Bruce Prichard on Vince McMahon’s Reaction to the Jesse Ventura Lawsuit, How Vince Mended His Relationship With Ventura for Summerslam ’99 Guest Referee Slot

– Speaking on the latest edition of Something to Wrestle, Bruce Prichard discussed WWE Summerslam 1999 and Jesse Ventura returning in a special guest referee role for the main event. Below are some highlights.

Bruce Prichard on Jesse Ventura’s lawsuit against WWE over royalties in the early 1990s: “Well, first of all, I wasn’t even there when Jesse signed his deal and had nothing to do with it, so don’t know much about Jesse initially getting his deal. I do remember the rumblings in the early 90s of Jesse saying, ‘Why am I not getting paid for Coliseum Video and what have you,’ and ultimately filing suit. But I don’t know that a lot of people knew what the specifics were. It was — other than what was in the lawsuit itself. And of course, Jesse was victorious, much to the company’s chagrin. But I think it was a difference of opinion, and one that the court felt that Jesse, on his side, was correct. So, paid up and moved on. But it was something that made everybody re-look at the contracts and re-look at everything that was done because the belief on one side was one thing, and obviously on the other, something else. And good for Jesse.”

Prichard on Vince McMahon’s reaction to the lawsuit: “Yeah, not happy about it. And it just, again, made us be a lot more careful as to what we have in our contracts and exactly how they are presented and what have you. So yeah, he wasn’t happy about it in any way, shape, or form. So we just — sometimes, you swallow it. You move on. This was one of those cases. There wasn’t a whole lot you could do about it other than get back to business and move on.”

Prichard on Jesse Ventura and McMahon’s relationships: “Well, I think that Jesse and Vince had one of those — and again, the same thing kind of like with [Hulk Hogan] — It was a love-hate relationship that they had excellent chemistry onscreen, definitely, that goes without saying. But they got along and didn’t get along. But that antagonist-protagonist in real life kind of carried over onscreen, so they had a really good rapport onscreen as far as chemistry. So, as a performer, they performed and made it work. Offscreen, I think that it was just usually agree to disagree, which you see usually when you see Jesse Ventura with a lot of his conspiracy theories and what have you. Very opinionated. That’s not an act. That’s the real Jesse Ventura. That was the guy I used to walk in to do voice-overs early in the morning, who would be sitting in the chair, rocking in the chair and arguing with somebody about politics and that at once. So, it wasn’t a big departure. That just was who Jesse was.”

Bruce Prichard on Jesse Ventura’s old-school attitude towards promoters: “Jesse definitely came from the old school. And I think that in life, Jesse kind of looks at things as what’s the true ulterior motive behind whatever you’re doing. If you open the door for Jesse, and things of that nature, ‘Why are you opening up the door for me?’ I think Jesse is a non-trusting person in general and kind of looked at life, especially government, that way. But business and life in general, Jesse was usually looking for — not believing anybody or anything, but what’s your motive and what’s going on here? I think that was just his personality in general.”

Bruce Prichard on Jesse Ventura’s payout for Summerslam going to charity his alma mater: “Well, as far as — I wasn’t involved in the deal. I think Vince reached out to Jesse, first of all, to congratulate him on becoming governor, and Vince is that way. You can have disagreements in the past, but Vince is always the first one to congratulate you when you do something well, or if there’s something going on, ask, you know, how can he help, what’s going on, in your life, or what have you. I think the fact that Jesse was open to that, it opened up dialogue, and there was also other people involved in the political side of things that thought, ‘Well. Jesse Ventura. We’re in Minneapolis. At that time, obviously, the most well known face in Minnesota. Someone pitched the idea. Vince pitched it [to Jesse Ventura], and Jesse liked it. And it really was as simple as that. So, Jesse’s agent, Barry Bloom, became the guy who represented that represented half of the wrestlers for many, many years and so on and so forth, and not very well liked the business. I couldn’t stand Barry when I first met him and had to deal with him. We’ve actually become friends many years later. But it just was business. Hey, we’re in Minneapolis, let’s get the biggest name there. But as far as the money, Jesse being a public figure, all that, was what it was. I don’t think he felt comfortable taking the money and said, ‘Let’s donate it to charity and do a good thing and get publicity on both sides.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Something to Wrestle with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.