How Jesse Ventura Revolutionized Wrestling Commentary

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Jesse Ventura: “No one had ever heard a heel before on the microphone”

Decades have passed, but Jesse Ventura still vividly recalls the beginning of his famed tenure on the World Wrestling Federation broadcast team.

Long before he was a political pundit, television host or the governor of Minnesota, Ventura was a proud and true pro wrestler. Known across the territories as Jesse “The Great” Ventura, he reached a new level of notoriety in the AWA as Jesse “The Body” Ventura. He signed with Vince McMahon’s WWF in 1984 but soon found himself unable to perform in the ring…