If you were a kid in 96 and you thought Shawn Michaels was fly compared to the Nwo, Sting, and Taker? You had to have been a wigger or skater geek Black guy who was a male Avril Lavigne. No fukking way any Nyggas or Latinos were thinking Shawn Michaels was the be and end all of the business in 96 with his gay Chippendale dancing routine and weak ass theme music while the spray paint was going strong. And even if you wanna go back a year or two later, Razor was ALWAYS seen as better and who everyone was talking like at school and everywhere else. Shawn was never on that level which is why fans flipped on him so quick for Sid at Surivor Series. He's nothing. He never was. All of this revised history on this site is comedy because his matches in 96 were NOT piff. They were not talked about on the legendary level. They never were. The WWE hype machine has done good with it but that's about it.People grew up watching this jacked guy strutting and prancing around arenas, dropping from scaffoldings, climbing ladders, surviving ironman matches, and superkicking his way past bigger stronger guys. Admittedly dude was pure energy, style, and charisma during that early-to-mid nineties family period.
I mean, I'm 6'7" and I used to love watching dude. I didn't gain an appreciation for Hart, Rude, etc until later.
When you're a child, none of the race stuff comes into play, so it's difficult for people to release those memories once they get up on game. This is why I'm glad I was never a Hogan fan (always disliked dude and thought he was corny).
Separating art from artist is incredibly difficult, especially if you're black and get into pop culture at all.
No easy answer here.
On point. Race (based on skin color) is illogical and completely made-up to separate people. Once you actually get around someone and connect it changes the game. But this idea of separation is so embedded in us, that we would rather say, "oh, he's one of the good ones" than just admit that the nonsense we've been taught is illogical bullshyt.
The Kliq was one of the worst things about the business. $hit got better when Austin and Rock rescued the WWF. Nash and his fingerpoke of Doom was what stopped the competition so he's no genius and he killed his own heat from 98. Stupid as fukk too.