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Among the top wrestling shows on television (WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown, WWE NXT, IMPACT on AXS, AEW Dynamite and AEW Rampage), both AEW flagship shows maintain the highest percentage of white viewership. Dynamite and Rampage were the only shows in the study that boasted white viewership of over 60%, with 68% for Dynamite and 63% for Rampage. Black viewership by percentage for both programs (16% for Dynamite and 13% for Rampage) came in at the lowest among all shows.
AEW’s success with white viewers should hardly come as a surprise given the makeup of its most prioritized stars. From Sting, to Kenny Omega to MJF and Jungle Boy, AEW’s biggest stars from the past, present and future are predominately white. With no black top stars to speak of in the Jacksonville-based promotion, black viewers are choosing not to watch AEW as frequently as other promotions that have excelled when it comes to representation.
WWE has historically faced its own problems with diversity, however recent years have been historically good for black wrestlers and people of color. Big E became the first black Money in the Bank winner this year. The New Day member went on to successfully cash in on Bobby Lashley, who became just the third black WWE champion on the March 1, 2021 broadcast of Raw. WrestleMania 37 also featured the first black women to main event WrestleMania in Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks. Black Excellence is even apparent in WWE’s future as NXT 2.0 boasts top prospects Odyssey Jones, Hit Row and NXT Breakout tournament winner Carmelo Hayes.
MORE FROM FORBESWWE WrestleMania 37 Was The Blackest WrestleMania EverBy null
Though AEW has found success as a more than worthwhile alternative to WWE, it has struggled in promoting diversity the way it promised it would when it opened its doors in 2019. This is particularly the case when it comes to black talent, which is nowhere to be found when it comes to top stars consistently featured on AEW television.
AEW Grand Slam this past Wednesday offered a very fitting depiction of AEW’s struggles with diversity. The high-profile television special featured 12 performers across five matches—all of whom were white. Dynamite garnered 1,273,000 for this show, its second-biggest number of the year.
In addition to complaints from the emerging black wrestling media, black wrestlers themselves have also spoken out about AEW’s lack of diversity among prime spots on the card.
“How u gonna [sic] preach diversity yet you won’t hire black wrestlers who are equally talented if not more [talented],” said former GCW world champion AJ Gray in a tweet last May.
In an article titled “AEW has diversity but lacks when it comes to overall inclusion,” Raphael Garcia of Daily DDT wrote “Dark and Dark Elevation features a lot of talent that fall within diverse spaces, but their presence is not truly felt in impactful ways on Dynamite.”
AEW has found an effective formula to gain an impassioned, loyal following among male, mostly white hardcore wrestling fans. Stars like Adam Cole, CM Punk and Bryan Danielson represent the prototypical “Internet Wrestling Darlings” once featured in Ring of Honor during previous eras of pro wrestling. The aforementioned study of AEW’s audience has found that its white-skewing viewership is beginning to reflect its white-skewing booking.
With black wrestlers mostly relegated to lower profile appearances on AEW Dark and AEW Dark Elevation, supporters of black wrestling recently took to Twitter to promote the #BlackWrestlingDraws hashtag. #BlackWrestlingDraws served as a fitting punctuation to an entertaining Three Strikes match between promising black women’s wrestler Big Swole and Diamante.
“This needs to be a continuation, show up and show out EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. for your people & the wrestlers you want to see elevated! Viewership matters and numbers don’t lie,” said Big Swole in a Twitter post thanking fans for making #BlackWrestlingDraws a trending hashtag.
AEW is well aware of the whispers regarding representation and commented on the perception of its underwhelming promotion of black talent:
“Since day one, AEW has been committed to building an inclusive and diverse roster, which includes the following talent under contract: Isiah Kassidy, Marq Quen, Red Velvet, Nyla Rose, Dante & Darius Martin, Lee Johnson, Powerhouse Hobbs, Sonny Kiss, Scorpio Sky, Big Swole, Max Caster, Anthony Bowens, Ricky Starks, Anthony Ogogo and Jade Cargill,” said AEW in an exclusive statement to me last month. AEW has since signed rising independent star Lee Moriarty.
“On average, across these 16 wrestlers, 22% of their 2021 matches were on Dynamite or Rampage. In fact, 27% of AEW Dynamite/Rampage matches have involved one or more Black wrestlers. Additionally, AEW has provided an opportunity for hundreds of independent wrestlers on AEW Dark and AEW Dark Elevation including more than 40 Black talents in 2021 alone. More than 40% of all AEW Dark/Elevation matches in 2021 have one or more Black wrestlers. Also note that Mark Henry and Shawn Dean recently signed with AEW, and Brandi Rhodes is the first Black woman to hold an executive position in a major NA wrestling promotion.”
While black wrestlers continue to exist in AEW, their mere existence will not be enough to make these criticisms go away. Until AEW takes time to understand what representation actually means, and begins developing top stars outside of its predominately white main event picture, its viewership will continue to reflect a well-meaning “professional wrestling” company that is currently marginalizing people of color.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alfred...ip-like-its-main-event-picture-is-very-white/
AEW’s success with white viewers should hardly come as a surprise given the makeup of its most prioritized stars. From Sting, to Kenny Omega to MJF and Jungle Boy, AEW’s biggest stars from the past, present and future are predominately white. With no black top stars to speak of in the Jacksonville-based promotion, black viewers are choosing not to watch AEW as frequently as other promotions that have excelled when it comes to representation.
WWE has historically faced its own problems with diversity, however recent years have been historically good for black wrestlers and people of color. Big E became the first black Money in the Bank winner this year. The New Day member went on to successfully cash in on Bobby Lashley, who became just the third black WWE champion on the March 1, 2021 broadcast of Raw. WrestleMania 37 also featured the first black women to main event WrestleMania in Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks. Black Excellence is even apparent in WWE’s future as NXT 2.0 boasts top prospects Odyssey Jones, Hit Row and NXT Breakout tournament winner Carmelo Hayes.
MORE FROM FORBESWWE WrestleMania 37 Was The Blackest WrestleMania EverBy null
Though AEW has found success as a more than worthwhile alternative to WWE, it has struggled in promoting diversity the way it promised it would when it opened its doors in 2019. This is particularly the case when it comes to black talent, which is nowhere to be found when it comes to top stars consistently featured on AEW television.
AEW Grand Slam this past Wednesday offered a very fitting depiction of AEW’s struggles with diversity. The high-profile television special featured 12 performers across five matches—all of whom were white. Dynamite garnered 1,273,000 for this show, its second-biggest number of the year.
In addition to complaints from the emerging black wrestling media, black wrestlers themselves have also spoken out about AEW’s lack of diversity among prime spots on the card.
“How u gonna [sic] preach diversity yet you won’t hire black wrestlers who are equally talented if not more [talented],” said former GCW world champion AJ Gray in a tweet last May.
In an article titled “AEW has diversity but lacks when it comes to overall inclusion,” Raphael Garcia of Daily DDT wrote “Dark and Dark Elevation features a lot of talent that fall within diverse spaces, but their presence is not truly felt in impactful ways on Dynamite.”
AEW has found an effective formula to gain an impassioned, loyal following among male, mostly white hardcore wrestling fans. Stars like Adam Cole, CM Punk and Bryan Danielson represent the prototypical “Internet Wrestling Darlings” once featured in Ring of Honor during previous eras of pro wrestling. The aforementioned study of AEW’s audience has found that its white-skewing viewership is beginning to reflect its white-skewing booking.
With black wrestlers mostly relegated to lower profile appearances on AEW Dark and AEW Dark Elevation, supporters of black wrestling recently took to Twitter to promote the #BlackWrestlingDraws hashtag. #BlackWrestlingDraws served as a fitting punctuation to an entertaining Three Strikes match between promising black women’s wrestler Big Swole and Diamante.
“This needs to be a continuation, show up and show out EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. for your people & the wrestlers you want to see elevated! Viewership matters and numbers don’t lie,” said Big Swole in a Twitter post thanking fans for making #BlackWrestlingDraws a trending hashtag.
AEW is well aware of the whispers regarding representation and commented on the perception of its underwhelming promotion of black talent:
“Since day one, AEW has been committed to building an inclusive and diverse roster, which includes the following talent under contract: Isiah Kassidy, Marq Quen, Red Velvet, Nyla Rose, Dante & Darius Martin, Lee Johnson, Powerhouse Hobbs, Sonny Kiss, Scorpio Sky, Big Swole, Max Caster, Anthony Bowens, Ricky Starks, Anthony Ogogo and Jade Cargill,” said AEW in an exclusive statement to me last month. AEW has since signed rising independent star Lee Moriarty.
“On average, across these 16 wrestlers, 22% of their 2021 matches were on Dynamite or Rampage. In fact, 27% of AEW Dynamite/Rampage matches have involved one or more Black wrestlers. Additionally, AEW has provided an opportunity for hundreds of independent wrestlers on AEW Dark and AEW Dark Elevation including more than 40 Black talents in 2021 alone. More than 40% of all AEW Dark/Elevation matches in 2021 have one or more Black wrestlers. Also note that Mark Henry and Shawn Dean recently signed with AEW, and Brandi Rhodes is the first Black woman to hold an executive position in a major NA wrestling promotion.”
While black wrestlers continue to exist in AEW, their mere existence will not be enough to make these criticisms go away. Until AEW takes time to understand what representation actually means, and begins developing top stars outside of its predominately white main event picture, its viewership will continue to reflect a well-meaning “professional wrestling” company that is currently marginalizing people of color.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alfred...ip-like-its-main-event-picture-is-very-white/
