There was a time within the Nineteen Eighties when Jesse Ventura was one of the standard members of the WWE – then the WWF – Universe.
He was a championship-caliber in-ring employee, a unbelievable talker, and continues to be broadly thought to be the borderline prototype for a coloration commentator within the sales space, particularly for ex-wrestlers on the lookout for a brand new lease on their careers.
And but, he nearly had one other accolade on his resume that’s as spectacular as they arrive: union organizer.
That is proper, whereas Ventura’s political ambitions aren’t any shock to followers now, as he was the governor of Minnesota, even when he was a member of Vince McMahon’s firm, “The Physique” nonetheless had ambitions to make issues higher for his fellow man, going as far as to attempt to arrange a WWE Union. The one downside, Hulk Hogan bought him out to Mr. McMahon and ruined the pursuit on the spot, as Ventura defined in a particular look on MSNBC.
“It does not shock me as a result of after I was in wrestling within the 80s, I attempted to unionize wrestling. It was Hulk Hogan who minimize my legs out from below me. Hulk Hogan went to Vince McMahon, ratted me out, and subsequently, in a while, price me my job. It does not shock me to see Hogan with the Republicans as a result of Hogan is as anti-union as you may get,” Ventura informed MSNBC through Fightful.
“There may be nonetheless not a union in skilled wrestling. The explanation I attempted to do it. I used to be in an elevator and bumped into Gene Upshaw, the nice guard from the Oakland Raiders. Large Gene raised his finger up and checked out me, and mentioned, ‘You boys have to kind a union.’ I attempted to do it, and it was Hulk Hogan that ratted me out to Vince McMahon, and subsequently, I used to be fired and misplaced my job.”
Sadly for Ventura, WWE – or AEW, TNA, or NWA, for that matter – nonetheless does not have a union, with wrestlers employed as unbiased contractors and thus exempt from most of the advantages many assume they’re afforded. Whereas it is unattainable to know if some progressive employee will once more take up the mantle and take a look at his finest to get the boys within the again on the identical web page as a collective, for now, the state of affairs most wrestlers discover themselves in is way completely different than what some followers would possibly anticipate, in no small half due to the “Hulkster.”
Matt Hardy reveals his hazing expertise within the WWE locker room
Talking of the WWE locker room, Matt Hardy was additionally within the information lately for his personal locker room expertise, particularly hazing early on in The Hardy Boyz run alongside his brother Jeff.
After exhibiting up late for a present and drawing the ire of famous bully JBL, the Hardyz discovered their baggage lacking… not less than till they discovered them within the trash after the present.
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“I bear in mind we got here out, I mentioned, ‘Excuse me guys,’ possibly it was Bob Holly, ‘Did you occur to see anybody go away with our baggage? They acquired our garments and all our cash, and every thing is in these baggage.’ He mentioned, ‘Properly, no, I do not know the place your baggage are. In the event you got here and also you dressed within the wrestling locker room and you bought right here on time, we’d have sorted them. Properly, you are in right here like a giant star, anyone in all probability walked in and stole them. Perhaps you will get right here earlier subsequent time.’ Then I mentioned, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Bradshaw, do you occur to know the place your baggage are?’ I mentioned, ‘Did somebody take them? I assume that is what occurs if you costume in your personal personal locker room since you’re that huge of a deal.’ We simply begin looking all through the sector. We in all probability looked for an hour, an hour, and fifteen minutes,” Matt Hardy defined through Fightful.
“The present is beginning to wind down, and Highway Dogg grabs me, pulls me apart. He says, ‘Hey, your baggage are within the dumpster proper exterior, however they acquired zipped up actual good. However they acquired zipped up actual good, so your stuff did not get tousled. However do not you inform anybody that I informed you as a result of I do not need not one of the warmth that you’ve.’ We did, we lastly discovered our baggage, however that was a really commonplace factor again in these days, within the Angle Period. The hazing was unreal.”
Would the Hardys have nonetheless been bullied if WWE had a union? Sure, that facet {of professional} wrestling will sadly by no means go away but when the performers did have extra safety and solidarity, who is aware of, possibly they might all get alongside just a little bit higher because of this.
