WWE have pulled some PR stunts in their time, mostly to get the WWE Universe talking – much like Lana’s speeches regarding Vladimir Putin. This time feels a lot more personal.
Stephanie McMahon personally invited Buffalo Bills draft pick Michael Sam to WWE Raw this week after he was cut by the team in pre-season, in the hopes he would attend so the company can show how they are completely behind the openly homosexual defensive footballer. Sam instead opted to play for the Dallas Cowboys without responding to the WWE invitation.
Sam is the first openly gay footballer to be drafted into the league earlier this year and it seems WWE were only trying to jump onto his spotlight. It seems Sam never had any plans to come to WWE and make a statement; he was always going to choose his football career over WWE. Maybe he knew what their plan was all along?
Why would WWE ask the footballer to come to Raw? To deliver a speech? To possibly have an altercation with a superstar to make him look stronger than he is? Or as a way to write him into a feud that people will feel is based more on reality? Either way WWE already have an openly gay superstar on their roster and they are doing absolutely nothing about it.
Darren Young was still part of the Prime Time Players when he came out in an interview late last year. Since then he and partner Titus O’Neil have parted ways and after the two settled their differences, Titus received a small push while Young seemed to disappear off the radar completely.
It was reported in April that Young had to undergo surgery on his torn ACL and he would be out for up to six months as he tried to recover. This means the superstar should be making his return next month, but what is he set to return to?
When he was put out of action he was in the undercard fighting stars like Fandango who himself has fell down the pecking order of the company as of late. Many thought that when Darren originally “came out” he would receive some sort of push.
WWE and many superstars supported Young and the whole scenario was met with a lot of positivity but aside from The Prime Time Players winning a few back to back matches, Darren never actually received that push and has never actually spoke about his sexuality on WWE TV. Some even credited the WWE for not merely giving him a push for coming out but WWE ended up doing nothing with a talented worker.
Whilst it is a personal thing for him to talk about, if WWE are set to let an NFL player step forward then why isn’t Stephanie McMahon knocking on Young’s door and asking for his chance to talk about being the first ever active openly gay wrestler? Young re-tweeted fans asking why WWE would goto Sam instead of Young, showing it was something on his mind.
This is a story a lot of the WWE Universe could get behind and would support Darren a lot more than an NFL player that would appear for a publicity shot. Young could have a platform to express what makes him both unique and just another wrestler trying to grab the brass ring, an opportunity he wasn’t receiving before. It’s less about receiving a push to capitalize on him coming out and more about getting a chance to speak for once.
Why WWE are treating him like he doesn’t even exist is a matter only they know. Perhaps they approached Darren before Sam and he didn’t feel he was ready for that sort of storyline because of how personal it is? Or maybe with the injury WWE are waiting for his return so that a real story can kick off? Either way, bringing in a “celebrity” when there is someone you are paying who could do the same job is quite disrepectful and a lot of the WWE Universe have noticed. WWE doesn’t need Michael Sam when they have Darren Young.
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