Hulkamania

We should also probably acknowledge that a big part of why Hollywood -- and the WWE -- embraced The Rock, just as they did Vin Diesel, is because he's racially ambiguous.

Most people don't even think of The Rock as African-American:

25 Celebrities You Didn't Know Were Black | Page 7 | StyleBlazer

 

Yes, pointing it out, and offering excuses.

Bold stand.

 

Unions and politics on a wrestling thread...

 

Oh, I also forgot just making shit up about people to give himself something to do, hoping they will respond to the flung shit.

 

So you admit that liberals are pointing it out. That's not what you said before.

And it's not excuses, it's reality, as it's been pointed out to you by several posters.

Want an example? Try the Rock. He didn't become a hand-picked star by the WWE overnight. If anything, the fans hated him when he first started in the business with his first character. Which wouldn't have been a bad thing ... If he had been portraying a villain at that time. Instead, he was playing a good guy, who was getting booed out of the building. It had nothing to do with his color. It had to do with his good-guy character sucking.

Even when he first became a villain, he needed to show that he was capable of being an effective one, which of course, he did, to the point where fans were cheering him because they wanted to. Had he done poorly, he wouldn't be on Hollywood. He'd be wrestling in VFW halls now.

 

Sure slavery is bad, but fuck, it would be really hard to pick all of this cotton without slave labor.

That's just reality, right Baron?

 

Don't knock VFW halls. They need coffee jockeys, too.

 

I think most WWE fans know The Rock is half black, given who his father is and how heavily that was played up when his wrestling career started. Also, The Rock is a once-in-a-lifetime talent, regardless of race.

It is his Samoan roots that made him who he is, though. The Anoa'i family is as legendary as they come in pro wrestling, and if The Rock was not one, he may have been cut loose within his first year with his disastrous "Rocky Maivia, wholesome good guy" act.

It's why Roman Reigns, also an Anoa'i, was pushed into a main event slot, and why he'll get every chance to succeed while an infinitely more talented and charismatic Ron Killings, who's just plain old black, won't.

 

Jesus Christ, YF and Baron manage to turn even the stinkin pro wrestling discussion into the liberals vs. conservatives bullshit.

 

It's impossible to argue with counterpoints such as The Rock not being really black and the championships of Booker T and Mark Henry not counting because they're not the "right belt."

The WWE Hall of Fame has its own issues in terms of who it chooses to honor, but it is perhaps a better indicator of one's place/success in the business over the actual championship belt. Booker's in there, to suggest that he wasn't a major main event player in the company is foolishness.

 

"Must ... rule ... anonymous message board."

 

I don't think anyone's arguing there haven't been black main eventers. It's most often that they never get that chance, in part because they just don't have "it," but also in part because of the proverbial glass ceiling and/or they're saddled with ridiculous, often racist gimmicks.

Take Shelton Benjamin. There is not a single thing Brock Lesnar can do that Benjamin can't. In fact, Benjamin was practically Lesnar's coach in college. Lesnar wouldn't sign with WWE unless they signed Benjamin too.

Neither of them have an ounce of mic skill. Yet Lesnar gets the best mouthpiece in the business and a rocket strapped to his back, and Benjamin flounders on the undercard for a few years before getting released.

As much as I like Lesnar, let's not pretend he's any more of a model employee than Benjamin was. Shit, Lesnar sent a fan to the ER a few weeks ago by recklessly throwing a car door into the fifth row of the crowd.