When I was growing up, it was a ritual for me to get up every Saturday and Sunday morning to watch either WCW or the WWF (now known as WWE). It was one of the few things aside from free time that I had to look forward to on the weekends.
Growing up, my favorite wrestler was Bret “The Hitman” Hart. If you are a wrestling aficionado, we can all identify him as non African-American. But he was one of the top dogs and always had the WWF World Title at one point or another.
As for Black wrestlers, they always seemed to be middle of the tier and never got to the HHH, Shawn Michael, Bret Hart level. I don’t know if it was race or if they didn’t have the necessary personality. I would probably wager on the former.
But all of that seemed to change with The Rock. Many will attribute his lighter skin and different look for his rise to the top of the wrestling world. But many credit his personality and catch-phrases which really endeared him to the public.
Below is a gallery of all the black wrestlers of my youth and those that came before my time.
Click here to view photos:
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