Whether or not you watch WWE regularly, occasionally, or never at all, you know that they’re the largest professional wrestling company in the world. Pro wrestling might be ‘staged,’ by which we mean that the outcome of the ‘fights’ that take place in its rings is pre-determined, but it’s only ‘staged’ in the same way that your favorite movies and television shows are staged. It’s a theatrical version of combat where anyone can win, and anything can happen. A guy who weighs 180 pounds soaking wet can beat a giant who weighs five hundred pounds if the company wants it to happen, so that begs a question. In a company where anyone could be champion, why has there only ever been one African-American champion?
Until 2019, there had never been an African-American champion WWE Champion at all. The first wrestler to receive the honor was the long-tenured half-Ghanaian Kofi Kingston, who defeated Daniel Bryan at the company’s ‘WrestleMania 35’ event last year to claim the prize. When he did, it made headline news all over the planet, and it was treated as a big deal by news outlets who would never normally dream of reporting pro wrestling news. It could have been a watershed moment for the company, and a platform upon which to build towards better representation of its many world-class black wrestlers when it comes to main events and championships. It wasn’t.
Kingston was allowed to hold onto the championship belt for a few months, enjoying a mostly-unremarkable title reign that ended in abrupt fashion when he was defeated by Brock Lesnar in less than ten seconds during a match that took place on television as opposed to a pay per view. Kingston never got a rematch for his lost championship, and a week later, he was back to competing in the middle of the card as a tag team wrestler. It was as if his history-making title reign never happened at all. Since then, both versions of WWE’s world championship title have changed hands several times, but only between white wrestlers. The company’s current champions are WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, a white Scot, and WWE Universal Champion Braun Strowman, a giant white American.
Kingston’s status as the company’s first black WWE Champion is somewhat disputed by the company. They point to both the Rock and Roman Reigns, who are Samoan in origin. It might also be possible to include Jinder Mahal, a Canadian from Indian heritage. They also point to the existence of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which is a now-retired belt that was never presented as being as prestigious as the WWE Championship. Mark Henry and Booker T, who are both African-Americans, held that title before it was withdrawn from circulation. The company’s top prize, however, has always been the WWE Championship. Given the huge number of talented and well-known black wrestlers who have worked for the company during its fifty-plus years of operation, the lack of black representation in its championship history is curious.
It’s not for us to say that WWE is racist. That’s a big claim to make, and it’s one that the company would deny furiously. It is, however, an accusation that’s been made several times in the past, and will doubtless be made again in the future. Last year, pro wrestler Jordan Myles (also known as ACH) walked out on his contract with the company’s developmental brand because he believed a t-shirt featuring his name portrayed unhelpful racial stereotypes. Gail Kim, a female Asian-American wrestler, has quit the company twice in the past and spoken at length about what she felt was racist treatment behind the scenes from some of the company’s top executives.
It’s not just championship title histories that have a distinct lack of black faces. WWE’s video games, which are usually a big deal every year, have never been fronted by an African-American or black wrestler (with the exception of the Rock). WWE has a range of Online Slots UK coming out in the near future, too. The stars selected to feature on that collection of online slots are Becky Lynch, John Cena, Triple H, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Ronda Rousey, and Roman Reigns. There are no African-Americans scheduled to be featured on any of the online slots – not even recent champion Kofi Kingston. By contrast, Hulk Hogan gets his own online slots game. Hogan has been retired for well over ten years and has had made well-documented racist statements in the past for which he’s never issued a satisfactory explanation or apology.
The current WWE roster includes several well-liked black wrestlers who are popular with fans, and credible enough as wrestlers to be accepted as world champions. On that list, we’d have to put Big E, Ricochet, Keith Lee, and Bobby Lashley. Lashley is currently involved in a storyline with Drew McIntyre which will culminate in him getting an opportunity to wrestle for the WWE Championship. As McIntyre only recently dethroned Brock Lesnar to win the championship, it’s exceptionally unlikely that the storyline writers will have him lose it this soon in his reign. Lashley, like many black wrestlers before him, will get the chance to appear in a main event with a white wrestler but will leave the ring without the prize. He might not get another opportunity.
WWE is a global company with fans all over the world. Their corporate language describes them as inclusive, forward-thinking, and diverse. Time after time, when they’ve had the opportunity to go make the face of the company a black one, they’ve chosen not to go in that direction. That chance is about to come again with Bobby Lashley, and they’ll probably make the same decision. They have an opportunity to prove us wrong on that front, and we’d be pleasantly surprised if they took it. They can’t change their past, but there’s nothing stopping them from changing their future. Looking back on the lineage of their top championship with the benefit of modern-day hindsight, they have every reason to feel that they should have done a lot better in terms of representation. If they don’t address that lack of representation in the near future, few tears will be shed if their ratings continue to trend in their current solidly downward direction.
