The question tonight/today is why...is race still an issue in the WWE?

Why does Vince dislike Sasha Banks so much? Why does a great wrestler like Alicia Fox have to be in a bull crap love storyline in the crusierweight division? Isn't it ironic that not too long after that picture of New Day, Sasha Banks, and Rich Swann with their titles that the New Day and Sasha dropped their titles? Am I reaching when I say that in 2016, WWE still has a race issue? Why is Bayley rumored to be getting a better run with the Women's Title than Sasha? Allow me to give my opinion. Bayley got that white skin. It protects her. As the great Paul Mooney would say, "The complexion for the protection for the collection." 

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of Bayley. In my opinion should have been called up when Becky, Sasha, and Charlotte got called up. But to not give Sasha a meaningful run with the Raw Women's Championship is a load of cow dung. To say that Sasha is not over with the audience is a load of cow dung. It's well rumored that Vince is not a fan of Sasha. That would explain that Sasha hasn't had much communication with Vince, at least that's what she says. This isn't the first time that Vince has been accused of racism. Remember when Vince said nigga in front of Booker T? Remember that storyline between Booker T and Triple H that had a major racial undertone that Triple H ended up going over in? Complexion for the protection for the collection. 

Why hasn't Naomi even mentioned with the top women superstars on the Smackdown Live roster? Too dark? Naomi is a hell of an athlete, and I believe deserves a shot at the top spot of the women's division. And as I'm typing this hasn't really been on TV in the past couple of weeks. As Hurricane Helms would say, "What's up with that?"

We can do 5 blogs on the fact that there hasn't been a black world champion in so long. I don't count the WWECW title because that was doomed from the start. But Zeke and Mark Henry got short runs with it, and one could look at that as pity runs. When that last time a black man was even the WWE Champion? The Rock is half black so I guess that counts. I'm half black myself, so props to the Rock, but I'm talking like Mark Henry, Ahmed Johnson, R Truth, Booker T. R Truth had a title shot against John Cena. Mark Henry I remember cut his best promo ever with that fake retirement speech, and turned heel against John Cena. In my opinion, the man should have got a title run with that alone. But Super Cena, who got big off of portraying a rapper. Right? So in other words, a wigger can be a champion but not a nigga. Great message WWE.

Ok, The New Day became the longest reigning tag team champs in WWE history only to lose not too soon after. 

Don't get me wrong. I understand it's wrestling. I understand it's all a work. I understand that it's all predetermined. I also understand there's a lot of urban black kids watching the product, who hasn't seen a black world champion in quite some time. I'm old enough to remember when WCW died, and who was the champion when WCW died? Booker T. This is the good old boy, southern territory, WCW having Booker T end it all as the WCW Champion. If WCW got it toward the end, why can't WWE get it now? Again, I ask, am I reaching? What are your thoughts?

~Daniel Richerson

A FEW THOUGHTS ON "THE GUY"...ROMAN

I was watching this video WWE put on on YouTube and it was showing how some of the superstars on the main roster got their start with the company. One of the superstars they showed was Roman Reigns and he was an NXT guy before getting called up. What's the main the reason we have for not wanting our favorite NXT people getting called up? Bad booking. Tyler Breeze, Baron Corbin, Emma, the Ascension, Becky Lynch, and The Vaudevillains are just some of the examples of getting called up from NXT only to get poorly booked. Some exceptions to that include Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Russev, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn.

Roman Reigns, bless his heart, has been poorly booked ever since The Shield broke up. It's not all his fault. I always say when he won that Royal Rumble 2015, He was a product of a poorly booked Royal Rumble. I would venture to say that was probably the worst booked Royal Rumble ever. At no fault of Roman or anybody else that was involved in the actual delivery of the match, maybe except Big Show and Kane, but nevertheless--

Now I will say that it's not all the booking's fault. Roman has to take some blame in this as well. I once heard Triple H, you know the guy you love on NXT but hate on Raw, say, "If you think it's going to work, then go out there an do it." I heard it said that it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Especially when it's live TV. If it's on live TV, why not go out there and go for broke. Shawn Michaels made a living doing that in the early days of the Attitude Era. I think it worked out well for him. Not saying Roman is on Shawn Michaels' level of talent or charisma but something has got to give.

So let me bring up the obvious, his suspension. We in the IWC have been begging for a heel turn for Roman. Perfect time to do that is at Battleground. One thing WCW did right is when Hogan was getting booed, they turned him heel. I think that worked out, at least for the short term. Nwo was one of the greatest factions of all the times and a lot of it I feel had to do with the way it started. Back to Roman, he's already one of the most hated with the crowd. Why not turn him. He's on his way to becoming another Cena, and NOOOOObody wants that. There's a big but here though. Turning Roman heel may be a bit too obvious. May be a bit to logical. Oops. I say oops because logical and WWE booking go together like Trump and, well, anything.

I actually think Roman can work. He's good in the ring as far as having a decent match is concerned, in my opinion. I know a lot of people will disagree with me on that, and? I also think John Cena can wrestle. Gasp! What?

I think Roman needs better booking, and I also think Roman needs to do a better job of taking advantage of being live TV. And Roman needs to get off of what ever got him suspended, that would help also.

~Daniel Richerson

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VINCE WILL LISTEN TO RATINGS

It's been a while since I've expressed my thoughts on the wrestling business. I've been focusing more on my other blog, and when I do share some thoughts I want to express I usually tweet it out. Yet and still--

I see some people are finally getting the point that complaining about Raw via twitter is not changing a thing. Vince said that he listens to the fans in the arena not the fans on twitter. So since he doesn't listen to twitter. Hit Vince where he does listen, his pocket. He may not listen to Twitter, but I guarantee he listens to the ratings. I haven't watched Raw in weeks, cause I got tired of complaining about it, and I got tired of being disappointed week after week. The only wrestling I watch now is my DVDs I got and Ring Of Honor on Saturday nights. Ring Of Honor has always been consistent great wrestling. Much like what NXT is to some people. But the supposedly "main show" has been quite a disappointment. I still keep up with the dirt sheets for results and stuff hoping the show gets better. But as it's turns out, the show is getting worse. I saw via twitter and other social media outlets that Survivor Series was one of the worse ever.

Which is sad to see because Survivor Series is one of the big shows of year for WWE, or should I say used to be. Don't be deceived to think that Vince doesn't know what's going on. Vince has an idea of what's going on. I'm willing to bet Triple H and other people working backstage are in Vince's ear letting him know how bad the product is getting. In the early 90s, it was the Kliq who let Vince know very bluntly on what was wrong with the product. Before he left the business, CM Punk was another one who let the office know. My question is who is the guy or gal in the back that will let Vince know the truth.

It's not like they don't have the talent to put on a good show. It's just poorly booked. I understand that some people are injured and some are taking a break to do other projects, but they still got Ziggler, Kevin Owens, Dudley Boyz, Usos, Dean Ambrose, Alberto Del Rio, Charlotte, Paige, Sasha Banks, Natalya, Paige, and others that can carry the product until the "main stars" come back. In all honestly it looks like the booking has become lazy. WCW and TNA esq if you will. So, if the company wants to present a lazy product, I suggest that we all change the channel.

History does show that Vince listens to the ratings. Some of us are old enough to remember the Monday Night Wars. When Nitro was kicking the crap out of Raw in the ratings, Vince sucked it up and went all out, and the product got better because of it. May be what's missing is competition.

~Daniel Richerson

FOR THE DREAM AND THE HOT ROD

"I've wined and dined with kings and queens - but I've slept in alleys and dined on pork 'n' beans" ~ Dusty Rhodes.

"Just when you think they have the answers, I change the questions" ~ Roddy Piper.

Within less than 2 months we lost two major legends of the wrestling business. I say wrestling because they were wrestling. You think Wrestling, you think Dusty and Piper. Sports Entertainment came later.

Let me blog on Dusty for a second. You gave Dusty a microphone and you would get magic every time. I'm only 28 so my highlights of Dusty is as a commentator on the WCW announce team, and even those memories are good memories. My favorite call he did was during the classic Rey Misterio Jr and Eddie Guerrero match at Halloween Havoc '97 when he said, "What amazing athleticism that was. Know what I mean?" Watching old WCW matches back you can tell they had no governor on them like the WWE commentators do now. Dusty would just say what he wanted and that's what made it enjoyable. The back and forth between Dusty and Bobby was something we'll never get again. 

I studied history on Dusty by watching old promos and matches back and to be as big as he was and to have the quality of matches he had was nothing short of epic. Dusty has been honored by Bubba/Brother/Bully Ray and other wrestlers/superstars as they have added some of Dusty's signatures moves in their own move set.

I got to tell this story. In 7th grade, I had an afro. And these two boys in my Home Ec class started randomly calling me Dusty because of my afro and it reminded them of The American Dream. So from 7th grade until now, people call me Dusty. I added Big in front of Dusty to add something "cool" to it, but it all started in 7th grade. Since Dusty's death I have changed my user name on some social media sites because he was who I got that nick name after and I figured why keep it since it was his.

Last thoughts on Dusty is that he was the wrestling business. Prior to his death, he was helping out down in NXT. If I'm not mistaken the Wyatt Family was Dusty's brain child. And we see how big they got and still are. Dusty was a genius, and his stamp will always be on the business for years to come.

From one icon to another. The Hot Rod. The Commissioner. Rowdy Roddy Piper. Another brilliant talker. Who could make you hate him so much that you love him. Again being 28 I  really became a big fan of Roddy when he worked in WCW in the later years. I used to love when he came out and talked on the mic. For some reason I knew I was going to hear something epic. Kinda the same feeling I get now when Paul Heyman picks up a microphone. I put Roddy at number 2 on my greatest talkers list, with Dusty at number 1 of course.

I heard stories of what Roddy would do in California in his feud against the Guerrero's. Hearing Roddy tell stories was something magical. Hopefully the podcasts he recorded will stay up online for years to come. My favorite podcast he put out was the one he recorded with Chavo Guerrero Jr because of the stories what were told. How stuff ended with Piper and Podcast one was stupid to me, but I don't know the details.

Listening to Piper through his podcasts though, you could hear what a nice guy his was. His laugh was infectious.

When Roddy came back to do special editions of Piper's Pit it was always must see television for me. I just hated the fact that they tried to script Piper. You can't put a script on genius. But never the less, it was still good TV.

Both deaths completely shocked me. Didn't see either one of them coming at all. Especially Roddy. He was active on Twitter more than you would think a guy his age would be. I knew Dusty was losing weight, but I don't think anybody saw his death coming. Both men put a mark on the business that can't be erased. Both men will be missed. Who better to study how to do a promo than Dusty and Roddy?

Gone too soon.

Daniel Richerson fka Big Dusty

My Review of WWE.com 50 Greatest WCW stars

So I just read WWE.com's 50 Greatest WCW Stars list. For the most part, I agree with the list. I mean no doubt in my mind, Sting is the number one greatest performer in WCW history. Never left the company, stayed from beginning to end. Nevermind the fact that WCW ruined a chance to have a classic series of matches between him and Bret Hart, but that's neither here nor there.

Look, I know he did what he did. I don't condone what he did. Killing yourself, wife, and son? It was beyond wrong what he did. But...if we were completely honest with ourselves, the fact that Chris Benoit, yes I said Chris Benoit, is not on this list, and Dennis Rodman is doesn't make any sense to me. It's laughable. Dennis Rodman is a sexually confused crazy guy that came to WCW for a cup of coffee and some danishes, and all of the sudden he's one of the 50 greatest in WCW? Wrong!! Where's Psychosis? La Parka? Heck put Disco Inferno on the list. Denis Rodman? I give, the man was a great rebounder in the NBA, but that has nothing to do with World Championship Wrestling. Give me a break...

Back to Chris Benoit. The man had some classic matches in WCW. The main one that comes to mind is the tribute match he had with Bret Hart for Owen. He was one of many people that was so poorly used in WCW. I remember Larry Zbyszko many times calling Benoit, "A Wrestling Machine." Again, I'm  not condoning what he did, but talking strickly WCW, he deserves to be on this list. Case closed.

Bobby Eaton I think was underrated. Probably one of the most underrated in history. I saw Bobby Eaton as one of those performers that was gifted but didn't have that it factor that would make him memorable. I have the upmost respect for Bobby though. Glad to see he made the list.

Brian Pillman making the list did my heart good. Somebody in WWE please put the guy in the Hall of Fame already! What's the problem here? Eddie Guerrero died of basically the same thing Brian Pillman did, right? And when did Eddie get in the HOF? I rest my case. Don't give me that, "What did Brian Pillman do?" What? What?!?! How about one of the true innovators of what is now known as "Attitude." Before there was Stone Cold, there was Brian Pillman. Before there were "pipe bombs" there were "loose cannons." Pillman was a gift onthe mic as well in the ring. If it wasn't for a Hummer accident, no telling where he would've gone in his career. All I'm saying is, he's a Hall of Famer in my opinion.

Again, for the most part, I liked the list WWE.com put together. Here's hoping that Sting at least makes an appearance on WWE television before he gets in the Hall of Fame. Going out in a small destruction of a company where starts are quitting like TNA, is not an ideal way to go out, in my opinion.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty
Follow me on Twitter @Big_Dusty
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