WWE star and global ambassador Titus O’Neil recently spoke with Big Gold Belt Media about a wide range of topics, including his thoughts on the rise of Raw women’s champion Bianca Belair, and how WWE has improved the presentation for black talent. Highlights from the interview are below.
How proud he is of WWE’s presentations of black talent:
I’m also equally as proud of the transformation of the portrayal and the presentation of African American and minority talents on our roster now as opposed to when I first got here and a lot of that, I had something to do with some of that, but a lot of that had to do with all of us. You know, whether it’s The New Day or Rey Mysterio who’s been doing it for years, representing his Latino culture and now to see all of us representing, winning titles. Bobby Lashley, you know, leaving, coming back. Still killing it at the level he’s killing it. It’s pretty amazing to see.
Talks Bianca Belair’s rise to superstardom:
I wanna see Bianca [Belair] continue this run that she’s on. I remember almost a year-and-a-half ago, running into her in the hallway and she hadn’t been on TV for a few weeks and you know, she was on Main Event. She skyrocketed up, went to Raw, dominant and then essentially disappeared. I remember pulling her to the side and I was like, ‘You’re a superstar in so many ways. You represent this company. You will represent this company in ways that nobody else can and you don’t need to have your head down about not being used right now because when the time is right, things are gonna turn around and it’s gonna be a crazy whirlwind for you’ and I didn’t know any creative plans for her. I just know how this business is very cyclical. Three months later, she’s the first African American woman to win the Royal Rumble and then goes on to WrestleMania and wins the WWE Women’s Championship and it has been on a very up and down ride since, but I would say more so up than anything. I didn’t like what happened at SummerSlam last time I was here [Las Vegas] so I’m hoping that she remembers that and I’m sure she does…
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling)