Jesse Ventura
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 Jesse Ventura  Jesse Ventura Statistics Ring Names: The Body, Jesse Ventura Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Weight:245 lb (110 kg) Born: July 15, 1951, Minneapolis, Minnesota Trained by: Eddie Sharkey Debut: October 1975 Finishing Move: Body Breaker Jesse Ventura Wrestling Career He created the stage name Jesse "The Body" Ventura to go with the persona of a bully-ish beach body builder, taking "Ventura" from a California highway map. As a professional wrestler, Ventura wrestled as a "heel" (the "bad" characters), and often used the motto "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!" Much of his flamboyant persona was copied from "Superstar" Billy Graham, a charismatic and popular performer during the 1970s and '80s. In 1975, Ventura began his career in the Pacific Northwest territory, wrestling for legendary promoter Don Owen. During his stay in Portland, he had notable feuds with Dutch Savage and Jimmy Snuka and won the Pacific Northwest Wrestling title twice (once from each wrestler), and the tag team titles six times (twice each with Bull Ramos and "Playboy" Buddy Rose, and once each with Steve Strong and Jerry Oates). He later moved to his hometown promotion, the American Wrestling Association in Minnesota, teaming with Adrian Adonis as the "East-West Connection". The duo would win the AWA Tag team titles on July 20, 1980 on a forfeit when Verne Gagne, one-half of the tag team champions along with Mad Dog Vachon, failed to show up for a title defense in Denver, Colorado. The duo would hold the belts for nearly a year, losing to "The High Flyers", Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell. Shortly after losing the belt, the duo moved on to the World Wrestling Federation, where they were managed by legendary manager "Classy" Freddie Blassie. Although the duo was unable to capture the WWF tag team title, both Adonis and Ventura became title contenders, each earning several title shots at champion Bob Backlund. "The Body" continued to wrestle until the mid-1980s when blood clots on his lungs ended his in-ring career; it forced him to miss a title match against WWF Champion Hulk Hogan. Ventura claimed the blood clots were as a result of his exposure to Agent Orange during his time in Vietnam. After a failed comeback bid, he began to do color commentary on television for "All-Star Wrestling" (replacing Angelo Mosca) and later "Superstars of Wrestling" (initially alongside Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino, and with McMahon after Sammartino's departure from the WWF in 1988), hosted his own talk segment on the WWF's "Superstars of Wrestling" called "The Body Shop", and did color commentary on radio for a few National Football League teams (among them, the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Ventura most notably, co-hosted Saturday Night's Main Event with Vince McMahon and the first six WrestleManias (1985-1990) and most of the WWF's Pay-Per-Views at the time with Gorilla Monsoon (the lone exception For Ventura being the first SummerSlam, in which Ventura served as the guest referee during the main event). He departed in June 1990 to pursue other interests, most notably his acting career. He also did commentary for World Championship Wrestling from 1992-94. His professional wrestling commentary style was an extension of his wrestling persona, as he was partial to heel (bad guy) wrestlers, which was something new and different at the time. Jesse Ventura wrestling championships 1-Time AWA World Tag Team Champion (with Adrian Adonis) 2-Time National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion 5-Time NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champion (with Bull Ramos twice, Buddy Rose twice and Jerry Oates) 1-Time NWA World Tag Team Champion (Central States version) (with Tank Patton) 2-Time Mid-Southern Heavyweight Champion WWE Hall of Fame inductee; class of 2004. Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him #239 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003. He was also ranked #67 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Adrian Adonis. Jesse Venura is now a Politician, the former Governor of Minnesota, served from January 4, 1999, to January 6, 2003. Jesse Ventura Photos 
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