The Black Rasslin' Podcast returns with another banger in the midst of #BRP50 season. After a brief LIVE discussion on the 2021 #BRP50's entries from 50-26, Matth, illfam7, Drip, and khal pressed record to break down Moose losing to Kenny Omega at Impact's Against All Odds show and what the future of Impact even is, ACH's retirement announcement and a look at his situation and Lio Rush's situation, Eva Marie's "return," a preview of the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, and more!
Looking back on the last 24 hours, you would've thought that Mercury was in reggaeton, or at the very least that it was Friday the 13th the way things quietly erupted for Black professional wrestlers and the fans who stan them in the IWC, or at least one pocket of the IWC (sup, family?). And interestingly enough, we got to see a perfect example of what folks were saying, live and on HD, for $free.99 on a 'rona Friday night. Let's take a look back at how #NaomiDeservesBetter became a movement.
Friday morning/early afternoon, Lio Rush (former WWE Superstar who will be announcing his "Final Match" on July 20th and recently off of a beef with Mark Henry) called out current NXT star Finn Balor about a beef that had reportedly been brewing between the two.
Let’s nip this in the bud. I never had any beef with @FinnBalor. I texted you and told you I didn’t know where this story even came from and your words exactly were “ I don’t want to say anything about it publicly because it would draw more attention to the situation”.... welp
The main issue was that Lio felt Balor wasn't doing enough to calm down the rumors of a rift between the two of them, which I can understand, although on the other hand, if you don't acknowledge the rumor being untrue, does it do more to diminish the rumor? Apparently not if someone brings it up. Balor ended up tweeting about it, but this isn't about any of that. There were some tweets Lio sent during this situation that were extremely intriguing.
Being an African American professional wrestler is alot harder than you think and too be honest it’s exhausting as hell.
What I’m tired of seeing and experiencing in the wrestling community are African Americans being villanized for false stories and minor mishaps. This isn’t random, it’s very current and it’s been current. I’m sick of it. The system isn’t just the problem....
..... it’s also the people tweeting and saying that African Americans have mental issues when they decide enough is enough and finally decide to speak out. It’s disgusting.
If you can’t see that there’s a clear problem with the wrestling community regarding equal opportunity for African Americans.... then you’re apart of the problem and i need you to block and not support me right now. It’s very easy to not engage if you don’t fuck with someone.
If you have a problem with what I’m saying. I don’t want your follow. I don’t want your racist mind, heart and energy anywhere around me. don’t want your love. I don’t want your business. I want nothing of your evil agendas. My fans don’t fuck with you either. ๐๐ฝ
His comments would easily lead us into Big Swole's comments and we could be done here, but there was an important moment that happened that night on WWE Friday Night SmackDown, during a match between Naomi and Lacey Evans. A match Naomi lost; she had previously wrestled Lacey to a draw earlier in July. She also lost twice to Dana Brooke in April and May, according to IWD. Naomi actually hasn't won a match on television since a SmackDown match where she (ironically) teamed up with Lacey Evans back in February. That was after beating Bayley by DQ on the same SmackDown (I guess it was time for a TAG TEAM MATCH, huh playa?). This is similar to most of Naomi's booking ever since 2017, which feels like forever ago, but it's only been three years since Naomi became the first African-American woman to win the the SmackDown Women's Championship, which she held one other time.
Naomi, popping out
Anyways, Naomi lost to Lacey. Again.
Mind you, Naomi got some offense in, but this clip features Lacey tying up Naomi's hair on the ropes to distract her, which lead to hitting her with the Women's Right and the three-count. It's not that we expect Naomi to win—for many of us, we've been conditioned to think that a performer like Naomi isn't worth it right now. Mind you, just three years ago she was the top of the SmackDown division, and they've had mad trouble with getting Lacey over since she got called up to the main roster back in December of 2018. It should've been happened, fam.
That's now how you braid hair, Lacey
This leads us back to Lio Rush, who saw this and tweeted that Naomi should've been a 10x Women's Champion by now. Big Swole shared Lio's tweet, adding on that she's not here for the Naomi slander. She also responded to a few who tried to make this about her and not Naomi.
Sir. Joe is it, lets not. I'm no where near Naomi's pedigree, she has put in the work and the fruit it has yielded is NOT enough. This is about her, her time not mine.
All of this must have weighed on Swole, as she responded later on with a link to an open letter she wrote, "We Just Want to Be Heard".
During this time I chose writing as my form of release. Holding in so much at one time is exhausting, but now is not the time to give up either. Please take your time and allow healing to flow. Much love! https://t.co/UzgWekYiMf
I'd love to just copy and paste the whole letter here (we'd probably get some clicks), but really, you should just run the numbers up over on her link. It isn't a long read; it probably fits on one page of your phone's screen. She does have a couple of dope parts, though, that I'd love to highlight.
Why is it that Black people dominate and excel in other participated
sports except for wrestling? What is it about this profession that is
different from the inner workings of other professional sports?
That's one of the reasons why I started Black Rasslin', the website, back in May of 2007(!)—who was I kidding, writing whole-ass biographies on Bobby Lashley?!?! There was a void in the world of pro wrestling, and I figured it was time to stop just talking about it in chat rooms while watching shows with fans across the globe and actually do something about it. It took a while to get to here, where there's now three people adding their Black insight on pro wrestling, weekly. And now that we're here, aged fathers and lifelong pro wrestling fans, it's sad as hell that performers like Big Swole (who has appeared on our podcast) have to ask those questions in 2020. "Years of hard work has culminated into a position where the shut up and color customs are consolation prizes" is a bar, Swole, primarily because it's a dope way of phrasing the idea of folks being given a few opportunities for royalties being worth the accolades driven by having their names in the history books with a title win. Really, go read her letter.
Now, I've trained my brain to forget that SmackDown is on sometimes (which sucks, because it means I miss first-run brilliance from Sasha Banks and Bayley), and had completely turned off social media, so the ensuing #NaomiDeservesBetter tweetstorm wasn't something I'd even seen until Saturday morning, which is a great way to wake up about a frustrating situation. The #GLOWMob assembled in awesome fashion. Hell, even Charlotte FlairKeke Palmertweeted about it.
Keke Palmer, trying to understand why Naomi couldn't get her 50/50 win next Friday
(And for anyone wondering, Naomi did see it, thanking her GLOW Mob in a tweet after seeing the trending topic on Twitter.)
The obvious questions is, "Now what?" In a year where everything has changed, during a time where everyone is starting to be questioned about unspoken transgressions, stands have been made. Lines haven't necessarily been drawn, but voices are starting to speak out. With two pay-per-views going down this weekend, there are probably a few opportunities for some kind of title switch situation that many could question being because of the time we're living in and not the natural progression of the best in the sport. It's hard to say; the WWE is liable to do anything. They have and could very well ignore #NaomiDeservesBetter on the grounds of not wanting outside influences on their booking. They could give Naomi a run, which could have its own positive and negative benefits, although the loud support from her fanbase would be an awesome thing to see during a real reign of hers. We aren't in their heads; I wouldn't want to be.
Regardless of the outcome, Naomi has always deserved better. She shouldn't have had to have come in as a cheerleader, to then have to rap and dance to make herself stand out. She's one of the most athletic superstars on any WWE roster, and it's been ill seeing people share the video of Naomi going ham during the Royal Rumble, even if people not knowing who Naomi is in 2020 is extremely frustrating for me.
We're here for Naomi, Big Swole, Lio Rush, and anyone who's representing in the world of professional wrestling. As well as the fans, peers, and others who are down for the cause. We do this for y'all. Hopefully, the people who promote professional wrestling could take a look at what their employees and fans are saying and make some decisions about how to better serve an evolving pro wrestling fanbase. Universe? An evolving Universe, Vince. You hear me now? Let's get it. Continue Reading
