10. Curryman

If the above video doesn’t fully clear it up, Curryman is one of the alter-egos of the brilliant ‘King of the Indys’ Christopher Daniels who has appeared across the US (including in TNA) and Japan as the character and is variously billed as from Tokyo Japan or India, depending on the territory. Now, any wrestler who’s catchphrase is ‘Ko-oo-nichi-waaaa!’ and wears a curry on his head is a) destined for success and b) alright with me; but what elevates Curry Man into this list is Christopher Daniels usual appearance,

Not Pictured: Indian or Japanese

His insistence on conducting interviews in what I can only assume is a Japanese impression painstakingly perfected in half an hour’s viewing of Takeshi’s Castle, and the apparent fact that Daniels was not forced to portray this character by an ill-judged promotion but actually came up with the majority of it himself.

9. The Mexicools

Smashing Prejudice

The Mexicools were a stable which appeared in WWE for a year in 2005, and consisted of three hugely talented Mexican wrestlers – Psicosis, Super Crazy and Juventud Guerrera; who were fed up with negative stereotypes of Mexicans in the US, which they ‘parodied’ by riding in on lawnmowers ‘hilariously’ branded with ‘Juan Deere’.

If sleeping on the job backstage and beating someone up with nachos doesn’t end negative Mexican portrayals, what will?

8. Kai-En-Tai

Kai-En-Tai, particularly in its Taka and Funaki phase, fundamentally revolved around this one joke repeated ad nauseum for the 2 or 3 year period that they were popular in the WWE, helping to prove that the old funny-foreign-voice gag is still alive and well.

7. Mr. Fuji

Continuing the rich and noble tradition of Japanese stereotyping, Mr. Fuji was a manager and wrestler who appeared in the WWF in the 80s. His catchphrase of ‘Banzai’ and his identical likeness to Bond villain Oddjob secures his place on this list. Also one of the two WWE Hall of Famers on this list, proving that a questionable race gimmick is no barrier to wrestling success.

6. Tatanka

Tatanka is the ring name of Native American wrestler Chris Chavis, who wrestled in WWE in the mid 90s and again in a brief run between 2005 and 2007. His notable moments included a feud Irwin R. Schyster (I.R.S) over whether or not a headdress he was given by Lumbee Indians was tax-deductable, and a promo in which he compared his recent losing streak with the years of persecution his people had endured after which he “called upon his forefathers to unleash a new warrior in [him]“. A classic example of WWEs sensitive approach to race.

5. Col. DeBeers

Seriously

One of the less well known wrestlers in this list, Colonel DeBeers appeared in World Class Championship Wrestling portraying a gimmick much needed and surprisingly underutilised in modern wrestling – a racist South African general.

In the above clip he refuses to fight in a match called by a ‘coloured’ match official, cos, you know, they had Apartheid in South Africa, which has long been a rich seam for comedy.

4. Muhammed Hassan

Muhammed Hassan’s short run in the WWE basically consisted of his character being the heel Muslim, who’s particular heel traits included praying to Allah (Booo!) and not speaking English (Booo!). So what!..you may be thinking. So far, so WWE. However, what tips this gimmick over into this countdown occurred on the Smackdown! that aired after the Al-Qaeda terrorist Bombings in London. The segment had been filmed before the attacks and featured Hassan ‘praying’ on the ramp, summoning five men in ski masks who carried his just defeated manager and spokesman Daivari out above their heads.

No, Seriously.

WWE was unable to edit out this section fully meaning some territories broadcast this, one of the most poorly judged angles in WWE history. His character was never seen on television again.

3. Ted DiBiase and Virgil

‘Million Dollar Man’ Ted DiBiase is one of the greatest performers in WWE history, both in and out of the ring. Many of his heel promos have become legendary, and he is justifiably a Hall of Famer. Oh… and he had a slave named Virgil.

Umm...

The character of Virgil was an African-American wrestler named Mike Jones (also briefly a bodyguard for the nWo in WCW under the ring name Vincent) who wore sparkly red jackets and had a bowtie, and did the menial tasks that the Million Dollar Man didn’t care for such as shining his shoes and cleaning his gear. He wasn’t usually allowed to talk and his WWE career mostly consisted of following DiBiase around and occasionally being squashed in matches against wrestlers the ‘Million Dollar Man’ was feuding with. According to WWE the character was more of a butler, who got paid by DiBiase, but it’s easy to draw different conclusions. Also he was the subject of one of pro-wrestling’s saddest photographs. But if you thought that the limit of poor taste race gimmicks had been reached you obviously haven’t heard of…

2. Kamala “The Ugandan Giant”

Kamala “The Ugandan Giant” was created by the wrestler portaying him, Jim Harris alongside Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler and came from an issue of National Geographic which mentioned a Doctor Kimala, conducting research in Uganda. This gimmick continued into his run with the WWE in the 1980s and early 1990s, with the additional element of him being a cannibal, who was accompanied by his ‘handler’ Kim Chee. Remarkably, this gimmick has had a number of returns to the WWE in recent years, appearing in the Wrestlemania XVII gimmick Battle Royal, as well as appearances on Raw and Smackdown as late as 2006

1. Akeem “The African Dream”

Wrestler George Gray had had limited success in the territories and briefly in the WWE with his ‘One Man Gang’ gimmick, who was brought back for the gimmick Battle Royal at Wrestlemania XVII. However, after a few years in the company, his character had become stale and he needed rejuvenation. So, after what I can only imagine was a great deal of thought in creative, he was turned into Akeem “The African Dream”. In September 1988, One Man Gang’s manager, Slick, announced that Gang was actually African and planned to re-embrace his roots, and on an edition of Superstars his new character was revealed in one of the most racist vignettes shown on TV ever.

Unsurprisingly, Caucasian George Gray’s promo delivered in a stereotypical black accent and the describing of an American Ghetto as ‘Deepest, Darkest Africa’ attracted some criticism, but not enough for the WWE to deem it unsuitable for Akeem to remain in the company for another TWO YEARS. Or, according to Wikipedia, for that clip to be aired during WWE’s coverage of Black History Month.

Ali

An astounding 100% of you voted that you thought BG James would get the pink slip at Final Resolution. However, we saw the cases go to Jay Lethal, Curryman and the members of LAX.

At Final Resolution we saw Jay Lethal open his case and win a tag team title oppertunity.

I know I was wrong with my Final Resolution prediction but i will make a new prediction and say that Curryman aka Christopher Daniels will get fired and we will see the return of Christopher Daniels to help bolster the newly formed Front Line group.