10 Things We Learned Listening To Jesse Ventura On Steve Austin's Podcast

10. His First Gimmick Was 'Surfer Jesse Ventura'

Born James George Janos, the future Governor of Minnesota established his ring name because he loved the name "Jesse", and wished he was from California. So James took out a map of the west-coast state, found "Ventura" and thought it had a nice ring to it. Jesse Ventura was born.

While working for Bob Geigel (former president of the NWA), Ventura pulled from his time spent surfing in the Navy to create a heel character. The idea was that a surfer would generate heat because people would view him as a beach-bum. 'Surfer Jesse Ventura' was born, hailing from San Diego, California.

Jesse's first match was against Omar Atlas, to whom Jesse would be forever grateful. Omar was given the option to either pin Jesse or allow Ventura to throw Atlas over the top rope causing a disqualification. Omar went with the DQ finish and made Jesse look great. Years later, Vince McMahon would use Omar as enhancement talent and to show his appreciation, The Body would always put Omar over in his commentary.

As Austin pointed out, Jesse was already thinking of the 'show-biz' aspect of pro-wrestling early on in his career and not just the in-ring moves.