4 WWE Superstars who are currently elected politicians
A few former and current WWE Superstars are now elected politicians in the United States and Canada.
Several superstars have turned to politics over the past few years. For example, WWE Hall of Famer Jesse Ventura pursued a career in politics after retiring from in-ring action in the mid-1980s. In 1991, he was elected Mayor of Brooklyn Park and remained in office for four years. Five years after leaving office, Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota. He served for four years before leaving office in 2003.
Meanwhile, a few other superstars currently hold governmental positions in the United States and Canada after getting elected in the past few years. Two of these wrestlers are now mayors.
Here are four former WWE Superstars who are currently elected politicians.
#4. Matt Morgan
Matt Morgan joined WWE in 2002 after participating in Tough Enough that same year. He spent nearly three years in Vince McMahon's company, during which he shared the ring with superstars like John Cena, Brock Lesnar and The Big Show.
Morgan left WWE in 2005. He then competed in several other promotions, including IMPACT Wrestling (FKA Total Nonstop Action Wrestling), before retiring from in-ring competition in 2014.
Three years after his retirement, Morgan pursued a career in politics. In November of that same year, he defeated Mark Weller to become the newly-elected District 4 City Commissioner of Longwood, Florida. The former WWE Superstar served as Deputy Mayor from November 2018 until May 2019. The City Commission then elected him as Mayor of Longwood, where he served until September 2020.
In an interview with TV Insider in 2020, Morgan disclosed why he decided to pursue a career in politics:
"I hated politics and politicians to be clear. I would argue I maybe still do. You pull back that curtain and see who makes these decisions in your city and community. That’s when I started to really see what could happen if I was an elected official. At the same time that was happening I hit up all my neighbors telling me I should run for county commission. I didn't even know at the time. I'd been on the road for 15 years away from my family. Now that I’m at home and paying close attention to who makes the decisions — the commissioners making the decisions in Longwood, I needed to put my hat in that. That’s how it all started," he said.
Although he is no longer the city's mayor, Morgan is still the elected District 4 City Commissioner.
#3. Rick Steiner
Rick Steiner (AKA Robert Rechsteiner) spent only two years in WWE, alongside his brother Scott, between 1992 and 1994, during which they won the Tag Team Championships twice. The 61-year-old also competed in several other promotions, including WCW, ECW, and IMPACT Wrestling.
Steiner was an active in-ring performer until 2019. He last competed when he teamed up with Kazushi Miyamoto to defeat Heatseekers at a Tokyo Championship Wrestling event in September 2019.
Meanwhile, the former WWE Superstar is a member of the Republican Party. He is currently an elected member of the Cherokee County Board of Education in Georgia, representing District 4. He also serves as the Board's Vice-Chair.
Steiner's son, Bron Breakker, is currently an active competitor on NXT. The Vice-Chair of the Cherokee County Board of Education recently appeared in WWE for the first time since 1994 to celebrate his son's first NXT Title win last January. The former Tag Team Champion will now enter the WWE Hall of Fame this year, alongside his brother.
#2. WWE Hall of Famer Kane
Kane (AKA Glenn Jacobs) is one of the greatest superstars in WWE history. He joined Vince McMahon's company in the mid-1990s and performed regularly for nearly two decades, during which he won several titles, including the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship.
However, the 54-year-old has become a part-timer in the past few years after deciding to pursue a career in politics. In March 2017, he announced that he would be running for the mayoral seat of Knox County, Tennessee, representing the Republican Party. The Big Red Monster then won the Republican primary election and the general election to become the current mayor of Knox County.
In an interview with USA Today, the WWE Hall of Famer disclosed why he decided to get into politics.
"I've always been somewhat interested in government and politics. As I got older, I realized how much influence and power government has over us. And that’s true not only of federal governments – when people think about running for office, they always, first thing, [think] congress – but how much control state and local governments has. We can see that in our own lives. I've had some tremendous opportunities in my life, and I think the reason for that is, growing up in America, this is the land of opportunity. I would think 'what can I do to ensure that my kids and my grandkids, and everybody else's, would have those kind of opportunities?' Really that’s kind of why I got into this whole deal with politics, and again, I think a lot can be accomplished at the state and local levels," Kane said.
The Big Red Machine also revealed that working in WWE has helped him in his new career, stating that he has learned several lessons from being in show business.
"Treat people like they matter. Because they do. That's the view I took in WWE. The fans are the people paying my bills. My wife put it in perspective for me one day over lunch. I'd just gotten off the road, and I was tired, and people kept coming up and wanting pictures, and I was starting to get frustrated, like 'Why can't these people just leave me alone?' Crystal, my wife, said, 'What you have to understand is that because you're on TV, meeting you is a pretty exciting thing for a lot of people.' I realized that it's not about me—it's about them. And I could put on a smile and be nice for two minutes, and give those folks a good experience. Politics is the same way. People are important and all too often, they aren't treated that way," he told Esquire in 2020.
Kane last competed in WWE in January 2021, when he participated in the Men's Royal Rumble Match. He entered the bout at number 18 and lasted for almost two minutes before getting eliminated by Damian Priest.
#1. Raymond Rougeau
After competing for nearly a decade and a half in different promotions, Raymond Rougeau joined Vince McMahon's company in 1986. He regularly competed for about four years before stepping away from in-ring action in 1990 to become a French-language color commentator.
Rougeau left the company in 2002. Since then, the Canadian has become an active politician in Rawdon, Quebec. A few months ago, the 67-year-old was elected mayor of Rawdon.
In an interview with As It Happens, the former WWE Superstar spoke about the similarities between professional wrestling and politics.
"There are some parallels. I mean, the wrestling ring was a lot of wear and tear on the body. In politics, your body is OK, but you get attacked on different levels, you know? You have to have a layer of protection," he said.
Rougeau returned to Vince McMahon's company in 2017, becoming a French-language color commentator once again. Nevertheless, he left the company in 2021.