The appeal of Celebrity Presidential candidates— White House 46: The Rock vs John Cena

"Once in a lifetime III". John Cena vs Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

There's been a lot of chatter on the possibility of Pro-Wrestler Dwayne Johnson contesting for the Presidency. With broad appeal as a social media darling and the world's highest paid actor, the Rock has gotten bipartisan approval from the likes of leftist filmmaker Michael Moore and conservative publication, the National Review.
Outspoken billionaire Mark Cuban has spoken on how Trump's success has paved the way for other entrepreneurs to challenge for the highest office in the land. The same could be argued for Celebrities in general, rapper Kanye West one of the earliest to float a 2020 run before fellow self-promoter Donald Trump cut him off at the pass.
Along with politicians Elizabeth Warren and Ted Cruz, the likely Presidential field also includes celebrity powerbrokers Oprah Winfrey and Mark Zuckerberg. As guest on the 'Chapo Trap House' podcast, Matt Taibbi explains the appeal and advantages of running for office as a celebrity candidate.

Episode 77 — No Country For Gorilla Men feat. Matt Taibbi (1/29/17)
MATT CHRISTMAN: (32m 52s) It basically boils down to the fact that there's a symbiotic relationship between traditional politicians and the media, right? Because most people especially if they’re running for President on a National scale has never heard of these a**holes. So it's basically the media's job to — in collaboration with the candidate — shape a version of them for people to be introduced to and give them an idea of who they are
MATT TAIBBI: Right
CHRISTMAN: Trump because he's a celebrity had a prefabricated brand that he didn't need the media to help him create so that relationship just broke down because he wasn't a politician.
TAIBBI: That's 100% correct. What people need to remember -who are politicians? Most of them before they enter congress are 4th rate lawyers who get elected from these little... towns who gradually get built up and then they have profile and then in order to be turned into these mythic God-like characters they need the overwhelming attention of lots and lots of media people. But you don't need that if you're Donald Trump, he just bypassed that entire exercise. He's a celebrity by himself, without all the help of these sycophants.

Wrestling journalist Brian Maxwell expands the case for the logical pairing of celebrities and Presidential elections. Arguing elections are basically Reality TV talent shows that incorrectly test the competencies truly needed for the job.

Review America with Brian Mann & Nate Milton — Episode 1: The RNC
BRIAN MAXWELL: (25m 53s) If this whole campaign, this whole election is Pro-wrestling. The actual Presidency is 'Brawl for All'. Being a Pro-wrestling match doesn’t actually determine who the better fighter is...
What’s really harmful with our politics -especially in our current media age- is that the qualifications, the hoops that we have people run through don’t in anyway line up to what it actually means to be President. At all. So we've devised this obstacle course that doesn't actually test someone's readiness for this type of position.
I have no doubt as scary as it sounds- that Donald Trump might win this election cuz he might actually win the media job of converting people into voters... at the end of the day the job of the Presidency isn't necessarily a public relations job... The more that I look at it and I see we kind of opened things up. I think we’ve been doing it long enough that we can question the results.

SNL imagining a John Cena and Dwayne Johnson Presidency

Writing on the analogy that American Politics is Pro-Wrestling for the past 10yrs, I never imagined a WWE Hall-of-Famer in Donald Trump could occupy the White House. The fact the Rock, an actual Wrestler is poised to be a Presidential frontrunner is truly mind-boggling.
John Cena, another marquee Wrestler also makes a compelling case as a dark horse Presidential Contender. Though divisive in the Wrestling Universe ("Let's go Cena, CENA sucks!") especially compared to the "People’s Champion". Cena offers a clearer liberal representative whilst ticking the same boxes as the Rock — charismatic action hero, positive rolemodel and supporter of the Troops. A plus on Cena's ledger, he speaks mandarin.

VIDEO: John Cena supports #WeAreAmerica this Independence Day

If registered Republican Dwayne Johnson were to run, could he possibly challenge Donald Trump in a GOP primary? Could the winner between them face a Democratic nominee John Cena? Might the deciding battle in the "Once in a lifetime" feud between John Cena and the Rock be waged in the Political Arena? The rivalry that began for WrestleMania 28, avenged at WrestleMania 29 could possibly culminate in the election for POTUS 46.

Mike Cernovich proposes a Left VS Right Battle Royale headlined by Keith Olbermann and Alex Jones

I'll donate $100,000 to charity if @KeithOlbermann shows up to debate @RealAlexJones. One hour. Neutral moderator. https://t.co/vMrLhAOtPM

— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) 12 May 2017

Expounding on an earlier tweet, Mike Cernovich proposed a Left VS Right PPV showdown headlined by Keith Olbermann and new boss and partner, Alex Jones. I’ve been meaning to update the PunditFight roster with today’s current stars, the hype behind this hypothetical superfight might just be the inspiration.

Original 'American Pundit Fighting' roster (2007)

In the 10 years since it's founding, the APF roster has changed dramatically, escalating within the past year during the recent changeover in administrations. Jon Stewart stepped down from the 'Daily Show'. Stephen Colbert broke kayfabe to replace David Letterman on the 'Late Show'. Ratings juggernaut Bill O’Reilly was stunningly axed over sexual harassment claims. Alex Jones has arguably become the most influential pundit whilst the audacious Trump has effectively made the likes of Rush Limbaugh and traditional media obsolete.

It's telling of the times that the roster Cernovich offered to represent the Right is made up of independent personalities that don't occupy mainstream news outlets.

Cernovich Series PPV:
Team Republican (Cernovich, Weaver, Molyneux, Jones and Watson)

Cernovich Series PPV:
Team Democrats (Maher, Stelter, Olbermann, Harris, Tapper)

ALEX JONES — 2017-MAY-26, FRIDAY 
MIKE CERNOVICH: (3h 15m 08s) I predicted that people on the Right could do it better than people on the left. This a point that is being missed by the media. This is not a threat. I don’t want violence, I want a debate. Again, show me anyone on the left who has ever offered $100,000 to charity to debate me.
Alex Jones, big name. We can raise a lot of money for charity. We can livestream it, have a superchat going. I bet you we can raise a million dollars if we had a big —like a WrestleMania. Wow! I wish Alex were here right now so we could brainstorm off each other. I envision like a major UFC event. A major boxing match promoted by CNN, co-promoted by Infowars. Maybe get Breitbart, Daily Caller, Cernovich Media. Get all of us in a room and we can have an undercard leading to a main event.

So the Left, they can have Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher, Sam Harris, Jake Tapper, Brian Stelter. All these guys on the left can come in. Like a big battle royal. And then we can have people on the Right: Alex Jones, Paul Joseph Watson, Millie [Weaver], [Mike] Cernovich, Stefan Molyneux. We could have 5, 10 people on each side and this could all lead — God! Where is Alex right now when you need him?

This would be an amazing, amazing event, we could cut up a promo for it. I bet you we could do a million for charity. I would put up a $100,000 of my own money from Cernovich media to see this event happen for charity. It would be the Battle Royale, the Left VS the Right. Who has the better ideas? Who can gauge with free speech with the most tenacity, the most ferocity. Who has the better argument? Who's more logical, who's more cogent? Millions of people would watch this. We could air it on every network. Air it live on CNN, air it live on NBC, ABC, Fox News, MSNBC. Air it live on everybody’s social media, on everybody's YouTube. Crowdfund donations. Livestream it. All money would go to charity. Why isn't this happening?

Cernovich Series PPV: Team Rep VS Team Smack'Dem

The 5 on 5 matchup is perfectly set up for a team showdown, traditional Survivor Series style. It’s worth noting that only Bill Maher and Keith Olbermann are existing APF pundits. Expect more art to come for this dream fight.