Biggest Fan: Lucas Keyes "Acting ability"
If you can parlay your wrestling career into acting roles in Predator, The Running Man and Batman & Robin, a full term in office as governor of Minnesota and a color commentary gig for a professional football league, then you better believe that you qualified as a Superstar of Wrestling! Jesse "The Body" Ventura is one of the most famous wrestlers of all time amongst non-fans of wrestling. His crossover appeal is indisputable, and it just adds to what was already an impressive career in the World Wrestling Federation.
Ventura first came to the WWF with his tag team partner, Adorable Adrian Adonis, after a successful run in the American Wrestling Association. The team was managed by "Classy" Freddie Blassie after arriving in the WWF, but the duo soon split and each grappler entered singles competition. Ventura battled Bob Backlund several times, but was unable to capture the WWF Heavyweight Championship from him.
As much a superstar for his behind-the-microphone duties during the 1980s wrestling boom as his relatively brief in-ring career (blood clots in his lungs forced him into retirement in his early thirties), Ventura added more entertainment value to some matches than the participants in the match themselves. Jesse "The Body" Ventura, the color commentator, exhibited the same heel-like qualities that Ventura had as a wrestler. This was unprecedented; previous commentators had been mostly impartial, but Ventura openly rooted for the "bad guys". He would routinely serve as a foil to Gorilla Monsoon (together they were wrestling's all-time best commentary team) and advocate rule-breaking: "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat."
Jesse Ventura could have been a much bigger star in the ring if it hadn't been for his exposure to Agent Orange during Vietnam (he was part of the Navy's Underwater Demolition Team). We may have missed out on another decade of stardom from "The Body" in the ring, but we were treated to years of quality commentary, movies and political successes, and that catapulted this unique personality to superstardom.
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