On July 10, 2014, writer Dion Beary's article "Pro Wrestling Is Fake, But It's Race Problem Isn't" appeared on The Atlantic's website. An in-depth post, it begins with the awareness that for "Bulgarian Brute" Rusev's first six months as a main roster performer in World Wrestling Entertainment, he only defeated African-American WWE superstars. From there, it weaves its way through WWE's 50-year history of not having a solely black WWE Champion, and also addresses numerous other issues in regards to the unique and difficult-to-consider issue of race and potential racism in professional wrestling. However, for as incendiary and thought-provoking an article as this was, it could just as easily be said that the article's author is overlooking a few key issues - namely the one that pro wrestling is a uniquely American athletic art form that intrinsically requires use of the most hackneyed of stereotypes to be the most effective of storytelling devices - that render his excellently written and researched article as moot and pointless. Moreover, in the author not bringing up the most important of points - that pro wrestling was birthed within and is creatively governed by a definition of America that is outmoded - he has a great article by one that could likely be tragically flawed. The bigger point to consider (and thus the one that creatively drives this article) is to note that in pro wrestling in America-at-present is diametrically opposed to modern America's progressive societal norms. If the WWE were to reflect the current American climate that harbors minimal racism, sexism and classism by comparison to the era of the then-WWWF's inception in 1952, could it work? Possibly. However, crowds love their pro-American musclemen and shucking and jiving Negroes and love booing physically attractive, yet catty women and superiority-driven foreign powerhouses. A less racist (and also less sexist, classist and jingoistic, too) WWE would feature half of the company's top angles being nonexistent. AS well, as presently characterized, some of their best in-ring superstars would be largely ineffective for WWE's business model as they would just be performers who wouldn't be doing more on TV than just wrestling well. Thus, for as much as WWE may want to on some level not be racist, if the company stops being racist, then pro wrestling itself is intrinsically in trouble, too. All this having been said, here are five (of the likely many) reasons why WWE can't stop being racist.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
