Friday, April 25, 2008
WWE has been concerned with a decline in African American viewers since 2006. Something needed to be changed to rectify that. A directive was placed to involve more African American wrestlers this year. However, that hasn't exactly worked out as expected.
Shelton Benjamin
When Shelton Benjamin was sent from Raw to ECW, the plan was to push him as a top star on the brand. However, that hasn't been the case. If you saw ECW on Sci Fi this week, Shelton Benjamin lost cleanly to upcoming star Kofi Kingston. Former ECW writer Dusty Rhodes was the man responsible for bringing Shelton Benjamin over. It is believed that he had intended to build the Gold Standard into an eventual champion.
Now that Dusty Rhodes is gone, Shelton Benjamin is left to float around ECW.
Elijah Burke
The original plans when Shelton Benjamin was traded over to ECW was for Elijah Burke to be traded to Raw. Raw head writer Brian Gerwitz could not come up with a storyline for Elijah Burke at the time, so Stephanie McMahon made the decision to keep him in ECW. As many of you already know, Elijah Burke hasn't been used properly since the New Breed days.
Kofi Kingston
After two huge wins in a row, it looks like Kofi Kingston is about to receive a significant push in ECW. However, it almost never happened. Several members of management did not want to bring Kofi Kingston up to the main roster just yet.
However, the directive to push African Americans made it possible for Kofi Kingston to get his chance.
Cryme Tyme
It is believed that the directive was a big reason why Cryme Tyme was brought back to the promotion. When they did return, there was a hugely positive reaction from the audience because they were the most popular tag team act when they were fired. Of course, since coming back, though, Cryme Tyme hasn't particularly been used as much as most people had expected them to be used. They pick up random wins here and there, but these guys really need to be utilized in segments because that's what the audience wants.
Closing Thoughts
All of these guys could be used in much better roles. Kofi Kingston, Elijah Burke, and Shelton Benjamin are all entertaining in the ring, while Cryme Tyme is entertaining in segments.
