Did Donald Trump Permanently Damage Wrestling's Reputation?

Over the past couple of days, the talk of the country has been the video that Donald Trump tweeted out featuring him clotheslining Vince Mcmahon with the CNN logo superimposed over Mcmahon’s face. The tweet became a leading story for every major news outlet and ended up putting wrestling in the spotlight in an unexpected way. Basically everyone in the mainstream news has concluded that the video is a direct assault on reporters, essentially promoting violence against them. A variety of celebrities and media personalities have voiced their displeasure with Trump for tweeting out what they feel is a heinous assault on the media. It’s not a surprise that a large amount of these responses, from celebrities and everyday people alike, have been critical of WWE and pro wrestling. It hasn’t helped that Jerry Lawler has voiced his love for the fact that he can be heard in the clip.

What I am concerned with is what kind of damage this clip may do to professional wrestling. It seems like a large amount of the articles on the internet about Trump’s tweet show, at best, a complete lack of understanding about wrestling which results in sites talking about wrestling as though it were some sort of disgusting fake sport for people of low intelligence. I wouldn’t be surprised if the public perception of wrestling, something that has seemed to be improving considering the success of people like John Cena and The Rock in Hollywood, is permanently tarnished by the media coverage of the president’s tweet. It seems like many people have already grouped support of wrestling with support of Trump, even more so than when Donald announced Linda Mcmahon as his Small Business Administrator. This, combined with the increasing belief that somehow wrestling fans are of low intelligence and prone to violence, has led me to begin to wonder if these perceptions of wrestling will stick. I want to know what everyone else thinks about this idea. Has Trump’s recent twitter antics resulted in wrestling experiencing permanent damage in the public eye? Let me know your thoughts in the poll and comments below.

Has Donald Trump Done Permanent Damage To Wrestling's Reputation?