Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura has acknowledged that many will have been surprised by him attending WWE RAW, given his past issues with the company. The WWE Hall of Famer/former Governor of Minnesota was at the July 29, episode of the Red brand which took place in St. Paul, Minnesota. On Twitter, WWE cameras shared Ventura’s meeting with WWE CCO Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque.
In a tweet of his own, Ventura compared his unlikely return to CM Punk’s Survivor Series 2023 comeback, saying hell has frozen over once more.
The WWE Hall of Famer also shared a photo with CM Punk, adding that he returned to WWE for moments such as this one.
Jesse Ventura’s WWE Past
Though a wrestler and broadcaster in the WWF for years, Ventura’s return to WWE is something of a surprise. In 1991, Ventura brought litigation against the promotion after discovering that non-feature performers received royalties on videotape sales but he had not. Four years earlier, Ventura had waived his rights to royalties on videotape sales when he was falsely told that only feature performers received such royalties.
The case entered federal court and Ventura won $801,333 when a jury ruled in his favor. The judge also awarded Ventura $8,625 in back pay for all non-video WWF merchandising featuring Ventura. The suit soured Ventura’s relationship with WWE, which had consistently been under strain due to Ventura’s previous attempts to form a union in wrestling.
Despite this, Ventura was welcomed back for SummerSlam 1999 (after his Governor victory) and he officiated the Minnesota pay-per-view’s main event. Ventura also returned for an ‘Old School Raw’ in 2009 in which he once again donned the headset alongside Vince McMahon on commentary.
