Jesse "The Body" Ventura is one of the most recognizable wrestling figures to ever come out of the state of Minnesota, to the point where some people will know him more as a politician than as a wrestler. With that in mind, and the fact that WWE SummerSlam 2026 is taking place in Ventura's hometown of Minneapolis, the WWE Hall of Famer has reportedly been invited to "The Biggest Party of the Summer."According to Wrestlevotes on Fightful Select, WWE has reportedly extended an open invitation to Ventura to attend this year's SummerSlam Premium Live Event. At the time of writing, it is unclear whether or not Ventura would have a role to play on television if he were to be at the U.S. Bank Stadium this weekend, but Wrestlevotes did note that the idea of using Ventura, particularly on the Kick Off show, had been discussed within WWE as of this week.If Ventura was to appear this weekend, it would mark the first SummerSlam event since 1999 that "The Body" has been a part of, with that show also taking place in Minneapolis during Ventura's tenure as the Governor of Minnesota. Ventura acted as the special guest referee for the main event of SummerSlam 1999, which saw Mankind overcome both Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H to win his third and final WWE Championship.Ventura has been back in WWE over the past couple of years, namely as an analyst and commentator for the WWE Saturday Night Main Event shows that were revived in 2024. His last appearance at Saturday Night's Main Event came in May 2025 where was infamously not a fan of the Steel Cage Match between Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest, criticizing the match while on commentary. He was under a WWE Legends deal at that time, but that deal reportedly expired at the end of 2025.Please credit Wrestlevotes Radio on Fightful Select when using information from this article.
