How Hulk Hogan Ruined Wrestling Unions, Explained

Professional wrestling is a rough, rough business to be a part of and this was especially true before the globalization of the sport. Thankfully, in recent decades, WWE has made great strides in terms of the welfare of the employees, and being a professional wrestler today counts as a career, and not a struggle, as was the case in the olden days. The very nature of this business is cutthroat, even today but back then, wrestlers were barely treated as human beings.

Jesse “The Body” Ventura presented a young Chris Jericho with three important pieces of advice when the aspiring professional wrestler asked him for some veteran guidance. According to Ventura, if you decided on becoming a professional then you had to accept the fact that you will constantly be in pain.

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Secondly, despite being one of the most physically and mentally exhausting jobs on planet earth, you would need something to fall back on once the ride was over, and finally, it was not about how much you made but how much you saved.

Wrestling Is Still A Cutthroat Business

That perfectly encapsulated the sad state of professional wrestling back when Ventura was competing and the man himself knew that for the athletes to have any sort of future, the business needed a union. The executives had all the say while the athletes themselves went through the motions and barely made anything to show for themselves.

Around the time of WrestleMania 2, Jesse Ventura raised his voice about a union for wrestlers, and before his fellow wrestlers in the locker room, Ventura said that unless union negotiators would come in, they would not be wrestling. Moreover, the future governor said that if they could get the people in Charlotte, North Carolina (Jim Crockett Promotions) to join their cause then they would have even more of a chance of actually establishing a union.

The minutes of this informal meeting leaked out and the very next day, Vince McMahon called Ventura, read him the riot act, and threatened to fire him. Ventura stuck around for WrestleMania 2 and then went on to film movies and unfortunately, the talk of a wrestling union fizzled out and Ventura himself backed off, citing that he was not going to fight for the rights of people who were “too stupid” to fight for themselves. However, in 1991, Ventura got to know the real reason why his attempt at unionization failed.

In 1991, Ventura sued the parent company of the promotion, Titan Sports, when he learned that Vince McMahon had lied about the wrestlers receiving royalty payments on videotapes sales and while he won the lawsuit, the bigger story coming out of the proceedings was the role of Hulk Hogan in the union rally of the 1980s.

During a deposition, Vince McMahon admitted under oath that Hulk Hogan had snitched on his fellow wrestlers in 1986 and he came right away to Vince McMahon and informed him about Ventura trying to get people together to form a union and McMahon acted accordingly, averting the formation of a union.

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According to Ventura, the bitter revelation felt as if he was punched in the mouth as he considered Hogan a close friend. Hogan had his own interests and while the rest of the wrestlers were struggling to make ends meet, Hogan was taken care of by Vince McMahon and any attempt of unionization would have led to Hogan losing out on a very comfy job, hence his need to sabotage Jesse Ventura. After this, Hulk Hogan was the mortal enemy of Jesse Ventura, and rightfully so.

Hogan Was Not Going To Risk His Position

Jim Cornette, during a question session on his podcast, said that Hogan was worried about his position and figured that what was good for wrestlers as a whole was going to be bad for Hulk Hogan himself since his position in the industry was secured.

Hilariously, Hogan’s own daughter, Brooke questioned why professional wrestling had no union and a quick Google Search told her that her father was responsible for the attempts coming to fruition. In one hilarious clip, Brooke Hogan started this particular topic and the reporter pounced on the chance only for her to dodge the question and move on, claiming that she had no idea.

Hulk Hogan was a huge superstar but the great hero of the 1980s was quite the politician backstage. He ensured his place at the top of the mountain by ruining careers one by one but turns out, the Hulkster buried the entire roster in one fell swoop when he felt his own position was in danger.

He truly outdid himself with that one.