President Donald Trump was hailed with massive cheers in Philadelphia Saturday, as he attended the NCAA Men’s Division I Wrestling Championship.
The crowd rose to its feet and heartily applauded Trump as he entered the Wells Fargo Arena and stood on the event floor for about a minute waving to the onlookers.
Broadcaster ESPN even interrupted an interview with national champion Carter Starocci to cut to the president’s grand entrance.
Trump was accompanied by DOGE chief Elon Musk and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
Jordan won the NCAA Division I men’s wrestling title twice as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and later served as an assistant wrestling coach for Ohio State University.
Two of the sport’s biggest stars were thrilled the president would be in attendance for their final match.
“We’re going to put on a good show for him. Him showing up Saturday night, he’s coming to watch some of the best wrestling on earth, and we’re going to give that to him,” Gable Steveson, heavyweight for the Minnesota Gophers, said Wednesday at a press conference the York Daily Record reported.
Penn State’s Starocci, who became the first five-time Division I national champion on Saturday, was also pumped for the prez to be in attendance.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he told the paper Wednesday. “[President Trump] came to nationals my sophomore year and it was really cool. He’s obviously a big fan of combat sports, he’s at all the UFC events. It’s good for our sport.”
