Donald Trump tweeted this video Sunday morning of his 2007 Wrestlemania performance, but this time with a twist.
#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017
Yes, that’s him beating on a CNN avatar, the cable news network he rails most against.
Naturally, one of his surrogates got on one of the Sunday shows and insulted your intelligence and mine by not calling a spade a spade after delivering a deer-in-the-headlights performance while watching the video.
NEW: Homeland Security Adviser Thomas Bossert on Trump's CNN tweet: "No one would perceive that as a threat. I hope they don't." #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/BfrWWt7buM
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) July 2, 2017
Bossert claimed that “no one would perceive that as a threat” which is an interesting way to interpret a video someone on top of someone else throwing punches at an avatar of a cable news network, but here we are.
CNN has also since responded.
CNN statement responding to the president: "We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his." pic.twitter.com/Gn1YRA2DRG
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 2, 2017
But no matter how you interpret the video, there’s a part of that match that Trump likely would like you to forget. It’s him selling (if you can call it that) the Stone Cold Stunner, which is among the greatest finishing moves in all of pro wrestling.
Oh are we doing rasslin GIFs online this morning pic.twitter.com/wRighlF84y
— jason (@JasonKirkSBN) July 2, 2017
It’s a move that works primarily because of the way it’s sold by the stun-ee. Compare Trump’s performance to some of these.
And of course, the best to ever sell it: The Rock.
As the story goes, Trump agreed to be stunned before the match, and didn’t have a ton of time to prepare for it.
"[It] wasn't the greatest Stunner in the world, but I give Donald Trump a lot of credit and respect for doing something like that that he didn't have to do," Austin said. "I had no idea back then that he would be a candidate to be president of the United States."
The connections with professional wrestling is something Trump has not in any way shied away from. His hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey is the only venue to host Wrestlemania in two consecutive years, he’s in the WWE Hall of Fame and he made Vince McMahon’s wife, Linda, a member of his cabinet as the head of the Small Business Administration. The McMahon matriarch was herself president and CEO of the business side of WWE as well as performing in-ring at times.
And therein lies yet another wrestling connection, because she also poorly sold a Stone Cold Stunner.