6 Insanely Tone-Deaf Ways The WWE Addressed Serious Issues

[Koko B.]

http://www.cracked.com/article_22354_6-times-wwe-tried-and-failed-to-tackle-serious-issues.html

It's always interesting when Cracked does wrestling.
6 issues:
1. Gay Marriage
2. Disabilities
3. Racism
4. Sept 11
5. Addiction
6. Death.

 

[Solidus1]

I don't remember that gay wedding, but that's hilarious. Wrong crowd lolol

 

[Zany Clowny]

I remember when Cracked wasn't taken over by the Left.

 

[Koko B.]

It's unfortunate that politics uses the terms left and right. I think many people conflate politically right with morally, ethically right / correct / proper / true. As if the opposite of the political right is wrong.

 

[Aids Johnson]

I remember when Cracked wasn't taken over by the Left.

high five, you earned it.

I am not huge on the left-right argument. It's reality that there are going to be media shifted to one side or another, but the fact is most work alongside or own a company spitting the same shit to the left. If you don't agree with the article, make your own "right wing" article and i'll gladly read it. People are shoving their bias and political agenda on everyone everywhere now days. Don't like it? There is always the same shit on the other side, too.

 

[Aids Johnson]

Holy shit this was absolutely one of the worst, shittiest things I have spent my time on. What terrible writing, forget the side. The mockery under the pics are poorly written, it was all around a really bad article. Great subjects, horribly written.

 

[Zany Clowny]

No, no I don't mean to make the site seem bad. They weren't a conservative website lmao, they seemed to be centrist years ago. I don't support the Left/Right argument, but it's hard to deny it when you've seen it unfold before your eyes. I'd say the same thing if they were extremely right wing, as well.

 

[The GOAT]

Meh. I enjoyed pretty much everything on the list that the person who compiled this together is complaining about. We need more edgy and entertaining stuff like this, not less.

Kinda odd that the angle that is most often cited as one of the worst angles of all time - the Katie Vick storyline, btw - isn't even on the list. I guess pretending to hump a dead person wasn't quite low-brow enough for the author of this piece as gay innuendo or a half-Blue character trying to live out his dream as a wrestler was.

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

The article isn't nearly as bad as you all are making it out to be lol, but what can you expect from a bunch of defensive marks. If you don't see the cringeworthiness in most of that shit idk what to tell you. Kurt Angle and the rest of the roster cutting half-in character promos about 9/11 2 days later was about as cringeworthy as it gets lol, especially, as the article mentioned, Steph using the platform to (once again) fire shots at people who fired shots at her Dad a decade earlier.

A lot of the rest of the article was fair as well, especially pertaining to the WWE not knowing its own audience which led to things like heels being cheered for beating down physically and mentally handicapped faces. They weren't criticizing WWE for having a Blue wrestler, they were criticizing them for being so hapless that they managed to turn him into a hated character because they book him like a 12 year old would book a Blue wrestler.

The racism part of WWE is also incredibly spot on. Look at how few black wrestlers have been pushed and how many have been stuck with jokes stereotypical gimmicks. If you are black and coming into WWE enjoy your dancing/gangster gimmick!

 

[Stopspot]

What D'Z said. He covered all I was going to talk about

 

[The GOAT]

The article isn't nearly as bad as you all are making it out to be lol, but what can you expect from a bunch of defensive marks. If you don't see the cringeworthiness in most of that shit idk what to tell you. Kurt Angle and the rest of the roster cutting half-in character promos about 9/11 2 days later was about as cringeworthy as it gets lol, especially, as the article mentioned, Steph using the platform to (once again) fire shots at people who fired shots at her Dad a decade earlier.

A lot of the rest of the article was fair as well, especially pertaining to the WWE not knowing its own audience which led to things like heels being cheered for beating down physically and mentally handicapped faces. They weren't criticizing WWE for having a Blue wrestler, they were criticizing them for being so hapless that they managed to turn him into a hated character because they book him like a 12 year old would book a Blue wrestler.

The racism part of WWE is also incredibly spot on. Look at how few black wrestlers have been pushed and how many have been stuck with jokes stereotypical gimmicks. If you are black and coming into WWE enjoy your dancing/gangster gimmick!

Eugene got positive reactions 98% of the time. There may have been the occasional cheering whenever he received a beat-down but there's always gonna be the type of fans who insist on cheering the heels over the faces. He was pretty over for the grand majority of his short-lived career in WWE.

The stuff about how Black wrestlers aren't pushed is a pretty common criticism and I find it pretty daft, tbh. Name any Black wrestlers that you can think of that you think had the charisma to make it as top-tier names. There isn't exactly a long line of them. Ahmed Johnson was terrible on the mic and not much better in the ring, and to make matters worse he had a habit of injuring people in the ring. Shelton Benjamin was gifted athletically but he was a terrible talker (even then, he still won the IC Title, US Title, ECW Title, World Tag Team Titles, etc... let's not act like he wasn't pushed at all. It's just that not everyone can be a top name.) Bobby Lashley was pushed hard and even given a key spot on the Wrestlemania 23 card as part of the Vince/Trump affair, but he decided he'd rather go suck at MMA instead and quit WWE before he probably would have won the championship. I think MVP could have been a top-tier player if they had given him the right push, but he's only one name and he ended up leaving of his own volition anyway.

As far as stereotypes go, Blacks are far from the only people who get stereotyped in wrestling. WWE is pretty much an equal-opportunity employer/offender when it comes to stereotyping folks.

 

[Green Jesus]

The only piece of the article I actually strongly disagree with is the Punk-Undertaker one. The angle really felt more like a tribute then cheap-heat to me. It doesn't feel like something Bearer himself would protest against.

 

[Red Rain]

The stuff about how Black wrestlers aren't pushed is a pretty common criticism and I find it pretty daft, tbh. Name any Black wrestlers that you can think of that you think had the charisma to make it as top-tier names. There isn't exactly a long line of them. Bobby Lashley was pushed hard and even given a key spot on the Wrestlemania 23 card as part of the Vince/Trump affair, but he decided he'd rather go suck at MMA instead and quit WWE before he probably would have won the championship. I think MVP could have been a top-tier player if they had given him the right push, but he's only one name and he ended up leaving of his own volition anyway.

You and I always disagree on this one. Kofi Kingston is a fine talent. He isn't extraordinary, but neither is Seth Rollins. (Rollins is actually a great ring worker, but pillar of the company is an extremely low bar).
Kingston is relatively unturnable, the fans dug him, could work and was very confident on the stick. Using 2009 as a point of reference, I see very minute flaws in his arsenal.
He is african-american. This is a problem whether you gloss over it or not. It carries a stigma of uncertainty. Kingston isn't Cena, but he isn't R-Truth either.

Kingston isn't a guy in whom you attach thug, rapper, hostility or any other stereotype toward. He's good with people, articulate and enthusiastic... everything WWE wants Reigns (or any star for that matter) to be.

WWE does not truly believe in african-americans, regardless of talent level. It hasn't been proven, so when a guy like Kingston comes along they grasp at straws for reasons he won't cut it.