Santa Claus and Wrestling
There’s a history of using Santa Claus in professional wrestling. The picture above shows Stone Cold Steve Austin before he dropped a stunner on someone dressed as Santa Claus, who had just been rude and kicked a young Jey Uso out of the ring back in 1997.
Austin would late dress as Santa and use the same move on Vince McMahon at the 2003 Tribute to the Troops.
Here’s one more WWE event before we move on to other history; the time Alberto Del Rio ran over Santa Claus while he drove to the ring in a BMW:
In 1982, Kevin Sullivan faced Dusty Rhodes in a steel cage in a Loser Leaves Town match in St. Petersburg, FL. Jake Roberts intervened in the match on Sullivan’s behalf while dressed as Santa Claus.
Roberts has talked about that night recently, and recalled reading the next day that several people dressed as Santa Claus in town were beat up that night.
On December 25, 1983, Michael Hayes dressed as Santa Claus attacked Mike Von Erich at a World Class Championship Wrestling event.
In 1985, Rip Oliver dressed as Santa Claus attacked Billy Jack Haynes at a Portland Wrestling event. The video below shows events before the attack and the aftermath but the local television station refused to show “Santa Claus” attacking someone: