MR. TITO: Wrestling Mixed with Politics, Triple H’s Relations with Donald Trump, and Mick Foley’s WWE Departure
NBA legend and “greatest of all time” (G.O.A.T) Michael Jordan once said, when pressed upon throwing support against Senator Jessie Helms and in favor of his Democrat opponent Harvey Gantt, that “Republicans buy sneakers, too”. While Jordan made private contributions to Gantt’s campaign, he didn’t make any public appearances for the campaign or make any public signs of support. As further explained during the The Last Dance from 2020 that aired on ESPN and is still available to watch on Netflix (strongly recommended), Jordan explained that his focus was on being the best basketball player that he could be for the paying fans who were watching him.
Compare that to the NBA right now… Since the turn of the 21st century, the league and its players, often on their own from podcasts, interviews, or their social media, are very open about their politics. In fact, top stars, such as Lebron James, or top coaches, such as Greg Popovich or Steve Kerr, are very outspoken and lean politically a specific way (pro-Dems). While I’d argue that the NBA peaked when Michael Jordan was around and nobody, including Lebron or Kobe, has been able to top or replicate that act, a good argument could be made that politics has “ruined the league” and has been a contributing factor to the league’s decline, especially in the last 5 years with massive declines in business.
While Women’s pro leagues have never been successful, historically, as proven by the WNBA’s inability to ever turn a profit, the WNBA has been a very political league with its players being quite outspoken for their causes. While I’m 100% for believing in first amendment rights, consumers also believe in where they place their dollars. Even with Caitlin Clark presenting mainstream appeal to its doorsteps, it has encouraged many players to step up their politics with a bigger spotlight on the league. Many fans gave the WNBA a chance when Clark joined, but have since left.
The NFL stepped into the same political issues that the NBA had during the 2010s with the Colin Kaepernick kneeling “controversy” but then the same political protests through the early 2020s. NFL, however, pivoted, and quieted down the league rhetoric once viewers started to drop… In turn, the past 3 years have been big boom periods for the NFL.
In my opinion, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is very political with a hard slant to the right side and President/CEO Dana White is very outspoken about his political beliefs. While the fanbase has been very loyal to UFC, I believe that its growth has been stunted because UFC has this political slant. While having an event on the White House lawn is a major get for any league or association, it’s WHO gave it to them and HOW it was obtained that will probably limit UFC to interesting just HALF of the country at best.
Which brings me to WWE…
To Vince McMahon’s credit, you didn’t openly know his politics until the late 2000s when his wife, Linda McMahon, began trying to run for Senate as a Republican in the state of Connecticut. Vince McMahon loves money and he’d rather have 100% of voters paying to watching his WWE events rather than just 50%. However, once Linda ran, the McMahons were exposed for heavily supporting one side. Then, Vince was obviously going to support his longtime friend, President Donald Trump, during his 2016 Presidential run and then Linda McMahon became a cabinet member for the first Trump administration. Getting involved with Saudi Arabia has a lot of politics involved, as well.
Compare that to today’s WWE showrunner, Triple H. During 2025, HHH has openly visited the White House for photo opportunities with President Donald Trump multiple times and is joining fitness initiatives. While I’d argue that “any publicity is good publicity” and anytime a sitting President invites you to an event, you go… We didn’t see Triple doing any events with Joe Biden, for example, when HHH was in charge from mid-2022 through late 2024. Compare that to WWE during the 2008 election when they were trying to give voices to every presidential candidate available. The political tone for the WWE as a company and its executives has changed since the late 2000s.
At the recent Saturday Night’s Main Event on Peacock, which was also John Cena’s retirement match, fans in the arena BOOED Triple H loudly after the match once they saw that HHH walked down to ringside. They then booed HHH hard when he hugged John Cena as well. Then, the online hatred came as everyone was upset not just with the SNME finish where Cena lost or tapped out, but for the 2025 year in general from Cena’s heel run to Jey Uso being overpushed to the unavailability of the Rock and Roman Reigns.
Yet, as I argued in a recent column, before mid-2022 when Triple H took over Creative and Talent Relations, all we heard, especially during the 2010s, was that Vince McMahon was “senile”, “a micro-manager”, or his creative was “obsolete”. In fact, many blamed Vince McMahon for mowing through many arguably talented NXT call-ups with bad creative. That’s all we heard with Vince McMahon as the showrunner during most of the 21st century, but also what we saw with declining viewership, attendance, and merchandise sales to reflect Vince’s woes. IN FACT, during the 2010s, many who enjoyed the NXT promotion suggested that Triple H should be handed the reigns to the WWE ship. Heard that repeatedly, too. Then, we heard lots of LOVE for Triple H’s 2022-2024 work with the WWE and he was showered with praise.
2025, however, has been a bit different… The chorus of anti-Triple H sentiment keeps getting louder and louder, even though his creative and talent management from 2022-2024 made the WWE better than it has been in YEARS. Combine TKO’s corporate meddling with how The Rock came and went, the blame seems to be oddly on Triple H’s shoulders. I’d probably argue from a presentation standpoint, when HHH does post-event interviews, he sounds too corporate with his answers and I think that puts a few people off as well.
Still, if you asked me if I’d rather watch 2025 WWE versus ANY year from 2004 through 2021, I’d take 2025. Better show production, more wrestlers are getting opportunities, better storylines, and I’d strongly argue that the PLEs of 2025 have been great versus a sluggish PPV/PLE schedule that Vince McMahon booked. HHH seems to put less effort into RAW and Smackdown while placing more effort into the PLE events. I’m 100% OK with that, as I gave up watching full episodes of RAW or Smackdown years ago in favor of Hulu’s condensed versions or YouTube/Social Media clips. Sorry if you’re enduring RAW or Smackdown and it sucks, but maybe you should adjust your viewing schedule, too, in order to enjoy a better WWE viewing experience that commands LESS of your time. RAW and Smackdown have become infomercials for PLEs.
But I have to wonder… Has Triple H’s personal politics ruined his image with WWE fans?
I think it has… The thing that has shocked the Endeavor folks, who purchased the WWE during 2023, is how different the UFC fanbase is versus the WWE. While UFC is pro-right-wing, pro-Trump, and pro-MAGA, the WWE tent is more inclusive of all groups of people from many different backgrounds. TKO has repeatedly tried to market UFC events to the WWE, but it has been very unsuccessful with that cross-promotion. Not only are they apples and oranges as professions, as one is scripted entertainment versus the other being a legitimate combat sport, but their world views are different. The way that Dana White has tried to run UFC was gravely different from what Vince McMahon tried to do.
I think that Triple H’s big mistake, during 2025, is to follow the path of Dana White and I think that has helped WWE fans change their perception of him. Things like higher ticket prices, forcing them to pay $30 for ESPN+, the loss of Rock’s involvement, and the many, many sponsorships have been scapegoated towards Triple H as if all of that were his responsibility. No, he’s only “Chief Content Officer” in charge of Creative and how Talent is used. The Rock is a TKO Board of Director who can participate when he chooses or pleases. WWE President Nick Khan and TKO’s management group and board are the ones deciding ticket prices, sponsorship opportunities, and are the ones signing deals with Netflix, NBC/Universal, and ESPN+… NOT Triple H!
But I think that the heat aimed towards Triple H during 2025 is partially due to his open affiliation with President Trump. Remember from the 2024 election, Donald Trump won 49.8% of the vote while his opponent Kamala Harris won 48.3%. Thus, half of the country voted against him while half of the country voted for Trump. As 2025 winds down, however, the average approval rate of Trump is around 42% (according to Real Clear Politics) with several recent prominent polls appearing in the mid-30s. As Trump’s popularity wanes, so does the popularity of his open supporters like Triple H?
Let me give you a few more examples… Chris Jericho and The Undertaker.
Before 2020, nobody knew what Chris Jericho’s politics were. Then, during 2020, it was revealed that he made multiple donations to Donald Trump’s campaigns. All good, as that’s his right and his decision where to spend his well-earned money… However, when he got into several fights with online fans or other personalities who disliked his AEW work, suddenly his political positions became more exposed. Then, Jericho did the concert at the Sturgis motorcycle event during August 2020 which lacked any COVID-19 protocols and many link this event for spreading around 250,000 cases of the coronavirus afterward. Many were put off by Jericho’s very friendly podcast with Donald Trump Jr. On top of that, Chris Jericho’s wife and mother-in-law were at the Trump rallies on January 6th, 2021. There’s no evidence that either one went to the capitol, but both were pictured as being in Washington, DC that day. Point being, Jericho’s politics began to define a part of him versus just being an entertainer.
For the Undertaker, he tried to stay in-character and avoided interviews while he was a wrestler through April 2020. In fact, you could look up his political donations, which were always pro-GOP, they didn’t become an issue because he didn’t do interviews or podcasts to explain his politics. Now, however, in his retirement and doing the podcast rounds, you definitely know his politics. In fact, Undertaker and Kane had Donald Trump on their podcast before the 2024 election and a very friendly one at that. Is it a coincidence that Undertaker has been taking hits from online fans ever since? Look at how much he’s getting bagged for getting his wife, Michelle McCool, more involved in WWE shows or getting her that Hall of Fame spot for 2025. McCool has always been involved with WWE in some capacity, so why rip on the Undertaker now? Oh yeah, Undertaker’s politics are now widely known and that upsets half of the WWE audience.
Kane or Glenn Jacobs has been much more outspoken and even ran for office as a Republican and is highly supportive of Trump and the MAGA movement. In turn, he’s taken darts from wrestling fans and other wrestling personalities, such as longtime friend Jim Cornette who helped land Kane in the WWE, since becoming very open with his politics.
I’d even argue that The Rock has taken his own darts for his politics. For the 2024 election, he opted to not endorse anyone and made that publicly known. Yet, during 2020, he had zero problems endorsing Joe Biden publicly. Through late 2024 and early 2025, you began hearing the stories about the Rock being difficult on the sets of various movies such as pissing in a bottle on-set or being frequently late on filming days. Coincidence?
Seems like I’m suggesting that wrestling fans are having problems with Republican or pro-Trump wrestlers or personalities, but wrestlers tend to lean pro-GOP due to being independent contractors and having to personally see how much they are being taxed by the government. Thus, I’d argue that most top pro wrestlers lean to the right just to have their taxes lowered, no matter what the other issues are or may be. If you polled most of the wrestlers, you’d probably find that most were in support of the 2025 “Big Beautiful Bill” that made Trump’s 2019 tax cuts permanent instead of expiring after 2025.
Which brings me to Mick Foley, who has informed the WWE that he no longer wished to make any public WWE appearances for the time being. He said, and I quote “I no longer wish to represent a company that coddles a man so seemingly void of compassion as he marches our country towards autocracy” and further added “While I have been concerned about WWE’s close relationship with Donald Trump for several months — especially in light of his administration’s ongoing cruel and inhumane treatment of immigrants (and pretty much anyone who ‘looks like an immigrant’) — reading the President’s incredibly cruel comments in the wake of Rob Reiner’s death is the final straw for me.”.
That part about “while I have been concerned about WWE’s close relationship with Donald Trump for several months” has me puzzled… Yes, what was said about Rob Reiner’d death was un-presidential and well beneath the office, but words set you off? Not the bombings of boats near South America or seizing an oil tanker without any authorization of force from Congress? Not the bizarre handling of Russia and Ukraine’s “peace negotiations”? Not the desire to flatten the Gaza Strip to create hotel resorts? Not the mishandling of the economy with tariffs and the 1.2 million announced job cuts for 2025? Not the aggressive use of force throughout our country? It took a lack of empathy for the brutally murdered Rob Reiner, and his wife, to cause you to walk away from the WWE?
But hey, opportunity knocks… If anything, I applaud Mick for being opportunistic because it’s keeping the spotlight on the ignorant thing said about Rob Reiner by the president. All Rob Reiner did was express his first amendment right and nothing more… Nobody deserves to be murdered for that, and that includes Charlie Kirk, who was sadly assassinated, and also the close call in Butler, PA last year. Hell, NOBODY deserves to be killed for their religions, either, which has also been in the headlines lately. What Trump said about Reiner was wrong and further proven to be wrong by the arrest of Rob’s son, Nick, who killed both of his parents and not due to his dad’s politics. Yet, when given a second chance to show ANY ounce of empathy when asked about it later, Trump doubled down on what he posted about Reiner.
For Foley, he’s a saver of money and as the kind folks from the NoDQ Review suggested, he’s in a better position to speak out politically because he has a lot of money in the bank and should be OK without doing WWE events. Many current WWE wrestlers do not, which is why most are quiet about politics. Undertaker is rich, too, as a long-time WWE employee and his politics are shared by most TKO brass and Triple H, so he’s protected from stating any political views. If you’ll notice, CM Punk has been very quiet about his personal politics since joining the WWE.
I’m sure Foley can find autograph signings, though opportunities could be less limited if WWE has any exclusive deals with various Comic Convention events. Foley, though, was a master at rubbing nickels together and I’m sure his back account is loaded. He has other talents, too, like public speaking or writing as a NY Times best selling author.
But for Triple H… Maybe he’s getting too chummy with the President, and I think in-turn, Trump is using HHH’s star power to push his agenda. That’s what I think many WWE fans are seeing and that could be translating into giving you LESS credit for literally improving the WWE since 2022.
WWE should be in shambles after Vince McMahon’s NDA scandals came out during 2022 and then the Janel Grant lawsuit making details public during early 2024… Yet, Triple H was the one who walked the WWE out of that darkness and actually made it better in addition to keeping thing stable. Attendance and merchandise sales, EVEN WITH HIGHER PRICES, are way up during Triple H’s tenure with Creative since 2022. That’s just a fact and he deserves much more credit for that. I’d also argue that Rock pulling back his WWE availability for 2025 caused various creative pivots and back-up plans to be hatched. In my opinion, John Cena’s retirement tour was a success and has made for an exciting 2025 overall for the WWE. HHH deserves a ton of credit for this.
WWE, NFL, NBA, and other pro sports or entertainment leagues are like ESCAPES FROM REALITY for many, along with TV and Movies. When politics are mixed into any of those, rebellions happen.
While WWE does play into political themes and stereotypes, they usually keep within the babyface vs. villain theme in which the villains “get theirs” in the end. Vince McMahon was the corporate heel during 1998-1999 against the “everyday man” Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Bloodline from 2020-2024 had nothing to do with politics, as it was a heel group lusting over championship gold in the WWE. While Hulk Hogan and Jim Duggan waved the American flag, they just did it because they were babyfaces and often had to wrestle foreign adversary heels.
Now, when the WWE does take it too far with political storylines, they pay for it royally. For example, the 1990-1991 Desert Storm storyline with Sgt. Slaughter. How about Muhammad Hussan? I thought their tantrum over Parents Television Council (PTC) went too far with the Right to Censor (RTC) group though Stevie (or Steven) Richards did a great job leading that group. Jack Swagger’s “We the People” stuff was stirring up emotions, too, and caused the WWE to pump the brakes.
Wrestling fans need an ESCAPE, just as sports fans and TV/movie fans do too. Life is HARD… Paying for homes, cars, utilities, food, and other necessity expenses is stressful and maintaining a good paying job for pay for that stuff is as well. Not everyone can “just move”, and when you add kids to the picture, you have dependents that rely on you. Even if you have a good paying job and your bills are paid, sometimes that job isn’t fulfilling to you personally. Working daily in a cubicle or a plant while executive management treats you like a like child or takes you for granted can cause depression or anxiety, no matter what you’re paid. Been there, done that… I’ve had well paying jobs, but felt marginalized for my efforts now matter how successful I was or made money for the company. On the flip side, things can be even more difficult with only low paying jobs available and working in a toxic or depressing environment.
Thus, many people NEED THE ESCAPE with entertainment or sports… For decades, it has been WWE for many wrestling fans and for the most part, they didn’t have to hear about direct politics while watching the show. This year, however, we’ve seen Triple H hanging out in the White House multiple times and even advertised on WWE shows. Then, we hear about the WWE wanting President Donald Trump to attend John Cena’s final match at WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main event on 12/13. What Trump probably didn’t want was 19,000+ fans booing at him as they did Triple H following the John Cena loss to Gunther.
For many, politics involving the participants in wrestling, TV/movies, sports, or even music doesn’t matter… After all, how can you avoid it? People are allowed to have their own political opinions and support their own candidates. For example, a thick majority of the NFL owners are major backers of Republican candidates and Donald Trump. Jacksonville Jaguars owner, Shad Khan, father of AEW’s President/CEO Tony Khan, is a big Trump supporter and had donated lots of money to his campaign. Most unions, including the NFL, tend to support the Democrat Party. Thus, you already have this built-in political structure within the NFL that is unavoidable whenever a new deal between the NFL and the NFL Players Association needs to be struck.
For you as a fan, it depends on your attitude… You could just ignore the political rumblings and just focus on the games, matches, shows, movies, or the music itself. If you’re able to do that, for example in the WWE, then you can look past Triple H’s politics and Vince McMahon’s personal transgressions to enjoy the wrestlers they employee or the matches on a WWE event. As one wrestler once put it, the promoters book the match, but once the match is in the ring, the match belongs to the wrestlers (even when the promoter tries to micro-manage the match via yelling into the referee’s ear).
The late great comedia Bill Hicks used to have a rant about musicians doing drugs and if any fan had a problem with drugs, then they should “go home tonight, take all your albums, all your tapes, and all your CDs and burn them” arguing further that artists who made the best music of our times were “rrrrrrrrreal high on f’n drugs!”. The latter half the Beatles career was literally drug induced and the music was fantastic. Am I encouraging the use of drugs? No, I’m as anti-drug as they come… But when I need to listen to good music, I’m going to find separation for my own beliefs versus what sounds really good on a CD.
Both Triple H and Mick Foley have given me DECADES of entertainment… So why should I get personally offended when either one gets political? I can just not watch Triple H hanging out with Trump, just as I don’t have to read Mick Foley getting very political in his 2nd autobiography book. I can just ignore it… And if Triple H’s politics really offended me, along with WWE’s personal involvement with Saudi Arabia, I can just turn off their events. In fact, I think that I have maybe watched 1 or 2 Saudi events while choosing not to watch the others.
Mick and HHH’s politics haven’t stopped me from going back and watching each guy perform… Neither man has done anything illegal by taking a political view or stance.
What I think is going to happen for the next few years is that WWE is going to decline… John Cena gave the WWE a massive boost in the arm for 2025, especially with Rock and Roman continuing their disappearing acts, but now Cena is gone. Without Cena, it’s the same old crew that we’ve watched for the past few years… Part-time Roman or Lesnar, Corporate CM Punk, same old Seth Rollins, and call-ups from developmental that are just OK with many 2010s NXT call-ups, who were damaged by Vince’s creative tenure, still lurking around. The OVW and FCW guys are getting long in the tooth and WWE just doesn’t have the youth movement to replace the quality that will retire soon. Nobody on the current roster is as good as John Cena, even in his late 40s. He had the right mix of personality, mic skills, in-ring talent, and charisma.
Thus, with the WWE losing star power, even more blame will be heaped towards Triple H’s way… Which is why, I think, that Triple H’s tenure has peaked and within a few years, he’ll retire soon or TKO will reduce his responsibilities. I think that 2025 and the changing negative fan reaction to Triple H will begin to make the TKO corporation THINK about a future without HHH. TKO is a corporation and all corporations are sensitive to analytics. Online feedback is an analytic that saturates many corporate models.
I don’t believe Triple H deserves the 2025 hate that he’s receiving. Why? His 2022-2025 stuff was tremendous and FAR BETTER than the WWE we’ve seen from 2004-2021 under Vince McMahon’s micro-management. Secondly, TKO executives and its Board deserve a ton of blame for injecting corporate micro-management into the WWE especially during 2025 with excess sponsorship and price gouging. Third, Roman Reigns and the Rock have the leverage to be part-timers and cause agreed upon plans to be changed with short notice. In my opinion, the Rock really screwed up Wrestlemania 41 and could have handled things better on his end instead of creating too many loose ends from 2024 and early 2025. And we all know that Rock will definitely be wrestling at Wrestlemania 42 in Saudi Arabia, count on that. Money talks with him.
BUT, again, Triple H chose to become increasingly involved with the Trump administration. Thus, he’s potentially created a negative perception for about half of the fanbase and now, a WWE legend like Mick Foley no longer wants to be associated with the WWE brand that made him (at least until early 2029).
Triple H maybe should have listened to Michael Jordan’s advice, though I really believe HHH is doing this stuff to plant seeds for what’s coming next. Not Triple H’s involvement with politics, but I believe Stephanie McMahon is going to do something soon, politically. He’s getting in good with Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party to help facilitate her run for Senate someday to avenge what her mom, Linda, tried earlier. Stephanie is a better talker than Linda and I believe she an sway a blue state, like Connecticut, to give her a chance. With McMahon + Trump/MAGA influence, Stephanie could easily win a political office.
It’s my opinion that some of the creative angst aimed at Triple H is due to his open political affiliation and involvement, and it has built from there. We didn’t hear these boos or calls for HHH to be replaced during 2022-2024, for example, but the tone has changed during 2025.
Maybe WWE fans are angry about Jey Uso being overpushed during 2025, including making Gunther tap out. But then again, who was buying up all of that Jey Uso merchandise to cause that World Title change?
So what do you think is up with WWE and politics lately, along with Mick Foley’s choice to leave the WWE? Comment below, if you will, and be nice.
I hope that you enjoyed this different type of wrasslin’ column… Thanks for reading!
Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ