21 Years Of WWE SmackDown Mistakes

3. 2017 - "You Rook Stupid"

Daniel Bryan
WWE.com

Jinder Mahal’s controversial 2017 title reign was at first guilty of trying to play a race card that simply wasn’t in the deck anymore. His promos on Shinsuke Nakamura resulted in the ugliest game of can-you-top-this.

Hitting outmoded stereotypes, references and slurs following some utterly repellant rhetoric, WWE generated mainstream attention to their failing experiment, but only as the veneer for their race-baiting rather than - ironically enough - being an example of broad-mindedness in the modern age.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett