Big E and the New Day have broken the stereotype of African American wrestlers and made a unique place for themselves not only in the WWE roster but the wrestling world in general. The WWE champion had an interview with Breakfast Club Power 101.5 FM. He opened up about what it means for him to be a successful WWE star.
The New Day member was asked if he has dealt with any racism in WWE. Replying to it, E said that he hasn’t before explaining that as far as their representation on TV goes, they are getting where they need to be:
“In WWE, no, honest I haven’t. I will say, as far as our representation on TV we are getting to where we need to be. It’s always a work in progress. Often times if there are issues it would present themselves as, people see you a certain way and they want you to, as a character go, ‘oh you’re a big black man,’ so this is the role you need to play.”
Big E On Breaking The Stereotype For Talent of Color
Big E also discussed how it has been important for the New Day to be themselves on TV. He mentioned how in the wrestling industry talent of color are often put in certain boxes such as being a rapper or dancer. With the presentation of their group, they wanted to show people that they can be unique:
“The three of us are nerds, we are comic book nerds so we wanted to really just be ourselves. I think too often, in our industry you would see talent of color put in certain boxes like you have to be a rapper or dancers. We came out with bright colors, just doing silly stuff and the response, at first was rocky, but we just wanted to show people you can be yourselves, you can be unique, and still be proudly black.”
Big E said that their goal with the New Day has been to tear down those boxes so people don’t see black performers in a specific way. He then gave the example of Bianca Belair as someone who is doing the same.
H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcribed quotes