On the latest “Hall of Fame” podcast, Booker T was asked if he believes Triple H has a bias against black wrestlers. During the WWE Bad Blood post-show press conference, a reporter raised the issue of the lack of black male representation on WWE shows, particularly on main roster PLEs.
Booker T said, “That’s a great question. There’s people out there that are going to wonder. I don’t think there’s any bias at all. I don’t think it’s looked at that way from Triple H, me personally I don’t, because I’m there. I’m there on a weekly basis. I know what the show needs to actually thrive and get to the next level.”
“Has there been wrestling bias in the wrestling business, in the wrestling company before? Yes, there has. Maybe angles perhaps were touchy. I’ve been a part of them, but do I think it’s race-related or anything like that or someone being belittled on purpose, because I saw a comment that there hadn’t been any black guys on the show in the last three months, you know, on the pay per view. I’m going to say, ‘Okay, what guys are we talking about that should be on the pay-per-view? Are they in any angles to warrant the reason for being on the pay-per-view?’”
“This thing goes in ebbs and flows. One thing about this business, it’s just a fact that there are more white guys than there are black guys and girls. It’s always been that way. I never look at it, should someone just be on the show? I look at whether the talent warrants them being on the show as well as are they in an angle right now. Sometimes you might want to see me, but I might want to be off.”
Brad Gilmore added, “On a pay per view, especially recently, they’re only doing five matches. Jey Uso, one of the most over guys in the company right now, just won the Intercontinental Championship, and he wasn’t even anywhere around Bad Blood.”
Booker continued, “It’s like a Merry-Go-Round. Sometimes you gotta be on. Sometimes you gotta be off. If you are just thinking about it from a black and white perspective, you could get caught up in the weeds of what’s really going on. So to answer your question, no, I do not think Triple H has an ulterior motive to why people aren’t on the show. I think he has a motive for why people are on the show more than anything.”
Gilmore stated, ‘Let me just say this real quick because we spend a lot of time talking about NXT. NXT champion Trick Williams, Oba Femi is the North American champion. Kelani Jordan is the Women’s North American champion. You have the women’s Tag Team Champions which are Bianca and Jade. Roxanne Perez is a woman of color and is the NXT Women’s Champion. I think that every one of those people deserve to be in a position they’re in and I don’t think it has a color thing to do with it. It’s just the right angle.”
Booker T finished with, “I think at the end of the day, the best guys are getting the opportunities.”
You can check out the complete podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
