The McMahon family is synonymous with wrestling thanks to their founding and building of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The family's relationship with former President Donald Trump could be a big storyline for the 2024 election.
What Happened: Former WWE President and CEO Linda McMahon was named co-chair of the Trump Transition Team Friday, alongside businessman Howard Lutnick, who is the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald.
McMahon, who is a large donor to the Republican Party and past Trump campaigns, is best known for her wrestling leadership career as the former president and CEO of WWE, which is now a unit of TKO Group Holdings Inc TKO.
Helping grow WWE from 1980 to 2009 before entering a political career, McMahon is credited with helping to build the brand through product merchandising and television deals, two key items that turned the wrestling and sports venture into one of the largest worldwide.
After stepping down from WWE, McMahon ran for a U.S. Senate seat two times, losing in the 2010 and 2012 general elections after securing the Republican Party nomination.
McMahon is not a stranger to Trump's presidential history, previously serving as the head of the Small Business Administration (SBA) from 2017 to 2019 under Trump. McMahon later stepped down to take on a new role for Trump as part of his 2020 re-election campaign team.
The former wrestling leader has also helped lead a political action committee (PAC) connected to Trump.
Along with McMahon and Lutnick, the Trump Transition Team also named J.D. Vance, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump as honorary chairs.
"The 2024 GOP Platform to Make America Great Again is a forward-looking agenda that will deliver safety, prosperity and freedom for the American people. My administration will deliver on these bold promises," Trump said in a statement Friday, as reported by The Hill.
Trump said he has "absolute confidence" the Trump and Vance administration "will be ready to govern effectively on Day One."
A report said Trump has been hesitant to name a transition team in advance of the 2024 election due to believing it could be bad luck. Transition teams are standard procedure during presidential elections, according to The Hill.
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Why It's Important: WWE is not as close to the McMahon family as it once was. Linda's husband and high school sweetheart Vince McMahon stepped away from WWE in 2022 due to an ongoing scandal and later stepped down from a leadership role with TKO Group Holdings in 2024 over sex trafficking lawsuits.
Before the merger with UFC in 2023, WWE had been in the McMahon family for over 70 years.
Vince McMahon and Trump have a professional and personal friendship that dates back to 1988 when the duo worked together on a Wrestlemania near a Trump-owned casino and a storyline involving the millionaires.
Trump also has a friendship with Dana White, who leads TKO Group unit UFC, and has attended several past UFC events.
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Photos: Trump via Shutterstock; McMahon via U.S. government public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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