The crowd wasn’t on Donald Trump’s side at the second GOP debate last night, but that didn’t hurt him much. In a way, it might have helped, because Donald Trump is the heel of the Republican race. It’s his job to get booed.

As I noted after the first debate, professional wrestling explains Trump’s appeal. In pro wrestling, the bad guys are called heels, and they are vain and arrogant and mean. They hit below the belt, and they are not nice to the kids. (The good guys are called faces, and they have heart.) Heels are even broken down into subcategories, including “superiority” characters (“I am very smart”) and rich characters (“I am very rich”). The wrestler Damien Sandow had a move called “The Elbow of Disdain”; contempt is Trump’s resting face. Trump’s self-promotion sounds eerily like interviews from the late '80s with the wrestler Ted DiBiase—known as The Million Dollar Man: “My wealth runs deeper than just dollars. Because I’m RICH in ring prowess, FLUSH with technical skill, and extremely WELL OFF when it comes to wrestling ability!" DiBiase almost perfectly anticipated Trump’s bragging that he knows politicians can be bought, because he bought so many of them. “What it all comes down to is THIS: Money isn’t everything, it’s the only thing, and everyone—EVERYONE—has a price for the Million Dollar Man. Buahahaha!”

The problem for Trump is that, eventually, the heel has to lose. The other Republican candidates mostly avoided fighting with Trump during the Fox News debate in August, but last night, they had canned attacks ready for him. Just like in America's serious presidential debates, World Wrestling Entertainment has a storied tradition of showing one guy's face on screen while the other guy makes fun of him. (At right, see how Trump out-simmers even the Million Dollar Man.) Here’s a 1991 interview between DiBiase and Rowdy Roddy Piper: “So you’re the millionaire, huh? Kinda an ugly sucker aren’t ya?” Piper says. “The bottom line is you got a whole buncha money and you got no friends!” DiBiase emotes barely controlled rage for the camera, just like Trump.

Last night's most pithy burn came from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who said, “We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now.” A pun and a zing at Obama and Trump, all in one! Jeb Bush had the makings of an effective counter-attack to Trump’s line about buying politicians. But he didn't quite pull it off. "The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something—that was generous and gave me money—was Donald Trump,” Bush said, explaining that Trump wanted casinos in Florida, and donated to Bush, but Bush opposed them. Trump flatly denied it. The transcript is revealing:

Trump: I didn't... Bush: Yes you did. Trump: Totally false. Bush: You wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to ... Trump: I would have gotten it. Bush: … casino gambling before... Trump: I promise I would have gotten it. Bush: ... during and after. And that's not—I'm not going to be bought by anybody. Trump: I promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it.

Trump is an incredible performer, and knows how to mug for the camera. But if you look at the debate transcript—in this moment and other confrontations—Trump’s skill is even more obvious. Trump not only rebuts Jeb’s argument, he does it in 11 words that are perfectly on-brand: “I promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it.” Never mind that, as Bloomberg Politics reports, Trump did want the casinos, and did donate to Bush, and Bush rejected them. Heels lie and cheat. Sometimes they trick the refs.