For the next few years the name Hulk Hogan will immediately be associated with his racist & homophobic rants via a now infamous sex tape. Meanwhile his former employer WWE will move forward with their commitment to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds as they’ve demonstrated by the diversity of their employees and performers worldwide….wait what?

WWE has done a lot for a lot of different communities and the people in them, but they aren’t without their own spotty past. Within the last year we can all recall an incident that involve a certain superstar then known as Alberto Del Rio and a social media coordinator that liked to poke fun of his Mexican heritage…who got fired for that incident again?

WWE has been known to make several curious moves but as they remove Hulk Hogan from the Hall of Fame and try to wipe him of our memory I’m reminded of a few other awkward, race-related moments, many of which can be viewed for $9.99 on the WWE Network at any given moment.

I would like to mention that there were plenty of gimmicks and situations for me to choose from guys like Akeem “The African Dream”, Kamala, pretty much any Samoan character excluding The Rock and Roman Reigns, Cryme Tyme, Tatanka, Hornswoggle, Muhammad Hassan, just about every Latin character, the list can go on and on. Here a just a few of them that came to mind right away.

Before coming to the WWE in summer of 2005 Psicosis, Super Crazy and Juventud Guerrera were well-known stars in companies like WCW, ECW, AAA and CMLL. So when word was that they were going to debut as a group the hype was real…really a letdown when they rode down the ramp on lawn care equipment. Sure their promos claimed that they were against all those nonsensical Mexican stereotypes, but the self-parody of the Mexicools just became a parody of how Mexican-Americans are viewed in this country…Great job embracing the diversity WWE.

John Cena was thrusted into the main event scene on the back of a “white rapper” gimmick, but that isn’t wants being scrutinized here rather an interaction Cena had with Vince McMahon himself at Survivor Series 2005. Hogan’s camp has brought up this particular segment since being let go by the company calling McMahon himself a hypocrite. During this segment McMahon approaches Cena with some very awkward jive talked where he oddly drops an n-bomb on Cena before doing his best Sherman Hemsley impersonation and strutting off. During this he walks past Booker and his wife Sharmell, who drops his catchphrase “TELL ME he didn’t just say that?!?!”

WWE has already addressed this segment claiming it was just an act and that was just the character of Mr. McMahon, not his personal views and actions…..sure.

In the weeks leading up to WrestleMania IV Roddy Piper took a different approach to his feud with Bad New Brown, one that hadn’t really been done before…for good reason. Piper found it to be a swell idea to paint half of his face, then later body, with black grease paint. You would think a company that has their employees best interest would step in, but they let it continue. Piper even went as far as impersonating Brown in a manner that can be best described a Kingfish like. (A racially stereotyped character from “The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show….just google it)

Piper wasn’t the last person to throw on the grease paint and get down with the blackface….no a little old group name DX years later also participated in it. While Piper has attempted to explain his actions WWE and the members of DX have never commented on the segment, but the company does still use it today for documentaries.

The current Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events & Creative doesn’t just get to be on this list once, but twice. Triple H is one of the many faces to the WWE both from an in-ring and a behind the scenes standpoint so of course he might come under just a little scrutiny. Back on March 3, 2003 right around the time of WrestleMania Triple H cut one of the most infamous promos I can recall. At the time Booker T had become the number one contender for Triple H’s world title, a title that he himself held while in WCW…here are a few quotes from that promo.

“Somebody like you…doesn’t get to be a world champion. See people…like you don’t deserve it, that’s reserved for people like me.”

“You’re not a competitor, you’re an entertainer.”

“Go ahead, do a little dance for me Book.”

“You’re here to make people like me laugh.”

Triple H goes as far as calling out Booker T for his nappy hair, later on he would give Booker the option to be his limo driver. While I don’t have the perspective of a black man, I can image that this segment left many feeling a variety of ways…if I had to speculate angry would be a top of the list.

WWE may try to scrub themselves of Hulk Hogan and his simple-minded viewpoints, but they might want to take a look back through their catalog of footage and start honestly practicing what they preach.