That is exactly my point. Wherever Russo goes, Usually the African Americans Get stuck with the shitty storylines. Mark henry gets the tranny, Ron simmons is watered down to just "damn!" And everyone one of the black people that walk in to a company he has get THE WORST GIMMICK possible. Black machismo? Consequences creed? Everytime a African comes in, he gets shitted on. I HOPE he doesnt do anything to Benjamin except put him in team angle again.
I think that you are being entirely too judgmental and taking this out of context. Sure The Pope is not the TNA world champion, but at least his potential has been given light and he was brought out of the X-Division to shine on his own merits and to build up his popularity for the future. It's not Russo's fault that Pope is legitimately hurt. I mean what would you rather happen. another one of those Undertake "one and done" title runs where he beats the champ and then has to drop the title the next ppv or week due to being injured? So you're reading too much into the whole "Pope is not champ" thing.
And as far how black wrestlers have been treated everywhere he has gone, let's take a look at that.
1. Mark Henry was the WSM and the world's worst wrestler at the same time. He was brought in for shock value and for a quick pop. Thing is, he sucked. And while he has learned to work with his limitations, Russo pretty much did the only thing he could do to keep the guy interesting and talked about, made a joke out of him. At the time, Henry deserved no less. And trust me, it was at least more dramatic and charismatic than the whole hand raising thing that he does now.
2. Wait a minute, are you seriously sitting here telling me that you are going to blame Russo for the whole "Damn" thing? The SAME Russo who came up with the Nation of Domination? The same Russo who came up with the APA? The same Russo who hasn't been in the WWE's area code for the past decade? The same Russo who wasn't anywhere even near a WWE ring, event, or television program when hey started doing the whole " Damn" thing? Are you sure you read up on your history before you started making that remark? Because, and everybody knows this, Vince Russo was not involved with, affiliated with, or socializing with the WWE since he left the WCW. So I'm not sure where you get your facts because that is completely wrong. If anything, he salvaged Simmons career after the whole "Modern Day Gladiator" fiasco. And he even found something to build Simmons back up to after The Rock took over the Nation.
3. Black Machismo and Consequences Creed? Well first and foremost, Black Machismo is actually and entertaining gimmick. Not just because he imitates The Macho Man but because it gives Jay Lethal a chance to flex his mind. Now I bet you are sitting there wondering what the bloody hell I mean by that statement right? Well it's simple. Now when you see Jay Lethal, do you sit and just watch and shake your head or do you actually listen to some of the things that come out of his mouth? The guy actually does his homework for the part and it can be heard with alot of the references that he makes with former angles that the Macho Man was involved in or wrestlers who fit the description of the current angle who were from the past. I can only hope that they let Lethal do his Flair impression again.
Consequences Creed? Well I'll give you that one. The guy didn't have talent. he had the look, but just not the seasoning to be legit yet. I bet you that they will keep an eye on him for the next few years and, if he shows improvement with his in ring presence, he will get another chance. Other than that, he sucked. And, other than the color of his tights, that was his gimmick from before he came to TNA.
4. I think the only people who might be racist are the people who harp on this crap constantly. I mean how can they not be? THey sit and want every black wrestler or mexican wrestler or japanese wrestler in each and every company to get pushed to the top, and yet they don't care that only one of every 20 white wrestlers is actually getting used decently in each company. So why should the same statistics not be applied with other races?
I mean instead of pointing out that Booker T was just used as enhancement talent before Russo gave him a big push to the title, you sit and look at the fact that Stevie Ray wasn't heavyweight champion. Instead of looking at the fact that before Russo came along and showed you Elix Skipper's full potential, nobody knew that a black man could be a cruiserweight, you gripe that Hard Work Bobby Walker wasn't given a run with the TV title. Instead of looking at the fact that he took K-Krush and made him The Truth and gave him the only world titles that he will ever see in his life, you complain because TNA didn't make "What's Up" a household song. And let's not even get into the fact that Russo was pushing Ahmed Johnson to the WWF world title before injuries and weight issues took him down for the count.
So take it from a black man who has been watching wrestling since back in the days when every black man or mexican or islander in the WWF was crazy, dancing, or a pimp and Ric Flair was allowed to run angles where a black up and coming wrestler would be called "Boy" or told to carry his bags in the middle of the ring for cheap heat. Oh yeah, I have seen legit racism in wrestling. And trust me, Vince Russo is far from being even minutely labeled as such. He has actually done alot of good for minority wrestlers as he studies their potential over their color.
And that is the take of a 34 year old black man. Love or hate it, it still needed to be said.
