Donald Trump's WWE Pay Revealed?, More On RAW Competition, Linda McMahon On If She'll Run Again
- It looks like Republican Presidential candidate and WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump will be responsible for possibly the lowest rating ever for the show he once (storyline) owned for a week, Monday Night RAW. Media experts are expecting tonight's debate between Trump and Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to garner Super Bowl-like numbers, with some saying it could reach 100 million viewers. In addition to the debate, tonight's RAW also faces competition from Monday Night Football on ESPN.
- The Washington Post ran a story last week about Trump's Donald J. Trump Foundation charity and reported that Trump never donated to it after making small donations in 2007 and 2008. They reported that Trump would use money from the charity to settle legal problems and to purchase items like a $20,000 six-foot-tall portrait of himself and a $12,000 football helmet signed by Tim Tebow. It was noted that the money for the charity came from other donors, and that Vince and Linda McMahon gave a total of $5 million to it from 2007 to 2009. It should be noted that Trump's WrestleMania 23 hair vs. hair angle with Vince was in 2007, while the angle where he bought RAW – only to sell it back to Vince a week later – took place in 2009.
- In a follow-up story, The Washington Post noted that the foundation's tax filings have a $4 million donation from WWE in 2007, the year of his WrestleMania 23 angle, which would mean the 2009 donation from WWE was for $1 million. It was the biggest donation made to the Foundation. If it weren't for the WWE donation, the Foundation would have ended 2007 in the hole, as it finished that year with $3.2 million in the bank. It was noted that without WWE's contributions, the Foundation would not have been able to make the contributions it made from 2007 through the end of 2012.
- The Associated Press ran a story yesterday about Linda McMahon becoming "a GOP mega donor." It discussed many of the contributions that McMahon has made to Republican groups. Linda noted that she is responsible for her political contributions and that Vince "wants no part of it." She also said that she has no plans to run for office again after spending approximately $100 million for two failed Senate races. Linda was asked about the WWE contributions to Trump's foundation, and said that while she did "not remember how it came about," she has no regrets doing it.