President-elect Donald Trump: Linda McMahon appointed as secretary of the Department of Education

President-elect Donald Trump has selected one of the biggest names in the WWE world to be the US Secretary of the Department of Education.

Linda McMahon, the co-founder and former chief executive of the wrestling professional wrestling franchise was given her first White House position as Administrator of the Small Business Administration in 2017. She stayed in the position until 2019.

Since then, she has stayed a close ally of Mr Trump and has been working as head of Mr Trump’s transition team, in charge of preparing for the president-elect to return to the White House.

Now, Mr Trump has selected Mrs McMahon as education secretary.

“For the past four years, as the chair of the board at the America First Policy Institute, Linda has been a fierce advocate for parents’ rights, working hard at both AFPI and America First Works to achieve universal school choice in 12 states, giving children the opportunity to receive an excellent education, regardless of zip code or income,” Mr Trump said in a statement.

“As Secretary of Education, Luna will fight tirelessly to expand ‘choice’ to every state in America, and empower parents to make the best education decisions for their families.:

“Linda will use her decades of leadership experience, and a deep understanding of both education and business, to empower the next generation of American students and workers, and make America number one in education in the world. We will send education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort.

Ms McMahon first played a behind-the-scenes role in the WWE franchise while her husband, the controversial Vince McMahon, fronted the brand.

Mrs McMahon did eventually enter the on-screen universe of WWE where she portrayed the drugged wife of the Mr McMahon “character” in a wheelchair, while her husband portrayed a “character” being in a relationship with another woman.

The storyline within the program culminated months later with Mrs McMahon standing up from her wheelchair at WrestleMania X7 and slapping Mr McMahon.

Mrs McMahon continued her involvement mainly off-screen in the years ahead, focusing her efforts on the franchise’s commercial success.

The McMahons stepped away from WWE completely in 2024 after allegations against Mr McMahon surfaced.

The allegations included that Mr McMahon and WWE knew about and failed to stop the sexual exploitation of young boys by a ringside announcer and that Mr McMahon had committed sexual battery and trafficking.

Other allegations had also been made against Mr McMahon over the years alleging he had committed sexual assault, harassment, trafficking and other physical and emotional abuse against current and former staff.

Mr McMahon has always adamantly denied the allegations, some of which concluded with private settlements.

The scandal was documented in the Netflix series Mr. McMahon which commenced filming while he was still head of the brand, however featured the claims and his resignation.

The WWE figure is the latest in a string of quirky appointments by Mr Trump.

So far his pics have included: cryptocurrency enthusiast Howard Lutnick as Secretary of Commerce, Fox Business host Sean Duffy as Secretary of Transportation, Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, chief executive of fracking company Liberty Energy Chris Wright as Secretary of Department of Energy, vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr as US Health Secretary and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz to serve as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.