Stories of Racism in Wrestling in Recent Times

[IgnahtaSempria]

Dec 30, 2016 6:37:46 GMT -5 Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite said:

Dec 29, 2016 20:01:03 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

The initial booking of Muhammad Hassan made the people responding to him seem bigoted. You had Jim Ross use the old "love it or leave it" slogan. I think Foley and Lawler may have used the "you have the right to say what you want, but we have the right to call you an asshole" or something along those lines, when at that point Hassan's promos were pretty reasonable.

My Favorite part of the early Hassan gimmick was him giving a pleasant promo in English and then Davari FURIOUSLY translating it in Farsi.

I thought that was going to be the main crux of the gimmick and that could have been GOLD

Oh man, I didn't know I wanted "Militant Muslim Heel Daivari and Oblivious, Reasonable Face/Tweener Hassan" until now.

Really, I now want ANY gimmick where the manager speaks a different language that the wrestler doesn't, and the wrestler doesn't realize that the manager is insulting the fans.

[A Platypus Rave]

Jan 1, 2017 5:20:17 GMT -5 J. Hova said:

Jan 1, 2017 4:58:17 GMT -5 TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out said:

Blazing Saddles is different because the humor comes from how absurd the racism is. It doesn't use racism as a vehicle for cheap laughs, rather it looks at the absurdity of how people are treated differently due to skin pigmentation and provides a lens to examine it. That's different than "LOL RACISM" like a lot of humor is.

I do not disagree, for instance, while others might find that time that VKM dropped the N bomb in a promo, in CONTEXT, was hilarious with Shelton Benjamin.  Basically, anything can be made fun of, or made a farce of, given the context.

He didn't say it to Shelton Benjamin he said what up my N-word to John Cena.

and they panned over to Booker T who did his "Tell me he did not just say that" catchphrase... the point being yeah, that was not something Vince should be saying.


You may be confusing it with a segment where Trish and Shelton were in the locker room and Vicne said something like I don't know if you realize this Shelton but you're an African American.

Which was them mocking a "controversy" in the NFL, where they did something similar which was met with criticism from a bunch of people about it being indecent. (Vince was playing the stand in for the outraged)

[Alice Syndrome]

Jan 1, 2017 9:36:05 GMT -5 @keijikage said:

Jan 1, 2017 5:20:17 GMT -5 J. Hova said:

I do not disagree, for instance, while others might find that time that VKM dropped the N bomb in a promo, in CONTEXT, was hilarious with Shelton Benjamin.  Basically, anything can be made fun of, or made a farce of, given the context.

1.) Are you sure it was with Shelton Benjamin? 
2.) Not everything is open for you to be making jokes about, strictly because of the context.

Because as much as Blazing Saddles seems to be a thing in this topic, there's a lot in the movie that was a bit more subtle, LIKE THE ENTIRE PLOT, or how even technically neither Headly nor LePetomane called Sheriff Bart the n-*DING!* but were still clearly racist as **** in how they wielded their power.

That comes off more like a detail Richard Pryor put in there...

But anyway, that's the thing.  Everybody talks about the really obvious shit like "OMG!  They called him a n*BONG!*" but not the really interesting stuff like how even after saving half the town from Mongo, Bart was irritated at how the white people were still too racist to even give him credit about it out in the open.

I feel like that's how it is whenever people generally talk about the racist shit that happens in wrestling:  we hit all the really obvious stuff like Booker not beating Hunner....

...but what about the "subtle" stuff like the NXT crowd calling the ONLY BLACK WOMAN ON THE SHOW, "ratchet"?  (Completely misusing the word in the process, but that's another thing...)
...or about how The Rock still being the only Black WWE champion?  No, we gotta stop it with bringing up the WHC because nobody believes that title is equal until we start talking about why no other Black person can hold the WWE title.

Because I got to tell you, you know what really cut me deep?



Not just the news about Hania, which really gives me a sad because I had her pegged as showing up in NXT any minute now...especially since she may have been a bit shaky in the ring but she worked a bit with SDR and WWE needs every decent face they can get.

...which is another thing this racist shit in wrestling does: limit the talent pool by discouraging people to even participate or think of it as a career.  Wanna know why you may not see as many PoC wrestlers as you'd expect?  It's because people pay attention and these stories spread.  Who'd want to even waste time dealing with this shit on their day-to-day?

...but anyway, want to know what really cut me deep just now?

Dec 21, 2016 8:54:48 GMT -5 Rican said:

This is why I think all three members of New Day have peaked as singles wrestlers and none of them will go on to main event level when it ends like some people speculate.

I had to pause...
Scream "****!" to the heavens then regain myself, because I'll bet you my right cold, unfeeling robot arm that that's precisely what'll happen to them.
They're popular. They're decent. And they'll primarily be used to put over Baron Corbin, or Finn Balor, or GODDAMN ****ING SHEAMUS, or Dolph "Mr. Steal Yo' Shit That Ain't Really Important To You" Ziggler (which if that happens, I'm just going to start screaming and I don't know if I'll ever stop)

Because you know...as a wrestling head, there's certain things I get, certain things I used to get and certain things that takes a different perspective for me to get again.
Ever watch this stuff with people who don't follow all that much...? This all-coveted "casual audience"?

You know what this Sasha/Charlotte bullshit might look like to some of those people?
WWE primarily using their most popular Black person who coincidentally enough is the lightest and brightest...(Strike One)
....as their main token...(Strike Two)
....to constantly make a less-talented white wrestler look good...(Strike Three)

I was told how foul the whole thing comes off and...I can't say I disagree really.

As a would-be Black fan or future wrestler, why would anybody want to watch or even deal with wrestling when you see stuff like that happen time and time again?


....wow. That post went some places.

It really just came my annoyance from finding out what happened with Hania and wondering how many other people are driven away from wrestling because of that shit.
...and too from what I think is going to happen to Ember. Stupidly awesome in the ring, but she'll probably be used to put over how tough Billie Kay is or how crazy Nikki Cross is or some shit and that's disheartening as ****.

While we're on about Charlotte and Sasha, I'm not the only one who's picked up on mentions of Charlotte being "Genetically superior" increasing whenever she feuds with the one black girl they ever put on TV, right?

["Cane Dewey" Johnson]

Jan 1, 2017 14:56:48 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

Jan 1, 2017 5:20:17 GMT -5 J. Hova said:

I do not disagree, for instance, while others might find that time that VKM dropped the N bomb in a promo, in CONTEXT, was hilarious with Shelton Benjamin.  Basically, anything can be made fun of, or made a farce of, given the context.

He didn't say it to Shelton Benjamin he said what up my N-word to John Cena.

and they panned over to Booker T who did his "Tell me he did not just say that" catchphrase... the point being yeah, that was not something Vince should be saying.


You may be confusing it with a segment where Trish and Shelton were in the locker room and Vicne said something like I don't know if you realize this Shelton but you're an African American.

Which was them mocking a "controversy" in the NFL, where they did something similar which was met with criticism from a bunch of people about it being indecent. (Vince was playing the stand in for the outraged)

The McMahon/Cena/Booker T example is a good illustration of what is today called ironic or hipster racism.

[Deleted]

Jan 1, 2017 15:22:04 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

While we're on about Charlotte and Sasha, I'm not the only one who's picked up on mentions of Charlotte being "Genetically superior" increasing whenever she feuds with the one black girl they ever put on TV, right?

Stuff like this I think is a slight reach. Charlotte has been saying she's genetically superior to everyone regardless of race. I think in this case it's just so happens to be a white woman saying it to a black woman. Just an unfortunate choice of words in this scenario if you're looking for it.

There are things that unnerve me about WWE when it comes to race, I mentioned before the whole "it's MLK day, let's let a black guy that is barely on TV in the first place do the job on our show today."
Things like when Rey Mysterio left, and WWE cycled through Hispanic talent one at a time to try and find their ideal Hispanic guy. You would think that if WWE just hired guys based on talent, used them to their strengths regardless of ethnicity, it would give them more good faith for all demographics than just giving the Hispanics one main guy.

I struggle to call it full blown racism, I don't believe it to be malicious intent of any kind. I think it's just a company that's so obsessed with image that they're shooting themselves in the foot. We're seeing the extreme of that with the women, where they're giving them an unprecedented amount of opportunities but they're so hell bent on getting recognized for it, that it feels just as discriminatory as the old ways somehow. I really don't want to see this repeated with other ethnic groups. If WWE just dropped all pretenses, let go of their superficial micromanaging and just booked guys based on talent and not made a big thing of it would make all the difference in the world. I'd much rather see an unspoken drop of the guard that we have to notice for ourselves rather than WWE declaring "we've realized blacks are people too."

That's why I'm so confused by the influx of Japanese talent in NXT, Nakamura is so clearly main roster ready but it doesn't feel like there's any urgency about getting him there, and Japanese wrestlers have arguably had the worst go of things in WWE, their characters are always such caricatures of Japanese culture, I don't know that there have ever been more than two or three on their roster at once, and with rumors of WWE trying to increase their Japanese presence, and also with this UK tournament, that's another talent pool that WWE have never adequately utilized, which is another group that makes you wonder what they're even gonna do with them? They rarely do anything with either, and I don't have a lot of confidence that this is gonna change that.

[Deleted]

Jan 1, 2017 16:15:29 GMT -5 @nichotine said:

Jan 1, 2017 15:22:04 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

While we're on about Charlotte and Sasha, I'm not the only one who's picked up on mentions of Charlotte being "Genetically superior" increasing whenever she feuds with the one black girl they ever put on TV, right?

Stuff like this I think is a slight reach. Charlotte has been saying she's genetically superior to everyone regardless of race. I think in this case it's just so happens to be a white woman saying it to a black woman. Just an unfortunate choice of words in this scenario if you're looking for it.

There are things that unnerve me about WWE when it comes to race, I mentioned before the whole "it's MLK day, let's let a black guy that is barely on TV in the first place do the job on our show today."
Things like when Rey Mysterio left, and WWE cycled through Hispanic talent one at a time to try and find their ideal Hispanic guy. You would think that if WWE just hired guys based on talent, used them to their strengths regardless of ethnicity, it would give them more good faith for all demographics than just giving the Hispanics one main guy.

I struggle to call it full blown racism, I don't believe it to be malicious intent of any kind. I think it's just a company that's so obsessed with image that they're shooting themselves in the foot. We're seeing the extreme of that with the women, where they're giving them an unprecedented amount of opportunities but they're so hell bent on getting recognized for it, that it feels just as discriminatory as the old ways somehow. I really don't want to see this repeated with other ethnic groups. If WWE just dropped all pretenses, let go of their superficial micromanaging and just booked guys based on talent and not made a big thing of it would make all the difference in the world. I'd much rather see an unspoken drop of the guard that we have to notice for ourselves rather than WWE declaring "we've realized blacks are people too."

That's why I'm so confused by the influx of Japanese talent in NXT, Nakamura is so clearly main roster ready but it doesn't feel like there's any urgency about getting him there, and Japanese wrestlers have arguably had the worst go of things in WWE, their characters are always such caricatures of Japanese culture, I don't know that there have ever been more than two or three on their roster at once, and with rumors of WWE trying to increase their Japanese presence, and also with this UK tournament, that's another talent pool that WWE have never adequately utilized, which is another group that makes you wonder what they're even gonna do with them? They rarely do anything with either, and I don't have a lot of confidence that this is gonna change that.

I don't normally watch Raw but it's irritating to hear that Charlotte is still on that "genetically superior" shit.
Seeing how the next person they'll probably put Charlotte against is another woman of color, I'd rather they just scrub that shit from her vocabulary completely.  

DIS BIZNESS is not going to take a nosedive because of it and with all the time I'm sure she gets, they'll give her other ways to be mediocre.

But anyway, I totally would call it full-blown racism...
I mean...I think we need to really evolve our definition of it anyway, because it seems like a lot of people are stuck on a very obvious, very cartoonish definition.
Like if Vince isn't outright saying he doesn't push people because they're ______, then that exonerates him.
Or that if such and such has a Black friend then they totally can't be racist....
Or if somebody didn't have malicious intentions then they can't be racist...

Like, people who claim to have and may in fact have Black friends can be and are still racist as shit to Black people (and anyone else!).
People who claim to look up to MLK can still be racist as shit even to Black people, especially since we aren't really taught anything much about MLK.

Just..yeah...the fact the only way a Black champion is acceptable is if they're the second coming of The Rock?  
The fact WWE in particular had that obsession with trying to have their ONE Hispanic superstar?
Blonde and White Charlotte being "genetically superior" to Sasha Banks?

Dude, if the results all point to one really big pattern then it doesn't matter if their intentions are malicious or not, racist shit is still being perpetuated and it needs to stop.

If I were to break Hank Pym's smug face, then it wouldn't matter if it was because I thought he was a particularly sickening display of the infection that is humanity...
...or if I were actually just aiming for Tony Stark who is a particularly sickening display of the infection that is humanity...
Pym would still need medical attention.

I would still be responsible.  Lauded, but still responsible.

[Deleted]

Jan 2, 2017 9:22:32 GMT -5 @keijikage said:

Jan 1, 2017 16:15:29 GMT -5 @nichotine said:

Stuff like this I think is a slight reach. Charlotte has been saying she's genetically superior to everyone regardless of race. I think in this case it's just so happens to be a white woman saying it to a black woman. Just an unfortunate choice of words in this scenario if you're looking for it.

There are things that unnerve me about WWE when it comes to race, I mentioned before the whole "it's MLK day, let's let a black guy that is barely on TV in the first place do the job on our show today."
Things like when Rey Mysterio left, and WWE cycled through Hispanic talent one at a time to try and find their ideal Hispanic guy. You would think that if WWE just hired guys based on talent, used them to their strengths regardless of ethnicity, it would give them more good faith for all demographics than just giving the Hispanics one main guy.

I struggle to call it full blown racism, I don't believe it to be malicious intent of any kind. I think it's just a company that's so obsessed with image that they're shooting themselves in the foot. We're seeing the extreme of that with the women, where they're giving them an unprecedented amount of opportunities but they're so hell bent on getting recognized for it, that it feels just as discriminatory as the old ways somehow. I really don't want to see this repeated with other ethnic groups. If WWE just dropped all pretenses, let go of their superficial micromanaging and just booked guys based on talent and not made a big thing of it would make all the difference in the world. I'd much rather see an unspoken drop of the guard that we have to notice for ourselves rather than WWE declaring "we've realized blacks are people too."

That's why I'm so confused by the influx of Japanese talent in NXT, Nakamura is so clearly main roster ready but it doesn't feel like there's any urgency about getting him there, and Japanese wrestlers have arguably had the worst go of things in WWE, their characters are always such caricatures of Japanese culture, I don't know that there have ever been more than two or three on their roster at once, and with rumors of WWE trying to increase their Japanese presence, and also with this UK tournament, that's another talent pool that WWE have never adequately utilized, which is another group that makes you wonder what they're even gonna do with them? They rarely do anything with either, and I don't have a lot of confidence that this is gonna change that.

I don't normally watch Raw but it's irritating to hear that Charlotte is still on that "genetically superior" shit.
Seeing how the next person they'll probably put Charlotte against is another woman of color, I'd rather they just scrub that shit from her vocabulary completely.  

DIS BIZNESS is not going to take a nosedive because of it and with all the time I'm sure she gets, they'll give her other ways to be mediocre.

But anyway, I totally would call it full-blown racism...
I mean...I think we need to really evolve our definition of it anyway, because it seems like a lot of people are stuck on a very obvious, very cartoonish definition.
Like if Vince isn't outright saying he doesn't push people because they're ______, then that exonerates him.
Or that if such and such has a Black friend then they totally can't be racist....
Or if somebody didn't have malicious intentions then they can't be racist...

Like, people who claim to have and may in fact have Black friends can be and are still racist as shit to Black people (and anyone else!).
People who claim to look up to MLK can still be racist as shit even to Black people, especially since we aren't really taught anything much about MLK.

Just..yeah...the fact the only way a Black champion is acceptable is if they're the second coming of The Rock?  
The fact WWE in particular had that obsession with trying to have their ONE Hispanic superstar?
Blonde and White Charlotte being "genetically superior" to Sasha Banks?

I can't argue with much here. I don't mean to come off like I'm exonerating WWE because malicious or not, the subtle and not so subtle racial limitations put on talent is obviously something that exists and seems like the easiest thing in the world to put to bed. For me it's just hard sometimes to differentiate where the racism begins and the incompetence begins. I would very much like to see a more open minded WWE where the talent rises regardless of personal prejudices and bias but WWE is kind of like the old out of touch grandpa at Christmas dinner, I don't have a lot of faith in them catching up any time soon.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Dec 21, 2016 15:30:59 GMT -5 Ultimo Gallos said:

Considering R-Truth travels with Vince and the Mcmahons,in the private plane and limos,I would kind of doubt Vince is racist.

I have to jump in here, I don't actually think Vince is racist, I just think he's an idiot. That said, that's what most racists are actually like - they'll have friends who are immigrants or black or Hispanic or whatever their personal flavour of racism is. Racism can even be enforced by people of that same minority group (hello, that cop scene from Boyz N' The Hood). It's nowhere near as binary as people make it out to be, and WWE's system shows the same kind of institutionalised racism that most other systems will show, because at their founding they were created by old, rich, white guys.

Although I do wonder...

Dec 24, 2016 17:11:40 GMT -5 The Thread Barbi said:

Who was on the roster? Mabel, Kama and maybe Mo. Mabel ended up as a failed experiment and Kama lacked something. Later we has Henry. Faarooq, D Lo and Ahmed Johnson.

Ahmed had something that enabled him to be the first black IC champion, but injury and a poor attitude /workrate soon halted that push. A different set of circumstances and perhaps he would have been World Champion in '97/98.

Henry was green and D Lo was never going to be World Champion. He was a upper mid carder at best.

Out of curiosity, anybody got any idea what kind of free agents or WCW guys that might have been top guy material were still floating around in 1995? Was there just a dearth of black talent?

Dec 30, 2016 9:33:32 GMT -5 EvenBaldobombHasAJob said:

wasn't racism it was homophobia, but Jay Briscoe cost himself the ROH title after going on a violent tirade about teachers telling his kids there's nothing wrong with being gay.

Someone else has already pointed out they gave him the title after this, but even if they hadn't they also continued booking him even up to now. I'd say not booking the homophobe would probably send a stronger message.

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

Out of curiosity, anybody got any idea what kind of free agents or WCW guys that might have been top guy material were still floating around in 1995? Was there just a dearth of black talent?

Looking around on Cagematch(so not an exhaustive source, but probably as close as we'll get), looking around the top American promotions, and....yeah, Ahmed really is the cream of the crop in terms of African American talent. ECW has the Gangstas, who would be a no go in a major promotion for obvious reasons. They also had Ron Simmons and 2 Cold Scorpio kicking around as a tag team early in the year, who WWF would pick up both guys the next year. Over in WCW, we've got Kamala later on in the year, so...pass, and Harlem Heat, which is basically Booker T. two years or so before he was really "ripe" for any kind of significant singles run. The rest of the black talent on the American scene was basically a list of "never was" guys like Brickhouse Brown and "has beens" like Koko B. Ware.

[J. Hova]

Jan 1, 2017 14:56:48 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

Jan 1, 2017 5:20:17 GMT -5 J. Hova said:

I do not disagree, for instance, while others might find that time that VKM dropped the N bomb in a promo, in CONTEXT, was hilarious with Shelton Benjamin.  Basically, anything can be made fun of, or made a farce of, given the context.

He didn't say it to Shelton Benjamin he said what up my N-word to John Cena.

and they panned over to Booker T who did his "Tell me he did not just say that" catchphrase... the point being yeah, that was not something Vince should be saying.


You may be confusing it with a segment where Trish and Shelton were in the locker room and Vicne said something like I don't know if you realize this Shelton but you're an African American.

Which was them mocking a "controversy" in the NFL, where they did something similar which was met with criticism from a bunch of people about it being indecent. (Vince was playing the stand in for the outraged)

I had to go back and watch those clips and you are completely right.  I must have combined the two segments in my head and coupled that with trying to forget John Cena from 06 to about 14.

[Abdullah]

Jan 1, 2017 9:36:05 GMT -5 @keijikage said:

Jan 1, 2017 5:20:17 GMT -5 J. Hova said:

I do not disagree, for instance, while others might find that time that VKM dropped the N bomb in a promo, in CONTEXT, was hilarious with Shelton Benjamin.  Basically, anything can be made fun of, or made a farce of, given the context.

1.) Are you sure it was with Shelton Benjamin? 
2.) Not everything is open for you to be making jokes about, strictly because of the context.

Because as much as Blazing Saddles seems to be a thing in this topic, there's a lot in the movie that was a bit more subtle, LIKE THE ENTIRE PLOT, or how even technically neither Headly nor LePetomane called Sheriff Bart the n-*DING!* but were still clearly racist as **** in how they wielded their power.

That comes off more like a detail Richard Pryor put in there...

But anyway, that's the thing.  Everybody talks about the really obvious shit like "OMG!  They called him a n*BONG!*" but not the really interesting stuff like how even after saving half the town from Mongo, Bart was irritated at how the white people were still too racist to even give him credit about it out in the open.

I feel like that's how it is whenever people generally talk about the racist shit that happens in wrestling:  we hit all the really obvious stuff like Booker not beating Hunner....

...but what about the "subtle" stuff like the NXT crowd calling the ONLY BLACK WOMAN ON THE SHOW, "ratchet"?  (Completely misusing the word in the process, but that's another thing...)
...or about how The Rock still being the only Black WWE champion?  No, we gotta stop it with bringing up the WHC because nobody believes that title is equal until we start talking about why no other Black person can hold the WWE title.

Because I got to tell you, you know what really cut me deep?



Not just the news about Hania, which really gives me a sad because I had her pegged as showing up in NXT any minute now...especially since she may have been a bit shaky in the ring but she worked a bit with SDR and WWE needs every decent face they can get.

...which is another thing this racist shit in wrestling does: limit the talent pool by discouraging people to even participate or think of it as a career.  Wanna know why you may not see as many PoC wrestlers as you'd expect?  It's because people pay attention and these stories spread.  Who'd want to even waste time dealing with this shit on their day-to-day?

...but anyway, want to know what really cut me deep just now?

Dec 21, 2016 8:54:48 GMT -5 Rican said:

This is why I think all three members of New Day have peaked as singles wrestlers and none of them will go on to main event level when it ends like some people speculate.

I had to pause...
Scream "****!" to the heavens then regain myself, because I'll bet you my right cold, unfeeling robot arm that that's precisely what'll happen to them.
They're popular. They're decent. And they'll primarily be used to put over Baron Corbin, or Finn Balor, or GODDAMN ****ING SHEAMUS, or Dolph "Mr. Steal Yo' Shit That Ain't Really Important To You" Ziggler (which if that happens, I'm just going to start screaming and I don't know if I'll ever stop)

Because you know...as a wrestling head, there's certain things I get, certain things I used to get and certain things that takes a different perspective for me to get again.
Ever watch this stuff with people who don't follow all that much...? This all-coveted "casual audience"?

You know what this Sasha/Charlotte bullshit might look like to some of those people?
WWE primarily using their most popular Black person who coincidentally enough is the lightest and brightest...(Strike One)
....as their main token...(Strike Two)
....to constantly make a less-talented white wrestler look good...(Strike Three)

I was told how foul the whole thing comes off and...I can't say I disagree really.

As a would-be Black fan or future wrestler, why would anybody want to watch or even deal with wrestling when you see stuff like that happen time and time again?


....wow. That post went some places.

It really just came my annoyance from finding out what happened with Hania and wondering how many other people are driven away from wrestling because of that shit.
...and too from what I think is going to happen to Ember. Stupidly awesome in the ring, but she'll probably be used to put over how tough Billie Kay is or how crazy Nikki Cross is or some shit and that's disheartening as ****.

What's this Hania stuff? I hadn't heard about it.

[Feyrhausen]

What about the troubled/criminal pasts of Booker T and Shelton Benjamin being constantly brought up when they were being pushed as faces but not one word ever about Randy Orton being a marine deserter.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

Jan 3, 2017 3:33:54 GMT -5 J. Hova said:

Jan 1, 2017 14:56:48 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

He didn't say it to Shelton Benjamin he said what up my N-word to John Cena.

and they panned over to Booker T who did his "Tell me he did not just say that" catchphrase... the point being yeah, that was not something Vince should be saying.


You may be confusing it with a segment where Trish and Shelton were in the locker room and Vicne said something like I don't know if you realize this Shelton but you're an African American.

Which was them mocking a "controversy" in the NFL, where they did something similar which was met with criticism from a bunch of people about it being indecent. (Vince was playing the stand in for the outraged)

I had to go back and watch those clips and you are completely right.  I must have combined the two segments in my head and coupled that with trying to forget John Cena from 06 to about 14.

That's a lot of great wrestling to try and forget, dude.

[Rican]

Jan 1, 2017 15:22:04 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

Jan 1, 2017 9:36:05 GMT -5 @keijikage said:

1.) Are you sure it was with Shelton Benjamin? 
2.) Not everything is open for you to be making jokes about, strictly because of the context.

Because as much as Blazing Saddles seems to be a thing in this topic, there's a lot in the movie that was a bit more subtle, LIKE THE ENTIRE PLOT, or how even technically neither Headly nor LePetomane called Sheriff Bart the n-*DING!* but were still clearly racist as **** in how they wielded their power.

That comes off more like a detail Richard Pryor put in there...

But anyway, that's the thing.  Everybody talks about the really obvious shit like "OMG!  They called him a n*BONG!*" but not the really interesting stuff like how even after saving half the town from Mongo, Bart was irritated at how the white people were still too racist to even give him credit about it out in the open.

I feel like that's how it is whenever people generally talk about the racist shit that happens in wrestling:  we hit all the really obvious stuff like Booker not beating Hunner....

...but what about the "subtle" stuff like the NXT crowd calling the ONLY BLACK WOMAN ON THE SHOW, "ratchet"?  (Completely misusing the word in the process, but that's another thing...)
...or about how The Rock still being the only Black WWE champion?  No, we gotta stop it with bringing up the WHC because nobody believes that title is equal until we start talking about why no other Black person can hold the WWE title.

Because I got to tell you, you know what really cut me deep?



Not just the news about Hania, which really gives me a sad because I had her pegged as showing up in NXT any minute now...especially since she may have been a bit shaky in the ring but she worked a bit with SDR and WWE needs every decent face they can get.

...which is another thing this racist shit in wrestling does: limit the talent pool by discouraging people to even participate or think of it as a career.  Wanna know why you may not see as many PoC wrestlers as you'd expect?  It's because people pay attention and these stories spread.  Who'd want to even waste time dealing with this shit on their day-to-day?

...but anyway, want to know what really cut me deep just now?


I had to pause...
Scream "****!" to the heavens then regain myself, because I'll bet you my right cold, unfeeling robot arm that that's precisely what'll happen to them.
They're popular. They're decent. And they'll primarily be used to put over Baron Corbin, or Finn Balor, or GODDAMN ****ING SHEAMUS, or Dolph "Mr. Steal Yo' Shit That Ain't Really Important To You" Ziggler (which if that happens, I'm just going to start screaming and I don't know if I'll ever stop)

Because you know...as a wrestling head, there's certain things I get, certain things I used to get and certain things that takes a different perspective for me to get again.
Ever watch this stuff with people who don't follow all that much...? This all-coveted "casual audience"?

You know what this Sasha/Charlotte bullshit might look like to some of those people?
WWE primarily using their most popular Black person who coincidentally enough is the lightest and brightest...(Strike One)
....as their main token...(Strike Two)
....to constantly make a less-talented white wrestler look good...(Strike Three)

I was told how foul the whole thing comes off and...I can't say I disagree really.

As a would-be Black fan or future wrestler, why would anybody want to watch or even deal with wrestling when you see stuff like that happen time and time again?


....wow. That post went some places.

It really just came my annoyance from finding out what happened with Hania and wondering how many other people are driven away from wrestling because of that shit.
...and too from what I think is going to happen to Ember. Stupidly awesome in the ring, but she'll probably be used to put over how tough Billie Kay is or how crazy Nikki Cross is or some shit and that's disheartening as ****.

While we're on about Charlotte and Sasha, I'm not the only one who's picked up on mentions of Charlotte being "Genetically superior" increasing whenever she feuds with the one black girl they ever put on TV, right?

Speaking of Sasha and since I had already talked about New Day, I don't think it's a coincidence they all lost their championships on the same night a week after Big E posted that "Black Excellence" photo on Twitter and Kofi posted that long note defending it.

[A Platypus Rave]

Jan 3, 2017 9:31:45 GMT -5 Rican said:

Jan 1, 2017 15:22:04 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

While we're on about Charlotte and Sasha, I'm not the only one who's picked up on mentions of Charlotte being "Genetically superior" increasing whenever she feuds with the one black girl they ever put on TV, right?

Speaking of Sasha and since I had already talked about New Day, I don't think it's a coincidence they all lost their championships on the same night a week after Big E posted that "Black Excellence" photo on Twitter and Kofi posted that long note defending it.

people were stating for months New Day were losing the title the week after breaking the record, and Sasha and Charlotte have been flipping the title back and forth for months and they have been hyping Charlottes undefeated at Pay-per-views for just as long.

[y4j1981]

not really recent stuff but...