15 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Tony Atlas
11. He Viewed Other Black Wrestlers As Enemies
This story is a sad commentary on race issues in wrestling back in the 1970s and 80s.
Tony chuckled that this would "be called racism today", but back then it was called “average”. To him, at least, and other black wrestlers. Promoters around the country usually only had one black wrestler on their books, so if Tony saw another in the locker room then he knew there’d be trouble. “I saw them as my enemy”, he disclosed. Then, Atlas went on to say that wrestlers openly used the ’n’ word around him without consequence.
When VICE asked why he didn’t tell them to stop, Atlas replied: ‘I was making money”. He recalled his mother saying he should pick his battles, so Tony “didn’t care” so long as he was earning cash. Things were so casual in locker rooms at the time, and he stood out because (again) promoters had orchestrated things to be that way.
Black wrestlers were an attraction, but only in small doses. This fostered a territorial nature in Tony, because he didn't want to lose his spot if another worker who looked similar to him came into the promotion. Similarly, other black wrestlers looked at Atlas with jealous eyes. There was a sense that spots were limited because of the colour of his skin. Eek!
Atlas brushed a lot of the racism conversation off, and said he could handle himself if things got rough. Almost unbelievably, he had bigger problems with fellow black wrestlers than anybody else. Things came to a head once he reached the promised land of the WWF and turned into a WWE champion.