By Brian Hoops, Nostalgia Specialist

With election day this week, it is only fitting that we look at some prominent professional wrestlers who became politicians. Let me know if there are others who I have missed in this assessment.

Bob Backlund: Backlund was an accomplished collegiate wrestler at North Dakota State University, where Backlund won a Division II NCAA Championship at 190 pounds in 1971. Backlund was trained for a professional wrestling career by Eddie Sharkey and made his debut for the American Wrestling Association in 1973. After working for the AWA, Backlund started to travel the United States working for the National Wrestling Alliance in its various territories . Backlund signed with the then WWWF in 1977, where he would achieve he greatest fame. In 1978, Backlund defeated Superstar Billy Graham for the WWWF World Heavyweight Title. Backlund would hold the title until Vince McMahon Jr. purchased the company and was ready to embark on a national expansion. McMahon signed Hulk Hogan away from the AWA and had the Iron Shiek defeat Backlund on December 26, 1983. The Shiek would lose the title to Hogan in January of 1984. Backlund would leave the WWF and wrestle for the AWA and the Pro Wrestling USA group before leaving wrestling completely. Backlund returned to the WWF in 1992 and eventually challenged Bret Hart for the WWF World Heavyweight Title at the 1994 Survivor Series. Backlund defeated Hart by submission, when Hart's brother Owen threw in the towel for Bret, extending their feud. Backlund was only an transition champion as he would quickly lose the title to Diesel (Kevin Nash). Backlund ran for Congress in his home state of Connecticut on the Republican ticket in 2000, however he was defeated.

B. Brian Blair: Blair was trained for professional wrestling in 1977 by Hiro Matsuda in Florida. Blair started working in the Florida territory and also worked in the Texas and Kansas City territories before signing with the WWF in 1982. Blair continued to work other territories, before Vince McMahon signed him as part of the national expansion effort to an exclusive contract in 1985. Blair was teamed with Jim Brunzell as a tag team called the Killer Bees. Brunzell and Blair were a popular tag team that was always in contention for the WWF World Tag Team title, however they never won the belts. Blair left the WWF in 1988 and wrestled for several territories and independents before retiring. In 2002, Blair ran for and lost a seat for the County Commission, however Blair ran again in 2004 and was elected County Commissioner for the Hillsborough County. In 2008, Blair is running for State Representative of Florida.

Rick Steiner: One half of the famed Steiner Brothers tag team, Steiner reached most of his career success as a tag team with his brother Scott. Steiner wrestled for the University of Michigan and placed fourth in the NCAA championships. Steiner entered into professional wrestling soon after and wrestled briefly for the AWA and the UWF before ganing most of his success in the NWA/WCW. Steiner wrestled as a member of the Varsity Club before teaming with his brother Scott. Rick and Scott would hold the NWA

World Tag Team Championship on one occasion and the WCW World Tag Team Titles on six separate occasions. The Steiner Brothers would also wrestle in the World Wrestling Federation and would hold the tag team titles twice. After semi-retiring from professional wrestling, Steiner ran unopposed as a write in candidate in 2006 for the Cherokee County (Georgia) school board for post 5.

Nikolai Volkoff: Volkoff began wrestling for the WWWF in 1970 after being trained for wrestling by Stu Hart. Volkoff wrestled for the WWWF, the AWA, Mid South Wrestling in the 1970's before finding his greatest career success in the WWF in the 1980's. Volkoff and the Iron Sheik teamed up to defeat Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda at Wrestlemania 1 on March 31, 1985, however they lost the titles back to Windham and Rotunda three months later. Volkoff and the Iron Sheik split as a tag team and Volkoff wrestled mostly as a singles competitor until teaming with Boris Zhukov in 1987 as The Bolsheviks. Volkoff finished his career in the independent scene as well as making sporadic appearances for the WWF. Volkoff ran unsuccessfully in the 2006 Maryland Republican Primary for State Delegate in District 7 in Maryland.

Ludvig Borga: Borga, real name Tony Halme, achieved most of his success in his wrestling career for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he was a one time IWGP Tag Team Champion with Scott Norton. Borga briefly wrestled for the WWF from July, 1993 through January, 1994. Borga was programmed to feud with Lex Luger and headlined the 1993 Survivor Series as part of the "Foreign Fanatics" with Yokozuna, Quebecer Jacques and Crush against Luger, the Undertaker and The Steiner Brothers. Halme ran as an independent candidate in the parliamentary elections of 2003. His share of about 17,000 votes was the 7th highest in the Helsinki parliamentary district.

Jesse Ventura: "The Body" is the professional wrestler who undoubtedly achieved the greatest political career after wrestling. Ventura began wrestling in 1975 and wrestled for several territories around the country before settling into the AWA in 1979. Ventura teamed with Adrian Adonis that year and became the hottest heel tag team in the territory. They won the AWA World Tag Team Champions in 1980 and held the belts for eleven months before losing the belts to Jim Brunzell and Greg Gagne. Ventura left the AWA for the WWF in 1984 as part of the WWF's national expansion. Soon after, Ventura developed blood clots in his lungs and was forced to quit wrestling and became a broadcaster for the WWF. Ventura had a falling out with the WWF in 1987 over videotape royalties. After leaving wrestling, Ventura acted in several movies as well as doing professional football radio announcing for the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Following his departure from the WWF, Ventura ran for mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota on the independent Party ticket. Ventura successfully beat the city's 18-year incumbent mayor and served from 1991 to 1995. Brooklyn Park is the sixth largest city in the state of Minnesota. Ventura was also an announcer for WCW from 1992-1995. In 1998, Ventura ran for Governor of Minnesota as the nominee for the Reform Party of Minnesota (he later joined the Independence Party of Minnesota when it broke from its association with the Reform Party of the United States of America). Ventura won the election in November 1998, narrowly defeating the major-party candidates, St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman and Minnesota Attorney General Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III.

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