Some people in wrestling have instantly recognizable voices. The likes of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and even Jim Ross have all become go-to impressions for wrestling fans, and after Jesse "The Body" Ventura signed a new legends deal with WWE, he found out one member of the roster can do an impression of him. That man is former NXT Champion Karrion Kross, who opened up about performing it in front of the veteran on "Insight with Chris Van Vliet."
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"I was concerned he was going to feel like it was patronizing. If I had a guy sit in front of me for two hours doing me, I'd be like, 'Do you want me to throw you down the stairs? Let's go.' I lost the nerve to do it longer than I did in front of him. But then also, the little kid of me was alive and well being in front of him."
After losing his nerve toward the end, Kross immediately told his brother what he had done, who obviously wanted the details. However, Kross ended up opening up to his brother about how authentic and refreshing Ventura was in person.
"I was telling my brother, there's something about him for me personally that's refreshing, because he's like authentically unapologetic," Kross said. "Especially with media nowadays, being in front of a camera is sometimes, for a lot of people, like walking through a minefield. To just be honest and just to say what you're thinking and to say what you're feeling, you're not sure there's always this dark cloud or concern that it's going to bother someone. Jesse Ventura does not care at all."
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Kross' impersonation of the WWE legend is one of his more popular party tricks. That said, how did the Final Testament leader learn how to do it in the first place?
Some people don't even know that they have the talent to replicate someone else's voice, and Karrion Kross was one of them. During them aforementioned interview, he explained that the Jesse Ventura impression came from him simply mimicking the wrestlers he watched on TV while watching as a kid.
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"Watching wrestling as a kid, my friends and I would all sit down in front of the TV and we would just do impressions of everybody whenever they were on TV. It was just like a thing we put into practice just to pop each other in the room. And it was something we were always able to do. I've always notoriously been the guy with my close friends, if you happen to not pick up my call, you're getting an insane voicemail from somebody. It might be Macho Man, it might be Jesse Ventura. I don't know, it's not planned. It's just there."
The only other person who is known to have a good Ventura impression is actor and lifelong wrestling fan Will Sasso, who's been known to do it during interviews. However,the question of who does it better between Kross and the actor is yet to be answered. Ventura, meanwhile, returned to the WWE fold following Vince McMahon's exit from the company, and he believes that it's in a healthier place these days.
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Please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
