Long before he became the governor of Minnesota from 1999-2003, Jesse “The Body” Ventura was particularly known for his wrestling and acting work. That included time in WWE predecessor WWF, as an in-ring wrestler from 1981-85 and as a commentator from 1985-90.
But Ventura left the promotion in 1990 after a dispute with Vince McMahon over outside promotional work, which eventually led to a lawsuit. And while he made some brief returns to the promotion in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including even calling one event alongside McMahon, the bad blood was still obvious.
With McMahon out of the picture now, though, Ventura has signed a “Legends” contract with WWE. And that’s going to include a guest commentary appearance on Saturday Night’s Main Event, airing live on NBC Saturday night. Here’s more on that from Ryan Glasspiegel at The New York Post:
“My son [Tyrel, also his agent] was a fan of wrestling and a fan of myself growing up, so he took it upon himself to make some contact with the new ownership and they started talking,” Ventura said.
“One thing led to another, and I realized they were under new ownership and I wasn’t going to be held to the old standard of why I got kicked out before. Lo and behold it happened. I’ll tell you this: I did it selfishly for my kids. I’m 73 now. I ain’t gonna be around forever. I want to position it where if anybody makes money off my name, I want my kids to have a piece of it.”
…“With Saturday Night’s Main Event coming back after 40 years, somebody said, ‘We need Jesse for this,’” Ventura said. “Because we had already negotiated the Legends deal, it wasn’t a big deal to negotiate this. The ice had been broken and now hell has frozen over.”
It’s certainly notable to see Ventura returning in a commentary role, as that was a lot of the most famous work he did with the promotion. And this speaks to perhaps a larger case of what’s possible for WWE now they’re under new ownership and leadership following McMahon’s eventual exit earlier this year.
Beyond the abuse of power and sexual abuse allegations that have seen civil and potentially criminal consequences for McMahon, his time running the company saw him alienate a lot of talent, including Ventura. With him no longer involved, and new leadership (including president Nick Khan) involved, some of that talent may now come back.
