In his latest edition, PWP Nation’s Bruce Hart talks about his appreciation for Black History Month and sheds some light on wrestling’s greatest African-American wrestlers.
Greetings.
As many of you know, February has been designated as Black History Month in the United States and because a lot of their fan base is comprised of blacks, the WWE has been paying homage on RAW and SmackDown to notable black civil rights activists, crusaders and athletes such as Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson for the contributions they made to break down the barriers of racial prejudice and social injustice in America.
While I applaud the WWE’s initiatives in that regard, there’s an old saying that actions speak louder than words. Not to be railing upon the demigods in Titan Tower but in my estimation the WWE continues to lag far behind other major pro sports, including boxing, football, baseball and basketball as far as racial equality goes.
Since Jackie Robinson broke the so-called color line in major league baseball in 1947, blacks have made enormous strides in virtually every major sport – not only on the playing field, but in front offices – where blacks have become coaches, managers and team presidents, but the same, unfortunately, cannot be said for pro wrestling, in particular the WWE.
The last time I checked, the WWE has had only one “black” world champion ever – that being Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson – who, I might add, is actually only half black. RAW television commentator Booker T is often introduced as having been “five times world champion,” but, in fact, he was never a WWE world champion and, instead, held some variation of the world title in the rival WCW.
Aside from the Rock’s brief stint as the WWE champion, there have been precious few other black champions in any other category, although, to their credit, in the past year or so, there have been a few blacks holding some of the lesser WWE belts, including Rich Swann (cruiserweight champion), the New Day (tag team champions) and Naomi (SmackDown women’s champion).
Hopefully that’s a sign that the powers that be in WWE head office have begun to re-evaluate their approach, but the number of black champions to date still pales in comparison to the number of white guys who have held belts in the past couple of decades – many of whom, I might add, weren’t the least bit worthy.
While the WWE’s rather glaring dearth of black champions is nothing to be proud of, what I find even more egregious has been how, over the years, the WWE has chosen to routinely typecast blacks, including the Godfather, Slick, the Boogeyman, Kamala, Virgil, Sapphire, among others in demeaning and unflattering stereotypical roles as pimps, ho’s, jungle bunnies and subservient slave types – none of which would have been tolerated in other major sports.
Giving the WWE the benefit of the doubt, I consider it to be a step in the right direction that they’ve chosen to honor and pay due respect to Black History Month on RAW and SmackDown. At the same time though, as Martin Luther King admonished President Kennedy, who had declined his invitation to join him and thousands of others on his celebrated Freedom March to Washington in 1962, “if you can’t walk the walk, Mr. President, you shouldn’t be talking the talk.”
Having said that, it would be nice to see not only more blacks being crowned champions, featured in major angles and storylines and treated with due respect in the WWE. Not to be pontificating, but the WORLD Wrestling Entertainment should also be doing the same with wrestlers of other colors and ethnic denominations, including Asians, Arabs, Orientals and others from ALL over the world, not just Americans and the occasional European. I might add that it would also be a refreshing change to see some of those other groups being cast more often as ‘faces’, rather than invariably as anti-American heel types – which, all too often, seems to be the case.
I take no satisfaction in constantly having to take the WWE to task for their less than stellar track record in things like this, but the fact remains that they can and should be doing a lot better job in this regard and actions, as they say, speak a hell of a lot louder than mere words.
In closing, I was saddened to hear this week of the passing of former WWE world champion and onetime Stampede Wrestling stalwart – the Russian Bear, Ivan Koloff. I had Ivan on my syndicated Hart Beat Radio program last summer and he impressed me as a man of great principle, humility and character, who was greatly respected by his wrestling peers.
In the wrestling realm, it’s pretty common to hear wrestlers knocking or making disparaging remarks about one another, but I can’t recall hearing anybody having anything bad to say about him. I might add that I can’t recall hearing Ivan say anything negative about anyone else, either. Ivan was a consummate professional and a class act, in and out of the ring, and will be missed, but never forgotten.
I might add that it seems like an egregious oversight that the WWE hasn’t seen fit to induct Ivan into the WWE Hall of Fame yet – even though he dethroned the legendary Bruno Sammartino to win the WWE world title – when that belt had far more cachet than it does now. Beyond that, Ivan and was also a headliner in many of the major territories back in the day. Not to be casting aspersions, but in my humble estimation, he’s far more worthy of being in the hall than many of the marginal inclusions they’ve had in recent years. It would have been nice if they’d seen fit to induct him while he was still alive, but I’d, nonetheless, like to nominate him, here and now, for induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, class of 2017. How about it, Vince and Hunter?
The wrestling fraternity also bid farewell this week to George “the Animal” Steele, who gained notoriety as a mid-card heel back in the day and later worked as an agent for the WWE. To the families of Ivan and George, I’d like to extend my sincere condolences.
Rest in peace, Ivan and George and thanks for the memories.
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