WWE’s Linda McMahon Approved to Lead Small Business Administration
Former WWE CEO and president Linda McMahon will tag team with WWE Hall of Famer and current President of the United States Donald Trump after the U.S. Senate confirmed her position as leader of the Small Business Administration. McMahon was confirmed 81-19, one of the least-controversial confirmations of any of Trump’s appointees.
McMahon, a Republican who helped build turn the WWE from one of a number of regional wrestling promotions into the world’s premiere sports entertainment business, stepped away from the company in 2009 to focus on the first of two U.S. Senate campaigns. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, current Connecticut senators who defeated her, supported her nomination in the Senate.
Along with her husband Vince, the McMahons founded Titan Sports, Inc. in 1980. Unlike Vince and their children Stephanie and Shane, Linda’s time on camera and in wrestling narratives was limited to a few storylines starting in the late 1990s. Away from the WWE boardrooms and backstage life, she did testify in 2007, along with her husband, in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigation into steroid usage in the wrestling industry.
The confirmation hearings for McMahon were downright cordial compared to those of Betsy DeVos and Rex Tillerson. At one point, Stephanie McMahon and her husband, the former champion Paul Levesque, best known as Triple H, were seen in the audience, and caught the attention of Democratic Senator Cory Booker, who noted, “I want to also just say when your daughter and son-in-law stood up, just want to say for the record, that your daughter is far more fierce and intimidating than your son-in-law,” and continued, “He and I are about the same age, almost exactly the same age, and Paul’s letting himself slip a little bit, so after this maybe we should go to the Senate gym so I can give Triple H some triple help in getting back in shape.”
Vince McMahon bought the company formerly known as WWWF and then WWE from his father, Vince McMahon, Sr., in 1982. Originally a small, regional business, WWE launched an initial public offering in 1999, and reported $658.8 million in revenue in 2015.