WWE history: Stone Cold Steve Austin gives the US President Donald Trump a stunner
The backstory
Back in 2007 (well before he became the President of the United States of America), Donald Trump, a real estate magnate who was worth a billion dollars, was involved in a feud with another billionaire, Vince McMahon, the CEO and Chairman of WWE. The feud was billed as "The Battle of the Billionaires" and it came to a head at WrestleMania 23, where the two men had a WWE Superstar in their corner.
The late Umaga, who was the Intercontinental Champion, represented McMahon and the then-ECW Champion Bobby Lashley represented Trump. The match was under a Hair vs Hair stipulation, meaning that if either wrestler lost, Trump or McMahon would have their hair shaved off bald. Stone Cold Steve Austin served as the special guest referee of the match.
Stone Cold Steve Austin stuns Donald Trump
Donald Trump was involved in some of the greatest and most iconic moments in WWE history. He is friends with Vince McMahon in real life and the two are very successful businessmen. The two feuded for a while on TV and it was to be settled at WrestleMania 23. Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was the special guest referee of the match, helped Lashley win, which led to Vince's head being shaved bald.
After that, Austin celebrated with beers before shockingly hitting Donald Trump with his Stone Cold Stunner finishing move. Fans in attendance went wild and it was a memorable sight. In an interview with Complex, Austin revealed how Trump was convinced to take the stunner by McMahon:
"Vince says to me, ‘Steve, I’m going to see if I can get Donald to take the Stunner,'” Austin said.
“I said, ‘you think?’ He says, ‘Oh yeah, it’ll be great, it’ll be great.’
“He goes up to Donald and says, ‘Hey Donald, this is Stone Cold Steve Austin.’
“I shook Donald’s hand. He goes, ‘Listen, I want to know if after the match, when everything is done, if Steve could hit the Stone Cold Stunner on you.’
Donald says, ‘You think it’d be a good thing?’ and Vince goes, ‘Oh, of course, it would be. It would just blow the roof off the place.’
“And Donald’s right-hand guy was saying, ‘No, no, no! You don’t need to do this, we got other things to do!
“He’s trying to talk him out of it.
“And Donald says to Vince, ‘You think it’ll help?’ and Vince goes, ‘I promise you it’ll help.’
“And Donald says, ‘OK, I’ll do it.'”
Austin admits that the move didn’t look great, but it got the desired effect.
“It wasn’t a picture-perfect stunner,” Austin says, “but I give Donald Trump a hell of a lot of credit for being a man.
The aftermath
WrestleMania 23 wasn't the last time we saw Trump in WWE though, as the current US President made more appearances for the company, and in 2009, he kayfabe bought Monday Night Raw, and ran one of the episodes commercial-free, and the crowd in attendance were given their money back after the show ended. Vince eventually (kayfabe) bought Raw back soon after. Trump is now the President of the United States of America and Vince is still the owner of WWE.
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