Jesse Ventura still refuses to bury the hatchet with Hulk Hogan.
The former Governor of Minnesota appeared on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, where he spoke about his decade-long hatred of Hulk Hogan, going back all the way to Ventura’s attempt to form a wrestler’s union in the 1980s.
When asked if he would bury the hatchet with Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura simply said, “No.” When pressed if he would even talk to Hogan, he added, “I don’t know, he betrayed me.”
He went on to explain how Hulk Hogan ratted him out to Vince McMahon, after he attempted to unionize the wrestlers just prior to WrestleMania II.
“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. I told everybody now is our time to unionize. I said all the publicity is gone out on WrestleMania, 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. Then I said if we can get the Charlotte guys to join us, we can fight. We can freeze them, freeze Vince, and force them to do collective bargaining and we can finally get a union. I gave my impassioned speech.”
Ventura went on to explain that he told Vince McMahon that he hoped to pay less insurance for his family with a union.
Jesse Ventura Learnt Hulk Hogan Told Vince McMahon During A Deposition
Jesse Ventura continued. He explained that while suing the WWE for video royalties, he had his lawyer directly ask Vince McMahon who told him about the attempt to unionize.
McMahon confirmed it was Hulk Hogan who told him, which is why The Body refuses to talk to him to this day.
“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? Could it be a union? Could that be the difference?'”
“We had to take Vince’s deposition. So me and my lawyer flew to Connecticut. We sat down deposing Vince, and it got halfway through it and a lawyer can ask anything. And my attorney says to Vince, Mr. McMahon, he said, ‘Has there ever been a union in wrestling?’ And Vince goes, No. [He asked] Has anyone ever tried to form one? And Vince paused a moment. He said, Yeah, I think Jesse Ventura spouted his mouth off about it one time years ago. My attorney said, really? How did you know?”
“Did you hear Mr. Ventura 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 under sworn deposition here. He’s under sworn deposition to tell the truth. There was no hesitation Hulk Hogan told me. Vince also admitted it to Larry King, because Larry King brought it up.”
Ventura wants an apology, but doesn’t see it happening
Ventura was asked why he didn’t think a conversation with Hogan would happen. He said he won’t entertain the idea until Hogan apologizes to him, which is unlikely because Hogan is as big of a narcissist as Donald Trump.
“When you have a guy who’s as narcissistic as Donald Trump, it ain’t gonna happen until I hear an apology from him. [From Hulk Hogan?] Yeah. [What does Donald Trump have to do with that?] He’s the narcissist like Hogan. You know, birds of a feather flock together. I heard he was at the Republican Convention. I already heard about that, Hogan was there. Somebody wrote here, they’d have done better with Doink the Clown. It was in the paper here, Doink the Clown would have been better.”
