This is going to be a somewhat controversial blog to people. It has to do with race and professional wrestling. I'm not talking about claims of racism, blatant racism, or racist characters. I'm talking simply about race, particularly the argument of no black man ever becoming the WWE Champion. I bring this up because there are a lot of people that think The Rock isn't "black enough." I just don't understand this logic. As many in the wrestling world should know, Dwayne Johnson is half black/half Samoan, sharing heritage from his father Rocky Johnson and his grandfather High Chief Peter Maivia. Does being half black make him any less black? I hate that this even has to be a topic but I wanted to chime in. Why is it that when it comes to WWE, The Rock is not considered the first black WWE Champion? Yet at the same time, when it came to former President Barack Obama, all people could focus on was that he was black, even though he was also half white. It seems to me that it's about fitting into the agendas people have.
In 1992, Ron Simmons became the first black World Heavyweight Champion in WCW. Whether that was the plan or just a PR move, it still made history. Ron Simmons is a Hall of Famer and even by that time, he was one of the greats in professional wrestling. His College Football career combined with his wrestling background made him a household name. Years later, he signed with the WWF as Faarooq. His first gimmick was silly, where they dressed him up in blue armor but when he got serious and became the leader of the Nation of Domination, he could have easily been taken serious as the WWF Champion.
Let's humor these morons that think The Rock isn't black enough for a moment. First of all, percentages are important. During a given time period, how many black wrestlers were on the roster? The percentage is pretty small. Out of that small percentage, how many were over enough or drew enough money to garner a spot as the WWF Champion? In the 50's and 60's, Bobo Brazil was insanely popular with the fans. In fact, even though it is not recognized by the NWA, he did defeat "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers for the World Championship. "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd was a mountain of a man and this legend was always a legit threat to any promotion's World Champion. Both could have been taken serious and were over enough to be WWF Champion. However, that's two in a long period of time. I'm sure a case could be made for a few more. Unfortunately, this was still a time of segregation in this country and realistically would be rare.
In the 80's, there were several black men in the WWF. Junkyard Dog, Butch Reed, Koko B. Ware, S.D. Jones, Bad News Brown, to name a few. Think about the time period, though! The WWF's cash cow was Hulk Hogan and almost no one was able to touch him when it came to being the WWF Champion. Even if Hogan wasn't around, were any of those men over enough to be the WWF Champion? Arguably, the Junkyard Dog was extremely popular and loved, especially in Mid-South Wrestling, but in the era of Hulkamania, just not over enough. In 1995, Mabel was pushed as a Championship contender. However, his match with Diesel at SummerSlam was one of the worst main events of all time. Mabel was never the WWF Champion but it has nothing to do with race. His character was just terrible, plain and simple!
In the last decade or so, the only black man that could have realistically been given a push as the WWE Champion was Bobby Lashley. He did, however, get two runs as ECW Champion. I have a lot of confidence in Apollo Crews but I don't think the office does. He's just not connecting that well, despite his immense talent. Shelton Benjamin is another that despite his tremendous ring ability and fan interest, would not be believable as WWE Champion. Other black wrestlers have come and gone in that time but other than Ron Simmons had he been positioned better and Lashley, almost none were worthy enough to be champion. Could you have pictured D-Lo Brown as the WWF Champion? What about the Godfather? I liked MVP and enjoyed his reign as US Champion but was he good enough to be WWE Champion? How about Cedric Alexander?
In 1996, Ahmed Johnson became the first black Intercontinental Champion. However, he was mediocre in the ring, terrible on the mic, and very injury prone, ingredients that certainly wouldn't lead to a run as WWF Champion. When he debuted at the 1995 Survivor Series, I initially thought he could be the first. Unfortunately, other factors led me to change my mind. In 1983, history was made as Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas became the first black Tag Team Champions in the WWF. Would either have made it to WWF Champion during that time? This was in between the Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan era, so it's pretty doubtful.
If you consider the World Heavyweight Title in fact a World Title, both Booker T and Mark Henry won that Title and would be up for discussion as black World Champions in WWE. With that being said, Booker was surely over enough to win the WWF Title, as was Mark Henry. His run as World Champion during his Hall of Pain era was classic. His Oscar-winning performance in his "retirement" promo with John Cena legitimized him as a Title contender.
However, even if you're only talking about the WWE Championship, people seem to ignore The Rock. For me, when I see The Rock, I see a superstar, someone that transcends things like race, religion, and gender. I don't think black, I don't think Samoan. Race is not in the equation because The Rock was the most electrifying man in Sports Entertainment. Granted, WWE does talk about his Samoan heritage a lot more but why does someone have to be "fully" black in order to be referred to as the first black WWE Champion? If you're going to tell me The Rock doesn't count as the first WWE Champion because he's not "black enough," there's something wrong with you.
If you have any further thoughts on this topic, let me know in comments. Heck, let us all know on The WAR Report podcast, every Tuesday at 7PM EST, brought to you by tagmeadate.com, the first and only dating site for wrestling fans. Go to askthewarreport@gmail.com or #askthewarreport. For TagMeADate members, our Android and Apple apps are vastly approaching so stay tuned!
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