The World According To Wrestling podcast is back with a third episode this week and explores Donald Trump’s involvement in wrestling. It asks whether the US President used wrestling a dress rehearsal for his political run, looks at how his character was written and what impact he left on wrestling.
The guests in this episode include former WWE writer Court Bauer, Sam Adonis (who wears Donald Trump on his attire in Mexico), wrestler and columnist Heather Bandenburg and Dave Meltzer.
The episode is available to download from today on iTunes and all other podcast platforms. Here are some highlights from this week’s show:
Court Bauer, a former WWE writer, on Trump’s time in WWE:
“He’d have some hostile crowds that would reject anything that was not pro wrestling and, just like his time running for office, you couldn’t rattle him in that environment, which was interesting looking at the parallels.”
“As a wrestler, your objective is to take these people in attendance, these viewers, and convert them into whatever you are selling by the message you are putting out there. And they are either going to need to cheer for you or boo for you by design. You need to figure that out and it’s the art of manipulating a crowd.
“So, the qualities, the DNA is so similar in both the running for office and being a politician and being a pro wrestler. Essentially it is a popularity contest and it’s trying to send a message that you are the hero, the saviour, the white knight in shining armour or you’re the dastardly villain. And obviously in politics you’re trying to position yourself as hope. You’re the guy that’s going to save the day. It’s a lot of bravado and those qualities are evident in pro wrestling no matter what league you watch.”
On a “Roderick McMahon” storyline being scrapped after the Benoit tragedy:
“I always think what could’ve been because we were gearing up to do something with Vince’s little known brother Roderick. His family was going to come in the following week and be part of the funeral for Vince McMahon and I was always pushing that I would love to get another side of the McMahon family involved with WWE. I think it would’ve been fascinating because people forget that Vince has a brother and I think that that story would’ve been amazing. How Vince the tycoon he is, the ruthlessly aggressive guy, you know, took over the family business. His poor brother, what happened to him? And now there’s a refresh on the McMahon dynasty and all of the rivalries and stuff you could tell now, all of these new stories that are there because Roderick has children that you could play with in this setting. But that was all scrapped when the Benoit family tragedy happened so…it’s one of those stories like a lot of wrestling. What could’ve happened.”
Sam Adonis on why he added Trump to his attire:
I’ve always had the same character. A sort of very over-the-top bad guy villain. Almost to the point where I think I’m the coolest guy on earth but everyone else thinks I’m some kind of a fumbling idiot. But last year we had a pay per view where I represented the United States and I was trying to think of something cool for my gear because I always buy new gear for big shows and I just thought “oh I’ll get a picture of Donald Trump on my tights” and that one picture created such a controversial stir up, that I would’ve been stupid not to run with it.“
Donald Trump’s involvement in wrestling is looked at in depth on The World According To Wrestling podcast, available on iTunes now.
