Does WWE have a Black Male Problem?

This has been updated since it was originally published to reflect changing numbers.

So a tweet was making the rounds a few days ago that suggested WWE may have a racism problem in regards to how Black Men on the roster have been booked since HHH took over, which of course brought the wide range of takes, some reasonable but others falling into the ridiculous corners of WWE apologetics and social media point scoring for anyone with a anti-WWE grudge to nourish. And now it’s made it’s way all the up to HHH being asked about it after Bad Blood. I just wanted answers before I said anything stupid out there.

There’s only one way to find out for sure, and that’s to just count everything up and compare it to previous years. Anything else is just bloviating for social media interactions. So I did just that. Now before I get started let’s get three things out of the way. One, I am not assuming or suggesting any malicious intent. The same company produces NXT which has two Black men as it’s singles champions and just crowned it’s first Black two time NXT champion. The other is that I’m not comparing WWE to anyone else. Your behavior is your behavior and what anyone else is doing doesn’t matter. On top of that it’s not like anyone has a superior record to look at here. Lastly, I took the liberty to look at tag teams as well to see if there was anything there that ran contrary to the singles numbers.

I chose to compare 24 months under HHH to the last 24 months under Vince to see what’s different. So since HHH took over how many singles matches have featured Black men? Let’s see. By my counting there are the following:

• Bobby Lashley vs Brock Lesnar, Crown Jewel 2022
• Omos vs Braun Strowman, Crown Jewel 2022
• Bobby vs Brock, Elimination Chamber 2023
• Omos vs Brock, WrestleMania 39
• Omos vs Seth Rollins, Backlash 2023
• Ricochet vs Logan Paul, Summerslam 2023

That’s six singles matches in total since HHH took over. As far as multiman matches where somebody competed as a single, Bobby was in a triple threat with Seth Rollins and Austin Theory at Survivor Series 2022, another triple threat with Theory and Bronson Reed at Backlash 2023 and in the 2024 Elimination Chamber match. Ricochet was in the 2023 Money in the Bank Ladder Match, and Carmelo Hayes the 2024 Ladder match. And finally, Montez Ford was in the 2023 Chamber match. So that’s another six to bring the total to 12.  (NOTE: since the original publication of this article, Carmelo Hayes was in a triple threat match at Crown Jewel 2024 for the US title, bringing the total to 13 now).

Now for the two last years under Vince I counted 24 singles matches for Black Men from September 2020 through August 2022, plus 10 more multiman matches. That’s a big drop from the last 24 months of Vince to the first 24 months of HHH but there’s also a drop within HHH’s tenure itself in that those 6 singles matches and 10 out of the total 12 all happened within the first 12 months, and since then there’s only been Bobby’s spot in this year’s Chamber match and Melo’s spot in the Money in the Bank match this year.

Now out of those 34 matches under Vince 18 involved Bobby Lashley and 8 involved Big E, so 26 out of 34 involved two men. Which gives us a pretty simple explanation why things fell off so much. Big E’s injury in 2022, Omos getting benched in 2023, and Bobby’s faction (which Ford was a part of) getting caught in creative purgatory in 2023 and 2024 pretty easily explain what happened here. The first is nobody’s fault but the other two are choices that you can rightfully criticize HHH for if you don’t like the results.

What about the tag teams?

Since HHH took over there have been six PLE matches that featured a tag team with at least one Black man as a member, 5 of which involved the Street Profits and three of which were six man tag matches. In the last 24 months under Vince there were 16 in total, all of which involved either the Street Profits (8), New Day (6), Omos and AJ Styles (5) or some combination of the three (Survivor Series 2020, WrestleMania 36, and Extreme Rules 2021). What happened? Two things, both of which happened in 2022 while Vince’s run was ending and continuing on through HHH’s tenure:

• The unifying of the tag team belts in May of 2022 reduced the number of tag team title matches on PLEs and tag team matches on PLEs in general.
• The shortening of non big four PLEs from 7-plus matches to a routine of 5 or 6 reduced the number of tag team matches on PLEs

By my count there have only been 20 men’s tag team matches total on PLEs during HHH’s first two years, including six person tag matches and multi-team tag matches, featuring all races and ethnicities, and two mixed gender tag team matches.  By contrast I counted 24, plus two mixed gender tag matches, in the 2 years before HHH took over. What happened here? Honestly it just looks like that’s a result of unifying the belts more than anything else. From May 2022 through WrestleMania 40 there was one champ and one challenger which meant fewer opportunities for every team to get a shot. And then after the belts were split up again the five or six match card became a staple of B and C tier PLEs which in turn meant fewer tag team matches. In short, there’s nothing going on with Black tag teams that can’t be attributed to the booking of the tag team division as a whole.

So now what as far as solutions? For the singles side, it’s pretty simple. In the short run we’re relying on Carmelo Hayes to catch fire and move up to be a higher featured player, and seeing if this pending Beyond that we’re waiting on the arrivals of Trick Williams, Oba Femi, Ricky Saints and JeVon Evans to the main roster, which may not happen until late 2025 or early 2026. That’s it. There are no available Black veterans out there who could sign with WWE, skip NXT, and move up the ladder quick enough on the main roster to get on PLEs in the near future. I don’t think incessant complaining for the until 2026 solves anything, but at the same time we shouldn’t just flush this time down the memory hole. Even minus any bad intentions if you find that the results have been unsatisfactory it’s ok to say that. Personally I don’t want anyone rushed to the main roster just to placate me in the short run; any unintended consequences that stunt their main roster development will only make it worse.

So that’s what it is. Look at the whole picture. There are people like Big E and Keith Lee who would be big players today were it not for injury or illness derailing their careers. There are also people like Lashley and MVP whose direction was fair game for questions or outright disapproval. And then there’s Omos who’s absence has happened with zero explanation and doesn’t pass any smell test. The stone cold reality is that we are waiting for a few to arrive and Melo to ascend. I have my own criticisms and opinions about how we got here, but I also acknowledge what there is to work with and I’m not going to stop watching either. I think the best we can do as fans is to support the guys who are there to an extent that management notices, and to not shy away when we have a legit criticism. What ultimately matters is that we do get to that better place that we can see ahead.

The final question for us is: where do we fit NXT into all of this? If you include them then we’re not even having this discussion. To a layman, WWE has three TV shows and on one of them the top male single champ is Black as is the biggest star on that show. Good luck trying to parse main roster vs NXT when both have TV shows and do Premium Live Events in arenas all year, when you’re talking to somebody who isn’t an online superfan. Should we even do that ourselves? We know the difference, sure. But given what I’ve laid out, especially with the injury and illness that took two major players out of the main roster picture entirely, is this the time to say ‘hey, I understand’ and be patient? Yes and no. One can be realistic about Big E and Keith, and with how NXT as a brand looks to fit in overall, and still say ‘ok, y’all can’t just sit on the couch for a year with this’. Given the history of diversity not just in wrestling but in this world no gender or ethnic group can afford to be quiet even if the circumstances are understandable. The trick has always been balancing the need for eternal vigilance with acknowledgment of facts and realism of the world as it exists at the time. Even when things look fine you have to keep pushing just to keep it that way, and when the change is on deck you have to keep pushing to make sure it gets accomplished. That can sometimes look like one is complaining just for the sake of it. It’s similar to when a coach rides the team more after a big win than a loss.

As far as quick fixes, I don’t have one.  Splitting the Street Profits isn’t going to put either one in a position where they’ll be in a singles match on a PLE.  That’s all I got, this is already too long so I hope it helps. Until next time….