FiveThirtyEight and ESPN Films’ digital shorts series Signals continues today with “Shock The World” which looks at how Jesse Venture went from professional wrestler to Governor of Minnesota in 1998. It was a plot line out of a WWE script: a pro wrestler climbs over the ropes to enter a totally different ring and defeat not one, but two opponents. In “Shock The World,” directed by Zak Knutson, viewers will get a fresh look at how Jesse “The Body” Ventura became Jesse “The Governor of Minnesota” Ventura. Told by the man himself, the story is further enhanced by archival wrestling footage, political analysts and the clever ads that helped him get elected as an independent. Like his idol, Muhammad Ali, Ventura “shocked the world”—and became the people’s champion.Signals is a short film anthology series, available exclusively on FiveThirtyEight, WatchESPN and ABC News, that will explore stories where analytics and data meet compelling political, economic, science, lifestyle and sports narratives. Related features and visualizations on FiveThirtyEight will accompany the films to provide greater context. Signals, which is a project out of ESPN content unit Exit 31, launched October 22 with “The Man Vs. The Machine.” 

Watch the film here: http://53eig.ht/1RnQT5W

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