The New Day sells to 6-year olds and stereotypical racism
In WWE’s bedlam of horrors, The New Day is the latest distasteful trainwreck
Two talented wrestlers and one charismatic dude. Three African American men who are part of a stable that is currently WWE’s hotly marketed group as the most prominent African American wrestlers on the show. As a casual WWE fan, my message is that any fan of WWE should be concerned, if not upset. The New Day is a disgrace.
The New Day is a massive flop of an idea, and those who can’t admit that their gestures, attitudes, overall gait does not have some racist derivative, is someone in denial. The New Day is a racist gimmick, it’s a stereotypical role to subjugate black people. Big E Langston, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods should be ashamed of themselves for buying into this contrived mess.
The First Days
It all started with the build. When the group was first announced as a face, the group was rejected by the fans almost immediately. The wrestlers, Big E, Kofi, and Xavier Woods looked lethargic and not at all enthused about their roles.
Realizing the fans were rejecting The New Day, the WWE went ahead and turned the group heel. The New Day began to get cheap heat on the crowds, mocking their cities and respective sports teams. They used their “power of positivity” motto as self-motivation, yet spinning it to troll the fans. For a time it was actually pretty effective as far as cheap heat goes.
I was never a fan of the New Day concept, but I enjoyed all the wrestlers from the group, and I initially thought their heel act might be ironically a positive move for them. I was right and wrong at the same time.
I was right because they have become the WWE’s hottest heel act, and have been given marginally more air time, but they would eventually dive into character and stable suicide.
The Dog Days
It was tough to defend at first. They’re good wrestlers, I said to myself, but I had noticed the awkward stereotypes immediately. “It’s a group of black guys being cornball preachers,” I said to myself. A disheartening role. WWE has been known for its apparent racism, especially in recent memory, look at Hulk Hogan. See what Alberto Del Rio has gone through in his last absence.
Hogan is being shunned from the WWE for his past racist rant, yet when I turn on WWE programming, I see three so grossly stereotypical black characters and I shake my head. Is the hypocrisy here not apparent to anyone?
Basically, it’s good ol’ chuckin’ and jivin’ at its best. Hardcore WWE fans would never admit that the act is stereotypical or racist, but it is what it is. WWE fans are not the demographic to comprehend or understand that, and if they were, they would’ve known and done something about this a while ago.
While I would suggest it’s the stereotypes and racist fashion in which the group is portrayed is the most egregious of offenses, the ridicule extends further. The New Day wrestlers themselves have done wonders to degrade themselves.
With the WWE in its PG era, The New Day embraced the childish manner of the WWE product. From booty popping to unicorns, it’s weird to read it, it’s weirder to watch it.
This is a product who hailed its Attitude Era, days when Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock were flipping people off and beating someone’s candy ass. The New Day let us know that they believe they are unicorns. They dance worse than Drake. They also cut promos about saving tables and making bootyade. The contrast is stark and telling about the WWE’s current product.
The WWE’s flagship show Monday Night Raw, representative of the state of the WWE, shows how inept and out of touch the company is. Putting forth The New Day as their most marketable act (outside of Roman Reigns) is demonstrative of how far the WWE has fallen as an entertainment program.
The WWE exists in a television landscape where content with attitude, is dominating the ratings and dinner table discussions. Shows like: The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Jessica Jones, Orange is the New Black.
The WWE has boxed themselves into a demographic appealing to 6-year old kids and a couple 30-year old basement dwellers.
The Takeaway
WWE has put forth a stable in The New Day that insults the intelligence of its fans, fans that are quickly losing their patience to lackluster content and characters.
What the WWE is not doing is bringing in new fans, and how can you market The New Day to a 16–40 year old demographic? You can’t.
The solution is to scrap the entire group and get Big E Langston back into a singles career as a badass charismatic Mark Henry-like character. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods could make for an interesting tag team combination to take on the likes of the Usos and the Lucha Dragons.
Whatever happens though, the WWE needs to terminate The New Day stable swiftly and forget about them as fast as they forgot about CM Punk.
