Do You Know the Real Jesse Ventura?

by
Ken Hudnall
Borderzine



There are certain
individuals who have made an impact on the American psyche whether
they intend to do it or not. In the last few years, one of those
who has made such an impact in both the worlds of entertainment
as well as the world of politics is a man by the name of James George
Janos. The reader may know Mr. Janos by his stage name, Jesse Ventura,
politician, actor, author, veteran, broadcaster, body guard and
former professional wrestler who went on to serve as the 38th Governor
of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003.

Ventura was
born James George Janos, on July 15, 1951, in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
the son of Bernice Martha (née Lenz) and George William Janos, both
of whom were World War II veterans. Ventura’s older brother served
in the Vietnam War. His father’s parents were from what is
now Slovakia, and his mother was of German ancestry. Ventura was
raised a Lutheran. He attended Cooper Elementary School and graduated
from Minneapolis’ Roosevelt High School in 1969.

From December
1, 1969, to September 10, 1975, during the Vietnam War era, Jesse
Ventura served in the United States Navy. Not content with simply
serving in the military, Ventura moved into the world of special
operations, volunteering for SEALs training. He graduated with BUD/S
class 58 in December 1970 and was part of Underwater Demolition
Team 12.

There has been
some discussion in the media regarding Ventura’s military service.
He has frequently referred to his military career in public statements
and debates and, in spite of accusations, has never made any effort
to claim honors to which he was not entitled. Never one to avoid
controversy, he was criticized by hunters and conservationists for
stating in an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune in April
2001, “Until you have hunted men, you haven’t hunted
yet.” In January 2002, Ventura, who, previously, had never
specifically claimed to have fought in Vietnam, disclosed for the
first time that he did not see combat. However, Ventura, who was
stationed at Subic Bay in the Philippines, was awarded the Vietnam
Service Medal, which was given to military personnel who took part
in the contributions to the war effort in Vietnam. This has led
to some confusion regarding his military background.

Showing little
concern for public opinion even in these early years, near the end
of his service in the Navy Ventura began to spend time with the
“Dago” chapter of the Mongols motorcycle club, in San
Diego. He was known for riding onto Naval Base Coronado on his Harley-Davidson
wearing his Mongol colors. According to Ventura he was a full-patch
member of the club and even third in command of his chapter, though
he never got into trouble with the authorities. In the fall of 1974,
Ventura left the club to return to Minnesota. It was shortly after
this that the Mongols entered into open warfare with their rivals,
the Hells Angels.

Back home in
Minnesota Ventura attended North Hennepin Community College in the
mid-1970s. At the same time he was continuing his education, he
began weightlifting and wrestling. He was a bodyguard for The Rolling
Stones for a short time before he ventured into the world of professional
wrestling. It was during this time period that James George Janos
began to transition into the world famous Jesse Ventura.

The
world of professional wrestling

It was during
this time period that James Janos began to look for a career that
suited his tastes. He liked physical activity but his personality
had become more flamboyant. The world of entertainment looked attractive,
but he couldn’t sing or dance. That left professional wrestling.

Entering the
world of professional wrestling, Jesse Ventura was given the assignment
of creating his new persona. To this end, he created the stage name
Jesse “The Body” Ventura to go with the persona of an
over bearing beach bodybuilder, picking the name “Ventura”
from a map as part of his “bleach blond from California”
character. As a wrestler, Ventura generally performed as a villain
and became known for the motto “Win if you can, lose if
you must, but always cheat
!”

It is interesting
to note that much of his flamboyant persona was adapted from another
world famous wrestler, “Superstar” Billy Graham, a charismatic
and popular performer during the 1970s and ’80s. Years later,
as a broadcaster, Ventura made a running joke out of it claiming
that Graham stole all of his ring attire ideas from him.

In 1975, Ventura
made his debut in the Central States territory, before moving to
the Pacific Northwest, where he wrestled for promoter Don Owen as
Jesse “The Great” Ventura. Sometime later, he adopted
the more permanent nickname, “The Body”. During his
stay in Portland, Oregon, 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 title five times (twice
each with Bull Ramos and “Playboy” Buddy Rose, and once
with Jerry Oates). He later moved to his hometown promotion, the
American Wrestling Association in Minnesota, and began teaming with
Adrian Adonis as the “East-West Connection” in 1979.
The duo won the promotion’s World Tag Team Championship 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 held the belts for
nearly a year, losing to “The High Flyers” (Greg Gagne
and Jim Brunzell).

The
next phase

Shortly after
losing the belts, the duo moved on to the World Wrestling Federation,
where they were managed by “Classy” Freddie Blassie.
Although the duo was unable to capture the World Tag Team Championship,
both Adonis and Ventura became singles title contenders, each earning
several title shots at World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund.

Ventura continued
to wrestle until September 1984, when blood clots in his lungs ended
his in-ring career. Ventura claimed the blood clots were a result
of his exposure to Agent Orange during his time in Vietnam. Ventura
did return to the ring in 1985 forming a tag-team with “Macho
Man” Randy Savage Savage’s manager Miss Elizabeth.
He also participated in a six-man tag team match in December 1985
as he, Roddy Piper, and “Cowboy” Bob Orton defeated
Hillbilly Jim, Uncle Elmer, and Cousin Luke in a match which was
broadcast on Saturday Night’s Main Event. 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 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). Following a dispute
with Vince McMahon over the use of his image for promoting a Sega
product, McMahon – who had a contract with rival company Nintendo
at the time – released Ventura from the company in August 1990.

In February
1992 at SuperBrawl II, Ventura joined World Championship Wrestling
as a commentator. His professional wrestling commentary style was
an extension of his wrestling persona, as he was partial to the
villains, which was something new and different at the time, but
would still occasionally give credit where it was due, praising
the athleticism of Dynamite Kid and Randy Savage (who was championed
by Ventura for years, even when he was a fan favorite). The lone
exception to this rule was the WrestleMania VI match between Hulk
Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. Since they were both crowd favorites,
Ventura took a neutral position in his commentary; even praising
Hogan’s display of sportsmanship at the end of the match when
he handed over the WWF Championship to the Warrior after he lost
the title. The praise of Hogan’s action was unusual for Ventura
because he regularly rooted against Hogan during his matches. Hogan
and Ventura were, at one point, close friends. Ventura, however,
abruptly ended the friendship after he discovered, during his lawsuit
against Vince McMahon, that Hogan was the one who had told Vince
about Ventura’s attempt to form a labor union in 1984. Ventura
was released by WCW President Eric Bishoff for allegedly falling
asleep during a WCW Worldwide TV taping at Disney MGM Studios in
July 1994, though it’s been speculated the move may have had more
to do with Hulk Hogan’s arrival shortly before.

March
18, 2013

The
Best of Jesse Ventura

Copyright
© 2013 Borderzine