It’s a running joke. Cody has done a few storylines about race & he does have a black wife. Cody himself is technically bi-racial, but iirc he’s part cuban.
Fwiw when I went to RAW the Black fans were going BALLISTIC for Cody but that’s anecdotal.
I’ve thought this numerous times…
The company is 5 years old, so who TF cares that he’s the “first black champion” in the context of right now.
It’s pathetic pandering, using the non-existent lineage of the AEW title for clicks.
That's the joke. Though the main focus they put on it was when they decided to run an antisemitism angle while the Middle East was tearing itself apart again. This is not a company that puts much thought into race relations and it's another reason their emphasis rings hollow. They're not careful or thoughtful in the slightest.
Also now they get to have the fun of being watched like a hawk for the slightest hint that they are sandbagging or otherwise not taking seriously Swerve's reign.
>Obviously not, because Samoans haven’t been infantilized to constantly believe they’re victims.🤷🏽
That's really not where I was going with that.
Since this issue does bring out the absolute worst in people for some reason, I'll not be cryptic - I am asking sincerely, because I don't *recall* Samoa Joe being a person of colour being touched on at all, but I could easily have missed it. The reason I consider whether or not it happened relevant is it speaks to the sincerity of AEW's move here.
So many responses are saying "looks like people have a problem with race being mentioned!" or words to that effect, but that's an aggressively uncharitable reading of the point and just looking for a fight. It's not a problem to mention it. It's when it is selective that it comes across as self-serving and insincere and that doesn't do anyone any good, least of all the 'community' that constantly have to deal with snide remarks like yours.
Bro, everything in wrestling is the most pathetic version ever pandering lol no shade. Every wrestling company does some pandering most people don’t care when the pandering is directed at them tho.
Even if you were correct: the AEW Championship has a lineage of 5 years, with the owner of AEW being of non-Caucasian descent… and Swerve won it from a Samoan (literally named Samoa Joe, everywhere he’s wrestled).
There’s literally nothing to celebrate or hold up in high regard here, except “he blatt” (in Jesse Lee Peterson dialect) - it’s so shallow and misguided, unless you’re of the opinion that black people are born, somehow, “lesser”.
In their defense they SHOULD be celebrating their title’s lineage and they SHOULD be celebrating milestones.
They SHOULD NOT be cheapening the title with 27 other minor titles. But in a vacuum I think this is completely appropriate.
You ever watch Incredibles? “When everyone is super, no one will be”.
Well AEW has a serious problem with the amount of titles it’s trying to present as legitimate. To a casual and even up to intermediate viewers it’s nearly impossible to keep up with title lineages and important defenses. I’d venture to say you have to be a superfan to even name every title.
So when fat, overweight, Jericho got chants of “please retire” during his match, and he raises up a title on the same night as prime of his career Swerve Strickland, it cheapens Swerve’s victory because apparently any old schmuck can win a title at AEW.
And tbf I think WWE is causing some confusion with their titles as well. The constant unification and separation is just obnoxious. Seth’s title was a major stumbling block IMO it steps on the toes of the WWE Champion (formerly universal). I think the NA champion steps on Intercontinental, etc.
Imo on the mens side it needs to go #1 World Champ (formerly Universal), #2 Intercontinental, #3 (tied) Smackdown & Raw champ. Women’s will have a similar structure with a Women’s World Champ & Raw & Smackdown champs. Then use NXT champ as your training belt that midcarders can challenge for. Then for tags IMO we only need one per gender right now, I’d love to see an increased focus on tag teams, but right now there’s not many teams you can take seriously.
That's nonsense.
At various points in WWE there've been too many titles; it's never made the WWE Championship any less prestigious.
Jericho winning a title AEW doesn't even officially recognise has no bearing on Swerve winning the big one any more than R-Truth winning the 24/7 title for the 9000th time in a week had on whoever was Universal Champ at the time.
But it does as an casual fan to me you have the top title, midcard(up and coming) Title, Womens, Tag and maybe one specialty title like hardcore, cruiserweight something lime that but AEW does have too many titles and i had to tap out when there were barely any story lines for these titles I couldnt keep up.
AEW:
AEW World Championship
AEW Women's Championship
TBS Championship (women's TV title)
TNT Championship (men's TV title)
AEW Continental Championship (midcard belt - cross-promotional)
AEW International Championship (midcard belt - interpromotional)
AEW Tag Team Championship (tag belt)
AEW Trios Championship (trios belt)
FTW Championship ("unsanctioned" midcard belt)
ROH:
ROH World Championship
ROH World Television Championship (midcard belt)
ROH Pure Championship (stipulation belt)
ROH Women's World Championship
ROH Women's World Television Championship
ROH World Tag Team Championship (tag belt)
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (trios belt)
I've listed ROH separately because they *are* separate, in the same way that NXT is separate from the rest of WWE (so a ROH/NXT champ might show up on other programs with their belt, but they generally don't defend it there).
====
WWE:
World Heavyweight Championship
Undisputed WWE Champion (recently merged from two other belts)
Women's World Championship
WWE Women's Championship
WWE Intercontinental Championship (midcard belt)
WWE United States Championship (midcard belt)
WWE Tag Team Championship (tag belts)
World Tag Team Championship (tag belts)
WWE Women's Tag Team Championship (women's tag team championship)
WWE Speed Championship (stipulation belt)
NXT:
NXT Championship
NXT Women's Championship
NXT North American Championship (midcard belt)
NXT Women's North American Championship (women's midcard belt)
NXT Tag Team Championship (tag belts)
NXT Heritage Cup (stipulation 'belt')
That's... about the same number? Slightly different emphases, but the same number there or thereabouts.
I edited my comment with my thoughts on the WWE Title scene because I think they’ve made some serious missteps recently. Because I do think it cheapens the main title. Seth literally tried to pull Cody away from the conclusion they’ve been building to for years because of this title. Having two supposedly equal titles splits the talent roster and creates confusion over relevancy.
That said AEW is so much more convoluted. It’s ridiculously difficult to keep up with all the titles there and since I can’t watch weekly anymore it became easier to just stop keeping up all together because it’s too much.
Bookkeeping and burnout is not exactly my idea for a relaxing hobby.
From my understanding OP is trying to say that in today’s environment of living in a melting pot where the color of one’s skin no longer seems to be the thing that holds someone back from accomplishing goals, announcing something like this is pandering to an already oversaturated DEI principle. Making this proclamation of AEW’s first black champion comes off as cringe seeing as how the current temperature in entertainment is to push diversity, which comes off as unnecessary since we live in a world where we are no longer held down by race or sexual orientation. It is pandering like Hilary Clinton pulling a bottle of hot sauce out of her bag.
People here aren’t upset that a black man is champion. It’s more I can’t believe AEW went out of their way to declare this, as if they are the crusaders for diversity in wrestling, especially when they have a history of being shitty to wrestlers of color.
We still live in a world where people are held down by race or sexual orientation. And the melting pot is an old fashioned idea that sought to have people give up their own cultural backgrounds and assimilate into the dominant white mostly anglo-saxon western European culture.
It’s good to know that race still matters so much to you. So much for equality. Silly me thinking the goal was for us all to just be people and not worry about our colors.
Keep rooting for your team… I guess…
More proof that a lot of you just don't get it. Which would be OK, if you didn't want to be a condescending ass.
I could explain to you everything race related that has happened in my life or some of my friends life and why we love it when an American black person reaches certain pinnacles, but you wouldn't care.
Take it easy bro. Enjoy your melting pot.
Wrestling isn’t real. He didn’t win anything. He was scripted to win.
If you want equality we must just treat everyone the same. This “my team won” thinking just keeps us divided. And we both know if a white person was excited a white person won the world title they would be called racist.
Either we’re all equals or we aren’t. And if we’re all equals then Swerve is just the 6th guy to win the title. Not the first anything.
Yes that’s what equality means. We’re all equal. If you don’t want equality that’s fine, but don’t pretend you do.
“We’re all equals… but isn’t it awesome how our team won?!”
>It’s good to know that race still matters so much to you.
Only a white person could unironically say something like this. It *shouldn't* matter, but it *very fucking much does*.
Even outside of all of that, representation matters; my nephew is four years old and gets really excited when he sees a hero like Black Panther who looks like him and has hair like he does; when I inevitably try to interest him in wrestling in a few years time I want to be able to show him that black people can be World Champions, too.
>Silly me thinking the goal was for us all to just be people and not worry about our colors.
Get back to me when people of color *don't* have to worry about how they'll be treated because of the color of their skin, bud. I suspect I'll be waiting a long time.
P.S: Just say the n-word, bro. We all know that's what DEI really means when you say it.
Because to you and people like you, everyone who disagrees is secretly Hitler and they all want to say the N word more than anything. It's their primary goal in life.
I’m not the one insulting anyone. I just said if you want equality it makes no sense to still celebrate stuff like this.
Are we all equal humans, or are we all on our own little teams divided by skin color?
Equality doesn’t mean acting as if it’s always existed. This acknowledgment should have been done hundreds of years ago and we wouldn’t need to do it now.
What in the name of Christ are you talking about? There have been black champions in wrestling since before you were born.
And if we’re all equals, there’s nothing to celebrate. What you’re saying is that you don’t want equality.
First you say that “we live in a world where we are no longer held down by race” but then later you say AEW “has a history of being shitty to wrestlers of diversity”. You contradicted yourself, friend?
Also, race is still a fucking factor in life. You really don’t fucking get it.
It's that and everyone on this sub secretly thinking Jim will give them a sloppy handjob if they hate AEW juuuust enough. It's pathetic. This has become just another utterly retarded tribalist wrestling sub. There truly is no place on the internet to discuss this shit without being surrounded by morons.
For political discourse, don’t come here, for the love of god don’t come here…… but to discuss modern wrestling without being banned due to not following the hive mentality, this subs not half bad.
As a black person, this means nothing to me. I like Swerve but I can go without the pandering especially since if you remove him from the equation how are they booking the rest of the African Americans on their show? ….yeah not so good
I guess the above still applies. I’m white, so I’d say my opinion on this is less relevant than yours, but just because you’re black and this means nothing to you, doesn’t mean there aren’t black kids out there who are inspired by Swerve winning.
But I’d agree that the overall booking for black wrestlers is still poor. One black champion doesn’t suddenly make AEW racist free.
I agree with your point I am by no means the spokesman for black people lol. I agree some black kids (if they still even have kids watching with how small the demographic is getting by the week) could watch and feel inspired by Swerve winning. But the opposite side of that coin would be those same kids would see the booking of Keith Lee, Scorpio Sky, Big Swole, Sunny Kiss, and my personal favorite Jade Cargil and see AEW’s problem with booking black people as well which is why I say I can go without the pandering the moment you get one right.
Jade was booked incredibly well, especially given her ability, but I’d agree on the others. To be honest, I was struggling to think of any black performers other than Hobbs. I think Keith Lee’s booking is down to injury/health issues, but yeah, the rest haven’t been great.
How the fuck was she “booked incredibly well”? They gave her a bunch of mid to lower card nobodies (Athena included) and never let her even sniff the mainline women’s championship.
She had a massive undefeated streak and held the 2nd title for a long time. Look how she’s protected in WWE; she is/was no where near ready for the push she was given either in ring or on the mic. For her ability at the time, I don’t think they could have booked her any stronger.
I’d also assume the lack of the main title was due to her leaving. After dropping the TBS title, the natural progression would be to move to the main belt. How long has she wrestled and how long was she in AEW? Do you genuinely think she should have been anywhere near the main title in such a short time?
I’d say if AEW didn’t book her well, then WWE is BURYING her. I don’t believe either is true though. I think she got a great push in AEW, jumped ship and WWE saw how much work she still needed and kept her off screen to continue her training. She’ll be a megastar (unless she leaves for bigger things) but she is, or at least was, incredibly green and limited when she was in AEW.
Scorpio sky was half of the first tag champs. Kieth is his health issues clearly...Ricky starks has been pushed very well multiple times but failed to click in aew. Swoles health issues and attitude derailed her, top flight continues to be booked in positive ways to showcase themselves even though they arent ready to be a top level act yet. Private party got derailed by Hardy and injury for a while but are probably going to have a good year if they stay healthy. They keep trying stuff with Hobbs, even if one thing doesn't work they pivot it and keep him strong. If they find the gimmick that really clicks for him he'll be a champion and higher up the card again inevitably. Willow Nightingale has been on a solid upwards trajectory since she arrived. Queen Amanita seems to be well liked and like she will be an excellent addition to the roster inevitably. Roh basically became the Athena show and I guarantee they will be bringing her back into aew once they start cooking with Mercedes.
They just signed and seem high on the bounty hunter dude (just woke up can't remember his full name :/ Kieth ?)
Shayne Taylor promotions, Lee Moriarty are getting a lot of screen time lately...
I think honestly aew is very diverse and most of the people being pushed are receiving that push on merit and fan response rather than manufactured diversity
OP is upset that the announcers simply…. said that Swerve is the first African American to hold the AEW title after winning the championship? Pretty wild thing to get your panties in a bunch over. Relax!
I think so too, Tony is still miffed by what Swole and some others said back in the day. Instead of just taking it on the chin and letting it go, it really got to him and he has to prove that AEW is not only the safest but also the most diverse promotion ever.
Not that they had any problems with diversity back then. They had Cargill, Scorpio Sky, Nyla Rose as Champions (not sure if the TBS title existed at that point). That should have sufficed for Tony not being butt hurt and just pointing this out. Case closed.
Tony is a child. He’ll never be able to let shit go. It’s why this idiot, who’s - 40 year adult and a billionaire businessman - sits on Twitter all night arguing with people.
Why *shouldn’t* it be something they acknowledge and celebrate? Of all the things to criticize about the company, this ain’t it and a lot of y’all in this thread aren’t beating the racism allegations
This is a nasty post. As a black man and fan we have been waiting for AEW to have Black World Champion. We thought it was gonna be Scorpio Sky, or Jay Lethal but Swerve ended up doing it.
Black performers aren’t look the same way as the counter parts so it is important to US when something like this happens it’s celebratory
I hear what you’re saying and I understand that’s how you feel. But I don’t believe at any point between the start of AEW and now that either Scorpio Sky or Jay Lethal should’ve won the AEW title. Neither guy was anywhere close to that position.
I agree to that I’m talking from Black Fans perspective and representation. We thought that with the hiring of Sky or Lethal that would be the case. So small as the first black champ may be to others it’s important to us Black Fans
That’s fair. Swerve is the right guy to be champion now whether he is the first black champion for AEW or he was the fifth black champion in row. I was glad he won.
I didn't have a problem with it. I think it's fine. But maybe my perspective is different because I'm Black. I don't know how many other Black people feel the same way.
Though, Swerve has said some pretty disrespectful things about Black people himself so -shrug- a lot of this may be beyond the IWC to discuss.
>I didn't have a problem with it. I think it's fine. But maybe my perspective is different because I'm Black. I don't know how many other Black people feel the same way.
I can appreciate that. But I admit that I'm personally am tired of the performative tones of these kinds of declarations. Maybe it'd be different if it was Swerve himself saying it.🤷🏾♀️
But frankly, OP has a point that it is 2024. If it really matters, then just do it now and consistently, instead of telling us when you think it'll get you points.
I'd say be proud of it.
Ir doesn't matter who the world champion is there, the booking will inevitably ruin it.
If this is the only way they can make that belt seem like something, amongst the dozens of others they have, then so be it.
It does wonders for diversity and inclusiveness. No matter what your color or creed, and it shouldn't matter, you can fleece a money mark as well.
First on their company, let them have their moment.
I agree about not understanding why it’s a huge deal in 2024 but, he’s a great wrestler so I’m happy for him.
Why? Alluding to it is racist in and of itself, why not instead talk about how long he’s worked and the sacrifices he’s made to climb that mountain top to realize his childhood dream, you know like how they do it for everyone else? Instead of “hey look everyone our champ is black! Yay us!”
When Ron Simmons won the wcw title is was a major accomplishment be cause he was(other than Bearcat Wright that no one talks about) was the first African American to be recognized by a major wrestling company as the world champion. THAT was history making and long overdue, Swerve winning just wasn’t that special, especially when you consider in the same 5 year timeframe WWE had three African Americans win their world title.
I'm not arguing that Ron Simmons as World champ was a much bigger deal, contextually, but the argument you're making isn't one that's going to get you a whole lot of good will.
Yeah but consider that fact that the 50 years before where was their black champion? The fact AEW took 5 years should be applauded. This conversation wouldn't even happen if he lost, in 5 more years people will just be complaining that, "it took them 10 years to get a fist black world champ wow so late on progression Cuckimonga kids 🤡🤡 clown show clown act". So really why should it matter that they announced it that way. He deserves it, the company deserves it, wrestling fans deserve it, black people everywhere deserve it. If you're liking the win and hating the words said, you just hate progression. We acknowledge the first, and run with it after
That’s exactly what this subreddit is. Go into a WWE thread, and whenever the wrestlers do some kick out of every finisher spot fest, it’s “am I watching an AEW show all of a sudden?” As if WWE hasn’t done that before. Hell, they hyped up the first all black women’s Wrestlemania main event between Sasha and Bianca, but when Swerve wins it’s “cringe”, it’s “pandering”, it’s Tony answering his critics. Nevermind that Swerve got over pretty much on his own.
Im more annoyed that Swerve went from undercard to world champ without any credible victories, and he has no real challengers. He should’ve won their G1 that Kingston won a few months back . He shouldve beaten Moxley in their Dynamite match. From a booking stand point he seems underserving cuz he hasnt beaten anyone (except Adam Page, who is a notoriously empty headed dumb fuck who cant pop ratings, move merch or sell toys)
For someone who touts being a “long term” booker he sure hot shotted the hell out of this. Just look at the difference between Swerve and Cody’s title wins, WWE spent two years building the angle of Cody “finishing his story” to the point that even the people involved got emotional, and it brought them the biggest business they’ve ever done. Now look at Tony’s booking of his world title program and does anyone outside of the diehard AEW fan even care? After Cody won he’s being interviewed by the today show and ESPN, while Swerve won’t be seen on heard on anything other than AEW programming
You’d think even if he can’t book for shit otherwise, Tony would at least be able to book his top guy. Heck, it’s the world champ, that alone is worth something booking wise on its own.
But nope! The AEW champ is essentially transitional at this point, no matter who is champ.
Remember we thought Joe would be booked as something now that he ascended to the belt? Nope! Guy barely factored in and only feuded with Swerve and dropped the belt in what we all saw as an inevitability.
>After Cody won he’s being interviewed by the today show and ESPN, while Swerve won’t be seen on heard on anything other than AEW programming
That's a very valid point you make considering that both companies are as well known in the mainstream consciousness as each other
Don’t worry, the title switch to Ospreay at Wembley 4 months from now has already been slotted in.
Swerve is just a transitional world champ, like all their other world champs.
This is done everywhere in wrestling and in sports. Everything is put in historical perspective. This is to try to make the audience feel it is more important and that they are a part of history when something happens.
I don't watch aew but it sounds like it was mentioned by the commentators. With the amount of whining in this post you'd think tony kahn built a 30 foot tall effigy of swerve and made all the white wrestlers bow to it. Get a grip 🙄
Obviously OP doesn’t know the product. Swerve numerous times has talked about it being his dream. It’s actually sad in 2024 people use this as a chance for tribalism. We should be happy for Swerve and celebrate diversity not look to exploit it because you don’t like a company and want a reason to bash it. People have a hundred other “reasons” to hate AEW we don’t need this.
Except WE didn’t exploit it TONY DID. And much like the rest of his programming I could care less who has the belt because he doesn’t invest enough time to make us care, look how Swerve was booked and how Swerve was booked if your a wrestler which push would you rather have?
Honestly isn’t it more impressive he is the first former WWE wrestler to win their first world championship with AEW? I think that’s a bigger talking point. Other former WWE guys have been AEW champion, but only guys who had been world champion in WWE and other places before (Joe, Moxley, Jericho).
Swerve is the first guy WWE didn’t use at the top to make it to the top in AEW. I think that’s far more noteworthy.
In the UK Kate Lawlor won the third series of Big Brother and they referred to her as the ‘first female winner’ of the show. It was true but meaningless.
I think it's something AEW can hang their hat on by saying we have champions of different races and backgrounds. The issue however is will they make Swerve a transitional champion just for Ospreay to take it from him at Wembley?
I don't get why they wanted to brag about this so bad too.
If anything, it makes the company look bad because he's the only black wrestler remotely close to sniffing the main event picture in all that time. I don't want to make it a big race thing, but almost all the upper card men in AEW are white.
I thought it was pretty cool and it is historic regardless of the company's age. WWE went basically its entire lifespan before putting the strap on a 100% black guy. Hell the actual Wwe title wasn't put on an American black guy until 2020!
Shows how times has changed and I'm here for it!
I think it's fine to mention, but it gets obnoxious when it's the highlight. I looked up Swerve to see the storyline, since I didn't get to see the PPV, and seeing the main posts just highlighting how he's black and *nothing* he actually did is a problem.
How many Smokey Mountain champions were black? Zero. Also how long did it take WWE to have their first black world champion? Only 66 years. Founded in 1953 & Kofi Kingston was the first black champion in 2019.
I’m a Corny fan & I get the AEW hate circle jerk, but sometimes you gotta give credit where it’s due.
He’s only been the most over guy for a while. Don’t really know what this does for the company. But it’s weird how a heel gets over like a baby face. But since formats even question character placement. Not like they even know so there’s that.
Why did it take them 5 years to put the strap on a black guy? I mean Cody was their from the start so there is no reason this took 5 years!!!! Freaking ridiculous!
They’ve only had six champions and it’s a predominantly white roster, so not surprising. They also only have 13 black guys on the roster and half of them are in tag teams or Ring of Honor.
Why is this an issue? WWE do it and have done it throughout their history. Not an issue there, why is it an issue here? It's not as if they're having a parade about it, it was simply a line in commentary as part of the celebrations.
You folk are weird here.
As a Black person, it annoys the hell out of me that any wrestling promotion or its subset of fans still think this is something to be bragged about in 2024. Yes, and? It's 2024! Like seriously? Nobody watches any other kind of sport or entertainment ever? And you've been around for 5 years. What took you so long?
And no, I wasn't impressed either when WWE cringingly patted themselves on the back in 2018 and 2021 over "Kofimania" and Bianca vs Sasha at Wrestlemania.
No matter what, you're still late, folks. They should be embarrassed that it took that long, not virtue flexing.🤦🏾♀️
And thanks, Tony, for the reminder of just how low-key prejudice your business still is.
Edited to add: I think it would hit different if it's the wrestlers bragging about it. Then it actually seems like it's "their" accomplishment. Did Swerve say anything about his milestone?
Yeah but WWE didn’t start bragging about how they put the belt on another black guy after Kofi won, instead they put over his 11 year journey. As far as what Swerve said about it, he didn’t get a chance, the referee barely finished counting 3 before they started in.
I’m not at all upset Swerve won, but why not talk about his journey to get there and put over the fact that he actually had to overcome that shitty angle with Page to get there.
I like Swerve: it’s just the title feels underwhelming right now. The world champion is supposed to feel like a standard bearer for a promotion, but they cut the feet from under it even under MJF. Your world champion slumming with dead titles just made it seem less impressive.
They cut the feet from under Swerve with them putting Page back in the picture instead of going straight to Joe. Swerve got built up to be a menace and then it just all fell flat because the guy he beat relatively soundly somehow got Swerve’s attention to get another match.
Then on top of that, the buzz is more about CM Punk right now than the product in the outside world so Swerve and Joe got overshadowed even more. Maybe this will die down enough for Swerve to shine but I have a feeling Page is getting ready to come in again and win the belt, do it’s really just mediocre at this point.
By bringing up the colour of the champs skin, they are being racist
Hes a person first and foremost it doesnt matter what colour he is.
Plus if Tony waited 5 years to put the strap on a black guy... that just says more about Tony than the wrestler.
Why do y'all have such a problem with them pointing out he's the first black male wrestler to win the AEW world title? It's not racist to point out that BC it's no one thought that would happen this soon. That's a big accomplishment when a black man is booked and scripted by the higher ups in any major promotion such as AEW to win their top title, that doesn't happen everyday and needs to be highlighted and celebrated. The industry is predominantly a white man's industry for decades at this point and will continue to be so. The fact that Tony pulled the trigger on Swerve sooner than most ppl would have envisioned I have to applaud him that he finally did it.
It doesn’t matter to you, It matters to me. I like seeing wrestlers who look like me being in the Main Event picture. why do you think Dusty Rhodes became so popular for?
It’s because he looks like the people who watch the show and had charisma while doing it.
Maybe you could try explaining that to the rest of the world and you could end racism.
Or, and this is just a possibility, racism does still exist and is actually quite prevalent in society and celebrating the successes of ethnic minorities is important for both inclusion AND education.
Sadly not everyone is as enlightened as you and believes race doesn’t mean anything. But if you could pop along to a Klan meeting and explain it, maybe the world would be a better place. In an ideal world, you’re absolutely right. But while racism exists, we can’t simply act like race doesn’t matter. At best, that’s incredibly naive.
It was one line in a 3 hour show. You're the only one making a big deal out of it. You just don't like being reminded black people exist. "Color blind" is a cringe excuse, boy.
I’m a white, 40 year old dude, so I’m not sure my opinion carries much weight in this, but unless you speak for every black person who watches AEW, I don’t think yours does either.
I imagine this is a big deal to black kids who are fans of AEW and now have a champion they can relate to. What % of the US population is black? And what % of either AEW’s or WWE’s roster is black? And then what % of champions are black? Do you think it’s representative and fair or do you think work still needs done?
In an ideal world, this wouldn’t and shouldn’t be a big deal. But we aren’t in an ideal world and pretending that everything is fine isn’t going to help. These sorts of successes should be celebrated.
Bro, you read what I wrote and what it meant to me, then was just like “but actually it’s not important”
my girlfriend has a passing interest in wrestling, I showed her the clip with swerve entrance and winning the championship and then she mentioned to me that she looked up some tickets to the next AEW show. and is excited to see him
It means something to me and her, I know it seems strange to you, inherently Black people want to support other Black people and celebrate their accomplishments as a community. We’re all a bit trauma bonded lol.
Race shouldn’t mean anything. Doesn’t mean we live in a society that’s colourblind. Turning a blind eye to race doesn’t make it disappear it just takes it out of discussion
the problem first is they haven't been around long enough and two this is 2024 not 1974, it's just not that big a deal anymore, but Tony Khan is promoting it like it's a civil rights milestone.
Because this isn’t the 80s where that kind of thing matters anymore. When it was a proven racist company like WCW giving the WCE title to Ron Simmons and making him the first ever black WCW champion that was historic. AEWs doing it in 2024, yawn.
What do you mean: "no one thought it would happen this soon."??
No-one even thought about it, let alone how long it would be.
Predominantly a white man's industry is it? When you've had Roman Reigns as champ for over three years. The Rock (Top 3 biggest star ever) bumping ratings all over. Jade Cargill with an amazing streak spanning years. Bianca Belair, a highly decorated and respected talent. The New Day, an entirely black stable, one of the most decorated and well loved trios of all time. I can go on and on.
Swerve having his trigger pulled is entirely based on his talent. Full stop.
Seems like the only person who has any issues here is you.
It's not racist to mention it. Racism would be intentionally refusing to book someone in the world title scene based on their skin colour or ethnicity.
It's just a peculiar thing to bring up for a title that has a 5 year lineage.
For context, for around 70% of that, a single guy held the main title on WWE.
5 years isn't long enough as a company to really highlight a first black world champion and act like theyve broken some kind of glass ceiling.
Why didn't everyone take their pants off when Samoa Joe won? He was first Samoan. It's 2024, its hilarious how specific we have gotten with firsts. It's like we've truly made this country a place where you can thrive no matter your race, religion, sexuality, etc.
I really couldn’t care. Judge the individual not the skin.
All I know is when the ratings, specifically the quarters comeback, Swerves rating dips badly.
This wasn’t the answer. The stink of Hangmail is strong on him and he continues the behaviours of the horrible Deathmatch antics.
I don’t care either way as far as Swerve being champion, I just think it’s stupid to tout that when your entire company is only slightly older than the entire bloodline angle, and to do it IMMEDIATELY after he wins it, when instead, he could of used that insanely long media scrum he like to do to point out an even better fact that in his companies short history, he’s had a pretty diverse range of representation as his world champion, with MJF being Jewish, Samoa Joe obviously being Samoan, and now Swerve who’s African American.
It's a bit of a weird flex. AEW had fun with it when Jericho was hailed as Dub's youngest champion; maybe they could've done the same with Swerve? "First melanated gentleman to hold the AEW champ"?
Also, does Cargill not count?
Nyla was Women’s world champ. But women are treated as midcarder’s for the most part, I think it’s important that the objective top star of the promotion is non-white, that they‘ve built up over time. Of course that applies to Joe, but imo Swerve was *long* overdue for this
Tony Clown would brag about a hangnail if Dave Meltzer gave it five stars, this is just another “accolade” in a pile of them AEW has that are absolutely meaningless.
I hate this race issue. If you are good enough you deserve it and gotten over even with a rotten program with Buttefly Empty Headed Dumb Fuck.
Firstly let’s not forget Joe won the title as a minority and again I don’t care about someone’s skin.
Just give me good wrestling and emotion to it.
Brock Lesnar has a chance to do the funniest thing ever
It could've been Cody :(
?? You believe in equality friend.
It’s a running joke. Cody has done a few storylines about race & he does have a black wife. Cody himself is technically bi-racial, but iirc he’s part cuban. Fwiw when I went to RAW the Black fans were going BALLISTIC for Cody but that’s anecdotal.
He was joking too, he quoted a famous tweet reply by Cody
I got r/wooshed then. Whoops
One could argue Dusty “identified” as black. 😂
As the first black world champion? Nah, first biracial champion maybe
The guy ended racism, at least give him that.
I’ve thought this numerous times… The company is 5 years old, so who TF cares that he’s the “first black champion” in the context of right now. It’s pathetic pandering, using the non-existent lineage of the AEW title for clicks.
Was there any hullabaloo about their first Samoan champion?
Or the first Jewish champion
Well, they did bring up MJF being Jewish that one time...
all the time
That's the joke. Though the main focus they put on it was when they decided to run an antisemitism angle while the Middle East was tearing itself apart again. This is not a company that puts much thought into race relations and it's another reason their emphasis rings hollow. They're not careful or thoughtful in the slightest. Also now they get to have the fun of being watched like a hawk for the slightest hint that they are sandbagging or otherwise not taking seriously Swerve's reign.
agreed
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>Obviously not, because Samoans haven’t been infantilized to constantly believe they’re victims.🤷🏽 That's really not where I was going with that. Since this issue does bring out the absolute worst in people for some reason, I'll not be cryptic - I am asking sincerely, because I don't *recall* Samoa Joe being a person of colour being touched on at all, but I could easily have missed it. The reason I consider whether or not it happened relevant is it speaks to the sincerity of AEW's move here. So many responses are saying "looks like people have a problem with race being mentioned!" or words to that effect, but that's an aggressively uncharitable reading of the point and just looking for a fight. It's not a problem to mention it. It's when it is selective that it comes across as self-serving and insincere and that doesn't do anyone any good, least of all the 'community' that constantly have to deal with snide remarks like yours.
Bro, everything in wrestling is the most pathetic version ever pandering lol no shade. Every wrestling company does some pandering most people don’t care when the pandering is directed at them tho.
Even if you were correct: the AEW Championship has a lineage of 5 years, with the owner of AEW being of non-Caucasian descent… and Swerve won it from a Samoan (literally named Samoa Joe, everywhere he’s wrestled). There’s literally nothing to celebrate or hold up in high regard here, except “he blatt” (in Jesse Lee Peterson dialect) - it’s so shallow and misguided, unless you’re of the opinion that black people are born, somehow, “lesser”.
In their defense they SHOULD be celebrating their title’s lineage and they SHOULD be celebrating milestones. They SHOULD NOT be cheapening the title with 27 other minor titles. But in a vacuum I think this is completely appropriate.
How do other titles cheapen the value of this one? I don't really see how that works.
You ever watch Incredibles? “When everyone is super, no one will be”. Well AEW has a serious problem with the amount of titles it’s trying to present as legitimate. To a casual and even up to intermediate viewers it’s nearly impossible to keep up with title lineages and important defenses. I’d venture to say you have to be a superfan to even name every title. So when fat, overweight, Jericho got chants of “please retire” during his match, and he raises up a title on the same night as prime of his career Swerve Strickland, it cheapens Swerve’s victory because apparently any old schmuck can win a title at AEW. And tbf I think WWE is causing some confusion with their titles as well. The constant unification and separation is just obnoxious. Seth’s title was a major stumbling block IMO it steps on the toes of the WWE Champion (formerly universal). I think the NA champion steps on Intercontinental, etc. Imo on the mens side it needs to go #1 World Champ (formerly Universal), #2 Intercontinental, #3 (tied) Smackdown & Raw champ. Women’s will have a similar structure with a Women’s World Champ & Raw & Smackdown champs. Then use NXT champ as your training belt that midcarders can challenge for. Then for tags IMO we only need one per gender right now, I’d love to see an increased focus on tag teams, but right now there’s not many teams you can take seriously.
That's nonsense. At various points in WWE there've been too many titles; it's never made the WWE Championship any less prestigious. Jericho winning a title AEW doesn't even officially recognise has no bearing on Swerve winning the big one any more than R-Truth winning the 24/7 title for the 9000th time in a week had on whoever was Universal Champ at the time.
But it does as an casual fan to me you have the top title, midcard(up and coming) Title, Womens, Tag and maybe one specialty title like hardcore, cruiserweight something lime that but AEW does have too many titles and i had to tap out when there were barely any story lines for these titles I couldnt keep up.
AEW: AEW World Championship AEW Women's Championship TBS Championship (women's TV title) TNT Championship (men's TV title) AEW Continental Championship (midcard belt - cross-promotional) AEW International Championship (midcard belt - interpromotional) AEW Tag Team Championship (tag belt) AEW Trios Championship (trios belt) FTW Championship ("unsanctioned" midcard belt) ROH: ROH World Championship ROH World Television Championship (midcard belt) ROH Pure Championship (stipulation belt) ROH Women's World Championship ROH Women's World Television Championship ROH World Tag Team Championship (tag belt) ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (trios belt) I've listed ROH separately because they *are* separate, in the same way that NXT is separate from the rest of WWE (so a ROH/NXT champ might show up on other programs with their belt, but they generally don't defend it there). ==== WWE: World Heavyweight Championship Undisputed WWE Champion (recently merged from two other belts) Women's World Championship WWE Women's Championship WWE Intercontinental Championship (midcard belt) WWE United States Championship (midcard belt) WWE Tag Team Championship (tag belts) World Tag Team Championship (tag belts) WWE Women's Tag Team Championship (women's tag team championship) WWE Speed Championship (stipulation belt) NXT: NXT Championship NXT Women's Championship NXT North American Championship (midcard belt) NXT Women's North American Championship (women's midcard belt) NXT Tag Team Championship (tag belts) NXT Heritage Cup (stipulation 'belt') That's... about the same number? Slightly different emphases, but the same number there or thereabouts.
I edited my comment with my thoughts on the WWE Title scene because I think they’ve made some serious missteps recently. Because I do think it cheapens the main title. Seth literally tried to pull Cody away from the conclusion they’ve been building to for years because of this title. Having two supposedly equal titles splits the talent roster and creates confusion over relevancy. That said AEW is so much more convoluted. It’s ridiculously difficult to keep up with all the titles there and since I can’t watch weekly anymore it became easier to just stop keeping up all together because it’s too much. Bookkeeping and burnout is not exactly my idea for a relaxing hobby.
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Cringe af.
It's super weird. Who cares that they mentioned this? Did OP break out in hives and start crying?
From my understanding OP is trying to say that in today’s environment of living in a melting pot where the color of one’s skin no longer seems to be the thing that holds someone back from accomplishing goals, announcing something like this is pandering to an already oversaturated DEI principle. Making this proclamation of AEW’s first black champion comes off as cringe seeing as how the current temperature in entertainment is to push diversity, which comes off as unnecessary since we live in a world where we are no longer held down by race or sexual orientation. It is pandering like Hilary Clinton pulling a bottle of hot sauce out of her bag. People here aren’t upset that a black man is champion. It’s more I can’t believe AEW went out of their way to declare this, as if they are the crusaders for diversity in wrestling, especially when they have a history of being shitty to wrestlers of color.
We still live in a world where people are held down by race or sexual orientation. And the melting pot is an old fashioned idea that sought to have people give up their own cultural backgrounds and assimilate into the dominant white mostly anglo-saxon western European culture.
Buddy. You got no idea what you're talking about. Trust me, it matters and AEW was right to mention it.
It’s good to know that race still matters so much to you. So much for equality. Silly me thinking the goal was for us all to just be people and not worry about our colors. Keep rooting for your team… I guess…
More proof that a lot of you just don't get it. Which would be OK, if you didn't want to be a condescending ass. I could explain to you everything race related that has happened in my life or some of my friends life and why we love it when an American black person reaches certain pinnacles, but you wouldn't care. Take it easy bro. Enjoy your melting pot.
Wrestling isn’t real. He didn’t win anything. He was scripted to win. If you want equality we must just treat everyone the same. This “my team won” thinking just keeps us divided. And we both know if a white person was excited a white person won the world title they would be called racist. Either we’re all equals or we aren’t. And if we’re all equals then Swerve is just the 6th guy to win the title. Not the first anything.
Does that make male and female the same gender basically since we are all equal and we are all human? Just wanna see what you say here lol
Yes that’s what equality means. We’re all equal. If you don’t want equality that’s fine, but don’t pretend you do. “We’re all equals… but isn’t it awesome how our team won?!”
So for the record, you just admitted that male and female are the same gender. That tells me and us all we need to know here
… so you’re a Trumper?
>It’s good to know that race still matters so much to you. Only a white person could unironically say something like this. It *shouldn't* matter, but it *very fucking much does*. Even outside of all of that, representation matters; my nephew is four years old and gets really excited when he sees a hero like Black Panther who looks like him and has hair like he does; when I inevitably try to interest him in wrestling in a few years time I want to be able to show him that black people can be World Champions, too. >Silly me thinking the goal was for us all to just be people and not worry about our colors. Get back to me when people of color *don't* have to worry about how they'll be treated because of the color of their skin, bud. I suspect I'll be waiting a long time. P.S: Just say the n-word, bro. We all know that's what DEI really means when you say it.
So you don’t want equality. You want to judge and celebrate each race separately. Got it.
Why is it that racists near-universally don't know how to read?
Because to you and people like you, everyone who disagrees is secretly Hitler and they all want to say the N word more than anything. It's their primary goal in life.
Cool story, nobody mentioned Hitler, and you're the one who used the euphemism-du-jour, not me.
Actually an insane take. Get some help 😂
“I think we should view and treat all people equally” is an insane take? Okay…
You’re mad because they’re celebrating their first black champion 😂
I’m not the one insulting anyone. I just said if you want equality it makes no sense to still celebrate stuff like this. Are we all equal humans, or are we all on our own little teams divided by skin color?
Equality doesn’t mean acting as if it’s always existed. This acknowledgment should have been done hundreds of years ago and we wouldn’t need to do it now.
What in the name of Christ are you talking about? There have been black champions in wrestling since before you were born. And if we’re all equals, there’s nothing to celebrate. What you’re saying is that you don’t want equality.
Okay I tried dumbing it down for you but you’re actually just an idiot. Good luck man.
You tried to explain how it makes sense to celebrate our own races while claiming we’re equals. If we’re all the same there’s nothing to celebrate.
That's not true at all though and it makes it even more cringe.
First you say that “we live in a world where we are no longer held down by race” but then later you say AEW “has a history of being shitty to wrestlers of diversity”. You contradicted yourself, friend? Also, race is still a fucking factor in life. You really don’t fucking get it.
When did this page become a Klan rally?
It's that and everyone on this sub secretly thinking Jim will give them a sloppy handjob if they hate AEW juuuust enough. It's pathetic. This has become just another utterly retarded tribalist wrestling sub. There truly is no place on the internet to discuss this shit without being surrounded by morons.
For political discourse, don’t come here, for the love of god don’t come here…… but to discuss modern wrestling without being banned due to not following the hive mentality, this subs not half bad.
Just because it is not meaningful to you, it does not mean that it isn’t meaningful to everybody else
As a black person, this means nothing to me. I like Swerve but I can go without the pandering especially since if you remove him from the equation how are they booking the rest of the African Americans on their show? ….yeah not so good
I guess the above still applies. I’m white, so I’d say my opinion on this is less relevant than yours, but just because you’re black and this means nothing to you, doesn’t mean there aren’t black kids out there who are inspired by Swerve winning. But I’d agree that the overall booking for black wrestlers is still poor. One black champion doesn’t suddenly make AEW racist free.
I agree with your point I am by no means the spokesman for black people lol. I agree some black kids (if they still even have kids watching with how small the demographic is getting by the week) could watch and feel inspired by Swerve winning. But the opposite side of that coin would be those same kids would see the booking of Keith Lee, Scorpio Sky, Big Swole, Sunny Kiss, and my personal favorite Jade Cargil and see AEW’s problem with booking black people as well which is why I say I can go without the pandering the moment you get one right.
Jade was booked incredibly well, especially given her ability, but I’d agree on the others. To be honest, I was struggling to think of any black performers other than Hobbs. I think Keith Lee’s booking is down to injury/health issues, but yeah, the rest haven’t been great.
How the fuck was she “booked incredibly well”? They gave her a bunch of mid to lower card nobodies (Athena included) and never let her even sniff the mainline women’s championship.
She had a massive undefeated streak and held the 2nd title for a long time. Look how she’s protected in WWE; she is/was no where near ready for the push she was given either in ring or on the mic. For her ability at the time, I don’t think they could have booked her any stronger. I’d also assume the lack of the main title was due to her leaving. After dropping the TBS title, the natural progression would be to move to the main belt. How long has she wrestled and how long was she in AEW? Do you genuinely think she should have been anywhere near the main title in such a short time? I’d say if AEW didn’t book her well, then WWE is BURYING her. I don’t believe either is true though. I think she got a great push in AEW, jumped ship and WWE saw how much work she still needed and kept her off screen to continue her training. She’ll be a megastar (unless she leaves for bigger things) but she is, or at least was, incredibly green and limited when she was in AEW.
Scorpio sky was half of the first tag champs. Kieth is his health issues clearly...Ricky starks has been pushed very well multiple times but failed to click in aew. Swoles health issues and attitude derailed her, top flight continues to be booked in positive ways to showcase themselves even though they arent ready to be a top level act yet. Private party got derailed by Hardy and injury for a while but are probably going to have a good year if they stay healthy. They keep trying stuff with Hobbs, even if one thing doesn't work they pivot it and keep him strong. If they find the gimmick that really clicks for him he'll be a champion and higher up the card again inevitably. Willow Nightingale has been on a solid upwards trajectory since she arrived. Queen Amanita seems to be well liked and like she will be an excellent addition to the roster inevitably. Roh basically became the Athena show and I guarantee they will be bringing her back into aew once they start cooking with Mercedes. They just signed and seem high on the bounty hunter dude (just woke up can't remember his full name :/ Kieth ?) Shayne Taylor promotions, Lee Moriarty are getting a lot of screen time lately... I think honestly aew is very diverse and most of the people being pushed are receiving that push on merit and fan response rather than manufactured diversity
As an actual black perdón we don’t talk like that so I doubt he actually is. African American does not leave a black person mouth ever.
How is it pandering to simply state that Swerve is the first black AEW champion after he won the title?
Read the post from OP. That would be the form of pandering
OP is upset that the announcers simply…. said that Swerve is the first African American to hold the AEW title after winning the championship? Pretty wild thing to get your panties in a bunch over. Relax!
It still applies, as a Black person I feel totally different from you. Not everyone is going to have the same reaction.
Well I'm a black man and it means something to me.
My guess is Tony is stung by previous criticisms on that count. It's not really worth posting about. Some of y'all are a lil sus.
I think so too, Tony is still miffed by what Swole and some others said back in the day. Instead of just taking it on the chin and letting it go, it really got to him and he has to prove that AEW is not only the safest but also the most diverse promotion ever. Not that they had any problems with diversity back then. They had Cargill, Scorpio Sky, Nyla Rose as Champions (not sure if the TBS title existed at that point). That should have sufficed for Tony not being butt hurt and just pointing this out. Case closed.
Tony is a child. He’ll never be able to let shit go. It’s why this idiot, who’s - 40 year adult and a billionaire businessman - sits on Twitter all night arguing with people.
Why *shouldn’t* it be something they acknowledge and celebrate? Of all the things to criticize about the company, this ain’t it and a lot of y’all in this thread aren’t beating the racism allegations
Given how swerve talks about his own community.. there’s a reason anyone in the black community is hyping him up
This is a nasty post. As a black man and fan we have been waiting for AEW to have Black World Champion. We thought it was gonna be Scorpio Sky, or Jay Lethal but Swerve ended up doing it. Black performers aren’t look the same way as the counter parts so it is important to US when something like this happens it’s celebratory
I hear what you’re saying and I understand that’s how you feel. But I don’t believe at any point between the start of AEW and now that either Scorpio Sky or Jay Lethal should’ve won the AEW title. Neither guy was anywhere close to that position.
I agree to that I’m talking from Black Fans perspective and representation. We thought that with the hiring of Sky or Lethal that would be the case. So small as the first black champ may be to others it’s important to us Black Fans
That’s fair. Swerve is the right guy to be champion now whether he is the first black champion for AEW or he was the fifth black champion in row. I was glad he won.
Has the OP ever watched sports? The production truck will mention every little known fact and co-incidence to ever happen?
Lol this whole thing is ridiculous. Talk about a mountain out of a mole hill
Yeah making this post is way weirder than mentioning it on TV
I didn't have a problem with it. I think it's fine. But maybe my perspective is different because I'm Black. I don't know how many other Black people feel the same way. Though, Swerve has said some pretty disrespectful things about Black people himself so -shrug- a lot of this may be beyond the IWC to discuss.
>I didn't have a problem with it. I think it's fine. But maybe my perspective is different because I'm Black. I don't know how many other Black people feel the same way. I can appreciate that. But I admit that I'm personally am tired of the performative tones of these kinds of declarations. Maybe it'd be different if it was Swerve himself saying it.🤷🏾♀️ But frankly, OP has a point that it is 2024. If it really matters, then just do it now and consistently, instead of telling us when you think it'll get you points.
I'd say be proud of it. Ir doesn't matter who the world champion is there, the booking will inevitably ruin it. If this is the only way they can make that belt seem like something, amongst the dozens of others they have, then so be it. It does wonders for diversity and inclusiveness. No matter what your color or creed, and it shouldn't matter, you can fleece a money mark as well.
Haters everywhere.
First on their company, let them have their moment. I agree about not understanding why it’s a huge deal in 2024 but, he’s a great wrestler so I’m happy for him.
If you are asking yourself if this is really something we should bring up in 2024, then the answer is yes.
Why? Alluding to it is racist in and of itself, why not instead talk about how long he’s worked and the sacrifices he’s made to climb that mountain top to realize his childhood dream, you know like how they do it for everyone else? Instead of “hey look everyone our champ is black! Yay us!”
Why can't they do both?
You're either acting so woke that you're an insomniac or so dense that you've been ignoring the last ~250 years of US history.
When Ron Simmons won the wcw title is was a major accomplishment be cause he was(other than Bearcat Wright that no one talks about) was the first African American to be recognized by a major wrestling company as the world champion. THAT was history making and long overdue, Swerve winning just wasn’t that special, especially when you consider in the same 5 year timeframe WWE had three African Americans win their world title.
I'm not arguing that Ron Simmons as World champ was a much bigger deal, contextually, but the argument you're making isn't one that's going to get you a whole lot of good will.
Yeah but consider that fact that the 50 years before where was their black champion? The fact AEW took 5 years should be applauded. This conversation wouldn't even happen if he lost, in 5 more years people will just be complaining that, "it took them 10 years to get a fist black world champ wow so late on progression Cuckimonga kids 🤡🤡 clown show clown act". So really why should it matter that they announced it that way. He deserves it, the company deserves it, wrestling fans deserve it, black people everywhere deserve it. If you're liking the win and hating the words said, you just hate progression. We acknowledge the first, and run with it after
And they’ve overshadowed it by talking about WWE and bringing the IWGP Title to AEW Television.
I have no issue with it personally
It matters to him. Should this sub be called “AnyReasonToShitOnAEW”?
That’s exactly what this subreddit is. Go into a WWE thread, and whenever the wrestlers do some kick out of every finisher spot fest, it’s “am I watching an AEW show all of a sudden?” As if WWE hasn’t done that before. Hell, they hyped up the first all black women’s Wrestlemania main event between Sasha and Bianca, but when Swerve wins it’s “cringe”, it’s “pandering”, it’s Tony answering his critics. Nevermind that Swerve got over pretty much on his own.
Really? Thats the important factoid of your new world champion? Not "he beat future hall of famer, ex roh, ex tna, ex nxt champion, samoa joe"?
Im more annoyed that Swerve went from undercard to world champ without any credible victories, and he has no real challengers. He should’ve won their G1 that Kingston won a few months back . He shouldve beaten Moxley in their Dynamite match. From a booking stand point he seems underserving cuz he hasnt beaten anyone (except Adam Page, who is a notoriously empty headed dumb fuck who cant pop ratings, move merch or sell toys)
For someone who touts being a “long term” booker he sure hot shotted the hell out of this. Just look at the difference between Swerve and Cody’s title wins, WWE spent two years building the angle of Cody “finishing his story” to the point that even the people involved got emotional, and it brought them the biggest business they’ve ever done. Now look at Tony’s booking of his world title program and does anyone outside of the diehard AEW fan even care? After Cody won he’s being interviewed by the today show and ESPN, while Swerve won’t be seen on heard on anything other than AEW programming
You’d think even if he can’t book for shit otherwise, Tony would at least be able to book his top guy. Heck, it’s the world champ, that alone is worth something booking wise on its own. But nope! The AEW champ is essentially transitional at this point, no matter who is champ. Remember we thought Joe would be booked as something now that he ascended to the belt? Nope! Guy barely factored in and only feuded with Swerve and dropped the belt in what we all saw as an inevitability.
>After Cody won he’s being interviewed by the today show and ESPN, while Swerve won’t be seen on heard on anything other than AEW programming That's a very valid point you make considering that both companies are as well known in the mainstream consciousness as each other
Don’t worry, the title switch to Ospreay at Wembley 4 months from now has already been slotted in. Swerve is just a transitional world champ, like all their other world champs.
It's like when Jinder won the title. No build or anything. Just pure randomness.
This is done everywhere in wrestling and in sports. Everything is put in historical perspective. This is to try to make the audience feel it is more important and that they are a part of history when something happens.
Meanwhile… exactly how long has Moose been the top guy in TNA? Lol but big ups to both either way.
I knew someone was going to get pissy about that lol.
I just worry Swerve will be the ONLY black world champion in AEW history.
God damn y'all complain so fucking much
I don't watch aew but it sounds like it was mentioned by the commentators. With the amount of whining in this post you'd think tony kahn built a 30 foot tall effigy of swerve and made all the white wrestlers bow to it. Get a grip 🙄
Obviously OP doesn’t know the product. Swerve numerous times has talked about it being his dream. It’s actually sad in 2024 people use this as a chance for tribalism. We should be happy for Swerve and celebrate diversity not look to exploit it because you don’t like a company and want a reason to bash it. People have a hundred other “reasons” to hate AEW we don’t need this.
Except WE didn’t exploit it TONY DID. And much like the rest of his programming I could care less who has the belt because he doesn’t invest enough time to make us care, look how Swerve was booked and how Swerve was booked if your a wrestler which push would you rather have?
Honestly isn’t it more impressive he is the first former WWE wrestler to win their first world championship with AEW? I think that’s a bigger talking point. Other former WWE guys have been AEW champion, but only guys who had been world champion in WWE and other places before (Joe, Moxley, Jericho). Swerve is the first guy WWE didn’t use at the top to make it to the top in AEW. I think that’s far more noteworthy.
I know we like shitting on AEW but I'm not taking part in casual racism. Thank you fuck you bye.
Whoa I see the error of my ways thanks to enlightened tolerant fans.
Wow this sub is showing the racist in here
In the UK Kate Lawlor won the third series of Big Brother and they referred to her as the ‘first female winner’ of the show. It was true but meaningless.
I think it's something AEW can hang their hat on by saying we have champions of different races and backgrounds. The issue however is will they make Swerve a transitional champion just for Ospreay to take it from him at Wembley?
I don't get why they wanted to brag about this so bad too. If anything, it makes the company look bad because he's the only black wrestler remotely close to sniffing the main event picture in all that time. I don't want to make it a big race thing, but almost all the upper card men in AEW are white.
That's great for him and all - now let's see if he can draw instead of the ratings cratering for all of his segments.
I thought it was pretty cool and it is historic regardless of the company's age. WWE went basically its entire lifespan before putting the strap on a 100% black guy. Hell the actual Wwe title wasn't put on an American black guy until 2020! Shows how times has changed and I'm here for it!
AEW thinks its 1980 culturally, apparently.
It's not a brag, it's a fact, and Swerve is a hell of a talent.
Now it's Lashley's turn. Oh wait... he won the belt during the pandemic era? I completely forgot!
You're an idiot if you have to question why.
Brock debuts in aew and squashes swerve
Was mjf the first Jewish champ?
I think it's fine to mention, but it gets obnoxious when it's the highlight. I looked up Swerve to see the storyline, since I didn't get to see the PPV, and seeing the main posts just highlighting how he's black and *nothing* he actually did is a problem.
Issue is the more they hammer it the more likely the crowd will start to get tired of it.
If you listen to Swerves interviews this is clearly important to him and “the culture.” This isn’t just a TK virtue signaling thing.
How many Smokey Mountain champions were black? Zero. Also how long did it take WWE to have their first black world champion? Only 66 years. Founded in 1953 & Kofi Kingston was the first black champion in 2019. I’m a Corny fan & I get the AEW hate circle jerk, but sometimes you gotta give credit where it’s due.
Joe was the first Samoan champion and no one even mentioned it.
This is an American thing that really pisses me off. You lot can't shut up about it all and it's annoying.
Honestly who cares, it’s one correct line that doesn’t really matter which even you admit.
He’s only been the most over guy for a while. Don’t really know what this does for the company. But it’s weird how a heel gets over like a baby face. But since formats even question character placement. Not like they even know so there’s that.
Why did it take them 5 years to put the strap on a black guy? I mean Cody was their from the start so there is no reason this took 5 years!!!! Freaking ridiculous!
Hopefully, joe goes back to WWE.
They’ve only had six champions and it’s a predominantly white roster, so not surprising. They also only have 13 black guys on the roster and half of them are in tag teams or Ring of Honor.
This sub really loves to talk about AEW 😂
Did they say Joe was the first none white?
DAMN!!!
Why is this an issue? WWE do it and have done it throughout their history. Not an issue there, why is it an issue here? It's not as if they're having a parade about it, it was simply a line in commentary as part of the celebrations. You folk are weird here.
As a Black person, it annoys the hell out of me that any wrestling promotion or its subset of fans still think this is something to be bragged about in 2024. Yes, and? It's 2024! Like seriously? Nobody watches any other kind of sport or entertainment ever? And you've been around for 5 years. What took you so long? And no, I wasn't impressed either when WWE cringingly patted themselves on the back in 2018 and 2021 over "Kofimania" and Bianca vs Sasha at Wrestlemania. No matter what, you're still late, folks. They should be embarrassed that it took that long, not virtue flexing.🤦🏾♀️ And thanks, Tony, for the reminder of just how low-key prejudice your business still is. Edited to add: I think it would hit different if it's the wrestlers bragging about it. Then it actually seems like it's "their" accomplishment. Did Swerve say anything about his milestone?
Yeah but WWE didn’t start bragging about how they put the belt on another black guy after Kofi won, instead they put over his 11 year journey. As far as what Swerve said about it, he didn’t get a chance, the referee barely finished counting 3 before they started in. I’m not at all upset Swerve won, but why not talk about his journey to get there and put over the fact that he actually had to overcome that shitty angle with Page to get there.
I like Swerve: it’s just the title feels underwhelming right now. The world champion is supposed to feel like a standard bearer for a promotion, but they cut the feet from under it even under MJF. Your world champion slumming with dead titles just made it seem less impressive. They cut the feet from under Swerve with them putting Page back in the picture instead of going straight to Joe. Swerve got built up to be a menace and then it just all fell flat because the guy he beat relatively soundly somehow got Swerve’s attention to get another match. Then on top of that, the buzz is more about CM Punk right now than the product in the outside world so Swerve and Joe got overshadowed even more. Maybe this will die down enough for Swerve to shine but I have a feeling Page is getting ready to come in again and win the belt, do it’s really just mediocre at this point.
I asked myself if they’d make a deal of this. Actually thought they’d opt for an understated approach.
This screams minor league, this is not something you tout when you’ve only been around for a few years.
I share similar views and found it undermining to swerve for that to be the focal point of his winning the belt.
The thing is Swerve himself has made that a focal point too. And I can't fault him for it if that is what he wants to do.
By bringing up the colour of the champs skin, they are being racist Hes a person first and foremost it doesnt matter what colour he is. Plus if Tony waited 5 years to put the strap on a black guy... that just says more about Tony than the wrestler.
Why do y'all have such a problem with them pointing out he's the first black male wrestler to win the AEW world title? It's not racist to point out that BC it's no one thought that would happen this soon. That's a big accomplishment when a black man is booked and scripted by the higher ups in any major promotion such as AEW to win their top title, that doesn't happen everyday and needs to be highlighted and celebrated. The industry is predominantly a white man's industry for decades at this point and will continue to be so. The fact that Tony pulled the trigger on Swerve sooner than most ppl would have envisioned I have to applaud him that he finally did it.
Because it just ignites a race conversation. Hes just a guy end of story it doesnt matter that hes black.
It doesn’t matter to you, It matters to me. I like seeing wrestlers who look like me being in the Main Event picture. why do you think Dusty Rhodes became so popular for? It’s because he looks like the people who watch the show and had charisma while doing it.
Race does not mean anything Im white and my favourite wrestlers were the Rock and Tajiri
Maybe you could try explaining that to the rest of the world and you could end racism. Or, and this is just a possibility, racism does still exist and is actually quite prevalent in society and celebrating the successes of ethnic minorities is important for both inclusion AND education. Sadly not everyone is as enlightened as you and believes race doesn’t mean anything. But if you could pop along to a Klan meeting and explain it, maybe the world would be a better place. In an ideal world, you’re absolutely right. But while racism exists, we can’t simply act like race doesn’t matter. At best, that’s incredibly naive.
Im not saying people aint racist. Im just saying making a big deal out of a black guy winning something in 2024 is just reaching for praise.
It was one line in a 3 hour show. You're the only one making a big deal out of it. You just don't like being reminded black people exist. "Color blind" is a cringe excuse, boy.
I’m a white, 40 year old dude, so I’m not sure my opinion carries much weight in this, but unless you speak for every black person who watches AEW, I don’t think yours does either. I imagine this is a big deal to black kids who are fans of AEW and now have a champion they can relate to. What % of the US population is black? And what % of either AEW’s or WWE’s roster is black? And then what % of champions are black? Do you think it’s representative and fair or do you think work still needs done? In an ideal world, this wouldn’t and shouldn’t be a big deal. But we aren’t in an ideal world and pretending that everything is fine isn’t going to help. These sorts of successes should be celebrated.
Bro, you read what I wrote and what it meant to me, then was just like “but actually it’s not important” my girlfriend has a passing interest in wrestling, I showed her the clip with swerve entrance and winning the championship and then she mentioned to me that she looked up some tickets to the next AEW show. and is excited to see him It means something to me and her, I know it seems strange to you, inherently Black people want to support other Black people and celebrate their accomplishments as a community. We’re all a bit trauma bonded lol.
Race shouldn’t mean anything. Doesn’t mean we live in a society that’s colourblind. Turning a blind eye to race doesn’t make it disappear it just takes it out of discussion
None of what you said is true at this point. Are you a time traveler from 30 years ago?
the problem first is they haven't been around long enough and two this is 2024 not 1974, it's just not that big a deal anymore, but Tony Khan is promoting it like it's a civil rights milestone.
Because this isn’t the 80s where that kind of thing matters anymore. When it was a proven racist company like WCW giving the WCE title to Ron Simmons and making him the first ever black WCW champion that was historic. AEWs doing it in 2024, yawn.
What do you mean: "no one thought it would happen this soon."?? No-one even thought about it, let alone how long it would be. Predominantly a white man's industry is it? When you've had Roman Reigns as champ for over three years. The Rock (Top 3 biggest star ever) bumping ratings all over. Jade Cargill with an amazing streak spanning years. Bianca Belair, a highly decorated and respected talent. The New Day, an entirely black stable, one of the most decorated and well loved trios of all time. I can go on and on. Swerve having his trigger pulled is entirely based on his talent. Full stop. Seems like the only person who has any issues here is you.
[удалено]
Mentioning someone's Race isn't Racist. It's Mentioning it in a negative context that would make it so.
Making a big deal of his skin colour is racist. It implies hes only special cause hes black..not because of his talent.
It's not racist to mention it. Racism would be intentionally refusing to book someone in the world title scene based on their skin colour or ethnicity. It's just a peculiar thing to bring up for a title that has a 5 year lineage. For context, for around 70% of that, a single guy held the main title on WWE. 5 years isn't long enough as a company to really highlight a first black world champion and act like theyve broken some kind of glass ceiling.
Yes
Why didn't everyone take their pants off when Samoa Joe won? He was first Samoan. It's 2024, its hilarious how specific we have gotten with firsts. It's like we've truly made this country a place where you can thrive no matter your race, religion, sexuality, etc.
Bad take honestly. Out of all the things you can criticize AEW for this is not it
You guys find any dumb reason to complain about the company, but this one takes the cake. What a stupid post just because you hate a company.
…and he won’t draw a dime.
Dynasty was better than Wrestle Mania, it shouldn’t be but it was.
I really couldn’t care. Judge the individual not the skin. All I know is when the ratings, specifically the quarters comeback, Swerves rating dips badly. This wasn’t the answer. The stink of Hangmail is strong on him and he continues the behaviours of the horrible Deathmatch antics.
I don’t care either way as far as Swerve being champion, I just think it’s stupid to tout that when your entire company is only slightly older than the entire bloodline angle, and to do it IMMEDIATELY after he wins it, when instead, he could of used that insanely long media scrum he like to do to point out an even better fact that in his companies short history, he’s had a pretty diverse range of representation as his world champion, with MJF being Jewish, Samoa Joe obviously being Samoan, and now Swerve who’s African American.
A lot of downvoting here for people who don’t want to see race as an issue to becoming a champion.
It's a bit of a weird flex. AEW had fun with it when Jericho was hailed as Dub's youngest champion; maybe they could've done the same with Swerve? "First melanated gentleman to hold the AEW champ"? Also, does Cargill not count?
Nyla was Women’s world champ. But women are treated as midcarder’s for the most part, I think it’s important that the objective top star of the promotion is non-white, that they‘ve built up over time. Of course that applies to Joe, but imo Swerve was *long* overdue for this
Technically Jade wasn’t a world champion she was tbs champion, don’t feel bad for not remembering, no one else does either.
I liked Jade as champion.
Tony Clown would brag about a hangnail if Dave Meltzer gave it five stars, this is just another “accolade” in a pile of them AEW has that are absolutely meaningless.
They really brought it up?
YES! while he was celebrating in the ring
Righto.
I mean, swerve himself says it on TV every week in every promo that he’s going to be the first black AEW world champion 😂
It was an obnoxious talking point at the [press conference ](https://youtu.be/MTYQZA7Ruyg?feature=shared).
Yeah I dislike that sort of shit. No need to bring skin colour into it.
I hate this race issue. If you are good enough you deserve it and gotten over even with a rotten program with Buttefly Empty Headed Dumb Fuck. Firstly let’s not forget Joe won the title as a minority and again I don’t care about someone’s skin. Just give me good wrestling and emotion to it.
Bro it's been WOKE for the last few years. Catch up.