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Jesse "The Ref" returns to the ring |  |
Published August 22, 1999
Before 19,404 roaring fans and a worldwide audience, Gov. Jesse Ventura spent his off day on Sunday moonlighting in his former line of work.
Ventura safeguarded the cause of law and order as he refereed the main event at the World Wrestling Federation's SummerSlam at Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.
It was an evening filled with behemoths bruising each other with chairs, road signs and impossibly inflated forearms. The action in one match even spilled out of the arena, crossing 7th Street and ending up on the pool table of a nearby bar. There were cages, body slams, morality plays, happy reunions, mock tragedy and the turnover of four championship belts.. That plus blaring music, pyrotechnics that rocked the floor and light shows accompanying the wrestlers' journeys to the ring.
And then at 9:20 p.m., Ventura strode down the aisle, waving to the fans as he was announced as the guest referee for the contest among WWF champion Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Triple H) and Mankind.
Despite his vow in July to get back in shape, Ventura was sporting what appeared to be an ample midsection.
As he entered the ring, he grabbed the microphone and shouted:
"Let me tell you something. There's a lot of media saying I'm a disgrace for being here. But let me tell you, I'm proud I'm a wrestler, and I'm proud I was a wrestler and I'm proud to be here." The crowd roared its approval.
An often-profane Ventura slipped easily back into his bad-boy image as he took control of the match. For example, when Chyna tried to interfere in the match, he threw her out, telling Triple H to "get her ass out of the ring."
Later, when Shane McMahon, son of WWF owner Vince McMahon, tried to butt in, Ventura said, "Don't you come out here and tell me shit." He later grabbed McMahon by the face, swung him around and hoisted him over ropes, throwing him to the floor. Leaning over the ropes, Ventura looked at McMahon, crumpled on the floor and shouted, "That's one for your old man, you little bastard." Despite the fact that it was Vince McMahon who asked Ventura to come back into the ring, he and Ventura have been longstanding enemies ever since Ventura successfully sued the McMahon and the WWF.
That was the highlight of the match, eventually won by Mankind, who was declared the new champion.
Ventura's hands-off approach continued after the event. Triple H, enraged that he was denied the championship, used a folding chair to smash Austin's injured knee. Six referees ran up to the ring to try to stop the mayhem, and the crowd sensed that this was a buildup for Ventura to come back and restore order. But Austin slid underneath the ropes and onto the floor and the action ended without the guest referee reappearing.
So did the event live up to a hype that drew 78 media representatives? Depends who you talked with. Some observers felt the main event lacked some of the spark of other WWF buildups. Often, the combatants of a championship match will spend a few minutes whipping the crowd into a frenzy with some choice comments. That wasn't the case Sunday.
"Wrestling has lost its purity," John Pint, 20, of Minneapolis, said after the match. "This was nowhere near Wrestlemania Three in the Pontiac Silverdome."
Mike London, 16, White Bear Lake, felt Ventura "didn't play much of a role." But he was not disappointed and thought the whole evening had been "too hyped."
And besides, Ventura was the referee, not a combatant. "If he would have started to wrestle," said Dave Johnson, 23, of Shoreview, "it would have been stupid. He kept his cool."
The governor had drawn criticism after it was announced in mid-July that he would participate in the WWF event. Many critics felt he was compromising the dignity of the office. Ventura responded with a comment that was repeated in a prematch video Sunday night: "Just because I'm the governor doesn't mean I'm going to stop having fun."
Ventura was paid $100,000 as an appearance fee, money that he pledged to start two charities. Wrestling sources indicated that other moneys the governor receives from licensing fees and percentages on residuals and future video sales of the event could put his take over $1 million.
-- Staff writer Patricia Lopez Baden contributed to this report.
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