"The Racially Insensitive History of WWE"

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I mean, don't ALL sports have a history of racially discriminatin against players if we're counting WWE as a sport. If we're counting it as a tv series then its easier. How many episodes of Law and Order are there where the only black actors play gangsters or what about the TV series girls where Black actors only ever appeared as waiters or service workers for the majority of it?

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

So when someone points to a racial video you immediately think Black/White? The video goes into more than just black wrestlers. Just because someone's culture or skin is one thing doesn't mean that, said person follows that ethic stereo type. But that's my personal opinion, you claim in your post what is MY point.. well you realize I didn't create the video right? The point of the video is to point out other times where this has taken place and shed's light on it because in order to get better as a society one must first see things for what they are so positive change can take place.

Typically when someone brings up race, it's black/white.
I never claimed it was your video.
Like I said earlier, white people have been given bad gimmicks as well, so I don't agree with the points being made in the video.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

There is a reason advertisers see wrestling as low brow entertainment, and probably always will.

Just saying.

That's because it is scripted.

 

[Slash-LN]

That's because it is scripted.

Are you saying other entertainment shows aren't scripted?

That isn't the reason.

It's because professional wrestling carries a certain stigma to it. Especially thanks to companies like ECW and the stuff during the Attitude era.

And before that you had a bunch of corny shit. And before that you had a lot of barbaric shit. With tons of blood and stuff.

There's a lot of bad acting. There's a history of horrible story lines. There's a history of over sexualized women.

There's the history of steroid abuse.
There's all the early deaths of pro wrestlers.
There's the whole Benoit thing.

There's way too many negatives attached to pro wrestling that must only appeal to those who find low brow entertainment interesting.

The matches themselves could be unscripted but when you have all this other stuff attached to it, it doesn't appeal to sponsors.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Are you saying other entertainment shows aren't scripted?

That isn't the reason.

It's because professional wrestling carries a certain stigma to it. Especially thanks to companies like ECW and the stuff during the Attitude era.

And before that you had a bunch of corny shit. And before that you had a lot of barbaric shit. With tons of blood and stuff.

There's a lot of bad acting. There's a history of horrible story lines. There's a history of over sexualized women.

There's the history of steroid abuse.
There's all the early deaths of pro wrestlers.
There's the whole Benoit thing.

There's way too many negatives attached to pro wrestling that must only appeal to those who find low brow entertainment interesting.

The matches themselves could be unscripted but when you have all this other stuff attached to it, it doesn't appeal to sponsors.

When you ask someone why they don't watch WWE, they says because it's fake or scripted. Few people care about or even know about all that you mentioned.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

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So somewhat famous YouTube "social commentator", Adam Buckley, recently talked about the debacle with Hulk Hogan. He makes no apology for Hogan's behavior but finds it funny how a company that had a long history of endorsing so many racially insensitive gimmicks/storylines on the air scrambled about to silence something of the same degree that was said in private. Of course, we as wrestling fans know the full story and most of the hypocrisy accusations against the WWE have come from us so really, he's appealing to the general populace who don't follow wrestling as religiously as we do but perhaps, his arguments might bring you some new perspective on the matter. Who knows.

Personally I think he's reaching on a few things, but I get the message Adam is trying to send.

Racial Insensitivity and Racism in Current WWE:

-Randy Orton told MVP that "he belongs in the hood"
-Alexander Rusev lives in Bulgaria but WWE portrayed him as a russian.One day Vince finally decided to bring his bulgarian gimmick. Rusev's outfit resembles a barbarian because to some americans,bulgarians are barbarians.
-Los Matadores
-New Day
-Prime Time Players
How Buckley missed the racism gold mine that is Cryme Tyme is beyond me. Let's not forget the Mexicools coming out on lawn mowers were an atrocity.

Alexander Rusev was never, to my knowledge, actually portrayed as Russian (not least because he has the Bulgarian flag tattooed on his right shoulder); he was presented as Russia's 'champion'. Besides, in many sports there is a history of athletes switching national allegiances for personal gain.

Further to this, just how many foreign wrestlers are portraying characters from countries other than theirs? Fritz Von Erich was a German heel player by a Texan; the Iron Shiek (Iran) briefly played Col. Mustafa (Iraq); the Samoan Rodney Anoi'a played the Japanese sumo Yokozuna; and most of the Russians don't actually have any Russian blood, to name a few. It's not a new thing, and, as others have noted, what's the difference between, say, Robert Carlyle and Robbie Coltrane playing Russians - badly, I might add - in James Bond films and non-Russians playing Russian characters in wrestling?

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Alexander Rusev was never, to my knowledge, actually portrayed as Russian (not least because he has the Bulgarian flag tattooed on his right shoulder); he was presented as Russia's 'champion'. Besides, in many sports there is a history of athletes switching national allegiances for personal gain.

Further to this, just how many foreign wrestlers are portraying characters from countries other than theirs? Fritz Von Erich was a German heel player by a Texan; the Iron Shiek (Iran) briefly played Col. Mustafa (Iraq); the Samoan Rodney Anoi'a played the Japanese sumo Yokozuna; and most of the Russians don't actually have any Russian blood, to name a few. It's not a new thing, and, as others have noted, what's the difference between, say, Robert Carlyle and Robbie Coltrane playing Russians - badly, I might add - in James Bond films and non-Russians playing Russian characters in wrestling?

There's no difference. People just blindly see racism in everything.

 

[Slash-LN]

When you ask someone why they don't watch WWE, they says because it's fake or scripted. Few people care about or even know about all that you mentioned.

The person said advertisers.
You know, the people who pay to air their commercials during programs and and some who have sponsors on the shows.

And the people who produce WWE products.

Like Mattel for example who are said to be the reason Daniel Bryan got fired for that tie choking incident on Raw when the Nexus debuted. They didn't wanted to be associated with something like that. Therefore Daniel Bryan was fired until all that died down.

Kind of like WWE separating themselves from Hulk Hogan right now. Because they know they risk losing those advertisers if they don't publicly come out against Hogans actions and racism in general.

Keep in mind they keep Michael Hayes employed. But most people don't know who Michael Hayes is and his racism wasn't broadcast the way Hogan's was.

Advertisers don't dictate who watches wrestling or why they don't watch it.