Director Bryan Storkel has confirmed that a major part of Jesse Ventura’s interview was cut from Netflix’s Hulk Hogan documentary, which covered his claim that Hogan reported his attempt to unionize the WWF to Vince McMahon. However, according to the documentary filmmaker, it wasn’t cut for shady reasons but simply because Ventura agreed to participate late, and the story’s inclusion wouldn’t have fit the flow and was considered “too much of a tangent.”
“And then, after Hulk Hogan passed, he came through and said he wanted to do it. You know, when Hogan died, it was kind of the end of an era. It made me feel really mortal. We did cover the whole union story, and you know what went down with Hogan and Jesse when Jesse was trying to form the union, and somehow, unfortunately, that got cut. It was hard to fit into the episode because it was chronological, and it felt like too much of a tangent. But I wish I could have covered that.” – Bryan Storkel
Wrestling’s unionization history is littered with blackballing and betrayal, unlike Mexico’s lucha libre scene, where wrestlers have been unionized under SNL since the 1950s and are tied to CMLL. This has provided some pensions and protections, though critics label it a company union weakened by infighting and limited power. In the U.S., attempts by Jim Wilson in the 1970s and later by Ventura’s drive have failed amid independent-contractor status, promoter retaliation, and superstar self-interest, leaving wrestlers without collective bargaining despite bearing the industry’s physical burdens.
