The honeymoon phase seemed to end for WWE’s “Triple H Era” last year, as more of the complaints about the current product sounded like the ones fans had made for years while Vince McMahon was still running
creative. One complaint that seemed even louder with Paul “Triple H” Levesque as Chief Content Officer involved the booking of Black talent, and especially Black men on the main roster.
It led to him being asked about it at a post-event press conference back in 2024, back before WWE stopped having those so Triple H wouldn’t be forced to answer real-world questions like that one. His “I don’t see color” answer after Bad Blood in October 2024 — a premium live event in the “Black Mecca” of Atlanta, promoted with hip-hop stars from the city, that featured no African-American talent outside of hosts Naomi, Jade Cargill, and Bianca Belair — wasn’t well-received.
Criticism has quieted a bit over the past year with that trio of Black women in a title program whenever healthy, and Black men winning tag and secondary singles championships on Raw and SmackDown. And according to the new Wrestling Observer Newsletter they’re planning to keep it that way. Dave Meltzer writes that both WWE’s recent call-ups from NXT, and their latest tryout for their developmental system have been done with the allegations that Triple H is prejudiced against Black males in mind:
The idea was very much to focus on Black males and bodybuilders due to the criticism that Paul Levesque doesn’t push Black males. Obviously with the call-ups of Oba Femi, Trick Williams and Je’Von Evans all at the same time they are looking at quelling that criticism.
We’re all for wrestlers of all races, creeds, and national origins getting paid, so we’re not going to say that’s a bad thing. But if Meltzer’s right about WWE’s motivations, they may be misunderstanding the issue their audience has with Trips’ booking: it’s how he & his team present Black males on their main roster programming, and use those men’s characters in their storylines that’s troubling them. Hiring and promoting Black talent is great, but if they’re still not on our screens in big matches and moments, there will still be complaints — and understandably so.
There have been reasons to believe that’s changing too, among them that Carmelo Hayes is Men’s United States champ, Lash Legend is getting a chance to shine in the women’s division where Cargill remains champ, and Oba Femi seems to be in line for a monster push. But at the same time, the new edition of the Observer Newsletter also claims that Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins are healthy, but Street Profits have been off television since last summer “to allow them to freshen up.”
Keep hiring Black wrestlers, but if you really want to address criticism Triple H “doesn’t push Black males”, WWE could push the two talented Black males in Street Profits. They should be refreshed by now.
