10 Terrible WWE Ultimatums From Vince McMahon
9. Jesse Ventura
The employment status of pro wrestlers as independent contractors has always been controversial since it allowed the promotions to withhold medical insurance, retirement, and other benefits from the wrestlers. While most continued to debate, one Jesse "The Body" Ventura decided to do something and tried to rally the WWE wrestlers to form a union in 1986.
He gathered the wrestlers in the locker room before WrestleMania II and gave an impassioned speech about the importance of unionisation. While Ventura ensured no agents were around during the meeting to prevent the information from reaching Vince McMahon's ears, the boss eventually found out about it. It wasn't until his lawsuit against WWE in 1994 that Ventura found out that his colleague Hulk Hogan was the one who ratted him out to McMahon.
When McMahon found out about Jesse Ventura's attempts to form a union, he called him the next day and threatened to fire him if he didn't stop what he was doing. While the attempts stopped, the relationship between Ventura and McMahon became rocky, to say the least. When the latter tried to deceive him by having him waive his rights to royalties on videotape sales under false pretenses, Ventura took McMahon and WWE to court and won a $800,000 settlement.
However, despite the tension, Ventura did return to WWE television and made several sporadic appearances over the years, including the recent Saturday Night's Main Event.