Jesse Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon are arguably one of the greatest commentary duos in WWE history.
WWE Hall of Famer Jesse “The Body” Ventura was a recent guest on Good Morning Football. When asked about commentating with Gorilla Monsoon on Saturday Night’s Main Event, Ventura praised his time with Monsoon and how the opportunity originally came about.
“Well, you know it was interesting because I got injured badly the night before I was to wrestle Hulk Hogan for the title. Pulmonary emboli, blood clots in my lungs, my career very well, was over. And I faced what all performers face. What in the hell do you do now? You never think about the day that it could end tomorrow, due to injury, due to whatever.
“And so to make the long story short, at the time, Vince called me and said, ‘I want to try something that’s never been done.’ And at the time, we were doing a lot of things that had never been done in wrestling. He said, ‘I want to put the first villain on the mic as a color commentator, someone who sides with the roots of evil.’ So I’ll never forget the first night they matched me up with Gorilla.
Jesse Ventura reveals advice Vince McMahon gave him before his first night on commentary
“We were kind of the B team because you had Vince and Bruno and me and Gorilla. And I’ll never forget he gave me my marching orders that night. He said, ‘Jesse, here’s your mindset.’ I said, ‘What is it?’ He said, ‘If you believe it, then it’s true.’ Well, in other words, he’s given me carte blanche. That’s carte blanche. So I took it, and I was fortunate to have Gorilla Monsoon.
“This guy had timing. He understood me. He understood what it would take to be successful, and we were. And unfortunately, because we were so good, I got bumped up to the A team with Vince. And I had to leave Gorilla, which many people were not happy with that. Because it broke up the team of me and Gorilla, and I feel great because he’s a great memory of a great professional wrestler. And to the wrestling business, they couldn’t have a better spokesman than Gorilla Monsoon.”
READ MORE: Jesse Ventura Comments On Returning To WWE, ‘This Is Where I Belong’
What do you make of Jesse Ventura’s comments? Have you ever heard Ventura do commentary with Gorilla Monsoon? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of these quotes, please credit Good Morning Football with a link to this article for the transcription.
