Is New Day a real thing?

[SortaCreative]

A stable with 3 black dudes that are now singing gospel...? (when they have no history of singing gospel on screen)

2014?

Hello?

[Westcoastvibes]

It does seem rather odd.

[PorkChop]

Not as bad as when they had Camacho show up on that low-rider with a barbed wire fence on the titantron

[Str8Shooter]

The Mexicools once rode lawnmowers down to the ring.

Chavo Guerrero changed his name and pretended he wasn't latino anymore and had a golf caddy as his manager.

Eddie and Chavo had a mantra of "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" and were portrayed as Latino Heroes, and they were babyfaces!

Three black guys singing and having fun doesn't even touch the most racist things WWE has done.

[Hanley!]

^^ It is the most recent thing though. And every year this kind of racist stuff becomes less acceptable. I find myself desperately wishing for Vince McMahon to sell the company, because his ideas just aren't fit for the modern audience. He's become more and more out of touch. It's bad enough when this is just reflected in his failure to engage with modern pop culture, but when these offensive stereotypes crop up it's really too much. People aren't as willing to accept this kind of stuff anymore.

I don't think these guys are going to make it anyway. They're hesitating on bringing them to television and none of them had any momentum even before they decided to form the stable. This'll be a brief failed experiment that won't go far. I wouldn't be surprised if one or two of these guys are gone from the company in a year.

[DBSoT]

The WWE does have a history of some pretty racist gimmicks, but I don't find this one racist. The gospel music is just an entrance theme and not really any different then when Cena came out to a choir at Mania 27. Their attire is horrible, but nothing really racist about it. Also they didn't do anything in their match that hasn't been done by every baby face over the past decade. None of their mannerism were overly stereotypical (R-Truth dancing or the Los Matadores "Ole"). Also they have great chemistry and seem to be able to have fun matches.

[PorkChop]

The WWE does have a history of some pretty racist gimmicks, but I don't find this one racist. The gospel music is just an entrance theme and not really any different then when Cena came out to a choir at Mania 27.

It's not really that - it's the fact that WWE needed a gimmick for a bunch of black guys and so looked no further than typical black stereotypes. In this case, that stereotype was anabaptist gospel leaders, which are predominantly black men or women.

It's like when Camacho came out on a low-rider with a barbed wire fence on the titantron, and the Mexicools with the lawnmowers. WWE have simply got a minority and looked no further than their race or ethnicity for a gimmick. It's shallow, embarrassing and quite racist.

[Westcoastvibes]

I must have missed something, either we have some overly PC people on this board or I missed the invisible text in the OP that suggest the gimmick was racist.

I thought this was to discuss how ridiculous it was to pull three guys off TV for a couple weeks then re-debut them as a gospel group with no build up or background other than some vignettes. If they had been off the product for multiple months before the vignettes started I would have a different opinion. However, they have all been active on raw/sd/me/nxt/superstars this whole time while the vignettes have been playing and then all of a sudden they decide to drop their independent gimmicks to become a gospel group? Plus I did not see anything special when they did debut that would keep this gimmick alive, there was no impact or wow factor beside the dust busters apparently having an issue with them all ready

[Hanley!]

I must have missed something, either we have some overly PC people on this board or I missed the invisible text in the OP that suggest the gimmick was racist.

Why is acknowledging the existence of racism overly PC?

To be honest, I thought it was kinda racist when they took three black wrestlers and put them together in a stable just because they were all black. That was before they decided to call them "the New Day" and re-imagine them as black stereotypes with nothing to do with their previous gimmicks. There's no doubt in my mind that this is offensive treatment.

Of course, we've heard numerous reports over the years that racism in WWE isn't just something they use in their angles. There's apparently a lot of racism backstage, coming from some of the higher-ups in the company too. Del Rio's recent departure was racially-fueled. There's obviously a reason why these racist gimmicks keep cropping up. WWE's hierarchy consists largely of oldish white dudes with a seemingly narrow world view.

[Westcoastvibes]

The WWE does have a history of some pretty racist gimmicks, but I don't find this one racist. The gospel music is just an entrance theme and not really any different then when Cena came out to a choir at Mania 27.

It's not really that - it's the fact that WWE needed a gimmick for a bunch of black guys and so looked no further than typical black stereotypes. In this case, that stereotype was anabaptist gospel leaders, which are predominantly black men or women.

It's like when Camacho came out on a low-rider with a barbed wire fence on the titantron, and the Mexicools with the lawnmowers. WWE have simply got a minority and looked no further than their race or ethnicity for a gimmick. It's shallow, embarrassing and quite racist.

I disagree, I don't think they looked towards a black stereotype for a group of black performers. I think they looked to a gimmick that the black community could relate with and possibly get behind. This is nothing like the Mexicools riding their Juan Deere's to the ring, or Camacho in a low-rider with hydraulics, or kerwin white denouncing his mexican heritage, those are racist and those are stereotypes that portray a negative impact of some towards the greater population. There is nothing negative about a black guy being a gospel preacher, especially since most gospel preacher's are black and I would imagine a large majority of black family's take pride in the fact that gospel is predominantly a black following.

I think people in this generation are to quick to label racism.

[Westcoastvibes]

To be honest, I thought it was kinda racist when they took three black wrestlers and put them together in a stable just because they were all black.

Wow, really? That's a bit overkill

So having the Uso's as a team that performs Samoan war dances is racist also because they are Samoan right? The shield was racist because they were white militants that were obsessed with power and dominance?

Would it be better if they took Kofi out and put Christian or Zach Ryder in instead? Or would that now be considered racist towards the white guy in the group?

[SlightlyJames]

To be honest, I thought it was kinda racist when they took three black wrestlers and put them together in a stable just because they were all black.

Wow, really? That's a bit overkill

So having the Uso's as a team that performs Samoan war dances is racist also because they are Samoan right? The shield was racist because they were white militants that were obsessed with power and dominance?

Would it be better if they took Kofi out and put Christian or Zach Ryder in instead? Or would that now be considered racist towards the white guy in the group?

The Usos are brothers, that's why they are together. And if you think the Shield were white militants you might want to take a closer look at Roman Reigns.

For what it's worth, I'm completely fine with this. Yeah, it's pretty clear they paired these guys up because they were black. They haven't done anything yet so we really don't know what the goal of the stable is, I don't think the singing and stuff is anything to get all hot and bothered about. It's fine.

[Hanley!]

So having the Uso's as a team that performs Samoan war dances is racist also because they are Samoan right? The shield was racist because they were white militants that were obsessed with power and dominance?

Roman Reigns isn't even white, and there was nothing about that group that suggests they were "white militants". They were just a stable obsessed with justice, and with being dominant.

The Uso's are doing Samoan war dances because it's part of their heritage. Which is different from race. The difference is that you can't presume that because there are black gospel singers that it's part of the heritage of every black person. That's incorrect stereotyping.

Would it be better if they took Kofi out and put Christian or Zach Ryder in instead? Or would that now be considered racist towards the white guy in the group?

I don't know what you're getting at here. If there was a white guy and two black guys in a group, how would that be racist against the white guy? I don't understand what point you're making.

It doesn't matter if a stable is all white guys or all black guys or a mix. What is racist is when guys are put together only because of their race. And if you look back through the years you'll probably find that most of the time when a stable of all white people are given a gimmick, their race is unimportant. Whereas the gimmick for a stable of black people will almost always be connected with their race.

[PorkChop]

I disagree, I don't think they looked towards a black stereotype for a group of black performers. I think they looked to a gimmick that the black community could relate with and possibly get behind... There is nothing negative about a black guy being a gospel preacher, especially since most gospel preacher's are black and I would imagine a large majority of black family's take pride in the fact that gospel is predominantly a black following

Because it's a well-known fact that all black people are gospel preachers, and black viewers can only get behind black performers with black gimmicks. What you've just described is the problem people in this thread are describing - black wrestlers SHOULDN'T be given stereotypical black gimmicks, in the same way that Mexicans shouldn't be given stereotypical Mexican gimmicks.

[Str8Shooter]

I was under the impression that this whole group was Kofi, Big E's, and Woods idea of their own because none of them were doing anything substantial? If it was their own idea then I'm not sure you can get upset by it.

[Westcoastvibes]

God, I am so sick of having people on this board that disect someone's post and badger the person just because they have to have the upper hand.

It's stupid teenager bullshit. I quoted one part of Hanley saying he felt that just putting 3 blacks in a group together was racist because I don't think it is, the examples I gave were all in context to that one sentence. I understand Roman is not white but his Samoan heritage was not addressed or integrated into his character. What I was getting at is just because a group is compiled as (or portrayed as) all being the same race does not make it racist.

The amount of people that feel the need to jump on the race bandwagon as an excuse or answer to why they don't like something is sickening. I'm fucking sick of it, you can not have a legit debate on this board about anything involving race, and God forbid you should be pro American on a stance cause you will get steamrolled.


Sorry for the venting rant but I am just fed up with it, I enjoy visiting this place to kill time and to view/communicate opinions with others but the way people handle communication about race issues is asinine and the level of anti-American gloating is absurd.

[Messiah]

I agree with @Westcoastvibes. I don't see anything racist about the gimmick. Maybe stereotypical (not even a negative stereotype either) I guess, but not racist. No black person, myself included, is going to take an issue with or be offended by 3 black men singing gospel.

I think people are just looking for something that isn't there.

[Georgerv]

I'd also like to point out that Big E has been doing his "sermon" voice for lack of a better term, for quite a while, so it's hardly surprising that they'd work the whole gospel thing into the gimmick, it's something he showed he was good at in random promos over the last couple years, why wouldn't they capitalise on that?

[SortaCreative]

I think it's quite suspect. Just because you're black and you don't get offended by it doesn't make it okay.

It's just shoddy writing and development. If a character needs to be identified by the way he looks or his "job" then it's bad writing. Plain and simple.

The issue I have is that when compared to white wrestlers there's very few none white wrestlers that don't have this basic one dimensional gimmick slapped on them. Be it, Mexican Gardeners, Big Foreign Brute, Black Gospel Preacher the list goes on and on throughout history.

It's slim pickings when you want to think about none white wrestlers who primarily are identified by their characters and not their race based gimmick. Eddie and The Rock are two prime names and it's true, however both started in quite obviously race based gimmicks. Roman Reigns is really the only current name I can think of.

If it was their own idea then I'm not sure you can get upset by it.

I disagree. Sometimes you're too close to source to see what type of tired, old, backwards bullshit you might be perpetuating.

It's weird seeing people act like racism in professional wrestling isn't a well documented thing.

it's shitty when the only brown guy I might see on the main stage is either a giant foreign brute or a terrorist, not just a normal guy with normal pro wres aspirations and normal pro wres attire. Nope he has to be from the deepest darkest jungle in India or have a translator spitting stuff out in Farsi.

Jinder Mahal was amazing for me. The brown rock god, may he live forever.

[PorkChop]

Jinder Mahal was amazing for me. The brown rock god, may he live forever.

I was eating a Dominos Hot & Spicy pizza when Jinder Mahal debuted. Ever since, I developed a Pavlovian response to seeing him on my screen. I needed pizza. Not just any pizza, it had to be that particular pizza.

I'd say Jinder Mahal wound up costing me over £100 because of this.