Ring of Honor’s Shane Taylor opens up about the progression of black professional wrestlers through the years.
On the most recent episode of ROH Television, Shane Taylor attempted to become only the second black Ring of Honor world champion in history.
With recent progressions in WWE leading to historic matches such as Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks in the first-ever women’s one-on-one headlining match in WrestleMania history and the first-ever headlining match in WrestleMania history where all the competitors are black, history continues to be made regularly and there is still a long way to go.
Speaking with TV Insider, Shane Taylor does that a lot of the change needs to come from management and that creative needs to put forth the effort to create multilayered characters for all wrestlers.
“We’ve taken steps forward. I don’t think talent has ever been an issue. The issue comes in with management. They end up stereotyping Black people into roles that can be readily identifiable or comfortable with the masses. It doesn’t work when you’re only putting people into a box. If you can create multilayered characters for guys like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin or Triple H, then you can do it for Bobby Lashley or Kofi Kingston, or Keith Lee.”
He continued, “Put people on the creative team who understand these cultures. That would give a more authentic version of these characters fans can relate to because you’re not giving them a cookie-cutter version of some Black person. It’s not a caricature of the culture. You get to see what these talents have.”
Speaking of Keith Lee, Taylor says their relationship is as close as ever and he is very happy for Lee’s success.
“[Lee and Taylor are] as close as ever. My crew is different from a lot of people in pro wrestling. It’s a family feel, and we motivate each other. That goes beyond pro wrestling. It’s fantastic to see Keith Lee win the NXT title and North American title simultaneously and make history.”
Tonight on Monday Night Raw, Bobby Lashley will look to become WWE Champion for the first time and only the third black Superstar to win the WWE Championship. Fightful will have live coverage of WWE Raw beginning at 8 p.m. eastern.
If you are looking to get caught up with Ring of Honor results, you can check out our results section.
