10 Compensations Wrestlers Accepted As Payback
9. Jesse Ventura - Commentary Rights
Few wrestlers ever dared to ask Vince McMahon the big questions during their time on his payroll, but Jesse Ventura wasn't like most other wrestlers.
Famously the one wrestler keen on unionisation in the 1980s (before Hulk Hogan ratted him out), 'The Body' was a man that knew his worth long before he was forced into retirement. Pivoting effortlessly from in-ring action to the commentary table in order to preserve his aura, Ventura had more on his mind too. Knowing how he'd feature prominently on every show he called, Ventura then parlayed that into a Hollywood career, then took that confidence and defeated the chairman in the courtroom after an acrimonious 1990 split.
After learning about how others in various fields were able to claim royalties for old works, he took the company to court for unpaid ones on the countless tapes that featured his voice. Various fees were paid from the case and after the fact, though McMahon rather cynically silenced his takes on much of the archive footage in the years that followed.