Professional wrestling has grown by leaps and bounds since the "Golden Era" of the classic WWF brand in the 80s and early 90s. Back then, wrestlers of color, such as Jimmy "Super Fly" Snuka, Junkyard Dog, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, and Tito Santana, were visible but far and few between. Unlike their colleagues, such as Hulk Hogan, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, and the Ultimate Warrior, they were primarily viewed as "mid-card" superstars. Furthermore, female competitors like Sensational Sherri and Miss Elizabeth weren't even taken seriously as in-ring performers. Instead, they were viewed as minor attractions and accessories accompanying male superstars such as "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Shawn Michaels to the ring while posing as "managers" who had very few lines of camera.
Today, the WWE (formerly known as the WWF) is a much more inclusive brand with household names from a wide range of ethnic groups, such as Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, The Usos, Sami Zayn, Kofi Kingston, Asuka, Rey Mysterio, and more. The promotion's women's division (aka WWE Divas) has evolved into a roster filled with full-fledged legitimate wrestlers who cut captivating promos and headline main event pay-per-view matches. WWE divas such as Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Rhea Ripley (the current SmackDown Women's Champion), and Bianca Belair (the current RAW Women's Champion) are respected athletes with uniquely iconic finishing moves and critical roles in the brand's weekly storyline on Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown. Nevertheless, the success of the women's division appears to have come at a hefty price, as rumors of behind-the-scenes friction have surfaced this week regarding racial discrimination amongst the WWE executives and a former WWE script writer who happens to be a Black female.
Britney Abrahams recently filed a lawsuit against Vince McMahon and the WWE for retailing against her after she pushed back on a storyline involving Black wrestlers like Bianca Belair (the current Raw Women's Champion) and Apollo Crews that she perceived as racially charged. The ex-writer for Monday Night Raw and SmackDown reportedly objected to a line in the WWE script that called for Bianca Belair to say, “Uh-Uh! Don’t make me take off my earrings and beat your ass!" She also opposed Allow Crews being ordered to use a fake Nigerian accent. From a legal standpoint, Abrahams, who was hired by the WWE back in 2020, was fired by the company for taking home a "Wrestlemania" branded folding chair without permission, but she is claiming that the firing was all a part of a screwjob to terminate her employment because she was too vocal. On Monday, Abrahams filed a lawsuit with the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York City.
Source: Fox59
