First AW, now Tensai!?

[Born To Fly]

Well, it looks like the offensive joke bug spread throughout the locker room. First it was Abraham Washington last night spouting off about how Titus O'Neal was like Kobe Bryant in a Colorado hotel room. Now, it's Tensai.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/258...sive-tout-video-a-reportedly-will-be-punished

Earlier today, Matt Bloom who plays Tensai posted a video on Tout that has since been removed. The video, which has since been deleted, showed him traveling with his "personal chauffeur" Sakamoto to Indianapolis for Smackdown and he remarked that it's "very, very dangerous" to drive with a Japanese person. Tensai then smacked Sakamoto on the head as he drove and ordered him "to open his eyes."

[YOUTUBE]watch?v=Fqh9wMk9VJI[/YOUTUBE]

What makes them think they are untouchable from getting in trouble by saying these kinds of things?

Plus, I don't know how much further Tensai can be punished. He already lost to Tyson Kidd again. Maybe Sakomoto will kick his ass?

Edit: Not sure if that YouTube video shows up, but here's the Tout — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqh9wMk9VJI

 

[MikeyTheAwesome]

I dont think it's that big of a deal. He's a heel, and last time I checked, Heels do anything to piss off fans. Sure Tensai might not be that type of heel (insulting the crowd, city etc) but he definitely did that to gain heat rather than be offend the Asian community. God forbid WWE, you'll punish a guy for making a little joke (more humorous than offensive) but won't punish writers for exploiting Eddie's fresh death and the death of King's mother.

 

[Nate DaMac]

Jesus Christ, people. They advertise themselves as a family friendly show, making racist jokes is not family friendly. What the fuck are you people thinking? If they changed their format to being an adult oriented show like they used to be, they'd have nothing to apologize for. They haven't, so they do.

 

[Jerichoholic8894]

I can understand Tensai getting in trouble for the Japanise comment, but telling him "Too open his eyes" can be interpreted how ever you want, in a "asians eyes" remark, but i've yelled "open your eyes" to all races when driving on the road.

A.W. just made a stupid mistake, not that nobody has ever made a mistake before.

Wrong place, wrong time for both AW and Tensai. Both obviously deserve punishment (It's being reported AW has been suspended 30 days, as I'm sure Tensai will as well)

Maybe if WWE wasn't all over this social media crap, the Tensai thing wouldn't have ever mattered, seeing as Samoko or whatever was laughing at the end.

 

[Fansince1992]

Only have to look at all the Comedy on show at Raw1001 to see what WWE is becoming. Doesn't feel like Pro Wrestling anymore, seems like just a comedy show. First Santino with that Hideous Fake Cobra on his hand who once again gets buried this time by Alberto. Next Brodus Clay with the usual Dancing and Dinosaur antics, Havn't got a clue what Vikkie Guerrero was supposed to be trying to do in her own dance routine. Next we see R-Truth still pretending he has an imaginery friend. The Chair for Little Jimmy next to the announce Table was um... say no more. Moving on Daniel Bryan's answers to the doctor made him look like a 3 year old. Won't comment on the Goat picture. John Cena backstage with CM Punk, Punk actually spoke like an adult but John Cena just reminded me of Forest Gump for the whole segment. Finally the Brock/HHH promo was awesome until they censored HHH saying "ass"

All this is showing that Superstars can't be themselves (Tensai and AW for Example) They are forced to say things that they might say at a Childrens Nursery. When they say something of an adult nature that could offend they will just be punished for it. Perhaps i need to have more of a sense of Humour i don't know, but like Punk said "This is Pro-Wrestling not Balet"

 

[TheLoneCharles]

It's actually not that bad what Tensai said. Substitute "Japanese" with "woman" and they are both equally bad drivers. For me personally it's nothing like insulting the Japanese heritage or anything like that. Yet, because of Linda McMahons campaign WWE needs to be wary and I understand why they would be upset over this.

Yet, where does the line get drawn? I still find it ironic WWE promotes the Be A Star campaign, yet they encourage making fun of Daniel Bryan for his appearance for example. Goatface? Oompa Loompa? Isn't all that name calling bullying especially since he can't help the way he looks? Just a thought.

 

[zhaff2004]

Its a pity really, he was actually fairly entertaining and was really helping out the PTP which, in turn, really started to boost the tag division. Hopefully he gets off with a small fine and a stern warning, having him off tv for 30 days will hurt the division... Also, they should still allow him the keep his mic, adds a lot to the matches and really draws heat

 

[Kliq69]

Guess it depends on the family whether or not they find it funny. But then again, I was watching south park and family guy with my 3 year old god daughter who's now 7. She can't stand the current crop of kid's shows because they insulted her intelligence so we watched shows that were more mature.

Both Cena and Rock made off the cuff references of each other being queer and/or sucking a certain organ and it was not a big deal. DX just last week had the audience chanting "suck it", how is that not as bad as a harmless asian driver joke or kobe joke? 1) The rape never happened, he switched holes mid-stroke and she got all butt-sore (literally), 2) either everything is ok to be made fun of or nothing is.

WWE makes fun of weight (Vickie), disease (JR), addiction (hardy), death (lawler), age (mae young), mentally damaged (R-truth), homos (aforementioned rock/cena), religion (vince vs god), gender (cole/divas) and yet race is supposed to be the one taboo area? Even innocent asian driver jokes that we all have heard before? This pc society is going to take all the laughs out of life if they get their way. It's pathetic.

 

[Jerichoholic8894]

I'll never forget when Mr Vincent Kennedy McMahon said "*****" on a live Pay Per View in 2006. Sure it was PPV, but i'm sure parents bought the event for their kids, and Mr McMahon wasn't ever punished.

Saying "*****" on live TV is much worse in my book than what was said by Tensai and AW, considering WWE had a rape scene involving Michael Cole and Heidenreich back in the day

The McMahon moment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmowYlJu3Q8

The rape scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkVxWzY2TXQ

Now, I believe AW and Tensai should appeal their suspensions and if their appeal is declined then i'd quit the company.

This all falls back to the Be A Hypocrite program the WWE is running, on TV they have made fun of Vickie Guerrero's weight, Jim Ross's disease, the death of Jerry Lawler's mother, religion with the Shawn Michaels and God vs the McMahon story, homosexuals with the Charlie Haas and Rico storyline (Due to making it seem as if all homosexuals act int he way Rico did), and currently the mentally ill in the R-Truth "Lil Jimmy" angle, and even addiction with Jeff Hardy and the Jericho/Punk feud.

The list goes on and on, and i'm all for a good entertainment, but when it becomes wrong for the WWE talent to crack a small joke while the company publicly acts the way it does is where the line needs to be drawn.

 

[Kliq69]

Nice job taking the list of examples from my post and using them almost verbatim, you must do excellent copy/paste papers in school.

Again, either everything is ok to make fun of or nothing is... I don't agree with all of south parks opinions, but I damn sure respect that nothing is off-limits. Race, religion, disability, homos, disease, war, rape, murder, death (loved the michael jackson death episode), molestation, even the goat herder muhamed wasn't off limits.

Why should certain things be ok to make fun of but other things not be?

 

[Kelso1ftw]

Personally I don't really care for Tensai since he shows up once every 3 weeks lol to lose to Tyson Kidd none the less... I just really hope they stop the whole mic that he wears to ring and he talks none stop.. we already have commentary and then we have to deal with his annoying banter? I hope they just get rid of that entire gimmick and just let him be a manager yelling at his team and helping them cheat to win and stuff and let him talk for promos and stuff in the ring

 

[Cats Pajamas]

It's actually not that bad what Tensai said. Substitute "Japanese" with "woman" and they are both equally bad drivers. For me personally it's nothing like insulting the Japanese heritage or anything like that. Yet, because of Linda McMahons campaign WWE needs to be wary and I understand why they would be upset over this.

I think he was probably picking on the tendency of Japanese people having squinty eyes. But yes, everyone's a terrible driver, not just women and Asians. Like Nate said: That's a no-no for a show with younger viewers (no matter how unnecessary Tout is).

Does "Squintamoto" or the "PrimeTime Rapists" (though Titus O'Neil barks like a rapist, for sure) sound like things that belong on WWE Television? Take your time to think about it... *cue Jeopardy music*

Yet, where does the line get drawn? I still find it ironic WWE promotes the Be A Star campaign, yet they encourage making fun of Daniel Bryan for his appearance for example. Goatface? Oompa Loompa? Isn't all that name calling bullying especially since he can't help the way he looks? Just a thought.

The list goes on and on, and i'm all for a good entertainment, but when it becomes wrong for the WWE talent to crack a small joke while the company publicly acts the way it does is where the line needs to be drawn.

Neither one of you need to worry yourselves about drawing lines...

Ever since they've started promoting "Be A Star" I've heard people going on and on and on (and on still) about how they showcase "bullying" on a weekly basis. Do people want all the performers to start holding hands or something? Be A Star is a disclaimer.

They tell you "Don't try this at home" too, so should they stop performing wrestling maneuvers on TV? No more Be A Star crap, people.

 

[Rayne]

Again, either everything is ok to make fun of or nothing is... I don't agree with all of south parks opinions, but I damn sure respect that nothing is off-limits. Race, religion, disability, homos, disease, war, rape, murder, death (loved the michael jackson death episode), molestation, even the goat herder muhamed wasn't off limits.

Ugh. If there's one thing I want to kick the people in the face at South Park over, it's providing that stupid quote to people so that they can parrot it around as an excuse for any behavior that's offensive. I agree with the statement on its surface. Humor should be a no-holds barred arena.

But you have to be prepared to accept the consequences of the opinions of other people.

This is where that "nothing is off-limits" speech falls apart for most people, because they use it in the sense that no one should find their attempt at humor offensive. I won't say people shouldn't be allowed to make a racist joke, but if you're going to make racist jokes, you have to be prepared to deal with the reaction you're going to get from people who don't find your joke funny.

Just like you have a right to make that offensive joke, people have the right to tell you what they think about it. The concept of "freedom of speech" is a double-edged sword.

And that's what's happening with AW and now Tensai. They said things that the WWE perceived could offend their audience. The consequences of that offense were unacceptable to the WWE, so they trotted the two of them out for public apologies. (Tensai's probably hasn't happened yet at the time of this post, but it will.)

I believe that there should be no off-limits material in comedy. That doesn't mean I think that a joke which violates taboos is by definition funny.

 

[klunderbunker]

So let me get this straight: the WWE doesn't let these people practice on live mics and has most of their promos scripted almost down to the point of just memorizing lines like a play, then when they're given a live mic they have no idea what to say and screw up? GEE, WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT COULD HAPPEN???

This is a problem with the way the WWE does promos now: you can't go from having everything written out for you and then have stuff like Tout where they're told to cut a quick promo whenever they feel like it/are asked to. Think of it like this: have you ever seen an amateur night at a comedy club? The people stumble over jokes and aren't all that great. Now compare that to say Chris Rock. Rock has performed thousands of shows over the course of a few decades now. He's figured out how to master the art of delivering lines in a funny way and could probably make the worst jokes ever funny just through sheer willpower and skill. You could put him in front of a club with 30 people in it or Madison Square Garden with 20,000 people in it and he'd likely succeed.

With this style of promos and video making, WWE is asking their guys to go from an amateur night to Madison Square Garden. You can't expect them to be perfect based on the limited practice they've had. Guys like Punk, HHH, Cena and Jericho all have years of experience on a mic and know what they're doing when they talk. You can't expect people to make a jump like that that fast and have it be perfect or have them know what their character can or can't say. These aren't their characters. They're characters that they're playing. Tensai has said what, 8 lines in the months he's been back? Why would you expect him to be a polished speaker? Naturally you wouldn't, and WWE shouldn't expect their guys to be perfect at first either.

 

[scomvp316]

Whatever happened to the fans and the talent expressing themselves when it comes to WWE. This company use to pride itself on self expression until they went to PG. I laugh at when fans say WWE is family friendy when near 85% of fans are not kids and women. If you want family friendly programming watch WWE from 85-95 or watch Disney. This notion of WWE being politically correct is bogus because no matter what their programming is like certain people and certain political groups with never accept WWE or any wrestling promotion!

 

[thebowtiekiller]

wwe is starting to piss me off their the biggest bunch of hypocrites if they were at war with another company like wcw they would be pulling every race,religion,disabillity,and sex joke every week on raw to put it bluntly wwe have turned into a bunch of creeps trying to make everybody happy which is impossible its also impossible to do even slightly edgy comedy without offending someone.

kind of think its funny how even now wwe is portraying santino as an stereotypical italian how is that ok? im sure that annoys some uptight people in my view either everythings ok or nothing is otherwise that isnt fair how can they draw the line on a slightly racist japanese joke but mock something that might offend another bunch of people. I seriously wish people would just get a sense of bloody humour and realise when somethings meant as a bit of fun.

by the way anyone remember kaientai im sure wwe thought that was hillarious at the time INDEED!! lol

 

[Kizzani]

First and foremost we have to realize the world that we live in now is a over sensitive world of cry babies and whiners. Anything you can do or say will offend someone somewhere. To the matter of fact wrestling is considered offense to those who think combat is evil even though wrestling is fake.

Let's look at the facts:
Was Kobe Bryant unstoppable in the hotel room? Just because he had a great lawyer doesn't mean he didn't do it, I just means his lawyers were good enough to convince 12 people that he didn't. The only people that know the truth are Kobe and the girl. Obviously his wife thinks something happened, since she ended up leaving him.

Did AW personally look to attack Kobe Bryant? Doe sit really matter he was using a comparison. Like this. Tensai's comments were almost as racist as Jerry Lawler's.

Do Japaneses people have eyes that look smaller than other eyes and make them look like they are squinting? Yes.
Is it a stereotype Japanese are bad drivers? Yes, I am sure their a plenty of great Japanese drivers.
Do we know the whole story? No.

So let's see the WWE is asking their wrestlers to now to private time touts after shows. I wonder how many people think the idea is stupid ( I for one do). Personally I don't like meeting wrestlers outside of the ring because in my life I have met a few SCSA, The Rock, Owen Hart and Kevin Nash. Kevin Nash was the only one I saw ONLY outside of a signing he was nice even though my aunt was a hooker to bug him during his meal, I apologized but still a great person. The other three I seen at different times at airports and they were complete asses to people I avoided them seeing them from a short distance.

If the WWE is forcing people to tout especially when the fans don't like them or they need to try and stay in character then I am sure they get frustrated just like everyone else. Especially when the fans hate you, the company wants to push you but you suck. all this leads to anger, leading to not thinking.

But if I was famous and them sent me a Japanese driver with glasses I would say not thanks send me a new driver. But in my defense when I was in the Navy I went to Japan and they have got to be by far the most spiteful people I have ever came around, Even Iraq treated us with more respect at least they responded when you spoke to them.

The question is where is the fallout for Jerry? The King has been making racist comments as long as I have been watching wrestling ( some 25 years). If your going to be over sensitive about the words your wrestlers are using then stop doing touts, tweets, and live shows. This way you can monitor everything that is said. But I promise you won't stop all of it, people are people and if they think they can get away with it they will.

http://www.rsdb.org/

Here is a list of racial slurs that I found while doing a report. the fact is the world is over sensitive to words, just browse the site and see the millions of words that are so stupid that we have turned in to Racial slurs like: Monday or Flash.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Telling a racist joke is just not smart for a PG show.

In the context of wrestling and how over the top it can be I don't see much of an issue making a comment like that but unless they plan on making wrestling more edgy and make it appeal a little more to adults its best to keep those jokes off the brand name.

Besides its not that funny anyways, making fun of an Asian for having poor eyesight is like making fun of a cripple for not walking.

 

[Skinsley]

AW's joke was funny. But not apropriate for WWE....however Tensai's joke was not even that big a deal.
Get over it.

 

[thebowtiekiller]

Telling a racist joke is just not smart for a PG show.

In the context of wrestling and how over the top it can be I don't see much of an issue making a comment like that but unless they plan on making wrestling more edgy and make it appeal a little more to adults its best to keep those jokes off the brand name.

Besides its not that funny anyways, making fun of an Asian for having poor eyesight is like making fun of a cripple for not walking.

thing is that wwe may still advertise been pg but a year or so ago they wouldnt even say ass on tv the simpsons is pg aswell and they say much worse but what wwe were clearly trying to do was get rid of there tarnished reputation that they created because of the attitude era,scandals and wrestlers deaths and create a new good as gold image which will allow a new generation of children to get hooked on it without their parents been able to complain and so far its worked but if you have noticed the wwe are pushing the boundrys of pg a bit more recently its only because they have done what they wanted to do

but yeah it wasnt that funny anyways mayby worthy of a chuckle but definatly not worth punishing tensai over it because it was only a joke as i said in my first post this sort of thing is getting ridiculous now and i do recall wwe mocking zack gowan for having one leg and there was the story where linda mcmahon was a vegetable in a wheelchair with vince doing all sorts of crap to her so wwe have made fun of cripples before but i would just rather wwe would concentrate on entertaining us again rather than its public image

 

[Marv95]

When WWE wasn't at war with WCW they were still making jokes like this. The product for the most part has a history of being non-PC(even before the Attitude Era), so anyone who is offended by what A-Train and AW said should just stop watching. It's entertainment. But screw WWE for making AW apologize and screw them for wanting this video removed. Remember when they didn't give a damn about being controversial, which helped made their company successful?

 

[Workrate]

Modern Family, one of the highest rated network television shows, had an episode where an Asian woman got into her car and ran over a bunch of garbage cans as a nod to the stereotype. Actually, that show bases a lot of it's jokes around stereotypes.

In other words: these types of things aren't actually bad, so long as they're framed in the right context. I didn't see the Tensai thing, so perhaps I should shut my mouth keyboard. But reacting negatively to this seems like a stretch to me (as does plucking every instance of "bullying" from WWE and calling them hypocritical for promoting anti-bullying, as if major motion pictures that feature violence are promoting violence or books about sexual deviancy are promoting sexual deviancy).

 

[Poop Master Flex]

thing is that wwe may still advertise been pg but a year or so ago they wouldnt even say ass on tv the simpsons is pg aswell and they say much worse but what wwe were clearly trying to do was get rid of there tarnished reputation that they created because of the attitude era,scandals and wrestlers deaths and create a new good as gold image which will allow a new generation of children to get hooked on it without their parents been able to complain and so far its worked but if you have noticed the wwe are pushing the boundrys of pg a bit more recently its only because they have done what they wanted to do

but yeah it wasnt that funny anyways mayby worthy of a chuckle but definatly not worth punishing tensai over it because it was only a joke as i said in my first post this sort of thing is getting ridiculous now and i do recall wwe mocking zack gowan for having one leg and there was the story where linda mcmahon was a vegetable in a wheelchair with vince doing all sorts of crap to her so wwe have made fun of cripples before but i would just rather wwe would concentrate on entertaining us again rather than its public image

Honestly I don't think it what AW did was punishment worthy either. On the same token though the WWE is trying to build a certain image and comments like that can damage that image greatly, which in turn I guess is punishment worthy.

From a personal standpoint I don't see the big deal, from a business standpoint though I see where they are coming from. WWE is trying to build the company as a family friendly product suitable for all ages and are trying to uphold that image, that is their goal and their direction right now. In order to do that they need everyone one the WWE to have the same goal and follow the same direction.

 

[akrassikauda]

WWE deserves some blame for this. How many times are you going to touch the hot stove before you get burned. The modern day hot stove is social media. They implore that their talent must stay in character and use social media to help or advance their character, this was bound to happen. We are all at least I hope we are all taught don't touch the stove it is hot you'll get burned. We don't listen the first time so we touch the stove and get burned, so now we all know.

Certain college teams have or are thinking about forbidding their players from using twitter or facebook to avoid this.

article.wn.com/.../Florida_State_coach_forbids_players_from_tweeti..

Now I'm not saying WWE needs to go this route but I wouldn't be surprised if they did at least monitor it a little more or tell them to be very careful with what they are doing. As former coach Herm Edwards said, "Think about it before you hit send, because once you press send you can't unsend it it's already out there" and you know what happens next if it's something negative we'll be talking about it someone is in trouble because social media is the hot stove.

 

[thebowtiekiller]

Honestly I don't think it what AW did was punishment worthy either. On the same token though the WWE is trying to build a certain image and comments like that can damage that image greatly, which in turn I guess is punishment worthy.

From a personal standpoint I don't see the big deal, from a business standpoint though I see where they are coming from. WWE is trying to build the company as a family friendly product suitable for all ages and are trying to uphold that image, that is their goal and their direction right now. In order to do that they need everyone one the WWE to have the same goal and follow the same direction.

once again i agree with you but my problem is wwe seem to pick and choose whats ok to make fun of and what isnt personally i dont care either i can tell when somethings just meant in fun but the problem is no one has the right to say when the line has bin crossed because everyone is different and has differant opinions one man may laugh his head off at somthing but at the same time somewhere another guy will be real upset/offended or whatever even when wwe was attitude and stuff the humour was almost comic like adult but in a light hearted way there wasnt any malice in it and there isnt now peeps should lighten up a bit and not take a pro wrestling show so bloody seriously lol