Jesse Ventura

• 1. Introduction

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  Jesse Ventura, born James George Janos, stood before a crowd in November 1998 and declared, "We shocked the world!" He had a point. A man known to millions as a loud, villain-loving wrestling announcer had just won the governor's office of Minnesota. Nobody had planned for that, least of all the major parties. The road to that night ran through the Vietnam War, a motorcycle club, a wrestling ring, a commentary booth and a string of movie sets. It also ran through several courtrooms. This documentary follows that road. How does anyone build a persona big enough to carry him into a statehouse? What did he do with power once he had it? And why does he keep hinting at a return, long after leaving office?

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• 2. Frogman and Biker

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  James George Janos was born on the 15th of July 1951 in South Minneapolis, close to the Lake Street bridge. His mother was chief nurse anesthetist at North Memorial Hospital. His father worked for the Minneapolis Street Department. Both parents were World War II veterans. Ventura describes himself as Slovak, because his father's parents came from Slovakia, and he was raised Lutheran. He graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1969, and the school inducted him into its first hall of fame in September 2014.

  On the 1st of December 1969 he joined the United States Navy, where he would serve until the 10th of September 1975. His older brother, Jan, had graduated from BUD/S class 49 and also served in Vietnam with the underwater demolition teams. Jesse graduated with class 58 in December 1970. He then joined Underwater Demolition Team 12. On active duty he worked in the Mekong Delta and was attached to an amphibious ready group in the South China Sea, with Subic Bay in the Philippines as his home port. From 1973 through 1975 he was assigned to SEAL Team One as a reservist. His decorations include the Vietnam Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Navy Expeditionary Medal.

  Ventura leans on that service in debates and interviews. In a 2001 interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune he said, "Until you have hunted men, you haven't hunted yet." Hunters and conservationists criticized the line.

  Near the end of his Navy years, he began spending time with the South Bay chapter of the Mongols Motorcycle Club in San Diego. He would ride his Harley-Davidson onto Naval Base Coronado wearing the club's colors. By his own account he was a full-patch member and third-in-command of his chapter, with the biker nickname Superman. He says he never had trouble with the authorities. In 1974 he left to return to the Twin Cities. The Mongols soon went to open war with the Hells Angels.

  In 2018 Ventura testified as an expert witness for the Mongols in a federal racketeering trial in Santa Ana, California. He disputed the government's picture of the club as a criminal enterprise. He called his time with the San Diego chapter "a stepping stone I needed to make the transition from military life back to civilian life."

  Back in Minnesota, he studied at North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park during the mid-1970s, paid for by the G.I. Bill. He also worked as a bodyguard for the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead. After one stretch of that work, Mick Jagger said of him, "He's done us proud, hasn't he? He's been fantastic."

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• 3. The Body in the Ring

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  The name Ventura came from a map. He picked it for a gimmick he called bleach blond from California, a bullying beach bodybuilder who played the villain, known in wrestling as a heel. He printed Gorgeous George's old motto on his t-shirts: "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!" Much of the flamboyance was adapted from "Superstar" Billy Graham, a charismatic and popular performer of the 1970s.

  In 1975 he debuted in the Central States territory. That same year, on the 18th of July, three days after his 24th birthday, he married his wife, Terry. From Central States he moved to the Pacific Northwest, where promoter Don Owen billed him as Jesse "The Great" Ventura. In Portland, Oregon, he feuded with Dutch Savage and Jimmy Snuka. He won the Pacific Northwest heavyweight title twice, once from each rival. He took the tag team title five times, twice each with Bull Ramos and "Playboy" Buddy Rose and once with Jerry Oates.

  In 1979 he went home to the American Wrestling Association in Minnesota and teamed with Adrian Adonis as the East-West Connection. In a 2012 video interview, Ventura said that Verne Gagne gave him the nickname "the Body" soon after he arrived. On the 20th of July 1980, the pair won the AWA World Tag Team Championship by forfeit. Gagne and his partner Mad Dog Vachon never showed for a title defense in Denver. The duo held the belts for nearly a year before losing them to the High Flyers, Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell.

  The pair then moved to the World Wrestling Federation under the management of Freddie Blassie. They never won the World Tag Team Championship. Even so, both men became singles contenders and each earned several shots at champion Bob Backlund.

  The ring career ended abruptly in September 1984. After three straight losses to world champion Hulk Hogan, blood clots in his lungs effectively finished his wrestling. He said the clots came from exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. He did return in 1985, teaming with Randy Savage and Savage's manager, Miss Elizabeth, who was also his real-life wife. Ventura retired from wrestling in March 1986.

  During his wrestling days he also used anabolic steroids. After retiring he admitted it, and he appeared in public service announcements, printed ads and posters warning young people about the health risks. The clots that ended his career returned later. In 2002 he was hospitalized with a severe one in his lungs.

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• 4. Villain in the Booth

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  After a failed comeback bid, Ventura found a second wrestling career with a microphone. He hosted a talk segment called "The Body Shop" on the WWF's All Star Wrestling program. It copied the heel style of "Piper's Pit", but the set was a mock gym. When Ventura was unavailable, Don Muraco filled in. Ventura then replaced Angelo Mosca as color commentator on All-Star Wrestling. On Superstars of Wrestling he sat beside Vince McMahon and the semi-retired Bruno Sammartino. After Sammartino left in early 1988, it was just Ventura and McMahon.

  Ventura co-hosted Saturday Night's Main Event with McMahon. He also called the first six WrestleManias, five of them alongside Gorilla Monsoon. With Monsoon he handled most WWF pay-per-views of that era. The one exception was the first SummerSlam, where he refereed the main event. At every WrestleMania except the first two, he used his airtime to greet "Terry, Tyrel and Jade back in Minneapolis." They are his wife and children.

  The idea of a commentator who rooted for the bad guys came from McMahon, who was always hunting for ways to liven up broadcasts. At the time, most announcers, McMahon included, openly cheered for fan favorites. Ventura's partiality to villains was new. He still gave credit when it was due. He praised the athleticism of Ricky Steamboat and championed Randy Savage for years, even when Savage was a fan favorite. He also admitted mistakes by heels, including those managed by Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart.

  His one real exception came at WrestleMania VI, the title-for-title match between WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior. Both were fan favorites, so Ventura stayed neutral. He even praised Hogan for handing over the belt like a true champion. When both men bent the rules, he said, "This is what I like. Let the two goody two-shoes throw the rulebook out and get nasty." It was the last WrestleMania he called.

  His most notorious moment came in December 1985 on Saturday Night's Main Event IV. Roddy Piper and Bob Orton had crashed the wedding of Uncle Elmer on the previous show. Now Ventura, Piper and Orton beat Hillbilly Jim, Uncle Elmer and Cousin Luke in a six-man tag. Ventura later said McMahon told him to "bury them." When the couple kissed at the Meadowlands Arena, Ventura said, "It looks like two carp in the middle of the Mississippi River going after the same piece of corn." By his account the wedding was genuine. The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board would not allow the WWF to stage a fake one, so Stan Frazier, who played Uncle Elmer, and his fiancee married in the ring.

  In August 1990 Ventura left the WWF after a dispute over the use of his image to promote a Sega product. He worked as a radio announcer for several National Football League teams, among them the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In February 1992, at SuperBrawl II, he joined World Championship Wrestling as a commentator. WCW president Eric Bischoff released him in July 1994 for allegedly falling asleep during a taping at Disney MGM Studios. Others have speculated the move had more to do with Hogan's arrival shortly before.

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• 5. Screens and Studios

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  Ventura's acting career began near the end of his wrestling days, and Predator in 1987 was its anchor. The cast included future California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and future Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Sonny Landham. Ventura played Blain Cooper and became close friends with Schwarzenegger on set. That same year he appeared in The Running Man as 'Captain Freedom'. He starred in the 1990 sci-fi film Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe, and filmed two episodes of Zorro in Madrid, Spain, in 1991.

  Supporting roles followed in No Holds Barred, Thunderground, Demolition Man, Repossessed, Ricochet, Ready to Rumble and Batman & Robin. In The Master of Disguise he steals the Liberty Bell. He cameoed in Major League II as "White Lightning" and voiced a self-help guru in The Ringer, coaching Johnny Knoxville to be more confident. On The X-Files, in the episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space", he played a Man in Black beside fellow "MiB" Alex Trebek. In 2008 he starred as high school shop teacher Mr. Madson in the independent comedy Woodshop, released on the 7th of September 2010.

  Television and radio filled the gaps. In the late 1980s he appeared in a series of Miller Lite commercials. In 1989 he co-hosted four episodes of the children's program Record Breakers: World of Speed with Gary Apple. In 1991 he and Roddy Piper starred in the pilot for Tag Team, about two ex-wrestlers turned police officers. He co-hosted the short-lived game show The Grudge Match with sportscaster Steve Albert. From 1995 to 1998 he hosted call-in radio shows on KFAN 1130 and KSTP 1500 in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. In 1999 he had a brief role on the soap opera The Young and the Restless.

  After he left office, the screens kept calling. In October 2003 he began a weekly MSNBC show, Jesse Ventura's America. It was canceled after a couple of months. Ventura alleges the reason was his opposition to the Iraq War. MSNBC paid out his three-year contract, which legally kept him from other TV or news shows.

  In December 2009 he began hosting Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura on TruTV. He traveled the country investigating theories, took input from believers and skeptics, and then passed judgment. TruTV said the first episode drew 1.6 million viewers, a record for a new series on the network. Seasons followed in 2010 and 2012, and his son Tyrel worked on the show, including as an investigator in the third season. The network discontinued it in 2013.

  A new show, Jesse Ventura: Uncensored, launched on the 27th of January 2014 on Ora TV, an online video network founded by Larry King. It was later renamed Off the Grid and aired until 2016. On the 31st of July 2014 he also launched a weekly podcast, We The People, which ran until the 4th of March 2015. In 2017 he became host of The World According to Jesse on RT America. That series ended in March 2022, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to the suspension of RT programming produced by Ora TV.

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• 6. Mayor and Governor

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  In 1990, on the advice of a former high school teacher, Ventura ran for mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. He beat the city's 18-year incumbent, Jim Krautkremer, by 12,728 votes to 7,390, or 63.3 percent to 36.7 percent. He served from 1991 to 1995. Wrestling figures who entered politics were not rare, but Ventura was among the few, with Jim Barnett and Antonio Inoki, to stay active in wrestling while in government. For much of his tenure he was both mayor and a WCW color commentator.

  In 1998 he ran for governor as the Reform Party of Minnesota nominee. He later joined the Independence Party of Minnesota, after the state party broke from the Reform Party of the United States of America. His campaign manager, Doug Friedline, helped organize aggressive grassroots events. Quirky adman Bill Hillsman made original television spots built around the line "Don't vote for politics as usual." Ventura spent about $300,000, far less than his opponents, and was a pioneer in using the Internet to reach voters. His running mate was teacher Mae Schunk.

  He won in November 1998, narrowly and unexpectedly, over Republican St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman and Democratic-Farmer-Labor Attorney General Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III. Bumper stickers and t-shirts soon read "My governor can beat up your governor." The nickname "Jesse 'The Mind'" came back, drawn from a last-minute Hillsman ad in which Ventura posed as Rodin's Thinker. People used it ironically about his controversial remarks. His old stage name resurfaced too, sometimes as "Jesse 'The Governing Body'."

  Governing was another matter. Ventura had no party base in the Minnesota House or Senate, so his ambitions rarely became bills. He vetoed 45 bills in his first year, and only three were overridden. His fourth and final year gave him the opposite reputation, as six of his nine vetoes were overridden. His most notable win was the sales tax rebate. With the state running a budget surplus, he believed the money should be returned, so Minnesotans got a tax-free check each late summer. His administration also oversaw property tax reform, income tax cuts and construction of the METRO Blue Line light rail.

  He called himself fiscally conservative and socially liberal, and he sometimes admitted in debates that he had no opinion on a question. Later he came to support a one-house legislature, gay rights, recreational marijuana and abortion rights. He funded public schools generously but opposed the teachers' union.

  Controversy followed him. When the legislature refused to raise security spending, he shut down the Minnesota Governor's Residence and stayed at his home in Maple Grove. In 1999 disgruntled citizens petitioned to recall him, citing state security personnel protecting him on a book tour. The Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed the petition, and Ventura's request for attorney's fees was denied. He called reporters "media jackals" and even put "Official Jackal" on press passes. Humorist Garrison Keillor wrote a satirical book about him, Me: Jimmy (Big Boy) Valente. Ventura first reacted angrily, then said Keillor "makes Minnesota proud." On the Late Show with David Letterman he said, "Those streets in St. Paul must have been designed by drunken Irishmen," and later apologized.

  Critics also noted that he cashed in on his fame. He refereed a WWF SummerSlam match in 1999, worked as an analyst for the failed XFL in 2001 and published several books while governor. On his weekly radio show he complained that the media covered those deals instead of his policy proposals.

  In 2002 he denounced the United States embargo on Cuba during a summer trade mission, saying it hurt the Cuban public more than the government. On the 25th of October 2002 a plane crash killed Senator Paul Wellstone, his family and others. At the memorial, Ventura said, "I feel used. I feel violated and duped over the fact that the memorial ceremony turned into a political rally." He walked out halfway through a speech by Wellstone's best friend, Rick Kahn. He had planned to name a Democrat to the seat. Instead he appointed Dean Barkley, who served until January 2003. Norm Coleman then won the seat against Walter Mondale, who had replaced Wellstone on the ballot.

  His approval rating peaked at 73 percent in July 1999 and fell to 40 percent by the end of his term. State economist Tom Stinson pointed out that statewide capital gains fell from $9 billion to $4 billion between 2000 and 2001. Ventura had vetoed that budget, but the legislature overrode him. He took office facing a $3 billion surplus and left with a $4.2 billion deficit.

  After a 2002 trade mission to China, he announced he would not seek reelection. He said he no longer felt dedicated enough and that the media hounded his family. He later told a Boston Globe reporter he would have run again if he were single. Late in his term he floated resigning early so Mae Schunk could become the state's first female governor and hang her portrait in the Capitol. He quickly backed away, saying he was only floating an idea. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, succeeded him on the 6th of January 2003.

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• 7. Courtrooms and Disputes

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  In 1987, while negotiating his WWF commentary contract, Ventura gave up his rights to royalties on videotape sales. He had been falsely told that only feature performers received them. In November 1991 he learned others did and sued Titan Sports for fraud, misappropriation of publicity rights and quantum meruit. He asked for $2 million. Titan moved the case to federal court, where a jury awarded him $801,333 on the last claim. The judge added $8,625 in back pay for non-video merchandising. The ruling was affirmed on appeal as 65 F.3d 725 (8th Cir. 1995) and is an important result in the law of restitution. Because of it, his commentary is removed from most WWE Home Video releases.

  The suit also cost him a friendship. In 1994 Ventura abruptly ended his bond with Hulk Hogan. During the case he learned that Hogan had told McMahon about Ventura's attempt in 1986, before WrestleMania 2, to form a wrestlers' union. Decades later, when Hogan spoke at the Republican National Convention, Ventura said, "When I was in wrestling in the '80s, I tried to unionize wrestling, and it was Hulk Hogan who cut my legs out from under me." He added that Hogan is "as anti-union as it gets."

  Another fight concerned whether Ventura was a Navy SEAL. Bill Salisbury, a San Diego attorney and former SEAL officer, accused him of pretending. His argument was that Ventura had been a frogman in the Underwater Demolition Teams, not a SEAL. The SEAL teams, set up in 1962 and staffed by UDT personnel, saw more combat and took more casualties in Vietnam. Ventura's office confirmed he served in the UDT and said he had never claimed otherwise. Ventura said, "Today we refer to all of us as SEALs. That's all it is," and called the charges "much ado about nothing."

  Many veterans disagreed with Salisbury. Retired officer Larry Bailey said all BUD/S graduates are called SEALs inside Naval Special Warfare, and that "Jesse Ventura is a SEAL by any definition." SEAL Team One veteran Steve Robinson called him "a real NAVY SEAL." Don Shipley, who investigates false military claims, said Ventura took the place of Team One men in Vietnam for at least 30 days. That fits Operation Field Goal, a PSYOP campaign against North Vietnam from July 1972 to January 1973. In 1972 the Seal Trident became the shared insignia of SEAL and UDT personnel. The National Archives described him in 2009 as a "Former Navy SEAL."

  In January 2011 Ventura sued the Transportation Security Administration over its new pat-down policy, arguing it violated Fourth Amendment rights. A titanium hip replacement from 2008 sets off metal detectors. In November 2011 the court dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction, ruling that such challenges belong in the courts of appeals. At a press conference Ventura called the judges cowards and said he would now call the country the "Fascist States of America." He vowed never to fly commercial again and to seek dual citizenship in Mexico. He also said he would "never stand for a national anthem again" and would raise a fist instead.

  The longest fight involved Chris Kyle, the former Navy SEAL behind the book American Sniper. In January 2012 Kyle said on the Opie and Anthony show that he had punched Ventura in 2006 at a Coronado, California, bar. It was a wake for fellow SEAL Michael A. Monsoor, who was killed in Iraq. Kyle said Ventura claimed the SEALs "deserved to lose a few guys." Ventura denied it, and when Kyle would not retract, he sued for defamation. Declarations from five former SEALs and the mothers of two others backed Kyle. Ventura's friend Bill DeWitt, a former SEAL who was at the bar, said no confrontation happened.

  Kyle was murdered in 2013 in an unrelated incident, and his widow, Taya Kyle, took his place as defendant. After a three-week trial in St. Paul in July 2014, the jury voted 8-2 for Ventura and awarded $1.85 million. That was $500,000 for defamation and $1,345,477.25 for unjust enrichment. HarperCollins said it would cut the sub-chapter "Punching out Scruff Face" from future editions. On the 13th of June 2016 the Eighth Circuit reversed the unjust-enrichment award and ordered a new defamation trial. The Supreme Court declined to hear Ventura's appeal in January 2017. He had also sued HarperCollins in December 2014. In December 2017 they settled on undisclosed terms, and Ventura dropped his suits against the publisher and Kyle's estate.

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• 8. The Statesman's Second Act

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  Since leaving office, Ventura has called himself a statesman rather than a politician. After 2003 he became a visiting fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. On the 13th of March 2004 he entered the WWE Hall of Fame, with his son Tyrel doing the induction. The next night at WrestleMania XX he interviewed Donald Trump, who promised moral and financial support if Ventura returned to politics. Ventura announced, "I think we oughta put a wrestler in the White House in 2008!"

  The hints kept coming. On the 7th of April 2008 he told CNN's The Situation Room that he was weighing a Senate run against Norm Coleman. A Fox 9 poll showed him at 24 percent, behind Al Franken at 32 and Coleman at 39. On the 14th of July 2008 he told Larry King he would not run, partly for his family's privacy. His 2008 book Don't Start the Revolution Without Me imagines an independent presidential campaign, though he denied any secret plan. On the 2nd of September 2008, at Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic, he promised that "in 2012 we'll give them a race they'll never forget!" Libertarian chairman Mark Hinkle said Ventura was "more interested in 2016 than he is in 2012." Ventura let his own May 1 deadline for a 2016 Libertarian bid pass. He later endorsed Gary Johnson, though he says he voted for Green nominee Jill Stein.

  His 2020 flirtation went further. On the 27th of April 2020 he sent a letter of interest to the Green Party Presidential Support Committee and joined the Green Party of Minnesota on the 2nd of May. By the 7th of May he said he would not run, because he would lose his employer-provided health insurance. Still, he received seven delegate votes at the Green National Convention through write-ins. The Green Party of Alaska nominated him anyway, without his consent, and the national party cut ties with it. He and Cynthia McKinney took 0.7 percent of the Alaska vote. In 2024 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shortlisted him for vice president. After Kennedy withdrew, Ventura endorsed Kamala Harris and Minnesota governor Tim Walz.

  His politics resist labels. He has called the Democrats and Republicans "monsters that are out of control," and analyst John Avlon, in Independent Nation, calls him a radical centrist. In a May 2009 interview with Larry King, he said he had been waterboarded at SERE school and called it torture. He has said he has unanswered questions about 9/11. On religion, he told NBC News in 1999 that he was baptized a Lutheran, and later told The Joe Rogan Experience he was an atheist. A Playboy interview calling organized religion "a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people" drew fire, and he clarified in his memoir that he did not mean all religious people. As governor he declared the 4th of July 2002 "Indivisible Day" for religious minorities and nonbelievers. He also inadvertently proclaimed October 13-19, 2002 as "Christian Heritage Week."

  He and his wife, Terry, split their time between White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico. They have a son, Tyrel, and a daughter, Jade. Of his Mexican home he says he lives one hour from pavement and one hour from electricity. It runs entirely on solar power, which he says makes him turn the lights off.

  Wrestling called him back as well. On the 14th of December 2024 he returned to Saturday Night's Main Event and called the Undisputed WWE Championship match between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens. He returned for the January 25 and the 24th of May 2025 editions. Meanwhile his criticism of Trump has sharpened. He compares the country to the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos. In January 2026 he visited Roosevelt High School, his old school, in Minneapolis, after a fatal shooting by an ICE agent, which he called a "tragedy." Now he has said he is interested in the 2026 Minnesota governor's race, noting that he "only did one term" and was "owed a second."

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