Angry fans accuse Donald Trump of overshadowing champion Carter Starocci at NCAA wrestling match

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Penn State’s Carter Starocci made history on Saturday, March 22, when he beat Northern Iowa's Parker Keckeisen, 4-3, to become the first wrestler in the history of the NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championship to be a five-time national champion.

However, wrestling fans were left fuming at President Donald Trump for apparently stealing his thunder. 

The 78-year-old commander-in-chief was in attendance to witness the 24-year-old athlete achieve victory in the 184-pound weight class. 

The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt took to X (formerly Twitter) to celebrate the moment. "Carter Starocci wins his 5th NCAA D1 Wrestling Championship and shakes hands with the POTUS 47! 🤝🏆🇺🇸," she wrote, sharing a video of Starocci shaking hands with Trump. 

Donald Trump made his entry in the middle of Carter Starocci's interview with ESPN

While Carter Starocci's star moment came at the most opportune time with Donald Trump in attendance, not everyone was happy with the same as several wrestling fans accused the president of overshadowing him. 

Following Starocci’s legendary feat, as the wrestler was in the middle of his in-match interview, ESPN, the broadcaster, cut the coverage away from him to focus on Trump, who made a flashy entry then. 

Several fans, including an X account focused on wrestling, "The Wrestling Nomad," fired at Trump for choosing to enter at the same time as Starocci’s interview following his career-defining performance. 

"God damn it Trump let Starocci finish!" the account wrote. 

Fans express anger at Donald Trump's entrance during Carter Starroci's speech

Wrestling fans were furious by Donald Trump's poorly timed entrance and took to social media to express their anger. 

One fan wrote, "Trump must be an Oklahoma State fan!! Interrupting Starroci’s interview…classic!!" and another said, "That was terrible. I hate Trump but I especially hate to see Carter’s moment stepped on. What a selfish move by Trump. Par for the course with that guy."

"Interesting from the NCAA to put Starocci in that position to get cut off early instead of celebrated fully. Strange," a person said, whereas someone else stated, "@DonaldTrump The absolute worst time to walk out and steal attention from a young man who worked his whole life for that moment! What ran through your pea brain as you pulled that stunt?"

However, everyone was not on the same page, as a section of fans also slammed the NCAA and ESPN for Trump's ill-timed entrance. 

One of them noted, "Not a Trump fan, but at least he didn’t come in while he was wrestling. Probably had no idea he was being interviewed."

"That’s on the NCAA and ESPN," boldly declared another. Someone else added, "Interesting from the NCAA to put Starocci in that position to get cut off early instead of celebrated fully. Strange."

Another fan noted, "Yeah I'm pretty sure he didn't have any idea that Carter was being interviewed lol. I blame ESPN. The entrance was planned."

"People!! That was not Trump’s fault. ESPN is running that not Trump. Trump does not care when he goes out there," argued another. 

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