WWE: Recognizing And Handling The Racial Undertones In Naomi vs. Mandy Rose

While it’s good to see Naomi and Mandy Rose get a strong feud on WWE SmackDown, one has to wonder the implications of the narrative being told through the storyline.

There has been a laundry list of conversations around political correctness in professional wrestling. This is especially true within the WWE, which has the largest visibility of all major promotions. That’s why its disheartening when the company promotes, whether intentionally or not, harmful stereotypes.

There’s a storyline occurring on SmackDown between Naomi and Mandy Rose that falls too close to the systemic issues between black and white women, as well as the complexities of interracial relationships. As we’ve seen in the past, WWE Creative frequently struggles to properly address these issues, and this one is so delicate it should be avoided across the board.

For the past few weeks, Rose and Naomi have continued their back and forth in what had the potential to be a good feud for both women. This would have set up Naomi as the veteran who is working to remain in the title picture against a steadily-improving Rose, who is attempting to take her spot. They traded barbs back and forth on television and social media to help further along the storyline, even when though they haven’t been given adequate time on camera.

For the most part, this has worked, building a new feud in the women’s division without the title helps elevate all parties involved. But there are some undertones in this narrative that need to be recognized and avoided.

The Background

First, there’s Naomi. The former Funkadactyl has blossomed into one of the best women’s wrestlers on the roster. She’s a two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion and has played a part in a variety of historic moments in women’s wrestling. She deserves her place near the top of the list in debates about the best women’s wrestler in the industry today. While she may not win the debate, she’s shown that she can hang with anyone in the company.

And it’s well-documented that she is the wife of Jonathan Fatu, also known as Jimmy Uso. Their relationship has been played out front and center on Total Divas and SmackDown – and it’s a central part of this narrative between Rose and Naomi. The feud started when Naomi eliminated Rose from a battle royale for a future title opportunity.

The other half of this equation, Rose is a 27-year old, New York native and has continued to develop since joining the main roster in 2017. It’s clear that the WWE wants to push her as a central figure in the women’s division, as her look falls within the realm of what they frequently push to the forefront for women’s wrestling. Even though she’s not in the central storyline, she’s continued to improve both in the ring and as a character for the promotion. She has potential to be a prominent figure in the future of women’s wrestling.

The Issues Reveal Themselves

But, that doesn’t mean all the dialogue around Rose has been positive. Rose was criticized in 2017 for posting an image to her Snapchat that may have mocked a woman’s natural hair while on an airplane. That was not received well by many who saw the post, asking for an explanation.

https://twitter.com/markalomaniac/status/1073382000931659776

In odd fashion, an issue related to this played out on a recent episode of SmackDown where Rose attempted to touch Naomi’s hair which almost resulted in a near brawl. That may seem like a “small” issue to some, but the conversation around black women’s hair in the workplace has become such an issue that some black women in professional settings throughout the United States have sued employers for discrimination surrounding their hair styles, reaching all the way up to the US Supreme Court. Even more so, the issue of touching a woman’s hair or asking to do so is seen as a form of racial mocking that came over very disturbing to see on WWE programming.

Then there’s Rose’s Dec. 13 Twitter post that insinuates the only reason Naomi has achieved her success is due to her figure. This also pushes another systemic narrative, overly sexualizing black women and their bodies. While it’s a bit more of a grey area in professional wrestling, where more attractive women are usually pushed to the front, its an odd angle for Rose to take as she’s a former professional bodybuilder who frequently posts bikini-clad images across her social media profiles.

https://twitter.com/WWE_MandyRose/status/1073295486755504129

Plus there’s her use of the phrase “you people” in a tweet on Dec. 8:

https://twitter.com/WWE_MandyRose/status/1071548326808559616

As all of this goes on, there’s the insertion of the relationship between Naomi and Jimmy Uso. Rose has begun to “target” Uso both on camera and on social media, furthering inciting Naomi to anger. First it was the tweet about the Usos “missing out” on her but winning the rap battle:

https://twitter.com/WWE_MandyRose/status/1072959293463384065

Then there was another segment with Rose approaching Jimmy on SmackDown during the Christmas episode:

Or putting the blame on Naomi for her and Jimmy losing in the Mixed Match Challenge:

https://twitter.com/WWE_MandyRose/status/1071474779436273665

Seeing Rose interject herself into an interracial relationship plays on the narratives that blonde white women should be seen in a more positive light and continues to create division that’s skipping along racial lines. One has to hope that this doesn’t lead to an on-air split between the two with Uso leaving for Rose. That would be a clear push of the idea that “white is right.” All of this can be chalked up as Rose playing a character for WWE programming. But it’s the presentation, motives and actions of that character that draw criticism. The same type of criticism that has come the WWE’s way in the past.

The WWE Isn’t New To Racial Controversy

Rewind the clock back to 2004. The NFL was attempting to overcome a controversial commercial where Nicolette Sheridan threw herself at Terrell Owens. The WWE attempted to parody the matter with a commercial involving Shelton Benjamin, Trish Stratus and Vince McMahon. What made this commercial so questionable are the words that came out of McMahon’s mouth.

"“This is scandalous. I can see the moral fabric of America disinter grating right before my eyes. The racial overtones; the sexual overtones. You may not realize this but You’re an African American and everyone knows that African Americans are attracted to Canadian, white women with broken noses,” Vince said during the commercial. “The FCC is not going to tolerate this, and neither will I. I’m not going to have a locker room full of miscreants and deviants. This is the WWE. This is not the NFL and damn sure is not the NBA. It’s this kind of titillation that will send you and other wrestlers into the stands to attack fans. And if that happens, that will be the downfall of civilization as we know it.”"

Now while this was clearly a parody, it shows that the WWE and the minds in power are aware of various racial undertones that float through our society. That is why it’s important to recognize what is occurring within the storyline between Mandy Rose and Naomi. This ad shows that WWE Creative isn’t ignorant to the racial overtones that play out on it’s television and network content every week. In fact, they’ve gone out of their way multiple times to leverage those issues into what was hoped to be lucrative, attention-grabbing theatrics. Whether it was the parody of the beheading of the Undertaker, generations of characters based on racial stereotypes, or examples like the commercial above; these ideas usually end in more controversy than new viewers.

How will the story end? While highly unlikely, if Rose gets Jimmy to leave Naomi for her, that is undoubtedly going to be met with a negative response.

Would letting Naomi get the victory in the end hurt Rose’s growth? Is this division big enough for both women? Will the WWE marginalize one of the few black women on the roster for another blonde, white woman? All of those questions will be answered in due time. But it’s how they will be answered that brings pause to many, simply because WWE hasn’t earned the audience’s trust with handling storylines that contain broader sociocultural implications.

Waiting for the Outcome

The problem is whether or not the powerful minds behind the WWE will change. As the Naomi and Rose storyline progresses, its clear that they are aware of the narratives that are being leveraged to make this storyline more “real.” It will be interesting to watch whether creative handles these narratives gingerly; or makes a parody of them that will leave a contingent of their fans shaking their head in further disgust; that is yet to be seen.

While this is an opportunity to better leverage two talented women on the WWE roster, reaching into these narratives that elevate and denigrate based solely on racially divisive concepts is troubling. Unfortunately, it’s a trend that seems to win out within the creative process of the WWE.