Wrestling With Racism

[theotherbaldwin]

I make no bones about it: I love pro wrestling. I've loved it since I was a little kid, cheering for Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and Hulk Hogan and Bruno Samartino. I remember when Hulk Hogan body-slammed the 7-foot, 500-pound Andre The Giant and it was all classmates talked about in my 5th grade class for days. Ot's been everything from a sit-down-and-

Comments

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Re: Booker T. Never thought that was racist, that I can recall, mainly because Booker T's signature move is that breakdancing Spinarooni.

Re: Kung Funaki. Last I heard, it was actually a gimmick Funaki himself came up with and had been trying for years to convince management to let him do.

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[theotherbaldwin]

Okay, even granted the "dance for me" is covered by his Spinaroonie taunt... going after his hair (a black characterisitc)? Vince dropping the N word? There are plenty of ways either guy could have gotten legitimate heel heat without stooping to cheap, racist crap.

[theotherbaldwin]

And the fact that the idea Sho Funaki had for years was "a Japanese guy who somehow was named after a Chinese martial art" is STILL face-palm worthy.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Never said anything about Vince or the hair. Won't really argue any of the other stuff, just going with what I know off the top of my head.

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[nbda1997]

Obviously, I don't usually agree with you on racism-related topics, but I really can't argue with you here

[theotherbaldwin]

The minds at WCW thought it would be ok to introduce a slave gimmick!!

Holy crap.

I just... that is...

...words.

Okay, back. Thanks for filling in the gaps; I'm not as familiar with my WCW history, and you're right, other companies do have thier share. The one I can think off the top of my head would be Raeesha Saaed character in TNA who wrestles and makes appearances in a niqab, speaks in broken English and with a fake accent (she's really Melissa Marie Anderson).

[nbda1997]

I gave up on TNA a long time ago, so I have no clue what's going on there other than what I read on the dirt sheets.

But, anyway, two of the defining factors of old-school wrestling promoters is having the maturity of a 10-year-old and the social sensitivity of a cardboard box, so that's why you'll see this stuff everywhere.

On the flip side, I don't know how familiar you are with the current WWE product, but they've cleaned up their act considerably. I think that its partly due to the new "PG" rating and also partly due to his kids and other young, more socially conscious people having the creative role rather than just Vince and his good ol' boys.

[mneko]

Racism has been a part of wrestling for as long as I can remember, and that's a long time. Back in the early 1980s, most of the B-class stars were big ethnic stereotypes that the wrestlers with flowing blond locks would throw around the ring to demonstrate America's superiority over other countries. Mr. Fuji, the Iron Sheik, that evil Russian guy... the list goes on and on. Vince McMahon softened things a bit in the 1990s, switching from ethnic stereotypes to occupational ones, but characters like Irwin R. Shyster and Doink the Clown illustrate that he was still capitalizing on America's frustration with things they either hate or don't understand.

[theotherbaldwin]

Oh yeah, and Kamala.