Well. That escalated quickly. In less than 24 hours, after his recorded, racist comments were leaked to the media, Hulk Hogan is persona non grata in the WWE. He was fired from the company he helped build. The WWE took down his biography page on the Hall of Fame, and they pulled down all of his merchandise. 2K will no longer feature him in their new video game. The response has been immediate and almost Benoit-esque in its efficiency.
Lest you think that these are extreme measures, Hogan made some extremely racist statements. A sampling: âI mean, Iâd rather if she [Brooke, his daughter] was going to f*ck some n*gger, Iâd rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall n*gger worth a hundred million dollars! Like a basketball player!...I guess weâre all a little racist. Fucking n*gger.â
But Hogan isnât the only wrestler whoâs been accused of making racist statements. Racism has long been rumored and long been a problem in wrestling locker rooms. Today, weâre looking at 12 wrestling personalities who, according their peers, have said horrifically racist things. These are not wrestlers with racist gimmicks (and trust us, there are plenty of those), and these arenât wrestlers who were "in character" (which isnât fantastic, but is also a common excuse). These were wrestling personalities who said these things in the locker room, or backstage, or when the camera wasnât rollingâIRL, in other words. Wrestling personalities such asâŠ
Road Warrior Hawk
Jessica Havok
Andre the Giant
Unknown Member(s) of the WWE New Generation Locker Room
Cody Barbierri
Targeted:Â Alberto Del Rio
This particular incident was ugly and recent. WWE Social Media Manager Cody Barbierri told Alberto del Rio backstage that he should be handling the catering backstage because he was a Mexican. Del Rio got in the guyâs face, and when Barbierri didnât apologize, del Rio slapped the taste out of his mouth.Â
 âYouâd think that Cody Barbierri would have been fired, and that would have been the end of it. But instead, del Rio was fired for his physical actions, and Barbierri was allowed to leave on own accord shortly afterwards. Del Rio put the WWE on blast, stating that the racism and offensive comments extended far up the corporate ladder, although he declined to name names.