It was 1988, a year after the iconic Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant match at WrestleMania III in Pontiac, Michigan. There was a record 93,000 fans on hand to see that match. The following year, Hogan vs. Andre remained at the forefront of wrestling fans’ minds. But the Hulkster had lost the title and was looking to regain it. So a tournament was settled upon with Hogan and Andre the marquee names.
That year the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) moved its venue to New Jersey, namely Trump Plaza for WrestleMania IV. At this point Donald Trump was a flashy millionaire known for his casinos and properties in New York and New Jersey. Similarly, the owner of the WWF, Vince McMahon had a similar background. He was a somewhat flashy millionaire (years away from developing the evil “Mr. McMahon” character) who owned a wrestling company. The two were similar in many fashions. Trump’s property hosted the event.
Eventually both Hogan and Andre were knocked out of the tournament and the new face of the company “Macho Man” Randy Savage won the heavyweight title.
Hosting WrestleMania was not out of the ordinary for Trump who had hosted numerous boxing matches at Trump Plaza the year prior.
Trump was at ringside and very visible throughout the show.
Fast forward a year, the WWF decided to return to Trump’s property for WrestleMania V. The primary storyline that year again involved Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage in an event that was dubbed “Megapowers Explode”. Hogan and Savage had teamed up for a time but by this point their friendship had ended and their feud culminated at this event.
Once again Trump was on hand hosting the event that saw Hogan once again victorious and reclaiming his title belt.
At that point the pro wrestling world didn’t see Donald Trump directly again for several years. The word “directly” is important. Because in 1991, one of the guest celebrities for WrestleMania VII was Marla Maples. That was Trump’s second wife, they married in 1993. This event was a couple years before that but the year after he ended his first marriage with Ivana Trump.
At that point the WWF started to shift its business model away from Hulk Hogan into other stars like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and eventually Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. But Trump did not return for several years. In fact it wasn’t until 2007.
In 2007 the most memorable storyline involving Trump arrived. Vince McMahon was around a decade into his “Mr. McMahon” character of an evil billionaire. He was known for firing people on camera. Coincidentally that’s what Trump was known for on his NBC show “The Apprentice” when he would regularly utter his famous phrase “you’re fired”.
So WWE brought in Trump to feud with McMahon in their “Battle of the Billionaires”. At first it was unclear what was entailed in that battle, we eventually found out both McMahon and Trump would select a wrestler and there would be a match between them. Trump chose star Bobby Lashley and McMahon chose the wrestler Umaga. Two of the most powerful and feared wrestlers in the company. But that wasn’t all. To raise the stakes in the match the two men put something on the line that may have been as important to them as their money, their hair. Whichever billionaire lost would have their head shaved. Both McMahon and Trump’s hairlines were famous, and the thought of going bald was unthinkable.
Prior to the event in the most grandiose fashion possible WWE held a press conference. Often times wrestling press conferences only draw in wrestling centered media and maybe a sports journalist or two. But that year there was a huge amount of mainstream press to see what happened with Trump. And to raise the stakes even further WWE brought in arguably their most popular star of all time to be at the center, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Austin would serve as guest referee.
At the WrestleMania press conference McMahon was over the top as he’s known to be, threatening to fight Trump. But they saved that for the actual WrestleMania event.
The event finally happened and both Trump and McMahon were at ringside cheering on their respective wrestlers. Then things turned physical.
Toward the end of the match Trump walked around the ring to approach McMahon and tackled him. Then Trump started wailing on McMahon, with fists flying into his skull. It’s a video clip that has recirculated time and again since Trump entered politics.
But the spectacle wasn’t over. Eventually Lashley (Trump’s wrestler) beat Umaga (McMahon’s wrestler). So McMahon was forced to lose his hair. Trump, Austin and Lashley held McMahon down in a barber’s chair and shaved his head bald.
But even that wasn’t enough. Following that as a defeated McMahon walked away up the ramp Austin, in classic fashion cracked some beers with Trump and Lashley. And then Austin gave Trump his famous “Stone Cold Stunner”. Laying a future President reeling in the middle of the ring.
Fast forward two years, Donald Trump showed up again on WWE television. In 2009 Trump “purchased” WWE from McMahon. This was of course part of the storyline and within weeks McMahon was able to buy his company back.
However, WWE wasn’t finished with Donald Trump. In 2013 the company inducted Donald Trump into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame. One quote of note came out of that ceremony as McMahon introduced both his longtime friend and nemesis.
“When you think about it, second only to me, Donald might very well be a great President of the United States,” said McMahon. Keep in mind this was two years before Trump even announced he would run for President.
And the wrestling relationship didn’t end after Trump entered politics. Linda McMahon, Vince’s wife and former co-owner of WWE was tapped to head up the Small Business Administration in the Trump cabinet. The McMahon’s remain close financial backers of Trump’s political campaign. Going Ringside had documented the close tie between politics and pro wrestling on Episode 6.