Being A Black Wrestling Fan - by WRESTHINGS
AS A GROUP of seven black boys from all different walks of life, the thing that has bounded us together has been our passion as black wrestling fans!
That in turn became our niche and made us the WRESTHINGS podcast you see today. But it’s not always been smooth sailing as a black wrestling fan.
Representation wasn’t something that was an apparent want for us as kids but, for the most part, we did begin to wonder why there was a lack of credible stars with credible gimmicks that looked like us.
From stereotypical pimp and African savage gimmicks, then the detachment of our greatest champ’s ethnicity, it is fair to say we’ve seen our fair share of mistreatment.
And though things are not perfect, we have seen so much change over the years. We are currently in a place where we can speak about having multiple black world champions in the last five years and even having an all black women’s main event!
Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair killed it at WrestleMania and made history.
Credit: WWE
Outside of the ring, it’s interesting to see the landscape of black wrestling fans. Over the past few years, with the massive contributions and growth of black journalists, podcasters and content creators et al, it’s been great to see representation not just in the ring within the business but also outside of the ring.
With the likes of Black Wrestling Alliance, Kickout Podcast, ourselves and then across the pod with names like Jobbers Tears, Public Enemy, Grapsody, Black Announce Table and so many more creating great content for people to watch and listen to.
But does the heavy influx in black fans creating content translate to more black people heading to shows? I don’t think so.
We’ve been to plenty of shows the last four years up and down the south coast/south east and we tend to see that with a lot of the shows the audience is mainly white and shows still don’t have that many black talent.
So imagine a LONDON show with SIX matches with little to no black talent. That means there will be a small chance that a black wrestler is on the poster, meaning black fans like ourselves could see it and feel less inclined to go or even support the company.
Michael Oku has been one of the greatest wrestlers in the country this year. Credit: @Britwrespics
But we have started to see major shifts within companies using black talent as focal points of stories and even world championship matches (Ospreay/Oku and Gresham/Banks).
The likes of Muir, Slater, JPR, Roth, MLD, Johnson, Taonga and many more be booked up and down the country, winning titles and being booked like the amazing stars they should be seen as.
Taonga is one of the rising stars of British wrestling.
Credit: @clickclickbanguk
And with things like this happening it encourages the likes of us to be able to start our ‘Wrestling Event Schemes’, where we invite black non-wrestling fans to events to break stigmas and to show them that black peoples can enjoy this space.
And a final note, in terms of black fans; we would love to give a massive shout out to an important fan to many black wrestlers in the UK. Curtis Bell.
He’s a Black American whose knowledge and love for BritWres supersedes most and the love and adoration he gives us and many more people deserves to be poured back into him.
And thank you Grapple Theory for letting us ramble about being black fans.
Signing out.
By the mandem. FOR the mandem.
*a note from Grapple Theory; Throughout this month we’ve been putting our focus on Black History Month UK and speaking to some of the best wrestlers in the country about their experiences with representation. We also thought it essential to get the point of view of black wrestling fans, those who have experienced British Wrestling and its highs and lows from the crowd.
We want to thank the guys at WRESTHINGS for taking the time to share their views with us and we all hope that representation for black and other ethnic fans and wrestlers, both in the UK and across the world, will continue to grow!