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My favourite Donald Trump story goes like this: in 2007 WWE ran a storyline where company chairman Vince McMahon was killed in a limo explosion. The final shot of the episode was him getting into the car, which then blew up, and the broadcast faded to black. Trump allegedly called the company in a panic to ask if Vince was okay, because he thought the explosion was real.
That man is a candidate for president. He’s already been president.
As funny and weird as that story is, I always had trouble believing it. Trump would never be tricked by a wrestling storyline. After all, his entire life has been one big pro wrestling storyline. He’s a WWE Hall of Famer. He was one half of the “battle of the billionaires” at WrestleMania 23. And now, in a moment almost too stupidly perfect to be true, he’s been endorsed for president at the Republican National Convention by Hulk Hogan, brother.
In case you missed it, Hogan took to the stage at yesterday’s RNC to give a ringing endorsement for Diamond Don. Hogan came on stage to his signature theme song “Real American” – they accept nothing less at the RNC, after all – and ended the speech by tearing his shirt off, only to reveal a second Trump/Vance 2024 shirt underneath. “Let Trump-o-mania run wild, brother!”, screamed the six-time WWE champion, before leading the crowd in a chant of “USA! USA!” It was a spectacle as uplifting as it was dignified, and served as a perfect convergence of both men’s lives and careers.
They’re both former reality TV stars – Trump with The Apprentice, Hulk with Hogan Knows Best. They both rose to prominence in the eighties, making a name for themselves in iconic New York venues: Trump Tower and Madison Square Garden, respectively. They’re both also extremely good friends with former WWE company chairman Vince McMahon – a similarly problematic character who probably deserves his own article.
They’re also both seemingly immune to cancellation. We all remember Trump’s “grab ‘em by the p****” audio leak, which we told ourselves would be the end of his divisive 2016 campaign (spoiler: it very much was not). But Hogan had a similar issue in 2015, when audio tapes surfaced which featured him saying some deeply racist things about his daughter’s boyfriend, including repeatedly using the n-word and even calling himself a “racist” – he later apologised, acknowledging that his conduct had been “offensive” and “unacceptable”. WWE cut ties with Hogan over the incident, but like with Trump, it didn’t stick – just this past January, he was the face of the company’s Royal Rumble event.
Not to mention the fact that they’re both known for, well, let’s say “stretching the truth”. Of course you probably know that Trump likes to exaggerate, and even make things up wholesale, to serve whatever narrative he’s trying to push that day. But did you know that Hulk Hogan was asked to play bass for Metallica? No? Well neither did James Hetfield, the band’s lead guitarist, who when told that Hogan had been going around making the claim responded “Huh? Definitely not”.
Or how about the fact that Hogan claims Elvis was a huge fan of his, despite the King dying in 1977 – well before Hogan became famous. Or there’s my personal favourite: that due to the time difference between the US and Japan, Hogan – who frequently flew between the two for work – once ended up wrestling 400 days in a single year. Yeah. Take a moment to really drink that one in.
It’s a perfect fit. Not just Hogan and Trump, but pro wrestling and politics. In the US, there isn’t really much difference between the two. You know how wrestlers will keep playing their part even when the cameras aren’t rolling, to help maintain the illusion? Like they know it isn’t real, and we know it isn’t real, but we all pretend that it is to help sell the lie? There’s a word for that. In wrestling, it’s called “kayfabe”. In politics, it’s called a “policy position”.
Hogan wasn’t even the only wrestler at the convention. Remember Kane? The Undertaker’s brother? The giant, shambling Jason Voorhees knock-off who wore a red leotard and never spoke? Well his real name is Glenn Jacobs, and he’s currently the Republican mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. Fun fact: despite wearing a mask for much of his career, he came out as staunchly against face coverings during the pandemic – and despite his character being mute, he never shuts up about it on Twitter.
This has all been known for a long time, though. If you’ve seen the 2006 film Idiocracy, in which a future version of Earth is populated entirely by idiots, you’ll remember that a big part of the plot revolves around the fact that their president is a pro wrestler. Why? Because people like big, stupid spectacles. I should know, I’m one of them. Sure, we’re not quite at the stage where we’re electing the wrestler himself – he’s just making a key speech at a major party conference – but if you ask me, it’s close enough.
And don’t think we’re immune to it here in the UK. Sure, we didn’t have Big Daddy come out and endorse Keir Starmer for PM, but remember when Boris Johnson did his little zipline stunt a few years ago? Or how about Ed Davey’s grand Center Parcs tour during the recent election campaign?
People like Nigel Farage, Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch have pretty much made careers out of acting like classic wrestling heels. “You may not like me, but I’ll make you love me” is wrestling bad guy 101. All Jacob Rees-Mogg needs is a pet snake and a valet and he’s set to take on Cody Rhodes at next month’s SummerSlam.
As a huge wrestling fan and politics nerd, let me be the first to say that I hope the two stay far apart from one another. One is a violent, dangerous spectacle performed by conceited maniacs for the pleasure of a braying, bloodthirsty mob, and the other is professional wrestling. Is that too obvious a joke? Maybe, but Trump is probably going to be president again soon, so I guess big, obvious jokes are back in vogue.
Hopefully this is the last time politics and wrestling come quite this close to one another. Although if the news is to be believed, the Rock has hinted that he might run for president soon; so don’t rule anything out just yet, brother.