WWE hiring of RFK Jr.’s niece Zoe Hines said to be ‘politically forced’ | Exclusive
On the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer provided an update on WWE’s hiring of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s niece, Zoe Hines.
Hines was announced as part of WWE’s latest rookie class on Wednesday. She is a former college softball player from Boston College and took part in tryouts held over SummerSlam week last year.
Last October, Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE may feel “pressure” to hire Hines, writing:
“There is the feeling that they may feel pressure to do something with her if she wants to go into this. Perhaps it’s unfounded but we’ve heard it from multiple places.”
With Hines now officially signed to WWE, Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez went into further detail regarding the situation on Wrestling Observer Radio.
Meltzer said on the show:
“I certainly heard a lot about Zoe Hines, I’d say six months ago, and it was very much like this is one that was politically forced on them.
I mean, 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 that it was a forced hiring because of who she was and because of Robert F. Kennedy and Linda McMahon both being in the cabinet, and it was just, she wanted to try.”
“It was like Simone Johnson, the same thing,” Meltzer added.
“I had heard people very much dreading this. As far as the hiring of her, I would say it was probably known easily a year ago that it was inevitable that this would happen.“
The full episode of Wrestling Observer Radio is available here for our subscribers.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.