WWE Hall of Famer Jesse Ventura gave an interview to Chris Van Vliet and here are the highlights courtesy of ChrisVanVliet.com…

His relationship with WWE today: “My relationship with them has improved a lot. We are just about to do it. I can say that the contracts have been written and agreed upon. And all it takes are two signatures, one from them and one from me. And I will come back with the legends deal.”

The fact that Vince McMahon is no longer there is the main reason for his return: “Yeah, very much so. I think since they merged with Ultimate Fighting (UFC) and are now under one roof, they’re much more of a mainstream company that’s easier to deal with because they’re more open. There’s no need to hark back to the old days of wrestling, for lack of a better term, slavery. Because, you know, in the old days of wrestling, you really were slaves. I don’t know, I got a big compliment the other day. Barry Bloom, my former agent, who I introduced to Vince, I was the first wrestler to get Vince an agent contract. And I heard Barry was on a podcast and said that all these contracts that these guys are getting today owe Jesse Ventura a thank you. Because if it wasn’t for him, they wouldn’t have gotten them.”

His relationship with Vince before Vince left: “I always admired Vince. I was at the point where I wanted to quit wrestling. We’re talking 1983. I had saved up enough money. I had opened a weight lifting gym here, Ventura’s Gym. It supported me and gave me what you needed in wrestling at that time. And I’ll be completely frank, this is a podcast, it’s ‘fuck you’ money. So that you can say ‘fuck you’ and walk away. Well, the gym did that for me. It gave me an advantage. If they treated me badly back then, it was OK, I kept running my gym. And we made ends meet, my wife and my kids, the gym supported us. So I was at the end of my means. So when I made the final move from the AWA to the WWF back then, I did it knowing full well that that was it. I just said, ‘Vince, I want you to guarantee me six years,’ and he did, because I was almost exactly right at 84-90. Six years before he fired me.”

Why he didn’t come back: “Vince and I weren’t completely hostile. He just couldn’t have me around. Because I’m the proverbial stallion who’s outside the pen. He has to have everyone in the pen. That’s why I got fired. I owned the rights to Jesse “The Body” Ventura. I had registered them with the U.S. government and Vince wanted them. I said: No, Jesse Ventura belongs to me. If you want them, you have to negotiate with me. And he couldn’t do that because he owned them all. So I called it slavery. I felt a little like Prince.”