From Cryme Tyme's "Money, money, yeah yeah!" to the Prime Time Players' "Millions of dollars, millions of dollars," it's been a rough eight years for established stereotypical African-American tag teams in World Wrestling Entertainment. And now, with the release of JTG (and current injured status of Darren Young and long-released Shad Gaspard), Titus O'Neal is the only one of the four left standing. Jayson "JTG" Paul was a charismatic wrestler. However, there's an issue that arises when a wrestler is stuck in a character that has never gotten over to a significant degree for entirely too long. That wrestler, no matter how talented, is only seen as that character and his talent is branded alongside the level of engagement the crowd has in the character. It's one of the most unfair notions of pro wrestling that ultimately makes it the bizarre and oftentimes unfair industry that it is. When the internet begins to lampoon of how long you've been employed, one can only imagine that WWE's uber aware and socially plugged in from office notices, too, and the countdown to when your contract is up and you can be released is on.
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.
