The Atlantic: Pro Wrestling is fake, but its race problem isn't

[September]

lol i say that because we should know by now that the world isnt going to fuk with anything forced, why should a black wrestler be pushed if he isnt 10/10?

we use the rock as an example because he came in the game fresh

now the gimmics with black stars well i cant say much about it, isnt rassling a white market thing? can we agree that their are more whites part of the product, wasnt cryme tyme a one off thing? how many black rasslers stay like that? cryme tyme came in the game as funny goofy hood dudes, yh sure its a gimmic and sterotype thing but they are just playing a role, if they played as golfers dressed in golf clothes would they not get called out too,? whats a kneega to do

and hell no way can they make kofi like cena, thats like saying they can make anyone like cena or stone cold etc etc, the person has to have an aura already that is natural, u mention sheamus and bad news barret, with them i dont see it as force, they are no bigger than kofi or langston, maybe they just cant push kofi like them but make no mistake those two can not be forced , doesnt matter if they make bad news the champ tomorrow, if the people dont like it they dont like it, if the aura isnt hot it isnt hot, still time for a new black champ, that will have the it factor but i dont see it in any current black wwe guys, the right or guys just need to come imo.

Because they push wrestlers that aren't 10/10 all the time and if they're gonna do that it might as well be a POC. To say that wrestling is a white market thing is erasing all their audience who aren't white and that's not fair because we buy their fukking network and pay for their shytty shirts for our black, Latino , Asian , middle eastern kids so why can't we get someone that looks like us on the show without being a joke?

All wrestlers play a role. How come it can't be one that's not offensive? You're trying to make this seem like a one off thing when it's not. Why would they put effort into actually creating a unique or different character for a black wrestler when they can just make him a dancing criminal? Or an Asian can come out to gongs and not speak? THAT is the problem.

 

[Mikael Blowpiff]

MVP should've at least had a run with the Big Gold Belt.

Oh the Miz promo where he takes shots at MVP for doing time and then he goes over at the PPV.

 

[mortuus est]

Because they push wrestlers that aren't 10/10 all the time and if they're gonna do that it might as well be a POC. To say that wrestling is a white market thing is erasing all their audience who aren't white and that's not fair because we buy their fukking network and pay for this shytty shirts for our black, Latino , Asian , middle eastern kids so why can't we get someone that looks like us on the show without being a joke?

All wrestlers play a role. How come it can't be one that's not offensive? You're trying to make this seem like a one off thing when it's not. Why would they put effort into actually creating a unique or different character for a black wrestler when they can just make him a dancing criminal? Or an Asian can come out to gongs and not speak? THAT is the problem.

who have they done that to recently tho? r truth? i dunno about kofi or langston or even mizzark and shelton, they seem normal to me from what wwe has been doing with them in the past few years

and ok u say they push guys that arnt 10/10 but didnt someone in this thread say kofi was geting pushed and it just didnt work/go far? i dunno im reading this sideways on laptop

honestly all rasslers get treated like shyt, we just going to forget jamie nobel when he first came? who can forgett the basham brothers and when they had a black dominatrix ?

wwe is not going to have all colored guys that get loved on the same level tbh lol wwe is not just about rassling anymore, its a program now, its acting, u got to have the it factor

 

[Konnan]

yo yo yo @Konnan, im gonna need you to speak on this

Arriba la raza

 

[Singh]

Wait till the E finds out that Kofi is the current reigning linear world champion

 

[The Electric Lady]

reading this post it looks like u would like the wwe to have stars of all colors? ok but what if they just dont have right guys yet? lets say they just have the whites = cena, byran , is it by force that they should groom a chinese rassler to hit all points?

They have the right guys right now. Still doesn't stop non white wrestlers from being jokes. Aside from Reigns of course.

 

[mortuus est]

They have the right guys right now. Still doesn't stop non white wrestlers from being jokes. Aside from Reigns of course.

you think so? i feel big e langston could be a star given the moment, same as roman and seth but thats about it

 

[The Electric Lady]

you think so? i feel big e langston could be a star given the moment, same as roman and seth but thats about it

They could have had Yoshi Tatsu in actual mid card story lines. Not be at the top, but still do well. Now he's fired. WWE needs more Asian wrestlers period. I think they have a lot of talented hispanic wrestlers that could have a chance if they just had the opportunity to talk on the mic. There's no reason at all Kofi doesn't have potential to upper middle card guy who occasionally sees the main event. Same with R-truth. Titus and Darren definitely have it factor, especially Titus. Darren is already in the media with mainstream exposure. Still no push. Titus I could see as a legit face World Champ. When he does things, people listen. He's funny, he's athletic, he's talented, he's attractive, he's got everything. But he's still not offered a chance, and a man of his stature is now jobbing.

The reason you don't think non-white wrestlers don't have what it takes, is because WWE never LETS prove they have what it takes to begin with.

 

[mrken12]

Good article. There will probably be something done on Raw in the coming weeks to "prove" there's no racism in WWE. Kofi's winning that IC title battle royal.

Vince really doesn't care. He's done blatantly racist stuff for decades now. And just like any other white person, he'll think that giving a token black person an opportunity will all of a sudden remove the stigma. And I can imagine the types of discussions going on at other wrestling forums.

Article raises alot of good points. And the direction the company took with Booker T showed me that a Black man would never be the face of the company (Lashly came close but they ran him out). Hopefully a black performer comes along that the crowed loves and the WWE has no choice but to give them the title just like the rock (dude clearly had acting aspersions and was going to out grow the WWE). But I am optimistic that the company will grow as the old guard who run the company are getting older and retiring then the new guard will give the black characters with talent more to do.
At least Step does not tolerate the racist shyt they say backstage ( well the racist shyt the wrestlers complain about)
If Hayes is still the head writer then I see him as the main cause of all the racist stuff you see on screen. But on the real crime tyme and Guerrero's were fukked for playing those stereotypes (eddie made it work though)

Hayes is just part of the problem. Most of the people backstage share his beliefs but he's the most vocal. It's a systemic problem.

 

[mrken12]

WWE is a fukkin joke when it comes to Race. ROH actually know how to use their black talent. Vince is stuck in 1961

Fixed.

 

[Easy-E]

In the WWE Universe, all the wrestlers are athletes, as wrestling is fictionally considered a legitimate athletic sport. So promoting a black wrestler as a Natural Athlete falls in line with the racism displayed by mainstream sports media famously written about in the Boston College study “Brains Versus Brawns.” In an analysis of National Football League commentary, it was found that sports media figures are more likely to refer to a white athlete as a student of the game or a technician, while they will refer to a black athlete as a “beast,” an “animal,” or a “machine.”



As for the article; it ends abruptly, but, I appreciate it

I had to move away from WWE because of stuff like this

 

[Easy-E]

http://uproxx.com/prowrestling/2014...isnt-black-anymore-according-to-the-atlantic/

The shame here is that there’s a troubling and deep history of racism that should be parsed out in wrestling (which we’ll be doing a lot of here at With Spandex) and the writer’s point could easily be made while including The Rock. A whole book could be written about racism in wrestling. Hell, the company’s owner dropped an N-bomb on a live broadcast. And, honestly, including The Rock might even help his point because I could write thousands of words about how The Rock still had to deal with racism and still does in very subtle and not-so-subtle ways in the industry despite all his success. But omitting him and pretending like he’s not “Black enough” is just insulting.

Then why get upset at the article? The Rock is still one guy

 

[mrken12]

Also, miss me with that 'universally loved' shyt. The WWE forces enough white wrestlers down our throats until we love them. Sheamus is not universally loved and neither is BNB. But these dudes are given chances on chances on chances. When the hell have they done that for black wrestlers.?

When it comes to representation in media for people of color, it's always a race thing because we seldom get any.

And don't get me started on Jack Swagger. He is absolute garbage. He was given a World Title run and still gets TV time despite the fact that his mic skills are Jeff Hardy levels of awfulness and has zero personality. He should have been released a long time ago.

And also The Miz getting a World Title run AND a Wrestlemania Main Event win was an abomination. Kofi >>>> Miz in every category.

 

[mrken12]

who have they done that to recently tho? r truth? i dunno about kofi or langston or even mizzark and shelton, they seem normal to me from what wwe has been doing with them in the past few years

and ok u say they push guys that arnt 10/10 but didnt someone in this thread say kofi was geting pushed and it just didnt work/go far? i dunno im reading this sideways on laptop

honestly all rasslers get treated like shyt, we just going to forget jamie nobel when he first came? who can forgett the basham brothers and when they had a black dominatrix ?

wwe is not going to have all colored guys that get loved on the same level tbh lol wwe is not just about rassling anymore, its a program now, its acting, u got to have the it factor

Let's not make this a general "everyone gets screwed over" thing. Shelton Benjamin had plenty of momentum for a World Title run and even had a win over Triple H and they killed that momentum with that Mama Benjamin garbage. Or MVP was given that losing streak storyline and even when he was able to get over as a face despite losing so much, they still didn't do anything for him. Kofi was getting major pops during his Orton feud but he hasn't recovered since then due to terrible booking.

 

[DLo]

@ that article. That was a long time coming. What scares me more is what we don't see. How many black road agents, writers and trainers do they have? The situation isn't going to get better until the people in the back that shape the direction of the company are diverse.