WWE Wrestlemania Features Trump
The Donald Puts His Hair on the Line Against Vince McMahon
Wrestlemania, the yearly centerpiece of WWE's sports entertainment, has always featured celebrities. This year, Donald Trump wagers his hair against CEO Vince McMahon
In 1985, professional wrestling graduated from the fringes of pop culture to its mainstream via the presentation of the first pay-per-view event, Wrestlemania. The centerpiece of the presentation that changed grappling's fortunes had as much to do with the emerging youth culture epitomized by MTV as it did with the old-school stylized violence. Pop star of that day, Cyndi Lauper was involved in one of the events of that first Wrestlemania, the main match of which made a household name of Hulk Hogan who, for better or worse, would carry the industry on his coattails for the next decade.
Other celebs that night included Liberace, Billy Martin, Muhammad Ali and Mr. T, who wrestled alongside Hogan in the featured attraction. Since that first, wildly profitable pay-per-view, the annual Wrestlemanias have featured celebrities from entertainment and sports such as Lawrence Taylor, Regis Philbin, Alice Cooper, Burt Reynolds, Mike Tyson, Tommy Lasorda, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Pamela Anderson and Pete Rose.
This year's edition will feature rapper Ludacris and legendary singer Aretha Franklin (a natural choice given this year's locale of Detroit), but the celebrity buzz for Wrestlemania 23 is the contrived match between Donald Trump and Vince McMahon, a proxy match actually wrestled by Bobby Lashley (Trump's wrestler) against Umaga (McMahon's). The stipulation that is garnering the mainstream media attention is the stipulation that one of the two billionaire's will have to be shaved bald if their wrestler loses.
This came about serendipitously after Trump and Rosie O'Donnell began to feud publicly several months past. McMahon seized the opportunity to lampoon their enmity in a series of skits, and apparently Trump decided to join in on the fun for real. Since there is no doubt that this outcome, as all wrestling exhibitions, is scripted, all signs point to a shaving for Vince. Trump would have little to gain from agreeing to do the deed, and money clearly isn't a motive for him. It would not be surprising to see him get involved physically to some extent though. Trump-ites - have no fear! The comb over appears to be safe for the foreseeable future.
Pro wrestling has always been about theater, first and foremost. Wrestlemania 23 will be no different in that regard, but this edition will certainly receive much more mainstream publicity than any other since the inaugural production.
