Jesse Ventura has alleged that the only reason that US President Donald Trump received a WWE Hall of Fame induction was because he stopped an investigation against former Chairman Vince McMahon, claiming it to be of a sexual nature.
Ventura appeared as a guest on Piers Morgan Uncensored on March 25, where the former Governor of Minnesota’s previous interaction with Trump was brought up. A clip played of Ventura interviewing Trump at WrestleMania 20 in 2004, which took place in Madison Square Garden in New York. Ventura stated that the US “may need a wrestler in the White House in 2008.”
When Morgan asked Ventura about the clip and Trump being inducted into the Hall of Fame, leading to the following response from the former WWE wrestler and announcer:
“I feel that simply I was doing my job, I was doing what I was asked to do at the WWE. Trump being a hall of famer is a tragedy. This guy has never been in the ring. I’ve got a good friend, Ken Patera, Olympian, first man to overhead press 500 lbs, 25 years in the wrestling business. Kenny Patera is not in the Hall of Fame. Donald Trump does not belong in the wrestling Hall of Fame. He never earned it. You know what I had to do to get in the pro wrestling Hall of Fame? At one point in my career, I wrestled 63 consecutive nights in a row. That’s how you get in the Hall of Fame.
“When I was referring to putting a wrestler in the White House, I was talking about me, not him. Absolutely, I was the former governor of Minnesota. I’m the only real former wrestler, I don’t include him. He’s only in the Hall of Fame because he stopped an investigation against Vince McMahon, of sexual stuff.”
Donald Trump WWE Hall Of Fame Induction Fact Check
Although Ventura made the aforementioned allegation against Trump and McMahon during the interview, the US President’s induction occurred back in 2013, 3 years before Trump was elected for his first term. Additionally, the induction took place 9 years before McMahon retired from WWE for the first time after hush money payments were discovered in 2022.
Although the investigation concluded in 2025, there has been no evidence to state that Trump being re-elected President led to this decision. Since the re-election, Trump has also appointed Vince McMahon’s wife Linda as the United States Secretary of Education.
It should be noted that even though the first investigation against McMahon concluded, the former WWE Chairman remains a defendant in 3 lawsuits. The 2024 lawsuit filed against McMahon and WWE by Janel Grant accuses McMahon of sexual misconduct and trafficking, which led to McMahon’s second resignation. McMahon is also a defendant in the lawsuit filed by the survivors of the Ring Boy scandal, and by shareholders of WWE who believe that the terms of the UFC merger to form TKO were unfair.
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