Why I Don’t Watch WWE Anymore by BH the Uncivilised

By BH the Uncivilised

I’ve been a wrestling fan since the early 90s. Watched WWE (back when it was called WWF) when I was a child, and all my friends watched it, and as an adult, when all my friends were saying it was stupid. Now, after some twenty-five years, I no longer watch WWE.

Recently Hulk Hogan was fired from WWE for using racially insensitive language in a private setting. On the surface this might seem perfectly reasonable, considering the public nature of the wrestlers and the company. But old school fans remember Vince McMahon, head of the company, on their very own TV show, in front of millions watching all over the world, saying “What’s up, my nigga” to John Cena. Thus, Hogan is just the latest example of the organization’s hypocrisy.

WWE have a long history of racial insensitivity. Many non-white wrestlers' gimmicks (the characters they portray on TV) were some kind of racial stereotype. Sometimes it worked, other times it was just awkward. In August 2014, former employee Alberto Del Rio complained of racism from staff. Del Rio was fired after slapping then Social Media Manger Cody Barbierri for making a racist joke. WWE were originally going to suspend Del Rio without pay, but Barbierri threatened to sue the company if they didn’t fire him, so Del Rio was fired. WWE never made an official comment as to what happened, nor stated what, if anything, happened to Barbierri as result of his alleged comment. Though it is worth noting that they never denied it either.



It’s not just racism. On more than a few occasions they’ve been inconsiderate of religious beliefs. Most notably the tag team match of Vince McMahon and his son Shane Vs Shawn Michaels and God. Yep, God, except God was a spotlight. What made this especially awkward was the fact that Michaels was a recent Born Again Christian. The build-up to the match included Vince McMahon going to a church, spitting holy water, and on the day of the match, telling ’God’ to get jiggy with it.

McMahon has also run several story lines where he gets to be intimate with the hot chick. Bear in mind that this is the Chairman of the company putting himself in stories where he has his employees dance for him, share a bathtub with him, feel their breasts and French kiss in front of his wife. Speaking of kissing, he also ran the “Vince McMahon Kiss My Ass Club”, where several wrestlers, an announcer, and his own son, kissed his bare ass on television.



Everything I’ve mentioned so far could fall under a couple of categories: “Only one side of the story” and “They obviously agreed to do it.” WWE have acknowledged at least some of their, shall we say, WTF moments. Which is one of the reasons I kept watching. The final straw for me came after Triple H appeared on the Stone Cold Steve Austin Podcast in February 2015 and was asked if Chyna would ever make it to the Hall of Fame (HoF). Chyna is the only female to ever hold a men’s championship, considered a legend amongst wrestling fans, and the ex-partner of Triple H. He replied no, citing her actions after leaving WWE as the reason. After leaving WWE (or fired without being told, according to Chyna) she briefly entered the adult entertainment industry. After leaving adult entertainment, Chyna settled in japan and worked as a teacher.

There are plenty of people who’ve had less than stellar life experiences after leaving wrestling, including one who killed a man. Chyna, like others in the HoF, had been working to get her life in order. Triple H chose to drag her through her history again. When Chyna was employed by WWE, they fully supported and promoted her posing for Playboy magazine, even working it into her story line. This was not just hypocritical, but potentially sent a whole new generation of people looking for something she was trying to move on from.

I haven’t been watching WWE for a while now, maybe one day I’ll come back to it. But for now, I am a wrestling fan, there’s only so much hypocrisy one can take.

BH the Uncivilised, aka Bunmi Hazzan, film geek, gamer geek, general all round geek. I've been writing since the Cretaceous period my life experience is long and varied, plus I'm kinda mysterious, some say I'm d

How I’m Learning to Stop Obsessing Over My Follower Count

by Bunmi Hazzan

I’ve struggled with being myself for a long time. Growing up, anytime I’ve said or done something from a unique place it’s been met with “don’t be silly” or something along those lines; on some level I’ve associated being myself with being unaccepted. We all yearn for acceptance, so I learned to conform, learned to be what was expected of me.

Fast forward to the internet age, I’m constantly second guessing what I put on the internet. Not just stuff like, “Is it offensive?” “Have I used correct grammar and spelling?” I mean, that happens, too, but more, “What would they think of me after this?” “Would they still like me after this?” “Would I still be accepted after this?”

Most would agree that isn’t healthy. I am learning to be myself. I’ve become less restrictive about posting things that I’m interested in, no matter how silly it may seem to others. As I changed, I noticed my follower count going down, and down, and down, and, oh wait it’s gone up, oh no, false alarm - it was a cached page - it’s gone down again.

I know I shouldn’t be obsessing over follow numbers, after all, what does it really mean? But if people follow what they’re interested in, and they’re not following me, then that means, I’m not interesting. I think I’m interesting, but who else would corroborate that? What if I’m just deluding myself? Why can’t people just tell you, they don’t find you interesting, instead of this, sly, stop following cowardly nonsense? But then, if they told me, then I’d know I have to change for them to like me, and I’m back to not being able to be myself anymore.

Learning to be myself is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. So far, it has challenged most, if not all, things I believe about society and the value in other people’s perceptions of me. One of the things I feel helps is spending time alone. For example, when some event or news takes place, I avoid the opinions of others, so I can be sure my thoughts are completely my own.

But that’s an extreme tactic, the problem with only listening to your own thoughts is that it is a good way to become very narrow minded. You can convince yourself of anything (and I do mean ANYTHING) because every thought conforms to your own internal logic and reasoning.

Thus, the next step after formulating my own thoughts is to read/listen to what other people are saying, and consider their view points, especially those opposing to mine. This isn’t to change my mind, it’s to expand it.

I’ve learned that being myself isn’t just about “I.” It is about understanding that all opinions exist for a valid reason, even those I don’t agree with. Before, I looked at things like, it’s either my opinion, or it isn’t. And if it isn’t, then I’m not being myself. The truth is, no one person is ever just one thing, including your own thoughts. They need the input of other in order to mature properly. Finding that balance isn’t easy, but it is worthwhile.

Along the way, you may lose some followers, people may stop liking your page, or unfriend you, they may even post videos online talking about how stupid you are (but that’s only if you’re really lucky). I once read a blog by our dear editor E Amato, it said “Everyone has an audience.” I believe that to be true, and it seems I’m still searching for mine, come across a few so far, but there’s more out there, just gotta find them.

BH the Uncivilised, some call me Bunmi Hazzan, but a time traveller has many names. I've existed for over 10,000 years and lived over 9000 lives. Travelling through time, space and multiple dimensions and writing about my experiences and observations. Or, in other words, I analyse art, and create art. The driving license I hold in this realm claims I have residence in London, England. The truth is I spend most of my time in upper regions of my cerebral cortex. I am, that poet.