ROH star Shane Taylor recently appeared on Foundation Radio to discuss representation in pro-wrestling, and how he hopes to provide a good image when young kids watch him wrestle. Highlights from the interview are below.
On representation in pro-wrestling:
“That’s literally everything. When I was younger, I really had no idea just how important it was. As you get older, as you learn more things, as you realize how the world works, as you go down that rabbit hole of information, then you see these things, and you start to look at TV and movies and everything you’re like ‘yo, why is it only the worst aspects of our culture that get displayed and advertised and marketed?’ What they show the masses of black culture is like .5% of who we are. If you caught someone at the very worst moment, and then made that multiple billion dollar industry‘s it’s like ‘wait a minute let’s scale it back.’ Inventors, doctors, lawyers, engineers, people that have shaped the very fabric of music, culture of anything, just about anything you could name – we’ve either tightened it or specialized in it or invented it.”
Hey he can control what young black kids see when they watch him in ROH
“Let’s really take a look at what this culture is about. And for me, to be able to go, okay I can’t control what these kids are going to see in the movies, I can’t control what they’re going to hear in music. But when they’re watching me, when they’re watching Ring of Honor, when they’re watching us, I can control what they see then.”
You can hear Taylor’s full comments below. Special thanks to Foundation Radio for sharing quotes with us.