has got to be Booker T. He is athletic and graceful, but is such a dumbass. Even for a wrestler. He is managed by a shifty white guy “Shano-mac.” His lines mostly involve repeating what Shano-mac just said. Booker T. walks behind him in a subservient manner. The whole thing reeks of racism. I am surprised WWF has not noticed this.
Actually, racism has nothing to do with the Booker T character. If you have been following the WWF for the past few years, many, many WHITE wrestlers have played the role of stooge to the McMahons, including the most recent examples, Kurt Angle, RVD and Steve Austin.
I’d also say that there is a better than 50-50 chance Booker will be the next BIG THING in the WWF- problem is, guy cannot talk on the mike.
Not that wrestling does not have a long, not so-proud history of racism. Saba Simba, The Jive Tones, Kamala, salt throwing Japanese heels and much much more populates the history of the Sport of Kings like lesions.
“Not noticed this”? RR, you were aware, weren’t you, that everything that happens on Smackdown is carefully scripted? 
They have what they call “storyline”, and evidently that’s the new storyline–this.
“Not noticed it”? They designed it. The same way they designed the whole “stalking Sara, the beautiful wife of Undertaker” storyline, and the way they designed the “back Dory into a corner and harass her” storyline. It’s about appealing to the audience, who like to see (1) women being bullied, (2) women being stalked, and (3) big dumb blacks. It’s a comic book.
See the script? (part of it) It’s not about “wrestling”, it’s about being Good Guys and Bad Guys.
http://www.wwf.com/media/2001/09/26/1083107?version=1
I went upstairs and consulted Bonzo, who at age 14 is quite the WWF expert, as to whether Booker T is a “Good Guy” or a “Bad Guy”. He says he’s a Bad Guy now, but he used to be a Good Guy. He and his brother, Stevie Ray, used to be the “Harlem Heat”, a tag team, but they weren’t very successful, or very popular (I’m paraphrasing the teen slang here).
So evidently this is just a career move for Booker T.
Vinnie, I don’t think the storyline would allow a black to be a good talker on the mike, because the audience would be very threatened by that.
And “Shano-Mac” is Shane McMahon, Vince McMahon’s slimy son (both the McMahons are Bad Guys.)
Ummm… Wrong. The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) is half black, half Samoan. The WWF has been pushing him as their best microphone worker for some time, now.
One wonders how you’d explain Lita and Molly Holly regularly beating up guys, not to mention Chyna doing the same when she was still employed. This is strange behavior for a company that wants to appeal to people that like to see women being beaten up, wouldn’t you say?
This has happened…oh, one time that I can remember ever in the WWF. And presumably you’re forgetting that the woman in question beat up her stalker repeatedly (and let’s not forget, also beat him in a match), which also negates the first point that you made.
Wow, you actually got something right! Well, the comic book part, anyway…congratulations, give yourself a cookie. As for big dumb blacks, perhaps you’d like to explain how exactly The Rock, Faarooq, and K-Kwik fit this supposed stereotype. And perhaps you’d also like to compare Booker T with the many dumb white characters you can find in the WWF.
It’s strange that you’re commenting on wrestling when you’ve obviously never watched it in your life, since The Rock is half black/half Samoan and the primary mic worker in the WWF today. Why am I suddenly reminded of when Margaret Carlson ignorantly called him a white skinhead?
Oh, and thanks for stereotyping all wrestling fans as racists. We really appreciate it. :rolleyes:
I’ve noticed all forms of stereotypes in pro-wrestling - chicano gangster-types, flamboyant homosexuals, dumb rednecks, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had one who was the Uncle Tom stereotype, though they definitely don’t portray all blacks as stupid, nor all whites as rednecks, hispanics as gangsters, etc.
DDG
[nitpik]
There are four McMahons active in the WWF. Vince, son Shane and daughter Stephanie. All three are heels (bad guys). Linda McMahon, Vince’s wife, has been a face (babyface, or good guy) for a while but I don’t know how active she still is in any storylines (haven’t watched wrestling regularly for a few months now).
[/nitpik]
ZB
I got back into wrestling about a year and a half ago, after Rock was already a Big Deal. I didn’t know he was an Islander until it was mentioned as part of Rikishi’s motive for running over Steve Austin. I didn’t hear anythign about his having black ancestry until this thread. So they have the Rock on the mike but they don’t that I’ve seen play up his racial heritage. Which is not a criticism of the WWF exactly, just saying that the Rock’s background isn’t maybe the best defense to a racism charge.
Well, you just have to look at The Rock to see that he’s not “white.”
Anyway, the average mark (fan) knows that Dwayne Johnson is half-black, half-Samoan. Even in his humble beginnings, he was pushed as Rocky Maivia, the grandson of Grand Chief Maivia, who played a North American Native, but was well known to be Samoan. Couple that with the fact that all the marks know he’s the son of Rocky Johnson, and you’ve pretty much got the complete picture.
Waitaminit…I’ve not watched wrestling in a while, so I’m getting this second hand, but isn’t the current WWF v WCW/ECW plotline Vince/Linda v Shane/Steph? How can only Linda be a Face in this deal?
Whew. You’re in serious trouble now DDG. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I bet it will sell a lot of action figures.
DAMN!! Rocky Johnson? I remember him when I was a kid.
Road Rash…
And he was just that way back in WCW. All the WWF has done is maintain the character.
Shane manages just about everyone in the WCW coalition. Are you going to say it’s “racism” when he comes out to help, say, DDP?
Uh… heh… no.
Also no. Half the time, Shane follows Booker T. to the ring. What show are you watching?
For the third time, no.
What makes you think they haven’t?
Mister Armageddon…
Chyna, Molly, and Lita are capable athletes who can kick some ass. Sara Calloway is not capable of performing some of those high-risk stunts that the others pull off. As such, she has a different character.
First time that they’ve made a storyline centered around the stalking, but there was the storyline where Jericho was “stalking” Chyna (he also pulled a similar stunt with Stephanie… twice), the Dudley Boyz were stalking… well… just about any female in the WWF (granted, this was a different form of harassment than what DDP was doing… but, then again, the DDP storyline was obnoxious).
It doesn’t negate dick. It only shows that the audience loves seeing the good guys triumph over adversity.
Are you forgetting the old days of Jeff Jerret and his Figure-Fouring just about any “non-servile” female character? Or maybe the hubbub sparked by Mae Young (shudder…)? Jesus H. Crocket, how long have you been watching?
Farooq and K-Kwik? Not dumb? Baloney. Further, please explain “Sexual Chocolate” Mark Henry, Viscera, D’Lo Brown, Godfather, D-Von Dudley… and if you want to push the envelope on what constitutes “black”, Haku and Rikishi (“Stink Face”? His finisher is called “Stink Face”?).
However, one thing I do have to say to DDG… there are just as many “big dumb black wrestlers” (percentage-wise) as there are “big dumb white wrestlers”.
An analysis of racial and gender issues in the WWF?
Either you people are all doing sociology degrees, or you’ve got way too much time on your hands.
Take a note of my post count, Gary, and tell me whether you think it’s the former or the latter.
Actually, you’ll find that Shane-o Mac repeats everything that Booker T says first. Shane plays the Sycophant to Booker T, and even has started to copy Booker T’s “Spinaroonie”. I’ve been watching wrestling since the early 80’s. The sycophant heel “manager” thing has been going on for ever.
Your point is invalid.
::Shakes head::
I’m not here to defend Vince McMahon. Wrestling characters/gimmicks have always been painted with the broadest strokes. This is not subtle drama, it’s a soap opera that has fist fights.
Personally, I’m more offended by the fact they waste airtime on X-Pac and the Big Show. THey could have more vignettes with Jeff Hardy or Rob Van Dam, but no…
I remember very, very early in Booker T’s career (1980), he wrestled in my area under his real name (I think) “Tony White.” Not long after that he changed to “Tony Atlas,” as even then he had quite a build. Later on, he became “Sava Simba,” or some other such Africanish name, before settling on Booker T.
Anyway, Tony White/Atlas was very much his own person, and never had anyone speaking for him. (And, back then, he was only a good guy.)
I’m not going to get involved in the debate here, mainly because I don’t watch wrestling all that often (and so don’t know that much about the various story lines)…
But, on the odd occassion that I have had nothing to do when it is on here, I have watched it. It was hypnotic! Why?? Can stupidity be so entertaining that I can’t turn it off?
Pro wrestling? Questions involving fictional plotlines, bad acting and the theatre of the absurd should be posted to Cafe Society.
Nope. It is definately a different guy. Tony Atlas is now a worn down old man wrestling on the indie circuits.