The plight of black male wrestlers on WWE programming

WWE has come a long way in terms of representation, but they still have a lot of work to do when it comes to presenting Black wrestlers.

Watching Apollo Crews lose in an uneventful fashion over the last few weeks illuminated two things. First, there has to be more they can do with someone so talented, but it probably won’t happen on such a crowded roster.

Second, and more importantly, WWE must present more options than the cookie-cutter Black babyface that they continuously deliver.

Now, there are so many great African American wrestlers on the roster and most of them are protagonists. With that in mind, think about all of them and try to count how many of them aren’t constantly smiling, dancing, or jocular. It’s hard, isn’t it?

Let’s get more specific. It’s notably prevalent among Black male wrestlers. R-Truth is a mainstay on WWE programming, and he’s always the butt of a joke. That’s not to say Truth isn’t great in the role because he’s extremely entertaining. He never ventures out of that lane though.

Consider WWE’s resident purveyors of positivity, The New Day. Yes, they got to tackle some more serious moments during Kofimania, but for the most part, they’re a comedy act. Again, they’re fantastic at what they do. They even excel at it more than others because they buck other wrestling tropes reserved for Black performers. However, the pattern here is clear.

There is a definite agenda to promote Black men who appear non-threatening. Even more, WWE consistently pigeonholes them, and it damages the ones who don’t naturally fit the mold. The two examples above work because R-Truth, Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods are all congenial and naturally funny. The Street Profits work for the same reason.

Kingston, in particular, is a perennial good guy. On The New Day: Feel the Power, he said WWE sees him as this generation’s Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. This is an apt comparison for Kofi because he works so well as a determined underdog. One could argue that they stuck to that archetype too rigidly at the end of his reign as WWE Champion because he wasn’t allowed to show any emotion other than gratitude.

Honestly, that’s part of what makes him such an admirable and endearing character, but it’s also undeniably safe. Watching him get squashed by Brock Lesnar last October was disappointing after his inspiring journey to become a world champion. The fact that he just accepted it was infuriating.

He didn’t show the same fight and defiance that he exhibited during his run with the WWE Championship. Instead, he just limped back to the tag division without mentioning the loss for months. To get back to the point, it’s hard to ignore this resignation when coupled with their reliance on this same characterization of Black men, who do their part.

So, how does this relate to Apollo Crews? Just to be clear, Black wrestlers who fit the company’s aesthetics aren’t a problem, but it just doesn’t work for everyone. Crews is a prime example of that. He never got a chance to be anything other than be a stereotypical smiling goody two shoes and it never connected with the fans.

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It happens often. Cedric Alexander, Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley, and many others have suffered the same fate. If a Black wrestler isn’t charismatic enough “to entertain” as Triple H infamously put it in that segment with Booker T, they’re deemed boring. When in fact, the problem is they never show any other character traits besides that they’re good at wrestling and they’re happy to be here.

Furthermore, this problem was at the center of the controversy with ACH last year. The problematic t-shirt design was a symptom of their overreliance on smiley Black characters. It might not have escalated if they were open to marketing him as something other than that.

Lashley is an interesting case study. When he came back to WWE, he was quickly saddled with this smiling Black guy gimmick and an even worse doting Black mother figure trope. It was so bad that they quickly abandoned it and made him a heel with a manager who could be loud and obnoxious for him.

Now, he is in an angle that plays heavily on the fetishization of Black men. In less than two years, he has worked his way through most of their go-to stereotypes.

Bobby was great with IMPACT as an arrogant but competent champion. So, it’s baffling to see WWE try to push him as anything but that. Mark Henry had a similar problem with the company until they made him an angry and violent heel in 2011, which was the best run of his career.

This isn’t to say all Black wrestlers should be militant like the Nation of Domination, but it’s ok to let some of them go to that place if need be.

After all, the stable was so memorable because they didn’t fall into the same category WWE has conditioned us to see Black men in. Led by the first African American World Champion, Ron Simmons, they expressed righteous indignation in the face of it. It was different and refreshing.

Next. In WWE and NJPW, MVP was wrestling’s example of Black excellence. dark

In short, we appreciate men who can portray Black joy in wrestling like The New Day but it’s ok to let some of them express a full range of emotions. All of them can’t possibly fit in one box. It’s impossible and it does a disservice to wrestlers like Apollo Crews. Give them a chance to be unique. Let Crews be more than just another token top-level athlete or else he’ll continue to be just a part of the crowd.

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