WWE Hall of Famer Tells How Vince McMahon’s Odd Decision Turned Out Really Well

WrestleMania is undoubtedly the biggest annual fiesta in the world of pro wrestling. Every year, Vince McMahon and his team work really hard in making it the most eye-catching event. Whether it is WrestleMania 18 with Hulk Hogan facing The Rock, or WrestleMania 30 with ‘The Deadman’s streak ending, WrestleMania has always been highly successful financially and ranking-wise.

However, there are also many poor-rated WWE events as well. The fake Donald Trump vs Rosie O’Donnell in 2007 was a strange segment for many of the WWE fandom. Recently, legendary commentator Jim Ross talked about the controversial imposter match and the second highest-grossing WrestleMania event.

Jim Ross On The Cringeworthy Imposter match

Talking on the Grilling JR weekly podcast, the former WWE commentator discussed the most infamous WWE event in 2007, with interviewer Conrad Thompson. As a build-up to WrestleMania 23, on January 8th, Vince McMahon‘s company introduced imposters of comedian and pop culture icon Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump, as they were feuding in real life because of different political standpoints.

On the podcast, the interviewer brought up the segment that is long viewed as one of the worst in WWE history, and how the audience disliked it and chanted “TNA” during that segment. Later, in WrestleMania, WWE brought the real Donald Trump, and it became one of the most successful pay-per-views.

About that turn of events, Jim Ross said, “Yeah, it was kind of flat. It was flat in the context that it turned out as you said, amazingly well financially, attendance wise, all those measurables. But it didn’t look like it had a lot of momentum jumping out of the box.”

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Nevertheless, Ross added that the brand of WrestleMania is what sells the most in the end. “WrestleMania is just… that word just exudes must-see. And they have Trump, they’re advanced in the hair thing. And you know, all those issues. It was pretty cool. I thought it was going to be big, but I didn’t know that’s gonna be as big as we did it. And it certainly didn’t start off big,” ‘Good Ol JR’ added.

How WWE Turned the Tables With Vince McMahon Vs Donald Trump

The Imposter O’Donnell vs Imposter Trump fight was one segment that did not resonate well at all with the fans. While their extremely different viewpoints and verbal altercations entertained America, portraying them in a very contemptible light in WWE was an awful move.

But, for WrestleMania 23, WWE brought the real Donald Trump for a feud with Vince McMahon. The chief attraction for the fans was to see who would lose the match and their hair between these long-time billionaire buddies.

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In the match, Bobby Lashley represented Trump, and Umaga fought for McMahon. Also, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin was among the referees. The WWE CEO lost the match and his hair. But needless to say, in the end, as Jim Ross said, everything turned out successful for WWE financially.