Linda McMahon's wildest moments: From slapping her daughter during WWE to Trump shaving her husband's head on live TV
Typical of Linda McMahon's wild life experiences, the former wrestling executive has officially been tapped to run the US Education Department into the ground.
Linda McMahon, a wrestling industry billionaire, has been confirmed as the next US education secretary. The 76-year-old businesswoman and longtime Donald Trump ally was approved 51-45.
Despite deep-seated concerns over her qualifications and the administration’s overall education game plan, McMahon ultimately won the race to basically run an agency into the ground. The paradoxical feat in the WWE co-founder’s professional portfolio is only the latest in a file of many wildest experiences.
Having also served as the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, McMahon is now reportedly headed to sign an executive order that would diminish the education department, ultimately passing legislation for its elimination, per ABC. The department's dismantling will follow up on the president's promise to decentralise education, devolving its powers to state governments.
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Linda McMahon’s wildest moments
- Linda McMahon slaps her daughter, and vice versa, in a WWE ring
As has been proved by the latest motion, Linda McMahon, despite her old WWE days, has often made headlines for reasons that have had nothing to do with wrestling. McMahon’s family drama has often crossed over to the world of sports entertainment, as she once slapped her daughter on TV.
In November 2024, once the news of McMahon being the top pick to lead the US Department of Education spread, an old clip from the ex-wrestling executive’s WWE days resurfaced online. Filmed in the early 2000s, the video shows the billionaire slapping her daughter Stephanie McMahon.
In another major throwback, a video compilation shared on X/Twitter also turned the focus to the time when Stephanie knocked her mother down in another scripted WWE segment.
- Donald Trump shaved Linda McMahon’s ex-husband’s head
The 47th POTUS’ longstanding history with the McMahon family dates back to the 1980s, which culminated in an unprecedented televised moment. In a bizarre unfolding, Trump ended up shaving the head of the new US education secretary’s husband back in 2007 at the “Battle of the Billionaires” at WrestleMania 23.
With wrestlers Bobby Lashley and the late Umaga representing Trump and Vince McMahon, respectively, on the physical front, the billionaires battled it out in their own way. Once Lashley scored the victory against Umaga, a defeated Vince McMahon was left with no choice but to sit in the middle of the ring as Trump and Lashley shaved his head with over 80,000 fans witnessing the drama at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.
Another receipt from the past also has Trump famously slapping Vince.
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- Linda McMahon stood up to Vince McMahon at WrestleMania X-Seven
The former wrestling exec stole the show after the father-son clash between Vince and Shane McMahon. In 2002, with over 67,000 fans watching at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas, the high-octane familial drama in the ring also saw Linda being wheeled when she was believed to be in a catatonic state. Believed to be nearly lifeless, Linda rose from the wheelchair at some point and knocked her husband with a low blow. Her son Shane eventually went on to defeat his abusive father.
- Linda McMahon was ‘tombstoned’
In another eye-widening US politics-WWE crossover, Kane, who is now Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, delivered a Tombstone Piledriver to Linda. A 2023 episode of Monday Night RAW, live from the Staples Centre in LA, took a wild turn towards the end as Kane shockingly lifted her in the air upside down and attacked her with one of the most dangerous moves in wrestling. Cut to 2025; Jacobs took to his X to congratulate his same “good friend” for being sworn in as the Secretary of Education whom he once ‘tombstoned.’
- Demanding a divorce in the ring
Although Linda McMahon officially confirmed her split from Vince in November 2024, she demanded a divorce from him much before that—even if it was scripted. People have often hated her husband, especially in the WWE ring, which brought a lot of support from the audience in her corner. During a Monday Night Raw episode, she insisted they go their separate ways on live TV, and the crowd went crazy as she told Vince how she felt.
