Pro wrestling legend Jesse “The Body” Ventura recently spoke with The Vanguard on a number of topics including if a wrestling union is more likely now that Vince McMahon is no longer in WWE.
Ventura said, “That will depend on the wrestlers. Are the wrestlers willing to put their careers on the line? That’s what I did. You saw what happened to my career.”
On his own attempts to start a union:
“I said, ‘Boys, now’s the time to unionize. All the publicity’s gone out. All we have to do is stick together, go out to the press, and say, ‘We refuse to wrestle unless federal negotiators are brought in.’ It’s a federal law. I said, ‘Who do you think turns on the lights in these buildings? Union people. If they recognize what we’re doing, Vince cannot run WrestleMania. The first thing one of the guys said to me was, ‘Well, we need Hogan.’ I said, no we don’t. All we need is Bundy, that’s who he’s wrestling. We don’t need Hogan. And then we can contact the Charlotte guys [WCW] and have them walk out. And if we do this together, we can finally get a union. I went home the next day. My phone rang, and it was Vince ‘What in the hell are you doing yapping about this union crap in the dressing room?’ And I stood up to him, I said ‘Vince, why can’t we? It’s not just to fight you. Right now, I pay $5,000 a year for health insurance for me and my family.’ This was the ’80s… if we had strength in numbers, maybe I’d only have to pay $1,200 a year. What about retirement? I’ve seen hundreds of guys retire after 30 years in this business, they don’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.”
On leaving WWE shortly after:
“I had signed to do ‘Predator’ and Vince wasn’t going to let me, so I said, ‘Fine, I quit.’ So, when I went back to Vince, I said to him straight out, ‘Vince, you don’t have to worry about me crying out for union anymore.’ He goes, ‘Really, why not?’ I said, ‘I got mine. I’m now a member of the Screen Actors Guild. I get retirement benefits, I get healthcare. If these guys are too stupid to stand up for themselves, they’re on their own. I tried.”
You can check out Ventura’s comments in the video below.
