Dave Meltzer has reported that WWE was effectively forced to sign Zoe Hines, the niece of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., due to political connections between RFK Jr., former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, and the Trump administration.
Meltzer addressed the signing on Wrestling Observer Radio, revealing that the hire had been anticipated and dreaded within WWE long before it became official.
“I don’t know anything new. I certainly heard a lot about Zoe Hines, I would say six months ago, and it was very much this is one that was politically forced on them….She’s a real athlete, she’s a softball player. When she had her tryout, it’s not like she knocked them dead or even knocked them even. It was very much said it was a forced hiring because of who she was and because of Robert F. Kennedy and Linda McMahon both being in the cabinet. She wanted to try. And, you know, it was like Simone Johnson, the same thing. She was not a good wrestler. They eventually used her as Ava and everything like that, and used her in a different role.
I had heard people very much dreading knowing this. As far as the hiring of her, I would say it was probably known easily a year ago that it was inevitable this would happen. Everyone can improve, you never know, but it was one of those where the people who knew and seen and everything had told me it was a hire they were dreading because it was a forced one. Anyway, it’s now official, but it’s been official for a long, long time,” Meltzer said.
WWE officially announced on Wednesday that Hines, along with Alyssa Daniele, Garrett Beck, and Nicholas Panicali, were part of the latest WWE Performance Center signing class.
Hines participated in a WWE tryout ahead of SummerSlam 2025. The niece of United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and actress Cheryl Hines, she is a former softball player at Boston College who also represented France’s national softball team. RFK Jr. announced in March that Hines had signed with WWE, noting that Linda McMahon, who serves as US Secretary of Education, was involved in securing the deal.
WWE’s ties to the Trump administration extend beyond McMahon’s cabinet role. WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H serves as vice-chair of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.
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