The Color of Money: Professional Wrestling Flirts with the Color Barrier

See the man in the photo? Know who that is? Of course you do. Whether you're a movie buff, wrestling guru or football fanatic, you know exactly who this individual is. This man is the last legitimate minority to have a successful run as a professional wrestling champion.

His name is Dwayne Johnson...but you may have known him as The Rock.

Not since the days of The Rock has there been a dominant minority as World Champion. Sure Samoa Joe had a pretty impressive run as TNA World Champion, but many found it hard to believe him as World Heavyweight Champion.

On the WWE side of the fence, we haven't seen a successful minority as World Champion in a long time. For those who want to say Booker T as King Booker was a great run, consider this. King Booker was not that great of a champion. And as quick as he won it, he lost it to Batista.

Rey Mysterio won it as a way to honor the memory of the late great Eddie Guerrero who became the first Mexican American to win a major championship in professional wrestling. But many were skeptical about Mysterio defeating a young up and comer in Randy Orton and an Olympic Gold Medalist in Kurt Angle. Because of that, many turned the other cheek on Mysterio's championship run.

To this moment, we have several good superstars who happen to be minorities now. Many of them have won several smaller championships over the past few years. Carlito is one of the few who can say that he's won both the Intercontinental and United States Championships in the WWE. Both MVP and Shelton Benjamin have had successful runs as United States Champion. Kofi Kingston has had runs as Intercontinental and World Tag Team Champion with CM Punk.

But even the most tenacious superstars have felt the short end of the stick when it comes to being World Champion.

Some would say that it's a seniority thing. Others may say that it's a popularity thing.

But I say that it's because none of them have been given the rightful chance to step up to the plate and have a successful run as World Champion. Even Mark Henry was forced off the top of the mountain by someone as mediocre a wrestler as...Matt Hardy.

We know that the WWE isn't sexist because they have three women in power within the company. Stephanie McMahon is an Executive Vice President with World Wrestling Entertainment and is currently the General Manager of RAW. Vickie Guerrero is the current General Manager of SmackDown, and Linda McMahon is the CEO of the company.

So is it about seniority? Randy Orton went from the injured list to main eventing Wrestlemania. Jeff Hardy went from outcast to WWE Champion back to outcast and a smaller feud with his brother. Triple H continues to be main event status. And John Cena returned from injury to currently being the World Heavyweight Champion.

Shelton Benjamin is strutting around looking like the black Eminem. R-Truth continues to come through the crowd and finding his way to the top...but he'll never get there because the WWE doesn't feel that he is World Champion material.

MVP was the longest reigning United States Champion, but hasn't had a title reign since. Even though he is athletically talented, has had rivalries with future World Champions and even had a storyline with Triple H, the WWE still holds him back from being World Champion.

But what exactly made Brian Kendrick World Champion-worthy?

In fact, the last minority to hold a major World Championship and have a pretty decent run with it was former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley. Lashley was the African American version of Kurt Angle...minus the gold medal. He is a former NCAA Champion, former Armed Forces Champion and former ECW World Champion. But after everything Lashley went through with his storyline with the McMahons and Umaga, he was forced to relinquish the title when he was drafted to RAW.

Since Lashley's departure, it has become harder and harder to find someone to fill the void left by the departure of the last two legitimate World Champions in WWE. And in TNA, it is no better. Instead of letting the younger talent step up, they continue to deny that younger talent the right to shine.

Instead, TNA decides to keep Samoa Joe, Consequences Creed, Jay Lethal and LAX away from the glory of being champion. They decide that Sting or Kurt Angle is a safer choice. So instead of moving forward and above the competition, TNA continues to relive the car crash known as World Championship Wrestling. It's unclear on whether they're keeping them back for the obvious reasons or if they're holding them back for something bigger and better.

But this isn't about the downfall of TNA. This is about the insult that WWE is dishing out towards its minority stars. Despite being successful, they still have not been given a great chance to be World Champion. If they're trying to find a new Rock or new Lashley, they're wasting their time. There is no need to relive the past, but the WWE is trying to. Why is that?

The Rock is not coming back because of his constant success in Hollywood. Lashley couldn't handle the schedule that WWE had. And Booker was too much of a coward to accept his penalty for violating the WWE substance abuse policy. So instead of holding them back, they should give them the same courtesy they have given CM Punk, John Cena and Jeff Hardy.

People believe that MVP is worthy of a World Championship Run, but instead of giving him the chance to become champion, they decided to give him a losing streak that would last the entire fall and a majority of the winter. How long will Shelton Benjamin continue to try to be the Real Slim Shady? How long will they hold back R-Truth, who opted for WWE over a new contract with TNA?

Will we see a minority once again be World Champion in 2009? 2010? 2015? If we're not smelling what The Rock is cooking soon, WWE may lose more than just a few dollars on the Stock Exchange...they may lose the audience that they have tried their hardest to keep since the departure of The Great One.