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Diversity in the WWE


Grimmas

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What about this, 12 of the males are either black, Spanish or Samoan. So, yes, 72.1% of the male roster is white males.

 

Are there any wrestlers from Spain actually in the company?

 

Seriously though, some would probably get upset or confused about being listed as being "Spanish".

 

Oddly enough Kane was born in Spain, but wouldn't count as Spanish lol.

 

I'm also curious if you counted Seth Rollins as Hispanic and Damian Sandow as Arabic, or if they both got put in the "white" category?

 

Rollins and Sandow were in the white category, because I had no idea otherwise.

 

I apologize for calling the Puero Ricans spanish.

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UK television is completely lacking in Asian representation.

 

Yeah, but when Eastenders brought in the Ferreira family it did more harm than good because of shitty writing, and lack of understanding of the culture of the community which they were representing. It's important that you have people with knowledge of these races and cultures and so can appreciate the little nuances and bring them out in their writing, rather than Johnny Whitebread brushing with broad strokes because he's got Bengali friends so can "write for them". How many of the writing team are black? I bet it's not many, if any. Ditto Latino. Dave Kapoor is Asian of course but I'm not sure how many other Asians there are. It's Middle class white guys, and they're always going to struggle to write for other ethnicities, because they simply don't know. A more multicultural writing staff would lend itself to a stronger showing for non-whites in WWE.

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Yeah, but when Eastenders brought in the Ferreira family it did more harm than good because of shitty writing,

 

Is that the infamous storyline where they cast the patriarch of an Indian family as an Elvis impersonator? Surprised WWE didn't try and snap the writer up. The exact same thing is happening in Coronation Street right now with the Jimmy Mistry clan.

 

Going off topic anyway, although most of these criticisms are equally applicable to WWE writers and their clumsy writing of minority characters.

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Yeah, but when Eastenders brought in the Ferreira family it did more harm than good because of shitty writing,

 

Is that the infamous storyline where they cast the patriarch of an Indian family as an Elvis impersonator? Surprised WWE didn't try and snap the writer up. The exact same thing is happening in Coronation Street right now with the Jimmy Mistry clan.

 

Going off topic anyway, although most of these criticisms are equally applicable to WWE writers and their clumsy writing of minority characters.

 

 

The very same! Worst soap family ever.

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Pro wrestling has always had white guys who can pass as a different race. Pro wrestling has also always had guys who are of a different race that can pass off as white. Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, and Damien Sandow are three guys that people would consider 'white' if you asked them. WWE has a quota AND a representation issue. Why isn't WWE hot? There are a million reasons, but the main one is that the company is not with the times. There is a black president and has been for 8 years, Kim Kardashian and Beyonce are the most searched women on the internet, One of the hottest white artists out right now is riding high on the Michael Jackson Off-The-Wall sound, and the biggest PPV draws OF ALL TIME are held by a black man and two Mexicans. Interracial couples are increasing, atheism is on the raise, and Ronda Rousey is outdrawing Evans, Shogun, Henderson, Nogueria, etc. on PPV/TV.

 

I believe WWE really needs to tape into the millennial zeitgeist.

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One of the hottest white artists out right now is riding high on the Michael Jackson Off-The-Wall sound

 

who this be? I was gonna say Bruno Mars but he ain't white and he's stealing his sound from James Brown and funk music, but I can't turn around and not hear that song playing somewhere

 

Justin Timberlake? Rock your Body was an updated Rock With You and that's what got him over, at least imo, because it was a hot track

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I don't have a problem with the statistics of what makes up the roster of WWE because I've kind of accepted that's going to be the numbers. However, the representation of non whites as top guys or even upper midcard guys might be the glaring problem in the WWE. Just thinking off the top of my head, they had Rey, Chavo, Shelton, Lashley, MVP, Booker T and Mark Henry on the same roster in the midcard or higher less than ten years ago. I don't see that diversity now in WWE with the talent they have now.

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This weekend, I rewatched SummerSlam 2001 on my epic journey through WWE and WCW pay-per-views I missed when I lapsed as a fan (thanks, InVasion angle!), but I did notice that the show was headlined by The Rock vs. Booker T.

 

It made me think - how many WCW or WWE pay-per-views were legit main evented by two non-white performers? Is this it?

 

I also find that what really hurts the WWE is that they really undervalue the sizeable portion of the audience that is African American and Hispanic and young. I teach at a middle school in Cleveland, 80% African-American or so, and there are tons of wrestling fans in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. They are the typical 11-13 year old fans - love Cena, love Reigns, love Bryan, hate Rollins, love Ziggler, fear Lesnar - basically, the ideal audience the WWE targets. They wear WWE shirts (though, they are often the WalMart/K-Mart line, not the official Shopzone stuff), and keep up with the show via TV (few have the Network as that would require a credit card). Many still "believe" in a weird way - they know it is fake, but they can't really wrap their heads around HOW it is fake (for example, in a recent chat, I mentioned there was a rumor that Heyman would turn on Brock and allign with Reigns and Reigns would turn into a bad guy and their minds...were...blown. They didn't get it. Their response was that it was impossible because Reigns is a good guy, which, in their minds, means he will always be a good guy - aww, the innocence. They also don't "get" the idea that the show is scripted to increase drama, getting genuinely upset with Rusev's shtick in a way that no smart fan ever would. Kayfabe is not dead to them, no matter what HHH says).

 

To me, you give them a Titus O'Neill push, you've got a license to print money because what you'd be doing is giving them a character that they can really get behind and see themselves in, even if he's just an upper midcard type guy.

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People view the New Day gimmick as racist because their gimmick is that they are black. Being black is the reason that they were put together. It's the only thing they have in common as workers. Moreover, as part of the gimmick, they've been given a bunch of Gospel church clothes and scripted mic work that sounds like a 1940s cartoon. It's all totally out of place with how they've all been portrayed in the past. Big E went from “silent, deadly heel” to “funny urbane guy who's good at Twitter” to a weird Jesse Jackson imitation that would be too broad for SNL.

 

The lack of diversity is not a by-product of wrestling not being cool, or any skewing of national demographics. It comes from the show being run by 70-year old white Republican millionaire Vince McMahon, perennially ignorant Kevin Dunn, Human Resources nightmare Michael Hayes, and HHH: world's biggest Motorhead fan, and the guy who did blackface in DX and a horrible race-baiting feud with Booker T in which the racist heel won.

 

Their rationale for not using luchadores is that most of them can't speak English, and thus can't cut their horribly written promos. They don't see money in people like Rush, Dragon Lee and Cavernario, all among the best in the world and between the ages of 19 to 26. Ditto for Asian workers, represented exclusively by past-his-prime KENTA being sent to developmental. Prior to his arrival, they were represented by no one. Still-fresh memories of Tensai and his meek sidekick come to mind.

 

Uhaa Nation and Moose look like what Vince would draw in the margins of his notebook. Bobby Lashley and Umaga had the highest grossing match in company history (thanks to Trump, but still). They paid Mayweather millions for one (great) match. Even someone as half-dumb as Court Bauer was begging them to develop a more diverse roster, embrace hip-hop, and take notice of what the most lucrative athletes in the world look like. The talent is out there.

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