• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Some Thoughts On Michael Hayes' Suspension

Posted: Apr 28th 2008 By: CMBurnham

Been out of town the past couple of days, and came back to read the news online about Michael Hayes' suspension.

Thought I'd offer some thoughts on the situation.

There's an old joke in the wrestling business that wrestlers don't see people as black or white, that the only color that matters in wrestling is green, as in money.

And I believe that to be true. Like any other form of entertainment, the color of a wrestler's skin or his heritage is not a roadblock but an opportunity -- a wild card for helping to tell a story or for expanding your product to a new audience.

I don't believe that the wrestling business is racist; in fact, unlike most other businesses, it actually has a long history of creating characters of ALL races and ethnicities for a simple and logical reason: to build its audience. In that respect, wrestling is ahead of a multitude of other industries in race relations.

So while I don't think wrestling is racist, I do believe that the wrestling business does often prey on stereotypes of racial and ethnic groups to elicit a reaction from the crowd. They're almost a part of the fabric of the business; heck, as I'm writing this post, I'm watching the 2008 Royal Rumble on WWE 24-7, and I just heard Jerry Lawler casually refer to Santino Marella as "Spaghetti Breath."

Is that racist? Maybe. But watch Saturday Night Live or Comedy Central or HBO and Fox and find me a TV show that doesn't do the same damn thing.

It used to be in wrestling that promoters made sure they had a wrestler of every nationality and background for every demographic group. That's why a guy named Terry Bollea was redubbed Hulk Hogan for an Irish audience (thanks to all who corrected me on this), or why a guy named Joe Scarpa was renamed Chief Jay Strongbow for a Native American audience.

Yes, wrestling has a history of pushing race buttons to get a reaction from the crowd. That's one of the core definitions of "cheap heat." It's the reason why the Mexicools ride lawnmowers, why Virgil was Ted DiBiase's servant, why Eddie Guerrero rode a lowrider. It's even why Billy and Chuck were so ambiguously gay, and why Eugene was our mentally challenged hero.

We as fans look at these characters and decide if we want to boo or cheer. And while Vince and his team might try to persuade us one way or another, WE ultimately make that decision.

Do these broad stereotypes of the races play a part in the creative process? Of course they do. I remember a creative session during the period when the Unamericans were flailing. One person suggested we add a stereotypical Arab character to lead that group -- years before Muhammad Hassan, and less than a year after 9/11. This was one idea I fought til the end -- the old expression in creative was "Fight if you want to fight, but ask yourself -- is this a hill you're willing to die on?" And fighting against introducing an Arab character 10 months after 9/11 was a hill I was willing to die on.

There was another time that I heard someone on WWE's production end use a racial slur to explain their vision for a certain wrestler's character. Did it shock me? Yes, of course. But I didn't look at the person as a racist. They knew that a stereotypical portrayal of the word he'd used would generate heat from the crowd, and that's all he was trying to express. Simple as that. That's just how the creative process works sometimes.

That's the entertainment business. That's just how it works. Was it shocking to me to hear characters discussed in that way? Sure. But you know what? It's not unlike ANY other form of entertainment. Not that it makes it right, but in many ways, it's not unlike any other storytelling device.

Do I believe Michael Hayes is a racist? No, I don't. Sure, he's a good old boy from the Deep South, and yes, he used to wear a Confederate flag to get heat, but that was his wrestling character. Michael's from the south and he's proud of that. Hell, Michael's a guy who was working with Junkyard Dog and other black superstars in the deep south almost three decades ago.

He's also the head booker for SmackDown, a perpetual top-five show in the black and Latino markets, and a show where they often push minority characters to reach out to that audience -- Rey Mysterio, Booker T, etc.

So here's my take on things, knowing what little I know of the situation: Michael made a comment that was completely disrespectful and inappropriate. Michael was wrong to make the comment. Mark Henry was right to speak up about something that made him uncomfortable. The office was right to suspend Michael for 60 days.

But to pretend that Michael Hayes is the problem is ludicrous. What about all those fans who boo when Billy and Chuck would do their thing? Or those people who'd cheer Eddie Guerrero's lowrider? Heck, I'm not going to lie to you -- I was a huge fan of when Funaki did his "SmackDown Number One Announcer" bit -- politically incorrect as it might have been. If portraying people in certain ways didn't draw money or intrigue the fans, they wouldn't be doing it.

The gut reaction by many is to look at Michael Hayes, to judge him, to draw conclusions based on his actions. And yes, his actions were wrong. But perhaps it's we the fans -- the ones who boo and cheer for certain racial, ethnic and social behaviors in this morality play we call pro wrestling -- who also need to take a look at ourselves

Tags: Michael Hayes, Jerry Lawler, Jay Strongbow, Ted DiBiase, Junkyard Dog, WWE