Triple H and Kim Jong-un picture goes viral as WWE star comments on Photoshopped meme from Donald Trump summit
Professional wrestling star addresses mocked up image with North Korean leader from Trump-Kim summit that has gone down a storm on social media
A Photoshopped image went viral in wrestling social media circles soon after the talks between the US president and the North Korean leader, but it was more to do with the presence of WWE legend Triple H.
The 14-time WWE champion, whose real name is Paul Levesque, has made a habit of posting pictures of himself on social media with wrestlers when they win championship belts.
And when one internet user mocked up an image of him in his familiar pose with Kim, wrestling fans got a kick out of it.
“Triple H v Kim Jong-un for next year’s WrestleMania!” one Twitter user wrote.
“WWE North Korea champion?” another wrote, while one suggested WWE put on an “NXT Takeover: Pyongyang” event.
And the image even got around to Levesque, who is also the executive vice-president of talent, live events and creative for WWE, as well as being the founder and senior producer of its NXT brand.
When asked on a conference call ahead of this weekend’s NXT Takeover: Chicago live event whether WWE will create offshoot promotions in countries around the world including Mexico, India and Korea, Levesque couldn’t pass up the chance to have some fun himself.
“First because you mentioned Korea, I just wanted to say, you’re aware that I really wasn’t there at the Kim Jong-un [summit],” Levesque said
“It was Photoshopped. I did broker a lot of the start of it but then I had to get out of it, I couldn’t make it there in person so I wasn’t actually there for that.
“But I do appreciate the artwork, it was very clever. I popped on it.”
Although the image was obviously a fake, some people seemed to wonder whether it was actually real – perhaps not such an outlandish notion given Levesque’s ties to Trump.
The 48-year-old is married to Stephanie McMahon, chief brand officer of WWE and daughter of WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon – who is married to Linda McMahon, the administrator of the Small Business Administration in Trump’s cabinet.
Trump himself has close ties to WWE, having appeared at WrestleMania 23 in 2007, where he tackled Vince McMahon to the ground and shaved the wrestling mogul’s head.
But unfortunately for wrestling fans, the McMahon-Trump ties weren’t close enough to get Levesque invited to the table for the summit talks with Kim.
