It has been more than a decade since Donald Trump last appeared on World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programming as a special guest – but former stars are resurfacing and giving their backing to his 2024 campaign for president.
At this summer’s Republican National Convention, Terry Bollea – AKA Hulk Hogan, the all-American hero – ripped off his shirt to reveal a bright-red Trump 2024 tank top and, in a riff on his own catchphrase, exclaimed: “Let Trumpamania run wild, brother!”
Last week, in a sit-down interview with wrestler-turned-media-personality Tyrus, the former president warned listeners that manhood was under attack and religion was being mocked in the US.
And on Monday, Trump – who recently cancelled a slew of interviews with traditional outlets – traded compliments on an hour-long podcast hosted by Mark Calaway, better known as beloved WWE icon The Undertaker.
“You know what you’ve done? You’ve made politics fun again,” Mr Calaway said.
Listening intently, with his hands clasped and a smile on his face, the three-time Republican presidential nominee approvingly replied: “Yeah.”
It is perhaps an unusual place to campaign in the closing days of a tight US presidential race. But for Trump, the only WWE Hall of Famer ever to make it to the White House, the visual reverberates across social media.
A lot of Americans tune out politics until the tail end of an election year and then “just go with the most recent thing they remember”, said Abraham Josephine Riesman, a freelance journalist and author of the book Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America.
Commenting on the latest Trump media strategy, Ms Riesman told the BBC: “There’s a lot of people who listen to wrestling podcasts, and you’re going to get a lot of people who identify as apolitical or unorthodox.”
