Mexico’s favorite bad guy jumps into the wrestling ring
US wrestler Sam Adonis has found a recipe for success thanks to his Trump-supporting character
If there was anyone who was predicting Donald Trump’s victory at the US presidential elections it was the wrestler Sam Adonis. A muscular gladiator who fought in 2016 in the United Kingdom, he was merely waiting for the official results to put into action the most politically incorrect idea of his career so far: celebrating the Republican win with a massive American flag, adorned with a huge photo of the magnate. “This flag is money for me,” he admits. “A lot of people have got pissed off, but this is the secret of my success.”
A lot of people have got pissed off, but this is the secret of my success Wrestler Sam Adonis
When he goes into the Arena Coliseo, all sorts of insults are hurled at Adonis. “Take all that stuff somewhere else!” they scream at him from the crowd. But Sam enjoys it, taking his flag with Trump’s face and showing it off before a fired up public who is making all sorts of obscene gestures toward the wrestler, not to mention proffering a wealth of insults concerning his mother.
Adonis landed in Mexico late last year. Since then, Sam Polinsky (his real name) has managed to carve out a niche for himself in the sport’s Mexican branch. “Here wrestling is more crazy, it’s more sport, art and culture,” he explains. “Here 2,000 people can be more exciting than 20,000 in the US. I love the way people react – when they get mad with me, I want to be a better wrestler.”
In the world of Mexican wrestling rivalries are divided into two groups: the good guys, and the bad guys. Adonis falls into the latter category.
“It’s fantastic and strange at the same time,” he explains. The fans know what it is and at the same time they really get involved. It’s as if they forget about their daily lives, they come to the fights and they can behave like idiots for a while: they shout, get drunk... It’s like a circus for adults,” he says. At the main Mexican rings he is already well known. The fans jostle to ask for a photo with him, or to shake his hand. Sam responds speaking passable Spanish.
In his dressing room, where he has a couple of toy wrestlers, he pulls out his mask: it features the US flag, as well as boasting a toupee that imitates the hair of Donald Trump.
A few months ago, after flying the flag in favor of the Republican politician, the TV channel Fox Sports asked him not to wave it in front of the public, because they “didn’t want problems with that,” Adonis explains. The only option that he could think of was to ask a traditional mask-maker to create one for him. “This one is perfect because it’s ridiculous,” jokes the wrestler, who is riding high thanks to the mistrust and the spectacle that the president of the United States provokes.
English version by Simon Hunter.
