During a recent guest appearance on “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” Jesse Ventura, inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, talked about his major impact in the realm of pro wrestling, and being the first wrestler to compel Vince McMahon, ex-Chairman of WWE to engage with an agent.
Here are the notable excerpts from the podcast:
Discussing his bond with Vince McMahon, Ventura remarked, “In truth, I have practically no relationship with the man. Zilch.”
Ventura then revealed what he considered to be his biggest achievement in wrestling. “When they commemorated my career by inducting me into the Hall of Fame, they asked me what I perceived as my major contribution to pro wrestling. I believe my response surprised everyone, especially Vince and Linda (McMahon). I boldly stated, ‘My biggest contribution, in my opinion, was that I was the pioneering wrestler who forced Vince McMahon to negotiate with a manager or agent.’ Contrarily, (Hulk) Hogan never took this route. Even though Hogan had a Hollywood agent, he always directly dealt with Vince. My move to involve an agent transpired due to ‘Predator.’”
While recounting McMahon’s reaction on finding out about Ventura’s involvement in ‘Predator,’ he said, “He strictly told me that I couldn’t participate in it; this led to me resigning. Whilst filming for ‘Predator’, Arnold (Schwarzenegger) mentioned his upcoming project ‘Running Man’ scheduled for September. He felt there was a role that I fit perfectly and asked if I’d like to do it. I instantly agreed. I first negotiated for ‘Running Man’ and then approached Vince again. You know why? This allowed me to have bargaining power. If he didn’t agree to my terms, I could just tell him that I’ll be busy filming for ‘Running Man’ in the fall. I was content knowing I had another significant movie project with Arnold.”
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