10 Times WWE Blatantly Used Racist Stereotypes

Despite the adage that all the talking can be done in the ring, one of the major obstacles facing any wrestler travelling from East to West and vice-versa is the language barrier. Yet for whatever reason, westerners have often succeeded in Japan whereas their exchanged counterparts have regularly struggled in the States.

An endemic and persistent cultural stereotype surrounding the Japanese following World War II probably didn't help.

An enduring response to Pearl Harbor, conniving, sneaky Japanese wrestlers were everyday scenery on the '70s and '80s wrestling landscape, where foreign bogeymen roamed in legion. By the mid-90s, with Western eyes opened to Japanese talent courtesy of pioneering groups such as ECW and the gradual increase in tape trading, persisting with such outdated, insulting characters no longer seemed appropriate. But it was what had always been done.

Take Taka Michonoku. Initially, he was presented as a legitimate athlete spearheading WWE's light-heavyweight division. Pretty soon, he reverted to type, surrounding himself with similarly two-dimensional compatriots and an 'Engrish' spouting archetype for a manager. Talent was immaterial to broad comedy at the expense of their ethnicity.