WWE arrogantly loves to proclaim itself as the “best professional wrestling company in the world”, but there’s been a longstanding history of racially offensive moments that the WWE has shown on television. Hell, The WWE Hall Of Fame is filled with bigots like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, Greg Valentine, Rowdy Roddy Piper, The Warrior, and others like them.
When I recently found out that The WWE brought back a notorious bigot in Hulk Hogan, I wasn’t surprised because The WWE is filled with straight up bigots like him and Vince McMahon who hates pushing black wrestlers and making them long term champions as evidenced with Sasha Banks’s very short title reigns of 28, 20, and 8 days last year or Alicia Fox’s short title reign of 2 months as Diva’s Champion back in 2010.
This is the same company that tried to have a match in “honor of Fabulous Moolah” this year, but because of strong fan backlash to it, they were forced to remove her name from the match. The Real Fabulous Moolah was a horrible and vile person who forced her own daughter to wrestle and kept pushing her to wrestle even if she wasn’t feeling well, but she also financially and sexually exploited female wrestlers that worked under her like a black female at the time by the name of Sweet Georgia Brown who was constantly humiliated in front of her family, raped, and forced to be a drug addict. She was forced to give birth to three children that were products of the rape that was facilitated by Moolah and carried out by Moolah’s then-husband.
Here are the top 5 most racially offensive moments in WWE History
1. Triple H Calling Booker T A “Nappy Headed Entertainer” - I vividly remember the controversial storyline back in 2003 when then-World Heavyweight Champion Triple H made comments about Booker T that greatly angered me when he started referring to Booker T as a “nappy headed entertainer who only entertains people” and that “guys like him don’t deserve to be World Heavyweight Champion”. This racially offensive segment still angers me to this day just to even thinking about it.
2. DX Mocks The Nation In Blackface - On a 1998 episode of Raw, all the members of DX came out mocking members of The Nation with Triple H, X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Billy Gunn in blackface and for the general white audience that thought this was funny, but to black wrestling fans like myself at the time, this wasn’t funny because this was racially offensive to black people as a collective. I absolutely hated this segment so much.
Note: A year prior to this segment, DX spray painted racially offensive slurs of “n***a” and “go back to Africa” across The Nation locker room.
3. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine’s Promo About Junkyard Dog - Back in the 1980s, when Greg “The Hammer” Valentine was feuding with The Junkyard Dog, he went on to cut a promo about The Junkyard Dog that was not only racially offensive, but also were pro-slavery when he said that he would slap The Junkyard Dog down so that he’d go back to the junkyard, shining shoes, and sweeping the floors and he called Junkyard Dog a “nasty black man” in the same promo. If you wanna see it, it’s on YouTube.
4. Vergil As Ted Dibiase’s Slave - In the late 1980s through early 1990s, Vergil was chosen as the manager for Ted Dibiase, but from the moment Vergil became Dibiase’s manager, Vergil was basically treated like a slave by Dibiase when he often got beaten up when Dibiase ran away after a vicious act against a face and even engaging in humiliating acts like flaunting Dibiase’s money and shining his shoes. When Vergil finally broke free from the abuse and humiliation he suffered at the hands of Dibiase, his wrestling career went downhill as he was never truly able to escape the shadows of the slave gimmick that was forced on him by The WWE.
5. Randy Orton’s Promo Against Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, and MVP - Back in 2009, Randy Orton and his stable “Legacy” were involved in a intensely heated feud with Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, and MVP when Orton cut a racially offensive promo that constantly perpetuates the white media’s negative stereotypes of black men in which he called Kofi, Mark, and MVP “a bunch of low class street thugs”. If you don’t believe me when he said that, check out that racially offensive segment on YouTube.
The Conclusion - Whenever The WWE claims to care about its fans and performers, just know that they’re a bunch of hypocritically condescending pricks who are full of BS.
By Kwame Shakir
