It’s been in the talks for about a week or two, but Donald Trump has now been confirmed as the next entrant into the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame class.
Although having his arena host several of the earlier WrestleManias, his most famous connection to WWE is through two storylines. At WrestleMania 23, Donald Trump backed Bobby Lashley against Vince McMahon’s Umaga. The stipulation? Loser gets their head shaved. Bobby would go on to defeat Umaga leading to the infamous moment of Bobby, Trump, and Stone Cold Steve Austin (the referee) shaving Vince McMahon’s head as shown above. The other major storyline involving Donald Trump occurred during the summer of 2009 with the Don buying WWE. He would then sell it back a week later for double the price. Donald Trump will join Bob Backlund, Trish Stratus, Mick Foley, and Bruno Sammartino in the Hall of Fame class of 2013.
Here is the official WWE press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TRUMP TO ENTER WWE® HALL OF FAME
STAMFORD, Conn., February 25, 2013 – WWE (NYSE:WWE) announced today that Donald J. Trump will be a celebrity inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 6, 2013 at Madison Square Garden. Mr. Trump has been a part of WWE’s most popular events and storylines dating back to WrestleMania® IV in 1988 and WrestleMania V in 1989 when he hosted the pop-culture extravaganzas in Atlantic City. In 2009, Mr. Trump “purchased” WWE and then “resold” WWE back to Mr. McMahon a week later for double the price. In his most famous WWE storyline, Mr. Trump challenged Mr. McMahon to a “Battle of the Billionaires” match at WrestleMania XXIII, resulting in an all-time record for pay-per-view buys and Mr. McMahon’s head being shaved at the hands of “The Donald.”
“It was literally the thrill of a lifetime performing in front of 80,000 enthusiastic fans during the ‘Battle of the Billionaires’ match at WrestleMania XXIII,” said Donald Trump, Chairman and President, The Trump Organization. “I’ve always enjoyed and respected WWE’s brand of entertainment and look forward to the ceremony in my hometown at Madison Square Garden.”
“Donald is a global icon whose status brought an unmatched level of publicity and grandeur to WWE,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and CEO.
Mr. Trump is the pre-eminent developer of quality real estate both in the United States and abroad, and has made the Trump brand synonymous with excellence. His portfolio includes dozens of award-winning skyscrapers, hotels, golf courses and clubs. He is an accomplished and best-selling author of over a dozen books including one of the best-selling business books of all time, The Art of the Deal. Mr. Trump is also the star and co-producer of the NBC hit series, The Apprentice, which premieres its 13th season on Sunday, March 3.
Mr. Trump is the latest celebrity inductee entering the WWE Hall of Fame, joining Drew Carey, Pete Rose, Bob Uecker, Mike Tyson and William “Refrigerator” Perry. Other members of the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame Class include Bruno Sammartino, Mick Foley, Bob Backlund and Trish Stratus™.
Click here to view a special WWE video on Donald J. Trump: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7y8XMS9aMs
Rhett’s Retort: Congratulations to Donald Trump as he is one of the truly worthy celebrities to be inducted into the Celebrity Wing of the Hall of Fame. There are few that have had as much interaction with the WWE as Trump has. I say if you’re going to have a Celebrity Wing then he deserves it. What do you think about Trump going in?
