MVP Expresses That He’d Love For Pro Wrestling To Reach Point Where Black World Champions Are No Longer A Rarity
MVP is hoping that point is reached.
At the post-AEW Full Gear 2024 media scrum, Bobby Lashley addressed a question from a reporter who described him as a ‘Black champion.’ Lashley stated that he wants to label himself as just a champion, although he understood the overall sentiment.
MVP touched on that while being interviewed by Marcus Shorter of Andscape. He stated that he’d love for pro wrestling to reach a point where Black wrestlers being World Champions is not a rarity.
“Bobby (Lashley) said something that I thought was really cool and changed my outlook on things a little bit: He wants to normalize Black champions in wrestling. That struck a chord with me because you don’t say Michael Jordan is a six-time Black NBA champion. You don’t say Floyd Mayweather is a multi-time Black boxing champion. And because for so long, there has been a dearth of Black champions in high positions in professional wrestling, it’s refreshing to see now — certainly in AEW — Swerve Strickland hold a title. And eventually, you will see Bobby hold the title. I’m sure Shelton (Benjamin) will hold a singles title; it feels good. Now, there’s still some work to do. There’s still a ways to go. But I’d love it if we could get to a place where we don’t have to talk about ‘Black’ wrestling champions because they’re so rare.”
Bobby Lashley is the third Black man to win the WWE Championship. He joined The Rock and Kofi Kingston on that list. Lashley would go on to lose his title to Big E.
