First off I'd wish to apologize to all my loving and caring fan's of ...ATWIT! Not only did I not have a new column up in over three weeks, but also the column that I finally did put out was less than perfect. I myself overlooked it after posting it and found the topic to be a tad boring, while I also got a bit off topic with what I was stressing to point out. I suppose that my mind was focused on others things (the naked blonde in my bed for the most part!) Anyway's, I want to look into a rather touchy subject for today’s edition of ...ATWIT! NOTE: Please do not take anything personal with what I'm going to say. My topic can be viewed as racist, but I foremost am in no way racist at all. Today I want to point out the was blacks are used/viewed in today's wrestling society.
When I ask the question "Who do you think is a great African American legend in sports?" You may reply Muhammad Ali, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, or Warren Moon. Yet you may have to pause for a moment to think of a legendary black wrestler. Some of you could say a famous name like The Junkyard Dog, but really, how many saw him perform?
The WWE has turned the "urban" culture into a bonifide joke as far as wrestling gimmicks go. Early marks of that include K-Kwick, who lasted a very short time with the company. So had a talented guy dance around and do leg splits like an idiot every time he came into a camera's view. Did I see Triple H do that when he started off? No, he got escorted to the ring by a generic blonde every time he entered the ring. I'm not calling the WWE racist...oh wait, I am! Just because a guy is black does not mean that he has to come into the ring with rap music, dancing around and talking about how the white man is taking his money. D-Lo Brown started out as a prestigious athlete with the WWE. He made his rounds in the ring and quickly become the Intercontinental Champion. Brown was supposedly set to become the first black WWE Champion as well, but of course that never came became fiction. Instead he was stuck in the mid-card ranks, put on as a announcer with Heat, and later had a stint with Theo Long while wearing Sean John shirts and talking about "Getting down with the Brown!" From World Champ hopefull to being a joke in the writing department and soon being released shortly after; oh WWE, how great you treat the talented bunch.
Flash-forward and we see the same thing inevitably happening to young Shelton Benjamin. On the Smack Down brand he was one-half of one of the sharpest tag teams in WWE history along with Charlie Haas. Both of them captured the WWE Tag Team Titles numerous times and restored a fading division from meagerness. Then he went to the RAW side of the WWE world and everything went down hill from there. Yes, he did get a shot as a valid singles competitor and had a quality feud with Randy Orton and his Intercontinental Title, but now he's stuck in the same place he started, main eventing Heat. Shelton went from being a usual face on pay-per-views with Haas to being a usual face on Spike TV every night at 7 p.m (Heat). Why would Vince do this to a young star like Benjamin? I don't see Randy Orton splitting up with Evolution to go over to Smack Down any time soon. I don't see. Nor do I see Cena going out of U.S Title contention to give another person a chance to spice things up in that division. Sorry if you think that what I'm saying is irrelevant to you, but I don't think so. I'm saying that it doesn't seem as easy for Vince to drop Orton or Cena out of they're high "future star" pedestals like he did with Benjamin.
In my first column I stated that this young, brash wrestler could be a key factor in saving the once horrid Smack Down; I doubt that SD writers read what I had to say because that brash wrestler is still stuck in Velocity! I'm talking about Orlando Jordan. I myself have viewed his short wrestling career first hand as far as WWE in concerned and have watched him on Velocity on a number of occasions. But I have yet to see him on Smack Down yet and that disappoints me very much. Why can't he be put in the U.S Title mix along with Billy Gunn or Renee' Dupree. He has just as much skill as the other two, likely even more skill and talent. Why is the WWE afraid to put him in a match on Smack Down when he could actually put some flavor in these dull as dirt matches including Cena, Booker, and Dupree. John Heidenreich is getting his little "wanabee Brock Lesnar" push along with Paul Heyman; they are renewing a gimmick that was used only two years ago and they can't find the time to give Jordan a well-deserved push. Heidenreich has already had a failed gimmick, but Vince is jumping the gun to give him another one. Sadly Jordan has never been given a shot and even if he does get some airtime there is a very small chance that it will work out. I just don't understand this and likely never will. Hopefully having Jordan save JBL from the Undertaker may have something positive to do with Jordan.
Farooq gets dumped while JBL gets the biggest push of his life...what’s with that? Six months ago if you were to ask me who would more likely get the WWE Title, Farooq or Bradshaw, first I would laugh at the mere though of either wearing that kind of gold. But after I calm down the laughter I would have said Farooq without a doubt. He's irrefutably better than JBL, though he never got the credit he deserved in their tag team. Of coarse now I would be wrong. Not only is JBL the current champ, but also Farooq is now over with the WWE. Do you think that Vince would do the same to Farooq what he did with JBL? What if we saw Bradshaw be released and Farooq being the top dog in in the house; do you think that would be possible? I seriously would never see that happening. Not because Farooq is not as good as JBL in the ring or mic, but because Farooq is black. Simple but true. It wouldn't work because the JBL character is a rich man who rides in limo’s and drinks champagne during a match and that’s not what I black persons gimmick is like. A black persons gimmick would be considered either calling white people the devil of today's society (Teddy Long and D-Lo/Rodney Mack) or simply not having a gimmick at all.
You might be asking yourself why I don't talk about Booker T or The Rock, the top two black wrestlers in this decade. Sure they have had their share of great career highlights. The Rock gets the World Title around his waist every time he appears on the WWE over a months span and is a shoe-in for the wrestling Hall Of Fame. Booker is a 5-time wCw champ who has also been a top athlete for WWE year after year. The Rock has basically always been treated with respect as far as gimmicks go, but Booker has had his fair share of racist moments. How about GI Bro for example? Not only was that a stupid mess around with words, but it also marked down Booker as a top wrestler in the late wCw days. Sure, having a gimmick like GI Bro in his early career of the mid '90's isn't necessarily a horrible thing because the gimmick itself isn't racist, just the name. But years after being a rookie, around 2000, when writers went back to having Booker go back to Bro was just plain stupid. That’s like having Chris Benoit going back to Kid Pegasus or having The Rock go back to Rocky Mavia; there’s just no sense in having your top guy go back to a gimmick they used in their early career. It made Booker into a mockery because he was the top man in wCw those day's and writers are having him go back to the racy gimmick just to get fans attention.
As for the future of black people in wrestling, I don't quite know what to say. African Americans have come a very long way from thirty, twenty, and even ten years ago in wrestling in general and I hope that trend continues year after year. I also hope that Vinnie Mac growths the number of black people in the WWE soon. As of right now there are only five black wrestlers in the combined RAW and Smack Down rosters; there is just no sense for that. Black wrestlers in OVW, WWE's minor leage, are also scarce. Lets just hope that recruiting wrestlers isn't so biest for WWE.
Again, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this edition of ...ATWIT! This column is now seen in four different sites now and I'm glad that I'm slowly but surely making an impact in today's Internet wrestling society. I hope to bring in another new column as soon as possible also. Even though the first Clock Work Orange column didn't go too well I'll continue to update that special column once a month. Once more, thanks and ...And Thats What I Think!
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