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ROH Star refuses to become Rosebud and New Day gimmick is offensive

10K views 83 replies 68 participants last post by  Dan2501 
#1 ·
Source: Jobbing Out Podcast

ROH star Cedric Alexander appeared on the latest episode of the Jobbing Out podcast with Glenn Clark and Aaron Oster. During the interview, Alexander talked about why he wouldn't appear on WWE programming as a Rosebud. Alexander noted that he knows people who would never do it because of "guys like The New Day."

"This opens up a whole different can of worms here, because everyone I know that watches WWE is offended by The New Day... extremely offended because of the whole racial thing," Alexander said. "It's like, 'oh we're three black guys, we'll sing, we'll dance. You've got Kofi Kingston, who's a phenomenal athlete, Big E Langston is a gigantic, threatening man and Xavier Woods is extremely intelligent. So why make them sing and dance when they obviously can be more... serious, I guess?

"When they first started this thing, it was like two or three weeks that they did it where Xavier would come out and be like a Malcolm X type of thing. He was preaching black power without saying black power, which I think is fantastic because you don't offend anyone. But when you've got three black guys singing and dancing, stereotypes get fed too much and I hate it."

Alexander was asked if there was a bigger problem in pro wrestling regarding African Americans in the business and it was noted that African Americans are rarely involved in big matches at an event like WrestleMania. Alexander said that while the business has gotten better from even 15 years ago, there's still an issue. He said that he loves Caprice Coleman like a brother, but he always thought that he was put in a team with him because ROH simply didn't have a black tag team.

"It's always a weird thing because you've got one black guy and another black guy, let's put them together in a tag team," Alexander said. "If you take a guy like ACH and Rich Swann and compare those two guys who are completely different wrestlers. But if you put them side-by-side, people who are not big indie fans automatically assume that they're a tag team or do the same moves because they're two black guys who happen to be smaller and athletic."

Alexander said that wrestlers probably take stereotypical gimmicks because they're under contract and getting paid "a buttload of money." He noted that the New Day gimmick might be more bearable for the group because they are close friends.

You can listen to the full interview here: http://www.glennclarkradio.com/2015...ic-alexander-joins-episode-six-of-jobbing-out
http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news...mick-for-being-offensive/#.VTFUuiK88do.reddit

Dude has a point though, and i bet Vince is scratching the back of his geriatric demented head why the New Day gimmick is not catching on!
 
#4 ·
I'm a new black and I'm not offended by the New Day at all.

He was fine with Xavier preaching Black power which is a stereotypical gimmick but hates the new day which is a stereotypical gimmick.
Of course. :newblacksoup

Nothing wrong with positive stereotypes. That portrays us in a good light.
 
#16 ·
So, when they book someone to be a Malcolm X stereotype, it's not racist, but singing and dancing is?

Basically, he's saying it's racist because they are booked like idiots? Well, then Vince is racist towards 80% of the roster.
 
#18 ·
It doesnt matter as a black wrestler how good or talented you are in WWE you will either be a thug, rapper, gospel clapping fucker or dancing buffon. Some white people will never understand how oppression and racism feels like im sure they were very shocked when they saw a video of a White police officer shoot an unarmed black man 8 times behind the back like an animal that sort of thing happens daily!

The scary part is if the person did not record that the police officer would of been the victim the point is im sick of seeing steorotypical gimmicks on a black man I dont care what any WWE White Knight say Vince is a racist we will never see a Dark skinned Full blooded Black man as WWE champion if Booker T,Mvp or Mark Henry could not achieve it no one can.
 
#32 ·
Its all about connecting with the audience... Booker T as talented as he was was really a midcard talent who was a big fish in a small pond in WCW. and this is coming from a Booker fan. What about Bobby Lashley? dude got pushed to the moon but didnt have the charisma to back it up
 
#22 · (Edited)
He's right. I'm not even black but it doesn't take a black man or a skinhead to put two and two together. Even going back to the buildup. Their commercial was literally the guys dancing with a black choir singing spirituals and clapping. Big E does his stereotypical black pastor schtick. Their gimmick is/was to "shuck and jive."

"We're happy black guys and we're non threatening."


It's laughably bad. The irony is that the audience is more uncomfortable with the current gimmick than if they'd came out militant and parading as black panthers. That would have at least been entertaining and reminiscent of the NoD. May have even gotten over and cheered with the correct booking.



The crap we see now is just deplorable and will be a black eye on their resumes.
 
#12 ·
Theyre not racist. These guys werent over at all before. Theyve tried with Kofi...they tried so hard. Dudes shit on the mic and his in ring style is that of a mid carder. He doesnt have the edge that someone like Eddie had that could transcend the mid card. Big E...no ones ever given a shit. They cared much more when he was Dolph's black man servant...a much more racist gimmick than 3 empowered black men playing wrestling versions of preachers. Xavier...dont get it...dont get him at all. He kinda is sub par at everything. Maybe theres something Im missing but he just seems like R-Truth if you removed the rapping. They decided to go a much more positive route then a racial tone on a PG show. Why have 3 black dudes running around complaining about black plight when youre pushing the Rock out there all the time and no one digs these dudes anyways
 
#15 ·
Oh please, give me a fucking break. As if this country needs more fuel to feed the race baiting fire that's been aflame the past year and a half.

There is nothing racist about New Day. There have been all white factions in the past, there have been all black ones, there have been mixed race factions. New Day just sucks, that's all there is to it. Do you really think that if New Day was as SUPER OVER as Vince and creative envisioned them to be that this bitter race baiting jobber would feel the same way? I don't.
 
#41 ·
I would like to say that the New Day gimmick was just poor and lazy conceptualization on the part of creative. However, I could totally see the catalyst for this being Vince strolling in during a meeting and saying "We have to find a way to appeal to the black viewers. What kind of stuff do they like?"

There's no malice intended but it really is ignorance at it's finest. And it's not like this is the first time that Vince has used blatant stereotypes as a gimmick. Perhaps if he didn't have a history of basing quite a few non-white gimmicks on ethnic caricatures people would have less of a problem with the New Day.

....:shrug
 
#45 ·
I honestly feel sorry for most blacks in the media and well in general. Whites, Asians and Latinos get stereotypical casting and media judgements etc but most of the time it's not that bad. For blacks it's either Thug, Whiny "feel sorry for me type" or the "cool guy", blacks are treated as a commodity, never as a real person.

For example, any other race can be a nerd, bad guy etc and that's what they are, in the media a black simply cannot be a nerd, they have to be cast as the cool nerd, he's stylish, get's all the girls and is smooth. The last real nerd was Steve Urkle, while some may not see this as bad, it puts on this unrealistic stereotype and pretty much limits blacks and keeps them in this sort of weird blacksploitation type persona. Kind of like how 90% of black women are cast as over the top women. Even when they're given a role of someone educated etc they still have the "Oh no you didn't~" type outbursts at times, nobody else has this happen to them in their roles.

The main problem with this type of casting is that for blacks there is so few roles for them even in video games which doesn't depict them as a stereotype. They're never seen as the hero but the black hero. They can't seem to escape being anything without being labeled as black first. It's kinda sad.
 
#58 ·
It's really reassuring to hear you say this because this is why I have such a gripe with the 'social justice warrior' bullshit label - many people, evidently not like yourself, will take what you said and say "Ignore her, she's just another SJW". Any criticism of flaws in society, any attempt at improving attitudes and fixing problems can and will be be dismissed by one simply label. To be honest I'd started to expect you to be in that role rather than the person saying "yeah, this definitely isn't as it should be".

Blacks do deserve some of the blame, the consider guys like Colin Powell to be sellouts. I listened to a radio show where a young black woman got more shit from blacks than others simply because she spoke like a 40 year old white woman and didn't use slang and didn't like that ebonics even exists. Not saying all blacks are like this but many seem to deem if you act black or not rather then just acting like a normal person. The media does have a huge part in the blame for this because of their type casting and constant reinforcement of the stereotype.
I know exactly what you're meaning to say but this is the worst way to say it. Some of the people who deserve some of the blame are black thus you can technically say "Blacks do deserve some of the blame" but because everyone who is black is being referred to by those words, you're indicting people you don't mean to indict but who absolutely are being indicted when you speak those words. It's for this reason that I never say "conservatives think" or "Roman Reigns fans say" because nobody likes being made accountable for things they didn't say or do.

A lot of the time, this is where conflict comes from - the two sides aren't actually in disagreement but neither realises this because their communication suggests otherwise. It's only because I have a broader context to judge that sentence within that I know what you were meaning so please don't feel that I'm just being pedantic, this is something that will benefit everybody involved.

Oh and if you're wondering why I pick on you and not more outright fucked up users, it's because I don't think there's much use bothering with those people whereas you always feel like you could swing either way on these issues - I may well be wrong there but hey I'm the most literal interpretation of that 'SJW' label in that I fight through communication to make a more just world, I just resent that this has been twisted into a shameful prejorative. Oh and I'm not a warrior, I'm a fucking battlemage.
 
#43 ·
For me it isn't so much offensive because they're booked as stereotypes (although that's a part) but its more because they made out to look like retarded bufoons. For me Vince might as well be saying "Haha look at these black monkeys, aren't they so stupid and entertaining".

If they were booked as Black Panther-esque and preaching Black Power (without stating those words exactly) while still kinda stereotypical, at least it'd be obvious to the audience that they're meant to be taken seriously aren't meant to be mocked and laughed at.
 
#44 ·
New age of politicking in pro wrestling "You're racist so give me the world title". Though , I will agree that the New Day sucks and that they should have been a new nation of domination stable but we've really come to this point where even with how few black wrestlers there are, they should be given the top match at Wrestlemania because....they're black?

Apart from Booker T in the past 15 years, who realistically could have had a match that was a top match at Mania? The guys who get the top matches at Mania should be the best guys on the card regardless of race.
 
#48 · (Edited)
I def think theres something to what he says. I mean theres a ceiling for black guys just like there used to be a ceiling for small guys and just like there still is a ceiling for women. I think it takes someone extremly talented to break through that ceiling and have those people looked at in a different light. For small guys it was Bret and Shawn. Later Eddie and Benoit and finally Punk and Bryan. It doesnt matter these days how small you are because so many guys have showed you can be a top guy despite being small.


Unfortunetly that ceiling hasnt been broken by black people yet. One huge issue is the fact that they all get stereotypical characters 90% of the time. Theyre either thugs, generic atlethes or monsters. I mean has there ever been a black guy with a diverse character like Cm Punk, Stone Cold, Shawn Michaels, etc etc? No. Has there ever been a black guy thats good enough to be a top guy? Absolutly but when you have a ceiling you need a guy that is better then good enough. You need a guy that is so good and so over Vince simply cant deny him. Like Daniel Bryan which they tried but it was impossible due to fans. That guy hasnt come along yet and when he does he will open up the doors for black guys to be looked at in a different light.
 
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#51 ·
Personally I think the gimmick is on to something, they are getting crowd reaction and it looks like they can be solid heel trio if done right. I liked the Nation of Domination, but copying that would be weird, especially in the PG era. People whine about the gimmick being racist, but it'd be a lot worse if these guy's come out talking about how they hate white people, are portrayed as heels, and then someone like Cena beats them lol.

As for the whole "Big E is gigantic"..... yes, he is, and not giving him a gimmick pretty much killed the guy. He got the IC title and literally did nothing with it. Ditto with Kingston. These guy's got no crowd reaction outside of little kids, despite being talented.
 
#74 ·
I'm honestly not offended. I think I'd be more offended if it were white guys because then it would seem like they are trying to make a joke out of black culture (See John Cena) but I think it was headed in a great light then got lost as to what their purpose was so now they are headed to heel territory.

But I question why you hardly hear about Hispanics being offended by the portrayal of them.
 
#8 ·
Originally it started like a gospel gimmick from a African American church, as Big E started preaching out of nowhere in the ring last year:



Than there was a rumor that Woods, Big E and Kofi were to become like a second Nation Of Domination but instead we got these over the top Bo Dallas like gimmicks with New Day, let's hope they still turn into Nation when they turn heel.
 
#17 ·
So, is he gonna turn heel or what?

Because whenever I see Cedric on ROH TV, I couldn't care less. I think a heel turn could do him good, especially if he uses this situation towards his character.
 
#20 ·
Does that indie wrestling moron realize that New Day is actually black? And that they aren't slaves? That they are doing this on purpose? Nobody is being racist. They are being stereotypes on purpose, and it was pretty silly at first, but I kind of like the direction it's heading. I have cracked up at Big E the last few times he's appeared and I see him finally finding a character I can like. His tongue in cheek clapping speeches are hilarious.
 
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