Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton is historic for many reasons. But here’s one thing you may not know about the President-elect. He’s set to become the first Body Slammer in Chief.
Yup. There has never been a president who has appeared in a WWE event — until now.
In fact, Trump is even a member of the WWE’s Hall of Fame.
The WWE web page for Donald Trump describes him as “a captivating billionaire who has gone into battle in both the boardroom and the squared circle with equal aggression” and “the most charismatic and famous businessman in America.”
Trump was also lauded for hosting two WrestleManias at the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. Trump even participated in WrestleMania 23 in 2007 — a so-called “Battle of the Billionaires” with WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon.
Trump won, and shaved McMahon’s head in the process. (I hope that’s not how Trump plans to deal with Enrique Peña Nieto if the Mexican president balks at building that wall on the southern border of the United States which Trump always talks about.)
That wasn’t all either. As part of the made-up story about their rivalry, Trump wound up “buying” the WWE in 2009 and subsequently “sold” it back to McMahon for a big profit. It’s important to remember that the WWE bills itself as “sports entertainment” … which is code for scripted.
Joking aside though, it does seem that investors in WWE are excited about Trump.
Shares of WWE are up nearly 7% in the past week — a bit more than the broader market. It’s not clear why the WWE is gaining this much though. It’s not as if Summer Slam is going to be held at the Rose Garden of the White House, right? Right?
But the WWE has been quiet about Trump’s win. That’s an atypical reaction for a company that’s famous for being a bombastic hype machine.
There have been no celebratory tweets or Facebook messages on the official WWE social media accounts.
The WWE did post a congratulatory message on its Facebook page in June 2015 after he officially entered the race. But there hasn’t been anything else since then.
There’s also been nothing new from Vince McMahon on his personal Twitter feed since last week. Ditto for his kids Stephanie and Shane — who are both involved in the business.
Heck, Trump’s WWE bio page still hasn’t been updated to reflect his big win. It merely describes him as “running for President of the United States.”
What gives? Here’s one possible reason for the radio silence.
There are rumors that Trump is considering naming Vince’s wife Linda, a Republican who ran for Senate in Connecticut twice and lost, as secretary of commerce. She was defeated by Richard Blumenthal in 2010 and Chris Murphy in 2012.
The WWE was not immediately available for comment about this speculation and its history with Trump in general.
A spokesperson for Linda McMahon said that “if asked to serve in any capacity” by Trump, she “would be honored to do so.” But the spokesperson added that Linda McMahon has not been contacted by Trump.
But Linda McMahon did tweet a congratulatory message to Trump on Tuesday night.
So will WWE stock continue to fly high like a wrestler jumping off the top turnbuckle? That’s not clear.
The recent rally has pushed WWE stock into positive territory for the year. The stock had been held back by investor concerns about slowing subscriber growth for its on-demand, streaming WWE Network.
There has also been on and off chatter about WWE potentially being a takeover target for another media company. It’s not clear if the McMahon family really would want to sell though.
Still, getting back to the chatter about Trump naming Linda McMahon to his Cabinet, would it be any surprise that one of the most unconventional President-elects ever would wind up making a pick that could be viewed as a bit off the beaten path too? No.
Editor’s note: The current version of the story reflects the fact that Linda McMahon did send a congratulatory tweet after the election.
