feeling that Ventura went out of his way to focus on getting himself over rather than pushing the talents in the ring, and also discussing a story of Ventura once being found asleep when he was supposed to be working in the arena.
To be fair, Bischoff has offered a balanced hand in these conversations, not so much blasting Ventura the person or talent, but indicating he didn’t seem engaged during the period he worked for WCW.
1 Jesse Ventura Fudged The Truth In A 2009 Promo
Jesse Ventura returned to WWE television in 2009 for a one-off appearance on Monday Night Raw, playing a heel and, most memorably, compelling Vince McMahon to reprise their old commentary partnership one more time for the main event segment.
During the show, Ventura offered some revisionist history in knocking John Cena for getting endless title opportunities, citing that he never got any—a mis-truth given Ventura had gotten his share of title shots and even reigns in the territory days, and had challenged Hulk Hogan for the WWE Championship in 1984.