Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Jesse Ventura Is Back With WWE, Karrion Kross & Will Sasso's Impressions, Hulk Hogan, Vince McMahon

Episode Date: August 27, 2024

Jesse Ventura (@GovJVentua) is a retired professional wrestler, announcer, WWE Hall of Famer and former Governor of Minnesota. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Minneapolis, MN to talk about his career in politics and how he became the Governor of Minnesota, his professional wrestling career both in the ring and as a commentator, his renewed relationship with WWE, how he got his role in "Predator" with Arnold Schwarzenegger, his career bodyguarding The Grateful Dead and The Rolling Stones, his issues with Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon, why he owes everything to Cyndi Lauper and more! Plus, Karrion Kross and Will Sasso each do their Jesse Ventura impressions for the man himself! Quote I'm thinking about: “Be curious, not judgmental.” — Walt Whitman Sponsors: MAJOR BENDIES: Order your Big Rubber Guys and Joe Hendry Major Bendies figures at http://majorbendies.com FACTOR MEALS: Get 50% off your first box and 20% off your next month at http://factormeals.com/Insight50 BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv MAREK HEALTH: Get a 10% discount on Marek Health's Optimization Package with code CVV: https://marekhealth.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh, how are you, my friends? Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CBV, Chris Van Fleet. Thanks for being with us on this one. And thank you, as always, for helping to make Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Hit a big old moonsault on that follow button if you haven't already. Or if you think it might be fun.

Unfollow the show. Then lay your phone down on the ground, take a few steps in front of it, turn your back, then hit a standing moon salt onto that follow button. Just give it a try. See how it feels. This might be our most requested interview ever on the show. I mean, it's certainly the one that I've had the most people reach out to me about.

We recorded this episode when Raw was in Minnesota a few weeks ago. I posted a photo later that day of me and Jesse sitting on the set there. Microphones in our face basically saying like coming soon, check it out, an episode with the one and only Jesse Ventura. And there has not been a day that has gone by since then where I don't get half a dozen messages or half a dozen comments saying, when's the Jesse Ventura episode coming out?

Well, my friends, today is that day, and it is well worth the weight. And I feel like the seeds for this interview were planted when Carrying Cross did that very brief but very perfect impression of Jesse Ventura during our workout video back in March of 2022. It was a year and a half, two and a half years ago. Don't tell me you don't have four more reps in you.

Man, it was so good when he did that. And I nearly dropped those weights on my head while doing tricep extensions in the Gulf of Tonkin. Jesse saw that clip, made a comment about it on Twitter, which absolutely blew my mind. I texted Caryan immediately, blew his mind. And I didn't plan this out.

So long story short here, I got a DM from Jesse's people saying Jesse would like to be on your show. Mondays are good for him. Pick a Monday. And this was in like April. And it turned out that like we have some friends that live in Minnesota. Why don't we turn this into a little trip? We'll go out there. We'll bring the family.

We'll meet up with them. How's the last Monday in July? So we're like planning way out here months in advance. And they were like, yeah, sure. Sounds good. I didn't, it was, I wasn't even planning. I didn't even know that Ra was in town. So it just turned out that that was the Monday where of all the places in the world, Ra happened to be in St. Paul, Minnesota. Crazy, right? So this all came together. Who's on raw? Well, Carrying Cross is on raw. So I reach out to Carrying Cross, man, would you have time

that morning on Monday before you head to the arena? I know this is silly, but would you have time to come in. I want to introduce you to Jesse Ventura during this interview. How funny would it be if you did your Jesse Ventura impression for Jesse Ventura? He's like, oh my gosh, yes, I'm a thousand percent in. And I picked him up from his hotel that morning. We drove to this interview and he's like, what are we even doing? How is this real? I'm like, I know. How is Eddie of this real? I also FaceTime Will Saso during this interview, which is hilarious and also, crazy. Amazing. Amazing. And all of those shenanigans aside, this was such a great conversation. And Jesse Ventura now has a renewed relationship with WWE, now that Vince McMahon is out of the

picture, you will, if you watch this video on YouTube, you will recognize the clothes that Jesse Ventura is wearing because when he appeared on Raw later that night, when he was shaking hands with Triple H backstage in that quick little segment, he's wearing the exact same clothes. that he's wearing during this interview. That's because as soon as this interview was done, he drove right to the arena and filmed that with Triple H. So there's now this renewed relationship, which means we're going to be seeing Jesse Ventura in and around WWE a little bit more, because it's been a while. It's been 12 years. It's been a long time since we've seen Jesse Ventura in WWE, but he confirmed during this interview that he is, in fact, back. And man,

this guy can tell some great stories. Snap a screenshot and tag us. He's at Gov J Ventura on Twitter. So it's G-O-V-J Ventura on Twitter. His official Instagram, his only Instagram is Jesse Ventura Farms on Instagram. The other ones that are on there, they are not real. So don't go tag in Gov J. Ventura on Instagram. That is not real.

Don't tag at Jesse Ventura on Instagram. That is also not real. Jesse Ventura Farms confirmed by the man, himself, that that is his only Instagram. My only Instagram is at Chris Van Fleet. So tag me as well. That's my name across all platforms, except for TikTok. I'm Chris dot Van Fleet on TikTok. But what a great one here. So let's do it. Ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only. Jesse Ventura. Thank you for inviting me to the great state of Minnesota. Oh, you welcome. This is amazing. And it is a great state. I love Minnesota. I just hate the winners. Look,

I'm from Canada, so I appreciate that. No, for me it was, I had lived here until 18, and I enlisted in the Navy at 18, and I went on active duty January 5th of 1970. And they flew me from Minnesota to San Diego. And I got to boot camp, and the first couple mornings there, I looked around, I said, you mean there's places in January that don't

have snow. There's actually, this is in the United States, you know, because I didn't, I had never been, I'm Minnesota really, you know, and so I assumed if it was January, you're living in cold and snow. Yeah. And you being Canadian can attest to that. I don't, in fact, I still remember May, was it May the 8th or May the 12th? I wrestled in Winnipeg and woke up the next morning and there was four inches of snow on the ground. Yeah, that sounds about. I said, God, May 12th. I'm in Winnipeg, and I wake up in the morning at the hotel, and it's covered.

Four inches of freaking snow up there. Have you seen this viral video? The workout I was doing with Carrying Cross, and he breaks into your voice in the middle of this. Have you seen that? Yeah. Got a little surprise for you, Jesse. Okay.

Carrying Cross is here today. So I think we might get a little Jesse and Jesse here. So Carian, come on in here. going to sit off camera and just enjoy here. I appreciate you having me. Look at all them tattoos. I'm going to take my sunglasses off so people can tell the difference between us. There we go.

So as a worker, I really... They'll never know it, that there's probably 40 years difference. They'll never know. So I need to know something. The wrestling fans need to know. Okay. When you were breaking into the business, right around here.

There were rumors of a lot of gangsters and a lot of crazy things going on here. And no one ever asks you about this. Tell us what it was like to break in. How crazy was the scene when you were getting involved? In wrestling? Yes. I don't know if it was truly that crazy. I know I had initially contacted Vernanya.

And I received a letter back from him. I listed my whole resume, you know, what I had. done. And he told me that at the time he wasn't running a camp, but if he did run another one, he would invite me. Well, I was at college with my college buddies, and we were going to the matches then. And it was when I got influenced by superstar Billy Graham. And without Billy Graham, there would be no Jesse Ventura. I say that unequivocally. Without superstar, there would not be me. And so we were just looking, and I saw a little ad in the newspaper. Pro wrestling school, 7th Street Gym, which was down on 7th and Hennepin, right in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, down in the basement.

And if that's what you're referring to, which I assume you are, it was kind of the mecca for, do I say a few unsavory characters? In fact, my wife at the time who was my girlfriend, she didn't even like going down there. She didn't even want to walk into that gym because she said she'd look around at these guys there and go, who are these people? You know, so it was, and then, of course, I met Eddie Sharkey. And Eddie's a bit of, you know, Eddie earned a living. God, he's still alive, so I don't dare defame him. but let's just say Eddie you could buy things from Eddie on discount I guess that's the best way that I could word it. What do you think of Eddie? Eddie had a way that he could sell to you like vitamins and protein and all that stuff.

And he could he could beat the prices in the stores by about 50%. What do you think of Carians, Jesse Ventura? I think he's very good. You know, I not be the judge of it. Why not? It's you. That ain't right. You need to have independent people judge it. Could you guys both say, I ain't got time to bleed?

I ain't got time to bleed. You got to do it with your teeth, though, little. I ain't got time to bleed. I ain't got time to bleed. There you go. You got to teeth that one a little. And the good story behind that, it had been cut. Why?

Because at the end of all filming, you'll learn this on big pictures like that, mega pictures like Predator was. Panic sets in because of the budgets. And all of a sudden they're getting to the end of shooting and they don't want to go over budget because then they got to go to the people and get more money. And that becomes difficult at a certain point. And so they start lopping scenes off.

That happens in wrestling. They started lopping scenes off, cutting that out, they had cut the bleed scene. And I was upset because Richard Chavez, who was poncho, we were the two legitimate veterans. Richard had served in the Army and I'd served in the Navy. We wanted that scene together. Yeah.

Just because of that. Yes. We were veterans. And I'll never forget, they called me early in the morning at about seven or eight. They said, Jesse, can you get out to the set in an hour? And I griped. I said, I'm on hold. I'm going to the pool.

You know, because they had me on hold that day. Sure. And they said, no, no, no, no. They said, Arnold's sick. The only reason Bleed got shot was because Arnold got sick. Holy cow. And see what happened then, they can't sit around with dead time. Nope. Time is money.

So they resurrected the bleed scene. They said, you and Richard, get out here within an hour and we'll do it. And so we did the scene, and I knew it would end up in the film because John McTiernan, the director, he was a very unemotional director. he, when he got what he needed, he walked on, he moved on. And you learned that in that business, that directors are different that way. And, but that morning, when we did the bleed scene, when we got all done with that,

McTiernan turned and walked away. And as he was walking away, he burst out laughing. And I knew right there, oh, this is going to be in the film. Because if I can make McTiernan laugh, if we can get him, and it needed it. We had just gone through this massive, for lack of better term, murdering all these guys, blowing them up, destroying them, you know. Well, you needed something to lighten the...

Some release. Yeah. Release on the film. You've got to get a humor scene in there. And so the bleat scene fit perfect. And then it turned out, I'll brag and say, I stole the film from Arnold. Because that's the major, well, just like in Terminator, Arnold had, I'll be back. that became the signature from Terminator.

I'll be back. Well, the signature for Predator became, I ain't got time to bleed. No, for real, it's true, though, not the Kisses-Ass because he's here. Carrion's back, not Jesse. I had to give it a break. The master's here.

But when you're on set with stars and you're breaking in, if you can do something that people remember so many years later, that's a big deal. Oh, huge. It's a big deal, especially him. Huge. And, you know, and to have the line of the film,

in the end. I mean, they even, during the publicity thing, they even printed t-shirts of it. I ain't got time to bleed, you know, and all that stuff, because it was one of them catch things that was kind of such an obnoxious phrase, but it worked. You know, it worked. And then, like, the great criticism of the film was that I got was that they killed Blaine too soon. Everybody complained about that. They killed you too soon. And I had to explain to everybody, no, they didn't. Because if you watch the film truly, you'll see that when my character dies, the platoon falls apart. That's right.

I was this guy bigger than life, had survived everything. How can Blaine be dead? Yes. This guy has survived every, he don't die. And now all of a sudden there's Blaine. And plus, I was the only one in the film that got a funeral. That's true. I'm so glad I could facilitate this.

Because, you know, Bill Duke did that whole scene with me. You know, taking the last sip and setting it on, you know, the flask down and covering me over. Yeah. Said goodbye, bro. It was just enough time for the audience to fall in love with the character for it to be meaningful. And they did, they did steal a lot from me and give it to Bill. Well, that happens all the time. When I got on the set, I almost quit because my character had changed.

They changed it. but I didn't. I went through with it. But the reason, they were probably pretty solid in their reasoning. Because they explained it to me. They said, I was supposed to be the one given Carl all the shit.

You know, remember, I spit on his boots and the helo, and the thing, you're ghosting us, motherfucker, you do this, I'll leave you to bleed.

You know, that was my line. And, but what the, what, here's what, here's the thought process. They thought, oh my God, we don't dare have a white guy doing this to the black guy.

We got to go black on black. Oh, but just for the social idea of it all, I understand. Yep. Well, that's what they told. They said, that's why we did it. Sure. We sat down in a room and we thought, do we dare have the white guy dissing the black guy? Or would it work better to have the black guy do the black guy?

They don't want people to get the wrong idea, the undertone of it. I follow. Yeah. that it was, you know, because Carl's black and I'm white. And I spit on his boots already. You know, how could anything be more disgraceful than that? Right. So that's why they switched a few of them where Bill got the line, you're ghosting us.

You do this again. I'll leave you here, bleed you here. You sit here and bleed and die or whatever he said to him. Well, ladies and gentlemen, just even sure, carry and cross. I can sit here and talk to you. This was an honor. Sure. If I even got a few seconds to entertain.

you like I did, you've been entertaining me my whole life. This is an honor. Well, thanks. Oh, well, they, remember this. What's the saying? Flattery. Imitation. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. And you do that well, my friend. Thank you. You do it too well. I'll put it that way. You do it too well. I'll pop back in here. Thank you for indulging me. But it's kind of I'm trying to know. I'll tell you what. When I kick the bucket, you can replace me. Impossible. Yeah, come on. Irreplaceable. You know, somebody will have to.

What do you think of Will Saso's impression of you? I have never, I don't know about it. You haven't seen it? I don't see these things. I never watch these things. Oh, he does it quite well. Really? Would you like to FaceTime with him? Who is he now?

He's a comedian? Yeah, he's a very well-known comedian. and he does quite a great impression of you. Really? Yeah. See, I don't go to stand-up comedy or nothing. He was on Mad TV for many years. Okay.

Yeah. I mean, I'll see if we can make this happen. Oh, whatever. It's, uh, why is he from here? He's not from here, but he's a well-known online for doing a- Well, see, that's what you need to understand and have to realize is that I've never owned a cell phone. how are we supposed to get in touch with you? You don't.

Oh my gosh. Will, hello. Here, I have a friend here I'd like to introduce you to. Hi, Will. How are you today? Pretty good. They tell me you're a comedian who likes to impersonate me. Well, you know a thing or two about that, governor.

They're always lying, aren't they? Always look at it like this. Imitations the greatest form of flattery, so thank you. Well, sir, I can say even though I'm not using my voice that this is an absolute thrill of my life because you're a hero of mine. But past that, I should also say in that I'm speaking in my voice that I'm a hero of mine because I'm Jesse Ventura. There you go. Well, good. I got two guys, two guys to take my place when I die.

Thank you, sir. You're the best. This was all Sir, this was all Chris's idea. I'm sorry. Okay. Thanks, Will. I'll call you later.

This idea. It was Chris's idea. Thanks, buddy. I'll talk to you, sir. I'll tell you that. You are a, thank you, Will. You're the best. I mean, you're a legend.

You're a legend. Well, if I am, it hasn't truly been by design. What do you think most people know you from? Is it from being a wrestler? Is it from being a commentator, governor, actor, TV host? What do you think it is? Wrestling. I think that because that's what I got my initial stardom at. And then everything else fell into place after I had my falling out with the WWE or WWF at the time, and I had a short stint with WCW till Hogan arrived,

and then I got the axe. Got backstabed good by Eric Bischoff. Where's your relationship with WWE now? My relationship with them now has much improved. We are on the verge right now. I can say this, that contracts have been written. contracts have been agreed upon and all it requires is two signatures

one from them and one from me and I will be back with the legends wow do you have a time frame on this fairly quickly oh my goodness fairly quickly that's amazing because time is money what what changed

is it the Vince isn't there? Yeah yeah yeah very much so I think that they're very much more since they merged with the ultimate fighting and they're under that one roof now, they're very much more mainstream corporate that you can deal with better because they're more open. It isn't having the tie into the old days of wrestling for lack of better term slavery. Wow.

Because, you know, in the old days of wrestling, you truly were slaves. and I don't know. I got a great compliment I heard the other day, Barry Bloom, my former agent, the one I introduced to Vince. I was the first wrestler that made Vince deal with an agent. And I heard Barry was on a podcast and said that all these contracts these guys are getting today,

they owe Jesse Ventura, thank you. Because if it weren't for him, they wouldn't be getting them. What was your relationship with Vince like up and until he left his role in WWA. Well, Vince, you know, I've always admired Vince. I was at the point in wrestling. I was going to quit. And what year are we talking about?

We're talking about 1983. Okay. I had saved up enough money. I had opened up a weightlifting gym here, Ventura's gym. It was supporting me, and it gave me what you need in wrestling at that time. and I'll be very blunt. This is a podcast. It's F-U money to where you can say F-U and walk away.

Well, the gym did that for me. It gave me a leverage at the time. If they were mistreating me, fine, I'll go run my gym. And we were getting by. My wife and I and children, the gym was supporting us. And so I was at the end of my straw. So when I made the final jump from the AWA to the WWF at the time, I did it fully knowledgeable this would be it.

And I simply said, Vince, I want you to guarantee me six years. And he did, because I ended up 84 to 90, right on the button almost, six years before he fired me. So why couldn't you come back sooner? Sounds like your relationship with Vince was okay. Well, we did work together when we did a cross-promotion for conspiracy theory where I came on and broadcasted with him again that one time. Yeah, that was great. It's hearing you back on commentary. Yeah, and we did that.

So Vince and I were not totally adversarial. It's just that he couldn't have me around because I'm the proverbial stallion that's outside of the corral. You know, he has to have everyone in the corral. That's why I was fired. I owned the rights to Jesse the Body Ventura. I have them registered with the United States government. And Vince wanted them. And I said, no.

I said, Jesse Ventura belongs to me. You want them, you deal with me. And he couldn't do that because he owned everybody. that's why I called it slavery. You know, felt like Prince a little bit. Remember when Prince puts slave on his voice? You know, with the record company. People know you most for wrestling because when you're on commentary,

they're hearing your voice, the entire show, right? So there's a certain generation, which is mine, early 90s, you know, it's you. It's you and McMahon or you in Guerrilla. Sure. And you know who I have to thank for that? Who? Cindy Lauper. Really?

Yeah. Why is that? I will always have a place in my heart for Cindy Lobber. Because when I was struck down the night before I was supposed to wrestle Hogan for the world title in L.A., I was going on a three-match program with him. I would have made untold amount of money more than I'd ever seen. The night before I get pulmonary emboli, blood clots in my lungs, I'm seven days in intensive care in a San Diego hospital.

it was so bad my wife had to fly out. The doctor told her, you better fly out here. He may not make it. Well, guess what I faced then? What do you do now? You can come back to Minnesota and you can go up to General Mills and say what to them. Hire me. I'm an old pro wrestler.

What do you do? Yeah. So I was faced with what will confront every athlete at some point in their time. What do you do when it's over? Now, subsequently, I did get back in the ring. I wrestled a little bit more. But it was during that time that Cindy Lauper was doing the rock and wrestling stuff and was red hot with it. She was doing a concert here in Minneapolis.

I called Dave Wolf, I think was his name, was Cindy's manager. If I recollect right, I think so. I called up Cindy and Dave and asked, because what I had done in facing down that my career could be over, I had two little children. I had my, you know, the gym was, you know, still viable, but, you know, what was I going to do? And somebody said to me, you're a great talker.

why don't you become a sports broadcaster? So I had a friend at Channel 11 here. In fact, I just ran into him at the hospital. He's 86 years old now, Tom Ryther. And I thanked him. I said, Tom, you helped me with my career, and I owe you a debt of thanks forever. Tom, I talked to Tom about my situation.

He talked to the head guy at Channel 11 here. They gave me a producer cameraman, named Emmy Award winning named John Hijack. And the head of the station says, okay, go do something for me. Do something. So Cindy Lauper was coming to town to do a concert. So I called her up and we decided that she would dye my hair multiple colors and we'd do it on film.

So here I am sitting in the chair with Cindy Lauper, my hairdresser, and that night she unveiled me to the crowd, brought me up on stage, showed off my new multi-colored hairdo, because she was into the punk scene, like, you know, that was her thing. Rock and roll had drifted that way. That was a new extension of rock and roll is what Cindy Lauper and girls just want to have fun, a huge album. Yeah. Mega hit. Had like four number one hits on that album. You know, Cindy, and so I will always have a place in my heart for Cindy Lauper. She didn't have to do that. Passion, drive, and patience.

The formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. Superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more. Whether you're into speed, power, or style, eBay Motors has you covered. With over 122 million parts for your number one rider die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for. And with eBay guaranteed fit, your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back.

Because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins. Keep your ride or die alive today at eBaymotors.com. Eligible items only, exclusions apply. This is the Indie God Matt Cardona. and the most professional wrestler, Brian Myers. Not only are we the host of the major wrestling figure podcast,

but we have our own toy company. Remember your favorite wrestling figures from the 80s? Well, we brought the big rubber guys back, and they're better than ever. Head on over to major bendys.com right now to order macho man Randy Savage and pre-order Jeff Hardy, Brooklyn Brawler, and Harley Race

with the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship. We also make smaller four-inch figures called Major Bendies. Go to Major Bendies.com and get your very first Joe Hendry wrestling figure. These are only available to order till August 31st. The pre-order is the order.

Scratch that figure-inch. Go to Major Bendies.com and collect them all. How do you remember all of these specific dates and people's names and all of this stuff? Have you always had a memory like this? There's a reason I would govern her. What is it? And I'll, you just said it.

You said it. I didn't. And I'll tell you right now. And I say this not bragging. I'll tell you this right now. If I had ballot access in all 50 states and I were allowed in the debates, I'd be the next president of the United States. Are we talking now or back when you were governor?

Right now. Wow. Would you want to run for president? If I had ballot access and. all 50, yeah. See, I have an objection to one of these candidates, and I object to him, and I can say him so you know who it is now. I can object to him because he is in the wrestling Hall of Fame, and I've almost resigned from it on two or three occasions because of that.

But you had a moment at WrestleMania 20 with that man, with Donald Trump. I didn't. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It seemed very cordial. Yeah. But since then?

He ain't the same man. He ain't the same guy. And you learn more about people as time goes on. Did you think, after you were governor, did you think about running for president then? Yeah. You mean, you even made a reference about it. You said maybe we need a wrestler in the White House. I came to Vince McMahon.

I'll reveal this to you. I came, flew out to Connecticut, sat in Vince's office with him and Linda, and I proposed the biggest angle the WWF, WWE could have ever done. And it was too big for Vince. What was it? Vince told me that he would back me on anything political that I wanted to do. So I went out to him and I said, Vince, we can do an angle right now. I said, you can come out with the WWF, or I don't know if they were F then, or E, whatever the hell they were back then. And I said, you come out and say, we're going to have our own nominee for president, the WWE party, the World Wrestling Party.

Meanwhile, Vince has people in every state. He can send those people and get ballot access and do what's required to get on the ballot in all 50 states. He could do that for me. I said, then you work the angle, Vince, where everybody thinks it's going to be you. You're going to be the nominee. But we do something where I come in and say,

bullshit, I'm a governor, I'm the natural. W.W.E candidate for president. Then you do a schmaz where Vince and I get two wrestlers to represent us. Whoever wins gets the nomination. My guy beats Vince's guy. I then become the nominee of the World Wrestling Federation for president. And I have ballot access in all 50 states because Vince could have did it. I can't even vote because I'm Canadian, but you would have my vote, sir. Well, here's the part that pissed me off and where I lost, where Vince and I big time separated. I flew home. He didn't even bother to call me to turn me down.

I thought that was the most disrespectful thing. First and foremost, when I flew out there, he made me wait an hour. And I'm the former governor. I'm out of office now. And then I shoot him this angle. If he had just called me and said, Jesse, it's too crazy. It's too hokey. I don't think we can do it.

I would have said, fine. I gave it a try. But he didn't even call me back. That was so disrespectful to me as Governor Jesse Ventura, as Jesse Ventura, as Jesse Ventura, the man. And as Jesse Ventura who made Vince a ton of money. When was the last time you spoke to Vince? I don't know. Like we're talking a long time ago?

Well, probably that last thing I did. Oh, wow. So that would have been, I was like 2010 or something like that. 2010, yeah. Conspiracy theory was out in about 12 or whatever it was. Do you keep up with wrestling now? No. It's hotter than it's been in a long time.

They say that. Yeah. But I have my critique of it today of what I don't like about it. What's that? Well, what I don't like about it is you have a bunch of creative, sitting in a room and they're creating Marvel comic book characters. And they're creating the character. And then they're going out to a pool of bodies.

And they're saying, okay, who can be this character? Who do we plug in to be whatever? My day, you were responsible for getting yourself over. And I think that is far better. It is far more creative, especially with a person like me. I'll never forget the first night of Saturday night's main event. NBC, right?

Seven cameras shoot. Holy shit, we're looking at all this stuff there. I've never seen anything like it. There's the big desk, Vince's spot, Jesse's spot, and there's these two big, huge notebooks up there. And Dick Ebersaw is there, right? You know, Dick Ebersaw, right? I walked up and I opened this up,

I start reading, Vince says blah, blah, blah, Jesse says blah, blah, blah. And I'm turning these pages over. And Dick Ebersaw walked by. And I said, Dick, come here. I said, we got a major problem. He goes, what's a problem? I said, what is this?

He said, that's your script. I said, oh, really? I said, Dick, you really believe? Here's my exact words to him. I said, Dick, two years ago, NBC didn't give a rat's ass about wrestling. I said, now you're going to tell me that you have somebody qualified to write for me. You have no one who is qualified to write for me. No one.

And I said, the sooner you learn that, we will be successful. But I said, if you think that I'm going, that you have some writer who's, and write for Jesse Ventura, you're sadly mistaken. Because I said, you have no one that can do that. Why? I never knew a finish. I never wanted to know one. I wanted to react to what I saw.

How many of your iconic lines on commentary were you thinking about in the days or weeks before? Never. Never. That's spontaneous. Oh, wow. There is nothing. I didn't rehearse nothing. I didn't want to know finishes.

I didn't want to know the angles. I didn't want, well, I needed to know the angle to put it over. Sure. But as far as what the result was going to be, I wanted to see it when the fans saw it so that I could properly respond to it. If I know it beforehand, then it's made up. The way you'd say, shut up McMahon was so good. Well, I often told people I had the greatest job in the world then. Because when I had quit the ring, I only had to work one day every three weeks.

They'd fly me to Connecticut. I'd go into the studio and Vince and I would lock in there and we'd pump out three shows. And then I'd fly home. That's pretty great. And I had four pay-per-views, which I'd paid separate for. So I'd get my four pay-per-views, Mania, SummerSlam, whatever they all are. And I'd do the four pay-per-views and do one day of, every three weeks. Do you know how bad it got? I had to quit playing golf because I was doing it,

it became an obsession. I was playing golf four to five days a week. And I finally said to myself, there's more to life than a golf course. God, you're only 40. You know, you can do this when you turn 60. Would you want to do more commentary? I don't think I could. Of course you could. I don't think I could today. When you plugged yourself back in the last WWE appearance that you made, it was like you never missed a beat. Well, you have more confidence than I do. I, because I don't think I could today because I don't like the stuff.

You know what else I don't like today? There ain't no mean gene. What do you have today? Oh, they both come walking down these ramps. They stand in the ring and yell and scream at each other and then start cutting meat. and beat the shit out of each other. It's so predictable. You've got backstage interviewers there,

but no one will ever fill the shoes of each. No, they are not backstage interviewers. They are rehearsed. They're turning wrestlers into actors. They're giving them scenes with lines. I never had a line. Not even from Vern Gagne. I'd fight him.

And he'd try to put words in your mouth all the time. nobody knows me better than me and nobody can write for me simple what do you remember about early days when brock lesnar was in wwee you came down to the ring with him yeah what do you remember about that moment and about meeting brock at that time well brock was a legend here already you know he came and wrestled for the university

of minnesota ncdbola champion went and won the ultimate fighting you know it was a champ of ultimate fighting for about a year or whatever he had it. Who ended up beating him? Jesus, it must have taken a hell of a guy. Came Alaska, I believe. I don't know who did it, but he must have been a hell of a guy. Yeah. He beat Brock Lesnar, you know.

No, Brock, to me, is, was a, I don't know how do you describe, he's a phenom. He was a, you know, I mean, a guy his size that can jump feet to feet, you know, you know, jump in the air and do a complete flip and land on his feet. I couldn't do that. Couldn't even come close to doing that. You know? I feel good because I read Tito Santana's book he wrote. And Tito wrote me the greatest compliment I've ever gotten.

Tito wrote that Jesse Ventura was the master trash talker. And he said that he also, in the ring, was the master at getting the most out of a crowd by doing the least. That's a great compliment. That's what it's all about. Yeah. Getting the most by doing the least. That was my style.

And that's why I always tell people, they ask me, who was your favorite person to wrestle? I always say Tito Sanana. Because Tito knew my style and Tito adapted to my style. and we had a trust and a love for each other in that ring, that I knew any time I wrestled Tito, it was going to be a hell of a match. What was so great about Jesse the Body Ventura is the way that you dressed,

you come out, and if someone doesn't know anything about you, they automatically don't like you. Yeah. They automatically go, I don't like this guy. Well, you have to. Yeah. Well, that's why guys dye their hair blonde. Because for some reason, the general public hates blonde men.

I don't know if it's a gay thing or for me it was more surfer. You don't think you see, I started off surfer Jesse Ventura. I was from San Diego, California and a surfer. I wanted people to believe I was this blonde-haired beach bum who did nothing but, you know, have sex with women on the beach all day long and surf and had no, you know, qualms about life was a game. That's what I tried to present initially. And then it was Vern Gagne that named me the body. Then the outfits you were wearing, I think automatically made people go, I don't like this.

Yeah, but that was true, but I was doing that. In a good way. I was doing nothing but copying Superstar Graham. I openly admitted. What's your closet look like? Do you still have all of those? I think they're in boxes somewhere. So you still have them?

Yeah, I think some of them, the tuxedos. Where did I get the tuxedos? I did a summer of rock and roll. And during the rock and roll, my rhythm guitarist, Bev, had a female rhythm guitarist. She was also great at tie-dye. So we'd buy these cheap second-rate tuxedoes at the tuxedo store. Give them to Bev and Bev would tie-dye them. And they'd look brand new.

She'd put all this stuff. She was my designer. And she was my rhythm guitar player. Do you have any fantastic stories from when you were body-garded? You don't even know that I'm recorded on a hitmaker CD. This man has done it all. No, I'm recorded on a hitmaker CD. Do you know what a hit-maker CD is?

I do not. That's like a promotional CD that all big artists will donate a song to, and it'll have like 12 different artists on it. And I'm on a hit-maker's CD sandwich between Paul McCartney and Motley. crew. What? I feel like you've lived like ten different lives. And what am I, what song am I doing?

What song are you doing? I'm covering Barry McGuire's original protest song Eve of Destruction. Are you singing it? Go to your damn, go to your thing and put in Jesse Ventura Eve of Destruction. Okay, let's see. Let me see here. This will be on YouTube or what? I don't know.

I don't have one of them. Whatever the hell that shit is. Jesse Ventura. I've never owned a cell phone. Eve of Destruction. I want to put it on my gravestone. He never owned a cell phone. And I think if I last another 10, 15 years, I may be the only one on the planet.

Okay. I found Jesse Ventura sings Eve of Destruction. There it is. Did it with Mike Flam, the Virgin Records. Flew me out of New Jersey. Got the backup vote. Where are you here? It's a good song.

I was certainly not expecting this. Are you playing any of these instruments? You're just saying, okay. Bullets, logan. You don't believe in war. But not for potent. You don't believe in war. But what's that gun you're toting?

Rivers guys, bodies floating in. Tell me over and over and over again, my friend. Oh, you don't believe. We're on the eve of destruction. That's the original protest song for 1964, Barry McGuire. And what year did you record this? I recorded that sometime in the 80s. Man.

Do you have any, speaking of music, do you have any great stories from when you were a bodyguard of all those fantastic bands? You were bodyguard for Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen. What's your best story for that? Foreigner. Okay.

Let's keep the list going. A foreigner, a Marshall Tucker band. Who else did I do? Can you do something with the Stones? I did the Stone in 78 and 81. My best story of them is that when I became governor, the Rolling Stone, I had just become governor sworn in in January. The Stones were here in February.

The first declaration I made as governor of the state of Minnesota, I declared it Rolling Stones Day in Minnesota. And they were so honored. I went over that night. And Mick Jagger says no one's ever did this for us. And I said, well, nobody's ever been a bodyguard for you. But my favorite was Keith Richards. Because to me, Keith's stones.

Mick's great. He's the front man. But the Rolling Stones is Keith. And I'll never forget Keith Richards walked up to me. Hair's all disarrayed. He's got this stuff hanging, you know, typical how he looks on stage. Keith walks up to me and he looks at me and he smiles. He goes, so you used to bodyguard us back in 78 and 81, huh?

And I said, yep. And he goes, and now you're the governor. And I went, yep. And Keith looked at me in that cockney British accent. and he goes, fucking great. I'll never forget that. When Keith Richards looked at, fucking great.

I thought, if I got the blessing of Keith Richards, I'm home free. You must have seen some stuff being a bodyguard, you know, for the biggest bands on the planet. Well,

no, really, because it's business. They come into town. It's a whirlwind. I got a sign Jagger one time where I just followed Mick. Right? Make sure nobody touches Mick. He's backstage. He's doing this.

And I figure, I think he was playing with Peter Tosh. He had for the opening group, 78 or 81. Peter Tash was a reggae guy. And Mick puts on, tucks his hair up, puts on a ball cap, walks out into the pit. And I got to follow him out there. So, Mick's here. I'm here. I'm watching the crowd with my 21-inch guns like this, you know, making sure.

and Mick actually went over with the ball cap put his head in his hands and sat there and listened to Peter Tosh for three to four minutes and nobody in the crowd even knew it was him wow and I was so tempted to go and point you know Mick Jagger but I didn't because I thought oh then I'll have a hassle too of keeping these maniacs off him you didn't have to deal with crazy fans or people sure okay oh god Yeah. I remember one time, well, do you know why the people down front always got their arms in the air? I couldn't move. Exactly. No, they crowd down so hard that they'll raise their arms up to try to get space. We'll stink in more and then they can't bring them down. So they have to stand there due to the whole concert. Well, we had two jokers started a fight one night and one guy's punching the other guy right down in the pit. So I jumped up on the boards. He had long hair, and I'm behind him.

I encircled his freaking hair, and I pulled him out by the hair. And I flopped him down like a tuna, right in between the boards and the stage, right? I flop him down. He spins around, jumps up, ready to fight. All I did was look at him and said, don't make two mistakes. I said, get your ass out of here. And we shuttled him down and kicked him out. You know, I said, don't make two mistakes.

one day. You take a swing at me. You're dead meat. Man, that's so good. But no, I had had some knee surgery, orthopedic knee surgery, so I was recovering from it. And my buddy worked for shown productions. He said, hey, would you like to bodyguard the bands when they come? You only make 50 bucks or something, but you get to see the best show, and I've always been a rock and roller. And so, oh, Bob Seeger, I did too. Bob Seeger out of Detroit, Michigan. Remember, he'd come back now. Bob Seeger, was great. Springsteen's the worst to do. Why?

He don't believe in a barricade. He wants us to stop him. He wants the fans close to him. I go, well, then fine, you protect yourself from these nutcases. You know, it's the easiest, grateful dead. Why is that? The deadheads. They don't even rush the stage.

They're dancing in the aisles and all on LSD and shit. You know, they, oh, yeah, and they all know each other. No, no, you get there to. The Dead Show? Yeah. The guy over here will yell to the guy, hey, Bob, I missed you in Omaha. Yeah, I couldn't make Omaha, but we'll see in Cincinnati. Yeah, those fans are hardcore.

These people just travel around the deadheads. Yeah. In fact, I had a great conversation with Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead. Yeah. Because we had a mutual friend who just passed away, Bill Walton. Bill was a close friend to mine. Broke my heart when Bill died. But Bill was a total dead head.

you know, Bill Walton and the grateful dad. Chris Jericho tells this story, and I'm sure you don't remember it, but he was in high school. He ran into you because his dad was a hockey player, and he said, I want to be a pro wrestler, and do you have any advice? And you told him, go to school first. Yep. Go to college first, get a degree, so you'll have something to fall back on.

Exactly. He ended up getting a degree in journalism. But it's funny that all these years later and that Jericho's career, as incredible as it's been, he credits that to you. Well, he was a young kid that was sincere when he came up to me. And I remember him talking to me. Wow. And I just simply told him, I said, don't go blindly into this business.

Educate yourself so that you have something, because I faced that when I got the pulmonary embelly. What do I do now? You're going to go to General Mills and tell him you can give a guy, suplex? Oh yeah, that'll get your VP job quick. You know, you can be in charge of marketing. What the hell? Is that still the same advice you'd have for an up-and-coming wrestler now? Absolutely. Do not rely on that sport. Do not rely on that lifestyle. Educate yourself. Get a degree, have something because it's going to end. And it's going to end probably sooner than you want it to

what do you think is the biggest thing that being a Navy SEAL taught you about being a man? What you got. I'm sorry. I just been having some post-traumatic problems. I'm sorry. Oh, it's okay.

Mine ain't over the usual, though. Mine are different. And mine are over the fact that In fact, it reared its head this winter when I was in Tucson. I went in to the Walgreens, and I wanted to buy my wife a bottle of wine. And when I brought it up to the counter, the young lady asked me for an ID. And I looked at her, and I said, what? And she said, can I see an ID, please?

You didn't look 21. I said, I'm 72 years old. I said, why do I need to show you an ID? She said, well, if you don't show me one, I won't sell you the wine. And I looked at her and I said, you know you're bringing back post-traumatic stress to me. She goes, what do you mean? I said, well, nobody asked me when I was 19 years old after being trained for an entire year when they sent me to Vietnam, nobody asked me if I was old enough.

because here's the end of the story. When I did my first tour nine months in Southeast Asia, when I came back to the States, I'd been back five days. I went into my executive officer, and I said, I want to go back now. I want to go back to Vietnam right now. I don't want to be here.

And he looked at me and he said, what, you just finished complete nine-month deployment. He said, I can't send you back. The Navy regs say you have to be six months out of the combat zone before you can re-enter it. He said, what's the problem? And I said, here's the problem. I can't go up on Orange Avenue and buy a beer. I can't even vote for who sent me to Vietnam. Voting was 21 then. So I was given no privileges of being an adult. And yet they sent me to war. They asked me to kill or be killed for my country. And yet, that,

and they told me I was a child. That's my stress. Because you know why? It stills here today. Nothing has changed. Case in point, you will never see another LeBron James. You will never see another Kobe Bryant.

Not because he's dead. You'll never see another Kevin Garnett. You know why? Because the NBA made a rule that says you got to go to college for one year, before you can play pro basketball. And I remember Jermaine O'Neill, the big center for the Pacers. Germain was scratching his chin and he said, wait a minute.

He said, you mean you can go die in Iraq, but you can't, but you're not, you're old enough to die in Iraq, but you're not old enough to play basketball? Yeah, you're old enough to die. Isn't that child abuse? If you send children to war and you send people who you don't, even recognize as being adults. I think I got a good case for child abuse here. What could be worse? Only sexual, maybe. That's what gives me my stress is the fact that I was a volunteer.

See this hat? Yeah. What does it say? U.S. Navy SEALs, the force of choice. You're a volunteer. The SEALs are a choice. Why did you make that choice? Because I, because I'd been scuba diving since I was 14. I was a competitive swimmer, and my brother was one before me. And my mother and father were both in World War II. How many people can say their mom was a World War II veteran in North Africa, which predated Normandy? She was a nurse and wounded and sent home.

Is that what made you want to enlist in the Seals? The challenge. And it's because everyone in my family served. How do I not? I pay for it today. 50 years later, and it still feels like it's very fresh to you. Well, it had its benefit.

When I did Predator, I didn't have to act. Didn't require any. I was doing what I was, when I did Predator, I was doing what I did 16 years earlier. This episode is brought to you by Timeline. Timeline is a Swiss-based life science company, and they're a global leader in Eurolithen,

research. So what's urolithin A? It's a powerful postbiotic that's nearly impossible to get from your diet alone. Mitopure is the first product to offer a precise dose of uralithinae to upgrade your mitochondria function, increase cellular energy, and improve muscle strength and endurance. One way to think of mitopure is that they're like the little pack men in your cells, chomping up the old damaged mitochondria that makes you feel old and tired and recycling it into new healthy ones. Taking two soft gels a day for two months and you can see significant improvements in your cellular energy, muscle strength, and endurance. After four months of taking mitochondure, you'll feel yourself getting stronger, recovering faster after a workout, and experiencing

less inflammation. This is all part of your healthier aging routine. Check it out for yourself at timeline.com slash insight. They're giving you 10% off your first order of mitopure when you go there. So that's timeline.com slash insight for 10% off. Timeline.com slash insight. United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clemenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking.

I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really stake their claim, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Pretty crazy to think that I'm Predator.

You've got you and Arnold. Then fast forward 10, 15 years later. There's two governors. Me first. You first. Did Arnold see you do it first and go... Sure, he came to my inauguration. We had to scramble and find him a ticket.

because I hadn't initially invited him. And all of a sudden he was coming. So we had to run him on. God, we're going to find Arnold Schwarzenegger a ticket. So he ended up sitting with my son, I think. Didn't Arnold sit with you? Yeah. I think Arnold sat with my son that day at the Capitol.

Did he have any political aspirations before that, do you think? Who me? No, no, Arnold. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Arnold, I will classify him a good Republican. Because Arnold's very environmental conscience.

And he did a lot of good environmental. viromental things for California. Yeah, he said if he was born in the U.S., he would have ran for president. Yeah. Yep. And he'd probably won. He's an intelligent man. Yeah.

You know. But he can't, though. Right. What were the conversations like when you first met Arnold? I first met Arnold at a Saturday night live wrestling in New Jersey. Really? He was there, and they brought him up to the booth. I was introduced to him right there.

He was just there as a fan? I guess. I guess. He was there, and I met him there at first. And then how I got Predator, that's an interesting story. He deals at wrestling. George Scott was the Booker then. And I was underhandedly under the table working with Barry Bloom, my agent in L.A., right?

And so I went up to George Scott. I said, George, book me in California anytime it runs. And George looked at me and said, oh, you like that warm weather because you're from Minnesota, huh? I said, yeah, George, I like the warm weather. And I gave him the excuse he needed to hear. I said, yeah, George, it's the warm weather. No, it wasn't. I knew that if I got to California, Barry Bloom would be bringing me in to meet people.

Because when Hulkomania hit big, Barry Bloom kept sitting back going. going, wait a minute. There's this other guy, Jesse Venturo's got way more talent than Hulk Hogan. This guy's got talent beyond wrestling. And so what happened there was they kept booking me out in California. And the one day I flew out there, Barry picked me up at the airport. He said at 2 o'clock, we're going to go meet a friend of mine named Jackie Birch. And she's casting the next Schwarzenegger film.

And she said there's a, he said there's a partner you're perfect for. He said, Sergeant Blaine Cooper, six, four, 250 pound killer. That's you. And so I walked in at two to meet Jackie Birch. I had on a du rag, six earrings, my big long goatee, multicolored hair. I looked as far from the military as you could possibly look. I looked like a one percenter, a biker. probably.

And I'll never forget Jackie Burch, a little short girl, she walked up to me and she looked at me like this and she went up and down twice. Didn't sit and said,

let's go meet the executive producers. She walked me across a lot. I met Joel Silver and Larry Gordon, the two exec producers. And they were handshake, hey, good, we hope you, went back with Jackie. Jackie pulled the script out.

She said, read this for me. And I looked at it and I said, a bunch of slack-jawed faggots around here. This stuff will put hair on your hog lake, make you a goddamn tetra dinosaurus, just like me. You know? And she handed me the script. She said, take this back and the whole script and read it tonight. Wow. Within an hour, they offered me the part and it was a sought after part. Everybody in California was going after that role. I had it. Wow. Barry then says, what do we do?

Do you want me to call Vince? And I said, God, no. I said, for number one, Vince ain't going to take your call. And number two, I got to tell him. So here's the story here. You can have fun with this one. So I did on the phone, I've been offered the role. George Scott, George, Jesse Ventura, I need to talk to Vince.

I only need him for five minutes. five minutes, but it's extremely important. I have to talk to him. Okay, Jesse, I'll see what I can do. George comes back. Sorry, Jesse's in a meeting. And da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I said, okay, hung up.

Well, Barry Bloom then calls me back. He said, have you talked to Vince? I said, I can't get through yet. Barry says, you're better, because he said they just inform me if you don't respond within an hour, they're going to recast it. Oh, you know, they're going to recast it.

Yeah. So I called back again, and I got George again. I said, George, Jesse Ventura. Look, I only need two to three minutes of Vince's time, but it's important. George comes back to the phone and he says, do you want to know what Vince said? I said, tell me. He said, he doesn't have time right now for Jesse Ventura's personal life. Wow.

I said, oh, okay. I said, that's cool, George. I said, then don't interrupt him. I said, take this to him when he has time, maybe tomorrow or the next day, whenever that happens. Tell him I've just been cast for a role in the next Arnold Schwarzenegger movie and that I'm accepting. And I hung up. So I called Barry Bloom back. I said, Barry, tell him I take it.

We'll take it. Great. Boom. Barry calls it. Calls me back. You got it. You got it. We're cast.

You got the part. That up, that up the money, the whole thing. I wasn't more so much worried about money. It's called Get Foot A and the Door B. Oh, yeah. You know, the money was good because there was a major, you know, there's only about seven actors in the whole damn film. So they had plenty of money to spread around. But it was sufficient.

How did that movie change your career? Oh, immensely. Well, because, well, we can. continue with the story. So I then, all of a sudden then, I get a phone call. Vince, gee, moments ago, he didn't have time for Jesse Ventura's personal life. Now here he is calling me at home. Hi, Vince. Jesse, like Vince clears him. Well, Jesse, what's this stuff they tell me about you've been cast in the next Arnold Schwarzenegger film? I said, yeah. I said, I said, I'm playing Sergeant Blaine.

And Vince goes, who's the agent? And I said, Barry Bloom, tell him he's fired. I said, Vince, I said, he don't work for you. How can you fire him? I said, he works. Vince goes, well, if you've got a career in Hollywood, we'll get you the best power agent there is out there. I said, no, Vince.

I said, because if you get the agent, the agent's work. for you. I said, I'm going to stick it out with Barry Bloom. He's working for me, not you. He's got my interest involved, not you getting me an agent. And Vince then says to me, well, you can't do it. I said, what? He said, I need you Saturday night main event. You can't do it. I said, Vince, I am doing it. I already accepted. I quit. I quit. I quit the WWF. Didn't get no publicity because it was right at WrestleMania 2 right before it. And when I did WrestleMania 2, I was in L.A. with Alvira. From there, I flew right to Mexico. To film the movie.

Yep. Port of Aalarta. Went down there. It was down there eight to ten weeks in Porta Varta. Vince then sent his camera guy, Steve Taylor, down there to get pictures on the set. Now Vince is promoting it. Oh, Jesse's off doing a Schwarzenegger film. Even though you quit.

Yeah, even though I quit. And so Taylor comes up to me and goes, sidles over to me and says, Vince wants to talk to you right now. Call him as soon as possible. I looked at Steve Taylor. I said, Steve, you tell Vince this, and this is straight from me. You tell him Jesse Ventura don't exist down here. I am Sergeant Blaine Cooper, and I will be Sergeant Blaine Cooper for the next five weeks.

I'll call him when I get back to the States. End of story. Wow. I said, then I'll call him. I said, I ain't dealing with his crap down here. He wouldn't even let me do it. I had to quit. You know?

So anyway, you want the rest of the story? Of course. We're filming down there, and Arnold teaches you things by talking to you. So listen. That's how he tells you things. put him up there. Arnold's looked at me one day, said, Jesse, always remember this.

He says, never read a script until the money's right. I looked at Arnold, and I said, well, Arnold, that's easy for you to say. I said, you probably got six scripts sitting on your desk right now that you can pick from. I don't have that luxury. He goes, trust me. He said, you don't want to read the script until the money's right because it will bias you're opinion, get the money first, then read the script. Okay.

Well, we're down doing Predator. Arnold comes up to me. Granted, you got to know, Vince and I have done, but Vince wants me to call him when I get back, because I guess NBC went ballistic when they had to put Heenan in there for one show instead of me. They said, we bought Jesse Ventura. Where is he? And so Arnold says it comes up to me on the set.

He goes, Jesse, my next film in September is called The Running Man. He said there's a part in there you're perfect for. Would you like it? Would you like to do it? I said, hell yeah, I'll do it. You know, absolutely. So when I got back to the States, before I called Vince, we negotiated. the running man.

So I had that in my back pocket. I'm shooting my second Schwarzenegger film in September. This is June. So if Vince, if I can't make up with Vince, I'm okay. Yeah. I got another film coming up in September. Got a Hollywood career. Hollywood careers launch.

And so I, oh, then we're negotiating on Running Man. And second film now, I want a lot more. more money. I'm here. They're here. Nobody's moving. They said to me, hey, Arnold's coming in tomorrow. Would you like to talk to him? I said, God, I'd love to talk to him. I haven't spoken to him since Predator. Okay. So Arnold came in the next day. Phone rang. Arnold and I get on the phone. First thing Arnold says to me, Jesse, he said, I thought you were going to do the running man with me. I said, Arnold, I'd love to do the running man with you. But I said, you have to have to remember, I can't read the script until the money's right. You should have heard Arnold burst out

laughing on the other end of the phone. What did it say? Arnold knows I was listening to him. Because I fed him back the exact thing he told me. I said, Arnold, I can't read the script until the money's right. You know what he said to me? He goes, trust me. The script is fantastic. He goes, just get the money right. I said, okay, we hung up. My eight, Barry calls me an hour later. later says, oh my God, they met our money. I said, did they? He says, yeah. And I heard what happened. Arnold turned and looked at the mall and said, what is he asking for? And they quoted me. And I heard Arnold just looked and went, pay him and walked out the door. Pay him. And he left. Because Arnold wanted me in that film to play Captain Freedom. Jesse, with everything you've done over your

career. What are you most proud of? The seals. And that's the part of me that wrestling knew nothing about. I kept it to myself. I even didn't even get tattooed until I was 50. Oh, yeah. I have the Budweiser and my jump wings now. Over your heart. Yeah. Well, no, it's where you wear it on your uniform. Yeah. Same spot. Yeah, yeah. But I have it because that's what made me who I am. There's a gentleman out there in his 80s now by the name of Terry Mother Moy. He was probably the most influential person on my life. He was my first phase instructor. He was the most terrifying man I ever met in my life at that age.

I was 18 years old. Moy was about 28, about 10 years older than me. and he was my first phase instructor. He led PT every day. I went into the Seals. I was a competitive swimmer. I already knew how to scuba dive at and now he card since I was 14.

But Moey led PT because in the Seals, the instructor leads PT. You're in a circle around them. So that means he did everything we did. Wow. Because he made us do it. Yeah, yeah. If you start working with WWE again, would you consider bearing the hatchet with Hulk Hogan?

No. Conversation, at least? I don't know. When was the last time you spoke to Hulk Hogan? I don't know. He betrayed me to an extent. Well, I'll tell you the story. That's 30 years ago, right?

Yeah. But this was just prior to WrestleMania 2. We were all in a dressing room, and there was nobody from the office. I waited, and I got up on a chair, and I told everybody, now is our time to unionize. I said, all the publicity's gone out on WrestleMania. I said, if we refuse to wrestle, unless union negotiators are brought in, it's federal law. They have to be brought in. it's the law

and I said and then if we can get the Charlotte guys to join us we can freeze them freeze Vince and force them to do collective bargaining and we can finally get a union

and I gave my impassioned speech right the next day I go home my phone rings it's Vince what the do you do you

union, da-da-da-da. I said, Vince, I'm not, I fought him. I said, Vince, I'm not talking about just fighting you and that. I said, right now, this was 1980s. I said, right now I pay $5,000 a year for health care for my family. If we had a union, I might only have to pay $12.50, you know, because there's strength in numbers. I said, what about all the guys I've seen that give 30 years to this business and in the end they ain't got a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. If we had a union, maybe they could retire with $500 a month. Something. Yeah.

I said, why? And you know what did it for me? I was in Las Vegas and I got on an elevator. And you know who got on the elevator with me? Who? A great big offensive guard from the Oakland Raiders by the name of Gene Upshaw. Do you know who Gene Upshaw was? head of the NFL Players Association.

I got on that elevator and Gene Upsch. I said, hi, Gene. Hey, Jesse, nice to meet you. Gene's big black finger went up in the air and he goes, you boys need a union. And I said, I know. Gene Upshaw sparked me and said, you boys need a union.

I said, I know we do. So I stood up. I gave my impassioned thing to unionize. Vince called me on the carpet the next day. I didn't care. I was going to do Predator. And then when I came back to Vince, I told Vince,

Vince, you don't have to worry about me speaking out on Union no more. He goes, really? Why not? I said, I got mine, Screen Actors Guild. I said, I now get health benefits, retirement. Right now with the little shit that I did in Hollywood, I'm retired on over $50,000 a year from SAG. I get over $50,000 a year.

Still? Right now. Wow. I'm collecting it. It's my retirement. Wow. And so when I came back to Vince, I said, you don't need to worry about me. If these dummies don't want to protect themselves, screw them.

I tried. I said, I got my sag card. And I'm on retirement right now. I started at age 70. Uh, started collecting, and I made it up to where I, I, I make over $50,000 a year in SAG retirement. And then I have After Retirement, too. Wow.

Which is the broadcasters. Yeah, yeah. And you know, I could never figure this one out. But then it came to me. Why, since wrestling's on TV every week? Why weren't they required to join Aftera? You want to know why? Why?

Health care. You think Afterra wants to bring in a thousand, and wrestlers into their health care system, it would bankrupt them. That's solely, that can be the only reason. Yeah. Because they're on TV every week, on television. Why aren't they required to join after?

Jesse, this has been an honor and a privilege to be able to sit with you. Well, I've told you more than I wanted to. But backstores, but getting back to the Holbein thing, if you finish up on that. Yeah. What ended up happening was this, and that's why I know he did it. Because when I sued the WWF over royalties for videotape, I used to say to Vince all the time, Vince, how come everything I do in Hollywood, I get royalties and everything I do for you, I get nothing?

Why is that? Why are you different than Hollywood? Well, I said, could it be a union? Could that be the difference? And so getting to what had happened was when I sued the WWF, we had to take Vince's deposition. So me and my lawyer flew to Connecticut. Now I can't say nothing because you sit in a deposition.

I'm one of the, I got to stay silent. But I told my attorney the whole story. I said, if you can find out who read, added me. Who was the rat? Who was the, as we called him, the, uh, what were they called in the old days? The, uh, what did they call them again? Stoog. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, off a stooge. That's what it was called in the old traditional days of territories. The office stooge, who's the office? Stoge me to the office. Yeah. So we sat down deposing Vince, and it got halfway through, and the lawyer can ask anything. Yeah. And my attorney,

says to Vince, Mr. McMahon, he said, has there ever been a union in wrestling? And Vince goes no. Has anyone ever tried to form one? And Vince paused a moment. He said, yeah, he said, I think Jesse Ventura spouted his mouth off about it one time years ago. My attorney said, really? He said, how did you know, did you hear Mr. Ventura? You know, talk about unionizing? And Vince said, No. My attorney said, well, then how did you know? With no hesitation, Vince answered, Hulk Hogan told me. Now, he's undersworn deposition here. He's undersworn deposition to tell the truth. There was no hesitation. Hulk Hogan told me. And so, and then Vince also admitted it to Larry King when he was on Larry King,

because Larry King brought it up. Is it true that Hulk Hogan's the one that ratted Jesse Ventura when he tried to unionize wrestling? And Vince said, yeah. I hope you guys can at least have a conversation one day. It was a long time ago. Well, when you have a guy who's as narcissistic as Donald Trump, it ain't going to happen until I hear an apology from him.

From Hulk Hogan? Yeah. What's Donald Trump have to do with that? He's the narcissistic. like Hogan. You know, birds of a feather flocked together. I see.

Yeah. Well, I heard he was at the Republican convention. I already heard about that. Hogan was there. Yeah. Yeah. They had a right.

Somebody wrote here they'd have done better with Doink the Clown. No, it's in the paper here. They said, Dointh the clown would have been better. That's my friend, Matt, the late Matt Bourne. Jesse,

I end every interview with the same question because gratitude such an important part of my life. what are three things in your life as we sit here right now that you're grateful for well it's going to sound so cliche but what else what else could it be i'm i'm grateful for my i'll here's something i'll brag about my wife and i just celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary incredible congratulations no i mean in the wrestling business i was at an autograph event and Arne Anderson was there. And Arne was bragging how he and his wife had been together 38 years.

I looked at Arn, I said, Arn, you're 10 years light. I said, my wife and I've been together 48. I'm 10 years ahead of you. Arn looked at me and goes, are you kidding? I said, no. He said, you've got to be the world's record. He said, that has to be the record. First wife?

I said, yes. So getting back to, I'm grateful that I have a wife that could survive wrestling and that next year will celebrate, hopefully if we're both here, our 50th wedding anniversary. Has any other wrestler ever did that? Wow. That's a question I'll leave to you. Has any other wrestler celebrated a 50th wedding anniversary? I'll have to ask the internet on that one.

Yeah. And so I'm grateful for her. And naturally I'm grateful for my children. I do not have grandchildren and I do not, how should I say, I'm not disappointed. My wife and I have talked about it and with the way the world is today, I don't think I would want it wanted grandchildren to have to worry about them. I know that it ends with my son and my daughter. And whatever they don't spend, I'll probably have them give it to St.

you know, when they leave, they can take whatever's left over and send it to St. Jude, children's, you know, Danny Thomas, Children's Hospital. Yeah. Was that three? Was that three things? No, that's two. Yeah. My wife, my kids.

And what else am I grateful for? Well, I guess that I've spent a great deal of my life defying death. I'm grateful to still be alive. And we're grateful to have you. Well, I'm grateful that I still am because I don't talk about what I did overseas, but I am going to talk about two encounters I had that were, one certainly was life or death, and it was in Southeast Asia on a mission,

but it wasn't from the Viet Cong. Wow. It was from a 14-foot tiger shark. I was not expecting that. Well, we're the seals. You know what seal means, don't you? Sea air land. We originate in the ocean.

We're Navy frogmen. I had two encounters with sharks. Man. One of them was as big as Jaws, and it was before Jaws, right off of Point Loma and San Diego. And we used to swim in that water on a daily basis. Didn't even think about it.

Didn't even think about it. and it's infested with great whites. Man. And the other, the tiger shark was overseas operating off a special submarine they had for us, where we could go insert and then come back out, go down to the sub and leave, where no one would know you were there and no one would know that you'd been. I've never spoken about my shirt. I kept that quiet. There's only one wrestler, really, that knew my background.

And that was Big John Stud. and there was a reason for that. John was an Army veteran. I was a Navy veteran, and we traveled together. The two veterans. John was my closest friend. An absolute pleasure. Thanks.

Thank you, sir. You're the best. Well, that was a long, long time in the making. What a guy. What a conversation. Jesse Ventura, ladies and gentlemen. and it sure sounds like we're going to be seeing a lot more of Jesse Ventura in the WWE with that new renewed relationship that he has there.

I appreciate that he speaks his mind about anything. And also, I didn't expect things to get so emotional there. I mean, I just, man, great guy, great conversation. This was a long time coming. I still can't believe that we live in a world where I was able to sit there and watch Carrie and Cross do his Jesse Ventura. Ventura impression for Jesse Ventura. Wild. And also FaceTime Will Saso. Crazy. Absolutely crazy. Big thank you to Jesse for making the time here. Big thank you to his son, Tyrell, for

lining everything up and making this happen. Snap a screenshot of this episode and tag us so we can share it. He's at Gov J. Ventura on Twitter. At Jesse Ventura Farms on Instagram. I'm at Chris fan fleet and i'm going to leave you with this quote it's from a poem by walt whitman but this was made famous from that one scene in ted lasso it's just four words but man these are four very powerful words when they are said together in this order be curious not judgmental think about that right like how often do we see something that's different from the way that we do things or we hear someone's doing something or going somewhere and you just wouldn't do that, right? That's just not who you are.

And instead of judging them, oh, man, that's so silly. That's so stupid. I wouldn't do that. Just be curious. Hey, what makes you want to do that? Why is, why is that interesting to you? Be curious, not judgmental. And I lead with that in every single interview that I do.

I think that if you go into an interview judging someone rather than be, being curious about the decisions they've made, you're already behind the eight ball. Be curious, not judgmental. Be great, be grateful, my friends. We'll see you on Thursday for some more insight. We've got Kayla Braxton on the show, formally known, well, I guess she's currently,

she's formally Kayla Braxton. Now she is Kayla Becker. We're going to talk about her time in her post-WE life. We will see you on Thursday for that one. Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley.

Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987, Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this.

Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.