The last night of the Republican National Convention featured a speech from Hulk Hogan, during which the pro wrestling icon would proceed to remove his jacket, tear through his shirt, and yell “Let Trump-o-Mania run wild!”. The crowd went wild. The same night also featured Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, who introduced former President Trump before his nomination.
Why did a wrestler speak during one of the nation’s premiere political events? Part of the answer is that “Trump has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was a child,” says journalist Josephine Riesman. “He really, really respects wrestlers and wrestling promoters.”
Riesman has spent years studying researching the evolution of pro wrestling. She unfolds that history while telling the biography of Vince McMahon, co-founder of the modern WWE, in her recent book Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America (Atria Books, 2023). The book was a New York Times bestseller and was listed as one of NPR’s “Books We Love” for 2023.
The book isn’t only for fans of pro wrestling. It’s also for those new to pro wrestling, who are trying to understand the modern political moment and the rise of Donald Trump. Trump is in the WWE Hall of Fame. McMahon is one of Donald Trump’s closest friends. He and his wife, Linda, are major Republican donors. Linda served in Trump’s cabinet as the administrator of the Small Business Administration.
And in tracking the evolution of the modern pro wrestling movement — and its playful distinction between fact, fiction, and fantasy — Ringmaster a useful lens for the modern Republican Party.
Riesman joins News Director Chali Pittman to unpack concepts like kayfabe and neo-kayfabe, the entanglements between Trump and McMahon, and why Hulk Hogan ripping his shirt away at the RNC was a perfectly logical conclusion for this moment.
About the guest: 
Josephine Riesman is a journalist and essayist, as well as the author of the biographies Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America and True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee. She was a longtime staffer at New York magazine and its culture site, Vulture, and her work has also appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, VICE, The New Republic, and elsewhere. You can follow her on Instagram @josie.zone.
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