Ring Rust Radio: In addition to your books, you’re also hosting ORA TV’s “Off The Grid.” Tell the fans who have never seen the show what to expect when tuning in, and where and when they can find the program.
Jesse Ventura: It’s on ORA TV which is on the internet Monday through Friday and I am off the grid when I do it. What you are going to get is Jesse Ventura in a ten to eleven minute interview on any subject. It really turns me loose and being on the internet there aren’t any FCC regulations, I’m in total control of my show, and it’s the most fun I have ever had doing a show.
Ring Rust Radio: Your history with Hulk Hogan is very well-documented, and he’s been in the news a lot lately because of his falling out with WWE due to a racial slur scandal. Having known Hogan dating back many years, what was your reaction when you heard about the scandal?
Jesse Ventura: Maybe the people are seeing the real Hulk Hogan. Let’s all remember we play parts in wrestling and may be nothing like we are in real life. Maybe we are seeing what Hulk Hogan is in real life. I am only speculating on that so bear that in mind. We would always laugh when he would tell the little kids to say their prayers and eat their vitamins, and we would always laugh and say, ‘oral or injectables?’ What kind of vitamins are we talking here? I remember when Hogan would always deny that he used steroids and I would always laugh.
Ring Rust Radio: Your stint as an announcer with WCW from 1992 through 1994 was fairly short-lived and there’s been a lot of speculation over the years why you and WCW parted ways. What’s the real story regarding that situation?
Jesse Ventura: The real story was, when they brought me in they paid me big money because I made the jump from the WWF. A lot of people couldn’t handle the money they were paying me to just be an announcer, Bill Watts included, who was the head booker. I think Jim Ross was very jealous because he wouldn’t work with me. I would toss him lines and he wouldn’t respond to them, and he even admitted that he didn’t do the best job he could when he worked with me in WCW. I think Jim was jealous of the money I was getting which wasn’t my fault. He shouldn’t have blamed me for it. There never was the chemistry there with Jim Ross that I had with Vince or Gorilla. The reason it ended up the way it did, was they brought Hogan in and then Hogan had me immediately dismissed. I remember, I had six months to go on my contract and I never had to work. They just paid me and I sat at home. Hogan came in and he did not want me on the mic there. He had the power to do it so Eric Bischoff—that little—I have a few names for him, the back stabber Eric Bischoff, and I never worked my last six months as soon as Hulk Hogan was brought in.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
