By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Xavier Woods spoke with Alfonso Castillo of Newsday.com and said a lumberjack match led to pancakes became a big part of New Day’s act. “I said, ‘Well, if I’m a lumberjack, what do they eat? They eat flapjacks,” Woods recalled. “It was hilarious. So, we said the next week, ‘Are we going to do pancakes? Yeah, sure. Why not?’ And that’s where the pancakes came from. If there’s ever any source of contention or anything like that, I think that it’s a situation where you should take a look at yourself and think about how deep you are looking into something that’s not really there.”
Woods also said that he, Kofi Kingston, and Big E are very aware of how they present themselves and don’t want their antics dissected under a racial lens. “All we want is a blank slate,” he said. “And if people continue to refuse to give us one, then they’re doing nothing more than continuing to hold up the social constructs that we’re trying to break down.” Read the full story at Newsday.com.
Powell’s POV: Bruce Mitchell of PWTorch.com clearly got the attention of WWE and the New Day members by comparing their pancake gimmick to the antics of a character named Little Black Sambo. I can’t say that I have a strong feeling on that matter, but I didn’t find the pancake gimmick to be all that humorous when it started and find it to be tired and repetitive at this point. Humor is subjective, but I cringed when the WrestleMania 35 press conference closed with the trio throwing pancakes to the various media members in attendance.
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Many black people, including myself can’t help but see their antics as entertaining racism , similar to bojangles. However, knowing how racist the policies of wwe are, many of us understand that its the only way for a minority act to make money in Vince’s WWE is to be a racist stereotype.
I’d prefer to see Woods tell the other two to beat it. New Day is beyond played out.