What’s the story?
In a recent interview with Complex, WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin revealed the story behind the ‘Stunner’ that he had delivered to current US President Donald Trump back in 2007.
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The incident occurred at WrestleMania 23 right after the ‘Battle Of The Billionaires’ match between the late Umaga and former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley, who were representing Vince McMahon and Trump respectively. The match had a stipulation that the billionaire whose representative lost would have to get his head shaved and Austin was the special guest referee.
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Lashley managed to pick up the win and combined with ‘Stone Cold’ and Donald Trump to ensure that the WWE Chairman walked off the ring with a bald head. Even as he was celebrating with Trump in his trademark ‘beer-sharing’ fashion, ‘The Texas Rattlesnake’ picked out an opportune moment and hit him with the ‘Stunner’, much to the crowd’s pleasure.
The heart of the matter
Austin narrated the entire episode around how Vince McMahon convinced Donald Trump starting with introducing the latter to him and asking him straight up if he is fine with receiving a ‘Stunner’ after the match. Trump asked McMahon if it would be a good thing and he replied that it would blow the roof off the building.
‘Stone Cold’ added that Donald Trump’s right-hand guy was trying to convince him not to agree as they had other things to do. However, Trump decided to go ahead with it when Vince claimed that it would be of great help. This is what Steve Austin was quoted as saying:
“Vince says to me, ‘Steve, I’m going to see if I can get Donald to take the Stunner, ‘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, ‘Okay, I’ll do it’.”
Reflecting on the moment, Austin gave credit to Donald Trump for agreeing to get ‘stunned’ by him and said that he respected him for it. He claimed he never says that he gave Trump a ‘Stunner’ when he watches him give a speech on TV because he feels that they were just doing business. He was quoted as saying this:
“It wasn’t a picture-perfect stunner but I give Donald Trump a hell of a lot of credit for being a man. He was a stand-up guy, he was there to do business and we did business, so I respect the man for that. If I see him giving a speech on the TV, I don’t think, ‘Hey, I gave this guy a stunner.’ We were doing business and we did business. The fact that he is going to be the next President of the United States, it’s a hell of a story.”
What next?
Considering that he has been associated with the WWE in the past and is a part of the WWE Hall of Fame’s celebrity wing, Vince McMahon can try and convince Donald Trump to become the first ever US President to be a special guest at WrestleMania this year.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Although the ‘Stunner’ delivered by Steve Austin to Donald Trump is already among the most memorable celebrity moments in WWE history, it has only grown in popularity since Trump won the U.S. presidential elections.
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