"I'm Black, Where's my Championship Belt?"

[IrishCanadian25]

Booker T. The Rock. Ron Simmons. Shelton Benjamin.

The history of African American Championships in Professional Wrestling - especially in the WWE - is about as long and distinguished as a Nixon expose on political ethics. With the NWA refusing to recognize the title reign of Bobo Brazil, many people look at Ron Simmons' short WCW Title reign in the early 90's as the first major world title reign a black professional wrestler has ever had. The Rock went on to add to it, though he's mixed race and identifies a lot with his Samoan heritage as much as with his African heritage. Booker T ALSO turned the trick in WCW, where Simmons had. Shelton never got higher than Intercontinental Gold.

Flash forward to 2008, and "coincidentally" after racially charged comments made by Michael Hayes to Mark Henry, the WWE is the embodiment of championship diversification.

Cryme Tyme rehired, in line for a major title push.

Kofi Kingston, a relative rookie, wins the IC Title.

Mark Henry, a perannial jobber to the stars, wins the ECW Title (maybe a year after Bobby Lashley held it).

Shelton Benjamin, usually a permanent resident of the WWE dog house, wins the US Title.

The trend is apparent. WWE has said that they are going after a flagging African American market, while others feel they are trying to make ammends for the comments by Hayes, especially after not firing the former Freebird.

Do you think the WWE is putting titles on African American wrestlers to make ammends for the comments by Hayes? Are they doing it to increase the market share with African Americans? Are they doing it in good faith? Or are they doing it because these guys are legitimate title holders?

Personally, this has shades of late WCW, where title reigns were commodities promised to wrestlers to sign contracts. If championships are being given to African American wrestlers simply because of their race, does that cheapen what should be an otherwise impressive accomplishment?

 

[Mr. TM]

I think the WWE is just realizing the talent they have that are african-american. The African-american audience does make up a large portion of the WWE audience as well, so WWE is trying to cash in on that.

ECW Title- Bobby Lashley was groomed for that spot, as it was his way of jumping to the top of the WWE, for a cup of Tea.
- Mark Henry is by far the most dominant man in ECW. Hes more realistic for the title, than Tommy Dreamer, the long term ECW Wrestler. Hes also been a long serving employee of the WWE, as was in line for at least some gold on his resume besides the European championship. he has put enough people over, time to get a reward

Intercontinental Championship- I was hoping with Shelton in the feuds with Nitro and Carlito that the title would start to mean something. now none of them are even on Raw. Now he is the US Champion, and in line for a major push. That is one great brightspot for this young man who looks to be in amazing shape, versatile, and a long term employee on his way.

Kofi Kingston is good. Hes good on the ring, and people love his character. People from the Caribbean are cool, just ask Carlito. Jericho doesn't need the IC belt anymore, KK was a perfect fit for it.

Cryme Tyme should never have been fired. Their little performance that led to them being fired was unfortunate. but they are a good tag team, and in a organization that has no over tag teams, they are one. Hopefully they get some gold soon enough.

 

[HBK-aholic]

If the championships are being given to them solely for that reason, then yes of course it would undermine the win. As it would for any reason other then then earning it. If Triple H only won the belt because he was McMahons family,then that undermines the accomplishment, as well as making the belt lose value, or prestige.

The WWE championship, as well as most others in the promotion, is a prestigious thing. Almost al children in the world have heard of the likes of Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Austin etc. And that's because they were WWE champion. But to become WWE champion, they had to earn thatsupport beforehand, making it a circle which continued until a link in it broke.

Personally, I don't think the WWE is very race orientated. Comments have been made by members of staff on the WWE which could indicate that. However as a promotion I don't think race means very much. People are pushed for all sorts of reasons, some agree with a champion, others do not. That will always happen. But I think if someone suggested any of these wrestlers had it easy in the promotion due to their race, it'd be very disrespectful.

Shelton Benjamin, for example is a great talent. I love watching him in the ring, and it seems he's finally been accepted by a great deal of fans, compared to the amount of critics I saw for him at one point. He's been working for a long time to get this recognition, and he got the championship down to his own skill and hard work. If he was a white performer this would have panned out in exactly the same way.

Usually, McMahon gives the belt to the most 'over' person in the company, whether that's face or heel status. The wrestler that makes him the most money, due to fans liking them is the one with the title. Racism is something which has always affected the world, and something which always will. In recent years the amount of racism shown has decreased, however it is still there. As a thought to be kept in the back of your mind, maybe it wasn't the WWE that was being racist, but the fans. As much as they like to disagree with the champion, as I said earlier, the champion is chosen due to the amount of people willing to pay money to see him. I'm not saying this is definitely the case, but maybe some fans didn't want to pay for to see a black champion,therefore there wouldn't be one.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

I think it's hard to determine whether or not it was strictly and only because of the racist comments made by Hayes.

On one hand it's easily acceptable to just push off that Mark Henry isn't talented, or capable enough to be a World Heavyweight Champion, even by E.C.W. standards, and therefore he was more or less handed the Championship as a way to make ammends.

On the other, however, you have to look at select African American Champions. While Booker T. was completely deserving of his Championship, I don't know the full situation regarding Ron Simmons. However The Rock (to my knowledge) was never handed anything because of his race or heritage, so to say otherwise would be a highly opinionated move.

Now if you fast forward to the current situation, I'll break it down by Champion and situation.

Kofi Kingston: Arguably going through a moderate Goldberg sized undefeated streak on E.C.W., and mysteriously enough the first guy to defeat him is another African American in Shelton Benjamin, connection? I don't know. But the bigger question is does it honestly matter? I would say no.

Continuing.. Kofi magically gets drafted to the top brand in the company. In his first match while being on that brand, he wins a Championship. So it's asked, is it in continuation of saying "sorry" to the African Americans in the company today? I would honestly say in this case.. NO. Why? Because Kofi was on a push long before the comments were ever made. And when the Jericho/H.B.K. feud came about, he needed someone to drop the Championship to, without hurting himself and at the same time boosting someone else.

Kofi was the logical choice, next to Rey Mysterio, and Mysterio was already widely and well known. So Kofi gets the nod, because he deserved it in my opinion, not because of his skin color.

Shelton Benjamin: In this situation, it's very hard to say he was given the Championship for his skills over his skin color. I would honestly say this could very well be a situation in which it was in an attempt to make ammends and apologize to the African American race.

When you look at the situation, it's hard not to believe that. Matt Hardy, the now former United States Champion, was hugely pushed into that spot. They'd worked on pushing him for over a year and wanted to make him quite possibly the next moderate Main Event threat to a guy like Edge. It could've been completely possible. Then, out of nowhere, he loses two straight to Shelton Benjamin, without any build, any push, or any reason.

Another ironic factor. Last night during the Pay Per View, it was mentioned that Shelton Benjamin made history, by becoming the only guy to apparently unseat a United States Champion at the Great American Bash. Why would they push that so hard, if not to give Benjamin even MORE credit? That's a highlight and a "fun-fact" that I really doubt hardly anyone would care about.

Cryme Tyme: I'd honestly say the "jury" is still out on exactly what's in-line for them. They're being teamed with Cena, yet they were no where to be found last night. They could be in-line for a Tag Team Championship match, but I wouldn't say it's because they A.) deserve it or B.) because of their skin color.

I think Cryme Tyme is only in the position they're in, because you really don't have any other strong teams on Raw to provide the challenge to the Tag Team Champions. So Cryme Tyme shouldn't even be involved in this topic, one way or another.

Mark Henry: Without even stopping to think, I'd instantly say he was given the Championship due to skin color and as a way to say "We're sorry". Weren't the comments made by Hayes directed at Henry to begin with? I could be wrong on that, if I am then so be it.. but the fact is this.

Mark Henry isn't talented. He's in the business much like a lot of the others are, because of his look. Because of his background. He was in the Olympics once upon a time, never won anything, but him being in them is all the W.W.E. really needs to promote and push the crap outta him.

Henry has had multiple chances to prove he could be a legit. contender for anything, and in my opinion really fell into this title because through a television storyline he was the only guy in the match, from the same brand the title was needed to go to. On the outside, if the comments were made, especially toward him, then that explains roughly everything you need to really know.

Anyone who thinks Henry won this Championship because he deserved it, however, is grasping at things in the dark.

 

[Shawns#1 Fan]

This is aa very sensitive subject. Im African American and was thinking about racism in WWE as well.

Bobby Lashley: The guy was made for the ECW title and was actually the only reason i watched it. He was a tremendous athlete, need a little mic skills but to my me he was a better wrestler than John Cena.

Mark Henry: Has been there for 12 years and has paid his dues.

Shelton Benjamin: Just the same as Bobby. He is moving up on the ladder to success. He was great as the IC Champion and im sure will be a great US Champion as well.

Kofi Kingston: Very entertaining and fun to watch

Cryme Tyme: I love their gimmick but if i was Vince i would dump it. If wanted black people could make a huge deal about their gimmick. Ghetto thugs that wear bullit proof vest ( JTG used to back in 06). They were fired which im sure didn't sit well with not only blacks but whites as well. Then you look towards the end of 2007 around October/ November all the Blacks disappear overnight basically. Which led me to believe maybe there is alot more racism in the WWE we don't know about.

Usually, McMahon gives the belt to the most 'over' person in the company, whether that's face or heel status. The wrestler that makes him the most money, due to fans liking them is the one with the title. Racism is something which has always affected the world, and something which always will. In recent years the amount of racism shown has decreased, however it is still there. As a thought to be kept in the back of your mind, maybe it wasn't the WWE that was being racist, but the fans. As much as they like to disagree with the champion, as I said earlier, the champion is chosen due to the amount of people willing to pay money to see him. I'm not saying this is definitely the case, but maybe some fans didn't want to pay for to see a black champion,therefore there wouldn't be one.

Your right HBK-aholic. Thats the case Shawn shoul've one at Wrestlemania 23. Same goes gor Bobby Lashley at Bash 07. I think when it comes to being black the WWE plays it safe. Its like saying "you can get the ECW title all you want,hell develope some mic skill you can even get the World heavyweight title, But....... we're can wait awhile for the WWE title." Which means your not gettin the title. I like you and you know your stuff HBK-aholic but im goin to have to say that in terms of a full African American winnig the WWE championship it just will not happen. Which is messed up because i would love to see MVP with that belt. But think about besides The Rock who Black has ever held the WWE Championsip? Plus The Rock doesn't consider himself Black he says he is Samoan. All i can say is that if your black and want to be a wrestler then know is your time. As said from Wrestlezone.com a few months ago

 

[CenaHardyFan]

Bobby Lashley - He deseerved everything he got he is just as good as John Cena to me they were the best wrestlers in WWE in 2007.

Shelton Benjamin - Well , he has a futuree , but Vince was wasting it on useless matches and fueds at ONS 2007 he and Haas had a good match against Hardys , but that was it for him. Putting him as US Champion was a good move.

Kofi Kingston - I wasn't expecting Kofi to be drafted to RAW and win the I-C Title. Not saying he didnt deserve it he just needed to prove himself a little bit more.

Cryme Tyme - They just work very well with John Cena having nothing to do with this topic

Mark Henry - one word = no talent

 

[TheOneBigWill]

I like you and you know your stuff HBK-aholic but im goin to have to say that in terms of a full African American winnig the WWE championship it just will not happen.

Not to burst your bubble, but Booker T. was the World Heavyweight Champion for a very lengthy time in the W.W.E., including a victory in a Champion of Champions match that crowned him over the other two Champions.

So how can you say a full African American will never win the W.W.E. Championship, when the fact is Booker T. unofficially and technically has already proved that wrong.

Maybe you'd know that a little more if your head wasn't so far up Rebecca's backside.

 

[FromTheSouth]

I think it's merely a coincidence. For one, who else was Jericho going to drop that belt to? If it was involved in the HBK feud, it would be just a prop, further delegitimizing it. Giving it to Kofi gives someone who, as noted above, was already getting a mega push. The WWE introduces guys in two ways nowadays. One, putting them on TV and having Umaga squash them a couple of times before letting them beat Shannon Moore, or, two, starting people against jobbers and slowly stepping up the competition until they get over. The second way is how Kofi was introduced, and that is the way early champions are intoduced. Expect Kozlov to get some kind of belt soon as well.

Mark Henry was just the most logical choice to get the ECW belt. It's top stars were drafted or already tag champs. Tommy Dreamer sucks, and he is just holding it for Matt Hardy, who dropped to Shelton. MVP (who is black) held that belt forever, so you couldn't give it back to him. Jeff Hardy doesn't need that belt. Shelton is new, and talented, and is being used to get the belt over, instead of using the belt to get over. All he needs is TV time.

 

[Crimson Bonez]

Not to burst your bubble, but Booker T. was the World Heavyweight Champion for a very lengthy time in the W.W.E., including a victory in a Champion of Champions match that crowned him over the other two Champions.

So how can you say a full African American will never win the W.W.E. Championship, when the fact is Booker T. unofficially and technically has already proved that wrong.

Maybe you'd know that a little more if your head wasn't so far up Rebecca's backside.

Not to burst your bubble but she said "THE WWE title", the world heavy weight title isnt the wwe title, its a world title in the wwe, the wwe title the only afican american to win that was the rock so far and the only african american to win the world heavy weight title was booker or king bookah at the time, so 2 african americans have won world titles in the wwe

now back on subject, i can see alot of sides to this story 1st off saying im black myself, but aside from that do i think that the comments made by hayes has something to do with things...yes, mark henry gets called a racial slur and coinincidently he beomes ecw champ, i dont know about the whole he paid his dues thing, alot of ppl has paid there does and not a got or atleast a 2nd-ary title

next my fav. wreslter shelton benjamin: im glad hes got gold, it actually fits better with his godl standard gimmic for him to actually be holding gold, but they needed the us title back on smackdown, they needed a heel to do that who better than benjamin, although i dont like how he got it with no build up to the match, now i see it that way but then i see it in another way MAYBE they just gave it to him cause he african and they want more african viewers/hayes incident and it MAYBE a way to get another african to hold a belt just to MAYBE lose to maybe jeff and not hold the title agin for another 2 years and to elevate jeff to the ME, and there was all what foley was saying about him last night at the bash what was mentioned earlier

cryme tyme: raw has but only 3 tag teams cryme tyme, team priceless, and cade/y2j, cade and y2j are obviously busy so who else will fued for the titles cryme tyme, so no i dont see this in making ammends to the hayes incident

kingston: alot of people were saying that the the IC has lost its presteige and the last two holder (jeff, y2j) did nothing with them, giving to belt to kingston a fresh new champ and opening up fresh new fueds, kingston obviously has a big fan base and i like his different style of wreslting, a style if im not mistaken is new, and with raw doing there "new fresh faces" he fist perfectly in that

now somebody who nobody has said yet that ezikeial guy or however you spell it, another new african face in wwe, now when i first heard about kendrick's new look and a potential push i couldnt believe it but after seeing the debut he acted like a drunk entering and exiting the ring, his shoulders in that jacket looked weird, and alothough that has nothing to do with it he has this bodyguard, who JR and foley kept talking about more than the match, so it got me thinking, maybe they're just using kendrick to elevate this guy perhaps

so in-conclusion some things i beleive for to make ends on the hayes incident (henry), legitimate title holders (benjamin, kingston), and to bring in more african veiwer (all these guys holding titles at the same time) so like i said i can see it alot of ways

 

[Shawns#1 Fan]

Not to burst your bubble, but Booker T. was the World Heavyweight Champion for a very lengthy time in the W.W.E., including a victory in a Champion of Champions match that crowned him over the other two Champions.

So how can you say a full African American will never win the W.W.E. Championship, when the fact is Booker T. unofficially and technically has already proved that wrong.

Maybe you'd know that a little more if your head wasn't so far up Rebecca's backside.

Last time i checked the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship are two totally got damn diffrent things. Yes i do remember Booker T but tell me when he held the same title Triple H is holding know, or John Cena who held the belt 3 times. You can't because it never has been done.

 

[Big Sexy]

I think all of the black wrestlers that have titles now deserved them.

Mark Henry- He's been in the wwe 12 years and has always been a solid performer and the ECW title is more like the IC and US titles anyway

Kofi Kingston- A very talented young wrestler that the crowd loves and they needed to put the belt on someone new because Jericho was never defending it and Jericho only got it because of Jeff Hardy's suspension

Shelton Benjamin- He is probably the most underrated wrestler in the wwe and it's about time he got another push

I think the wwe needs to keep pushing the black wrestlers because the fact that only 5 black wrestlers have ever held Heavyweight titles in WCW and WWE combined is horrible.
Booker T should have definately won more then 1 Heavyweight title in WWE and its about time the wwe is finally pushing their black superstars

 

[Mighty NorCal]

I do find it somewhat ironic that upon Hayes, return we have seen this "black out"

I think its couldve been somewhat subtle if it was just Kingston and Benjamin, becuase both of those make absolute sense. Kingston had IC title written all over him at least a month ago, and Benjamin I think warrants one last attempt at establishment in the upper mid card. Mark Henry, the actual object of Haye's attrocity against humanity (sarcasm folks) getting the spot he has, with Atlas even being brought in as a MOUTHPEICE (LO fuckin L) is the most obvious and egregious thing here. There are SO many "monster like" guys they couldve picked for this spot. Act like Umaga wouldnt have been roughly 784 times more entertaining here. Yea he wouldve. Now, since Hayes wanted to drop an "N" bomb, we get to watch Teusday night Henry every week, up until at least SummerSlam. Ill take Kingston and Benjamin, but Henry is the price we have to pay to live in this uber over sensitive soceity of today....

 

[Y 2 Jake]

There was no real reason for WWE to push any of those black people. Yet here we are with several of them as champions.

Mark Henry might have been a good ECW Champuion about 2 years ago. But he's not been a prominet force on WWE TV in months. Yet he was suddenly put into the title picture on ECW. And he won the title above two wrestlers who are better, and more credible. Everyone knows that Matt Hardy is destined to be the main boy on ECW. Yet beating Henry won't mean half as much as defeating Big Show or Kane.

Shelton Benjamin is the same as Henry. You can't honestly say that they should have put the title on him over Jeff Hardy, Kennedy or Umaga. So two of them might not have benefited from the title run. But Kennedy would have.

Kofi Kingston is the same as Shelton. It was out of nowhere and there are better people to put the title on. They're currently pushing Cade harder than him, and he'll be somebody who will actually go on and do something in the company.

So I don't see the point in any of them as champions myself. They should go to wrestlers who would do the best with the belt, or who would benefit the most from them.

But they're just black so who really gives a shit. It's like saying that Ron Simmons was the first black world champion. Who cares? He was shit, which had nothing to do with the colour of his skin.

 

[J.R Walker]

I see a lot of people on here struggling to justify the pushes of Kofi, Shelton, Cryme Tyme, Mark Henry as being a result of something other than the Michael Hayes incident. In all honesty, I think that this topic even having to be brought up does a HUGE disservice to the superstars themselves and is highly disrespectful of each of their athletic/entertaining ability.

Just because someone is Black, Latino or anything non-White, does not mean that they were "given" there position without any merit.

At the same time, just because someone is pushed, it doesn't mean that that person has paid their dues or "deserves it". (Great Khali, Big Daddy V, Vladimir Koslov, Hardcore Holly)

And just because someone is pushed it does NOT necessarily mean that they took a spot from someone else.

Shelton Benjamin is the same as Henry. You can't honestly say that they should have put the title on him over Jeff Hardy, Kennedy or Umaga. So two of them might not have benefited from the title run. But Kennedy would have.

Kofi Kingston is the same as Shelton. It was out of nowhere and there are better people to put the title on. They're currently pushing Cade harder than him, and he'll be somebody who will actually go on and do something in the company.

I strongly disagree with King Jake on these points. I CAN honestly say Jeff Hardy, Kennedy and Umaga have each main evented on a pay-per-view and have each had their chance to make it to the top level. All three have violated wellness policy and with the exception of Umaga the violations occurred during the peak of their respective pushes. I happen to enjoy these talents as much as the next guy but I don't think pushing Shelton is in anyway a slight at any of them.

Lance Cade in my opinion needs A LOT of work... maybe one day... but I do know for right now I'd MUCH rather watch an hour of Kofi Kingston than 10 minutes of Lance Cade.

So before we judge whether or not the E is implementing some kind of "affirmative action" for pushes, why don't we watch the talent as we would any white talent before we judge whether or not they deserve the belt/push.

And in my opinion Henry is presently surprising me with his title reign...


Just for reference...
Current African-American WWE Superstars:

RAW: Kofi, Shad, JTG, D-Lo Brown, Ron Simmons:: 5/45 on Roster
Smackdown: Big Daddy V, Shelton and MVP:: 3/36 on Roster
ECW: Mark Henry, Tony Atlas, Elijah Burke, Teddy Long Boogeyman:: 5/24 on Roster

Total 13/105 in all names on WWE.com + (Tony Atlas + D-Lo Brown who haven't been added)

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Just because someone is Black, Latino or anything non-White, does not mean that they were "given" there position without any merit.

I think in the case of the current champions it does. There are just better options. You can't not push somebody for months/years on end and then expect people to care about them when they suddenly get a title.

I strongly disagree with King Jake on these points. I CAN honestly say Jeff Hardy, Kennedy and Umaga have each main evented on a pay-per-view and have each had their chance to make it to the top level. All three have violated wellness policy and with the exception of Umaga the violations occurred during the peak of their respective pushes. I happen to enjoy these talents as much as the next guy but I don't think pushing Shelton is in anyway a slight at any of them.

Each has had their pushed. And from each push it's been obvious that each has something to offer. Shelton does to. And maybe he'll prove it with this title reign. But it'll take him a hell of a lot longer to get there because his WWE career has been stop-start. WWE need new main eventers now, not in a year or so.

Lance Cade in my opinion needs A LOT of work... maybe one day... but I do know for right now I'd MUCH rather watch an hour of Kofi Kingston than 10 minutes of Lance Cade.

Cade has been around a heel of a lot longer than Kingston. He's also aligned with Jericho which will aid him. Sure he needs work. But so does Kingston. And Cade will improve a hundred times faster by being involved with Y2J & HBK than Kofi will be by being involved with Paul Birchill.

 

[HBK-aholic]

I think that race is just a shitty subject to bring up. If you want to be a typical black crybaby about a balck person not being WWE champion go talk to the NAACP, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and the Rutgers girls basketball team.

Typical black crybaby?

It's a damn business, color has little to do with it unless you make that the issue. Michael Hayes did, he made race an issue and now as a result we have Kofi Kingston who is way too new to be holding any kind of gold no matter how good he is, Shelton Benjamin who is about as skilled on the mic as Hellen Keller, and Mark Henry who has no talent period, he's a fat guy who calls himself a Silverback which is a gorilla so I really don't want to hear anything about racism.

Kofi Kingston deserves a shot at championship glory. His race has nothing to do with it. Same goes for Benjamin. He's one of the most underrated guys in the business. Hard worker, definitely. And we've had The Great Khali as Heavyweight Champion, mic skills didn't come into that so what makes you think they'd come into it here?

You can take your so called racism argument and piss off.

And you can be nice and polite please .

Talent makes champions, that's it. The fans, make champions, not skin asssholes. Just because a black guy hasn't held that title means nothing.

Ahuh. Which is where a point I made comes in. Maybe the fans were racist at one point, not allowing a black champion.

If I went by your logic than I could say it is racism that mark Henry is beating all the white people, and that it was racist for Kofi Kingston to beat Jericho, and racist for Benjamin beating Hardy. I could go on and mention the racism involved in Bobby Lashley destroying every white guy he faced accept John Cena who acts black.

I love how you have to say 'except' Cena. I mean, is it racist Cena went through a phase where he beat everyone and anyone? No.

Racism is a bullshit fabrication thought up by those who wished to make money and gain power from the idea of it, mostly your so called black leaders like I named Jesse jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farakahn, all crooks robbing their own people and selling them lies of the white mans opression.

Racism is very much real. How can you say otherwise? White people did oppress black people at one point. White people kept them as slaves. Still today, everyone has a bit of racism in them.

Racism in the WWE is a lie, One guy shoots off at the mouth and all ofthe sudden time to kiss the black guys asses or they might get angry, oh no not that, you can't piss off black people or you'll get a fuckin lawsuit on you for racism and hatecrimes, even if they are attacking you, you hit back it's a hate crime. That's bullshit and so is what's going on now in WWE. Just because someone got offended, now we have to see real talneted wretlers loose their titles to guys who either don't deserve them or aren't ready for them. Good job, you guys cry and get your way as always.

I kind of agree with you, about the hate crime business. People use racism for too much, and usually it's the white people who get the blame. It's something which angers me also.

But that doesn't mean Benjamin, Kingston etc do not deserve their championships. McMahon chooses champions for reasons he decides. Race doesn't mean anything. Punk doesn't exactly deserve his championship, and he's white. So what is the WWE doing there, then?

 

[Seal]

It really is unacceptable behaviour though. And apparently it's been consistent with Hayes, it's the kind of thing that wouldn't be tolerated at all outside of WWE.

I'm not sure about Kofi's title reign and how it's going so far. I guess he is quite popular.
Shelton is a talented athlete and I always enjoy his matches, I personally won't complain about that.
Mark Henry is a good worker, and he's not terribly boring. He's good on the mic and a decent powerful monster type. Wasn't a terrible move giving him the belt and besides, it's only ECW.
I never picked up on this trend until I read this thread. Even if WWE was doing this based on race, it's not very noticeable. It's more being fair towards the black athletes I think, Cryme Time are doing pretty well and getting great pops now that they've been given the opportunity. I hope this means something is in store for MVP eventually too, because I feel he's about ready to be elevated to the main event scene at some point in the near future.

 

[Shawns#1 Fan]

There was no real reason for WWE to push any of those black people. Yet here we are with several of them as champions.

Mark Henry might have been a good ECW Champuion about 2 years ago. But he's not been a prominet force on WWE TV in months. Yet he was suddenly put into the title picture on ECW. And he won the title above two wrestlers who are better, and more credible. Everyone knows that Matt Hardy is destined to be the main boy on ECW. Yet beating Henry won't mean half as much as defeating Big Show or Kane.

Shelton Benjamin is the same as Henry. You can't honestly say that they should have put the title on him over Jeff Hardy, Kennedy or Umaga. So two of them might not have benefited from the title run. But Kennedy would have.

Kofi Kingston is the same as Shelton. It was out of nowhere and there are better people to put the title on. They're currently pushing Cade harder than him, and he'll be somebody who will actually go on and do something in the company.

So I don't see the point in any of them as champions myself. They should go to wrestlers who would do the best with the belt, or who would benefit the most from them.

But they're just black so who really gives a shit. It's like saying that Ron Simmons was the first black world champion. Who cares? He was shit, which had nothing to do with the colour of his skin.

I don't care what else you say, but what the fuck do you mean: "there just black so who cares?" I care. and if thats the case Ric Flair was shit. He was a decent wrestler at best. You shoul watch what you say because i see a lot of Michaels Hayes in you.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

In all honesty, I think that this topic even having to be brought up does a HUGE disservice to the superstars themselves and is highly disrespectful of each of their athletic/entertaining ability.

As the threat starter, I just want to make a point in response to this comment. I am actually thrilled you feel this way. This topic was posted with the honest to God intention of stirring up some emotions in you people, and I see it has worked.

The fact is, whether or not we feel certain stars are being pushed because of skin color or not, there are undoubtedly individuals out there who may well feel this way. I highly doubt there are no bigoted wrestling fans out there.

Sports such as Professional American Football are held under a microscope constantly if they bypass an African American Coach. We are merely discussing whether we look at professional wrestling and hold it to a similar standard or not. To be honest, a huge reason I even thought about this was because of the recent "It's a Great Time to be Black and in WWE" column posted on the main site.

Feeling that African American professional wrestlers are receiving pushes to make ammends for comments or to earn back revenue dollars isn't racism - it's a response to a question on what is motivating WWE to make it's decisions right now.

 

[J.R Walker]

I think in the case of the current champions it does. There are just better options. You can't not push somebody for months/years on end and then expect people to care about them when they suddenly get a title.

You make a valid point, it's not fair to expect people to care just because they have a title. Look at Santino initially, the intercontinental title did nothing for him. I do think though that since they have the title now, they have the opportunity to give the fans a reason to care. The title helps them in that regard by making fans who would otherwise dismiss them take a second look.

Each has had their pushed. And from each push it's been obvious that each has something to offer. Shelton does to. And maybe he'll prove it with this title reign. But it'll take him a hell of a lot longer to get there because his WWE career has been stop-start. WWE need new main eventers now, not in a year or so.

Once again I agree that the WWE does need fresh main eventers and that's where Kennedy, Hardy and Umaga even MVP are at right now. They hold positions in the Upper Mid-Card and are just waiting for that fued or chance to break into the Main Event. Shelton is no where near as established as they are and that's why I feel he could use the rub of being a title holder more than each of them.

Cade has been around a heel of a lot longer than Kingston. He's also aligned with Jericho which will aid him. Sure he needs work. But so does Kingston. And Cade will improve a hundred times faster by being involved with Y2J & HBK than Kofi will be by being involved with Paul Birchill.

Cade does have an excellent opportunity right now to mix in with those future hall of famers. I actually hope he does make it and become better as a result, but I don't see how the Intercontinental Title would aid him in his fued with HBK since Y2J and HBK are WAY past that level.

JRW

 

[Ropow]

The only place where I believe racism is directly involved in is with Mark Henry, The Big Show and Kane's match was set and as soon as Hayes gets unsuspended; I believe he was unsuspended a week or so before Mark Henry's qualifying match against Kane. Mark Henry didn't do anything to really deserve his shot and was just kind of thrust into it for whatever reason. You could go so far as to say that Mark Henry was just thrown into that situation due to being the only member left on the ECW roster after the Draft so perhaps it was a plan to put it on him to keep it on ECW, but I believe it could have been held by more credible stars. Elijah Burke maybe would have been a good transitional champion and probably would have had a nice believable feud with Matt Hardy but I guess this is what the writers decided on which I find a bit fishy.

Shelton is a different story, he is an excellent worker, I believe he could one day be an upper midcarder if the writers actually decided to give him an oppurtunity and put him in serious feuds. Which now with the United States Championship could be very likely. He's been an Intercontinental Champion and a Tag Team Champion and it was never a race issue at that point. Now because of Hayes comments his title reign is going to be questioned when in all honesty who else needs the belt on Smackdown. Hardy doesn't need the US Championship to add to his list, nor does Kennedy or even Umaga. MVP may be a decent feud for Shelton but MVP if they decide to push him will soon be above the US Championship with Kennedy Hardy and Umaga.

Kofi Kingston is a very entertaining and gifted young talent, he may be a bit early for the belt but again who else would you put in his position; the big discussion is Lance Cade but currently he is not in need of the belt.. Usually titles are used to help push someone or huge storylines are used to help push someone without a belt. Lance currently is involved in something that is much bigger than the Intercontinental Championship and he doesn't need the belt to help the feud so why put it on him. Burchill is currently in a feud with Kofi which I can understand, they need something to do with Burchill and Burchill isn't established yet so this feud while boring is something they're actually doing to push some of their younger talent who aren't involved in big storylines. There aren't many choices for people who need to belt and that is why I agree on Kofi getting it; if they want to build him up giving him the belt this early isn't a bad idea, as long as he sticks around Mid Card for awhile, if he is suddenly thrust upon the ME scene or Upper MidCard I'll begin to disagree with managements thinking.

I feel bad; as bad as I can feel for people who are handed gold in a show that is basically a soap opera for kids and men, that two out of the three mentioned are going to have their title runs questioned because of one person. If D Lo Brown suddenly defeats CM Punk in a WHC match, and Big Daddy V comes back and defeats Triple H for the World Championship... then maybe I'll be a believer.

 

[A.J.]

I think the sad reality is that "yes" that African Americans are getting the gold so that the WWE can look after the whole Hayes incident. Its was a Public Relation nightmare when the the whole Hayes incident became known, and now the WWE is pushing certain African-Americans is to look good from a PR standpoint. The WWE is a business first, and they would sacrifice making some cash with guys who are billed a stop draws for guys who might not been seen in the same light to save face with public and once it all dies down some then the WWE can go back to the way it was. Now could we all be wrong? Maybe so, but after the Hayes incident it makes you wonder and from the looks of things I say it is due to the Hayes incident.

 

[Moon Knight]

Booker T. The Rock. Ron Simmons. Shelton Benjamin.

The history of African American Championships in Professional Wrestling - especially in the WWE - is about as long and distinguished as a Nixon expose on political ethics.

The problem here is that Blacks were held back for the most part, not many promoters wanted any and some blacks never saw the potential in wrestling. The market was smaller then and the money less then it is now, so the interest was in Baseball and Basketball not wrestling.

With the NWA refusing to recognize the title reign of Bobo Brazil, many people look at Ron Simmons' short WCW Title reign in the early 90's as the first major world title reign a black professional wrestler has ever had.

Well, Bobo Brazil rejected the title at first due to an injury Rogers claim to have, Brazil was later awarded the title but the NWA doesn’t recognize this change. Nobody can be really sure why they don’t recognize this change, but remember Rogers never officially lost the title because Brazil rejected it; at least I am sure that is how the NWA may see it. This backed by Rogers title reign never actually being seen as ended in the history books.

Ron Simmons is the first official Black heavyweight champion, but it lasted 151 days so I don’t see that as short because it was the 8th longest WCW title run history. They gave Simmons a nice run and should be applauded for that.

The Rock went on to add to it, though he's mixed race and identifies a lot with his Samoan heritage as much as with his African heritage. Booker T ALSO turned the trick in WCW, where Simmons had. Shelton never got higher than Intercontinental Gold.

The Rock is seen as black for the most part, he does have some Samoan heritage in him, but over the past few years less seems to call attention to it. As for Booker T, none of his runs lasted as long as Simmons one run with his longest being 120 days, Shelton doesn’t have something they did, and that is charisma, he is boring and never got over. Looking back Simmons may have had to longest title run of any black wrestler as his 1 run lasted longer than any of the rocks as well.

Flash forward to 2008, and "coincidentally" after racially charged comments made by Michael Hayes to Mark Henry, the WWE is the embodiment of championship diversification.

Are you sure he was the reason? The WWE became worried after Lashley, CorVon and Booker T all left; this caused them to think they didn’t have enough black wrestlers, which was true. Hayes may have been a side note to what the WWE already thought was a problem.

Cryme Tyme rehired, in line for a major title push.

They were in line before they got fired, yes the above helped them get back in but if the Cade & Murdoch situation never happened they would not have been fired in the first place. They were getting a push before this and rightfully so.

Kofi Kingston, a relative rookie, wins the IC Title.

He deserved it. The WWE needed young new talent to hold that title, was there anybody else who deserved it after it was clear Y2J and Jeff Hardy outgrew it? No, Kofi got it because he was the best choice for the job.

Mark Henry, a perannial jobber to the stars, wins the ECW Title (maybe a year after Bobby Lashley held it).

I have one problem here; he was rumored to be in line for a World Heavyweight title run on SD before Hayes said those things. Could this be the run they wanted to give him last year? They never did give him that run, and with other names around this is the best they could do.

Shelton Benjamin, usually a permanent resident of the WWE dog house, wins the US Title.

He also won the IC title 3 times holding it once for 244 days; this isn’t anything new for him. The WWE has been trying to get him a good push since the day he showed up. He is still a midcarder and may never get out of that range.

The trend is apparent. WWE has said that they are going after a flagging African American market, while others feel they are trying to make amends for the comments by Hayes, especially after not firing the former Freebird.

They needed to, they had next to no black wrestlers, I don’t see this as making amends because some of these guys were actually in line for runs before this happened. Ask yourself, how many people even knew what he said and how much pressure were they really under?

Do you think the WWE is putting titles on African American wrestlers to make amends for the comments by Hayes?

No, manly because some of these guys were in line for the runs before they got them and some cases already had runs, like with Shelton. CT has not gotten a run yet, and from the looks of it not even in the picture, but even they were being pushed before this. Yes the tag champs are in the feud but how much of this is between them and CT or between Cena and JBL?

Are they doing it to increase the market share with African Americans? Are they doing it in good faith? Or are they doing it because these guys are legitimate title holders?

I would say not, just because they have some black champs doesn’t mean Blacks will watch the show, they still lag in the caliber of the programs and until they fix that nothing will change. Good faith and legit title holders are the same to me, all are legit title holders minus Henry. Shelton has gotten these pushed before and the WWE has been wanting to get him over, same with CT. Kofi was being pushed months before he got the run, this isn’t just something they slapped on him but more something he earned by being able to work a good match and being over with the fans.

Personally, this has shades of late WCW, where title reigns were commodities promised to wrestlers to sign contracts. If championships are being given to African American wrestlers simply because of their race, does that cheapen what should be an otherwise impressive accomplishment?

Only Henry got that, but they wanted him to have a run before this, they rest were in no contract disputes at the time. The fact remains you can’t tell why they gave them run, you do know some got it before this and got a push, it would cheapen it because it means nothing, but at the same time even if they did do that, would you know? Do you think they admit that’s why they did it?

 

[Kurt]

Well from my standpoint,I see the Hayes incident being only reflected upon on Mark Henry.If the WWE was giving every black wrestler a title I guess we'll see Elijah Burke winning a title very soon-not.The problem with the current championship reigns is either they are over with the fans,Kofi Kingston,or just deserved a title after a long year and a half drought,Shelton Benjiman.Cryme Tyme looks to be going into the direction of being the new World Tag Team champions very soon,because they are over with the crowd since being w/ Cena.

 

[The Bearded One]

I think race has a little to do with these wrestlers getting the title now. I think they would have all received a title eventually, maybe excluding Mark Henry, but the Micheal Hayes incident just sped the process up. It's hard to deny the talents of Kofi Kingston and Shelton Benjamin. They would have gotten pushed anyway. Their race just determined the timing of it.

I don't think Mark Henry would be ECW Champion now if it wasn't for Maicheal Hayes. I think that is the sole reason he is the champion. He would still be a jobber to the stars. He might have one day got an U.S. or Intercontinental title run for being around for so long, but never anything too significant.

I can't remember when Cryme Tyme re-debuted. Was it bfore or after the whole Micheal Hayes thing?

In a weird way I kind of hope this is all race related, because then Elijah Burke will get the push he deserves.