Big Swole is speaking out after days of online harassment from wrestling fans on social media.
The controversy began on December 31st, when Swole addressed her AEW departure on her show, Swole World. She spoke about her AEW career and revealed some things that really bothered her during her time with the company.
Swole criticized the AEW for lacking diversity and black representation. Her comments have ignited a passionate debate.
Disclaimer This article contains some offensive/racist language, via DM’s shared by Big Swole
The lack of opportunities for women pushed Swole not to re-sign. However, she also cited a lack of structure and, more importantly, diversity and representation issues.
“… There are a lot of things with that company that need to change, and I know that fans of the company don’t take criticism well sometimes, like certain ones. But know this, that this is somebody just from the inside that the structure is a little off, said Swole. Swole explained, “… It’s fine to be loose, but I like to have a little bit more structure. I felt like the women shouldn’t have gone through everything they went through just to get on TV. Just to get time. You’re signed to this big company you want time. All these men are getting time, but the women weren’t getting anything. Or you’re not putting people on TV because ‘Oh, more people have come in.’ Okay, there is more people coming in, but you don’t have enough product for all these people.”
More on Big Swole’s Comments
The lack of attention to the women’s division is an issue that Swole detailed on her show. She shared that other female talents were frustrated with the lack of direction and opportunity to perform on TV, compared to the males. She also revealed that Khan asked her to help with the women’s division as the locker room leader.
Swole would communicate that the talent was unhappy with the lack of opportunities and help to improve in-ring. While this is one of her criticism of AEW, fans and wrestlers were more concerned with her comments on diversity.
Big Swole Comments on Diversity
Swole believes that AEW should give more people from the black community a voice in higher positions in the company. She mentioned that her daughter watched AEW on TV and noticed nobody looked like her or Swole. Swole also said that her daughter started to watch WWE because wrestlers like Bianca Belair and Big E were on TV.
“I do not like to beat around the bush when it comes to diversity,” said Swole. “When it comes to my people, there is no representation truly, and when it is representation, it does not come across in the black community as genuine at all.”
She continued, “…What happens is, you have this wonderful company that treats people like family, but there is nobody that looks like me that is represented at the top. They’re not in the room with them. They are not helping to not necessarily influence decisions but also be there to explain. You know, why certain slang, why this certain word shouldn’t be said. Why this that and the third. There’s no one else who can explain our culture except for us. Who can explain our experience except for us.”
While Swole shared her criticisms, she credited AEW for making some progress. However, she still wants to see the company do more. She doesn’t just want more representation in AEW, but other wrestling companies with TV deals in the United States like the WWE. She also wants more representation from different races and ethnic backgrounds like dark-skinned Latinas and Latinos, Asians, and Indians on TV.
Swole ended her episode wishing success for AEW and WWE while noting that she has no bad blood towards AEW.
Tony Khan Response to Big Swole
Swole’s criticism prompted a response from Khan on Twitter. In his response, he shared that AEW doesn’t have a problem with diversity. He pointed out that he’s Pakistani American and that seven wrestlers from different ethnic backgrounds won matches in December. Khan also said that he let Swole contract expire because “…her wrestling wasn’t good enough.” Fans may also remember that Swole worked with Crohn’s Disease during her AEW career.
Khan’s comments sparked criticism for how he handled Swole’s remarks. AEW talent Lio Rush demanded that Khan apologizes on Twitter. However, other talents defended Khan, like Tayconti and Powerhouse Hobbs. Rush shared on January 1, he had a private conversation with Khan and that AEW is seeking input from an African American perspective.
The Impact of Khan’s Response
Khan’s response to Swole added to the hostile reactions towards her. It not only made fans questions Swole wrestling ability but also invited fans to harass her. Swole posted a picture of a direct message from a fan on Twitter that racially attacked her. Another fan wished death on Swole. Recently, Swole tweeted that fans are now involving her daughter in their harassment. Khan hasn’t said anything else regarding Swole since his response on Twitter.
Khan Big Plans for Diversity in 2022
The AEW President appeared on Barstool Rasslin with Brandon F. Walker to share his big plans for diversity and representation in AEW. He also mentioned signing new talent Mercedes Martinez and Jake Atlas recently as part of the plan to be more diverse. While Khan says he has plans for diversity and representation, he didn’t reveal what they were.
“…I have some huge plans for 2022 that have been a long time in the making, and then I have some huge plans in 2022 to build a stronger, more diverse representation across the board, and nobody knows what it is yet, but I have a couple really exciting things that are going to be coming up in the next month, six weeks,” said Khan.
It’s unclear if Khan’s plans include signing new talent or hiring new employees from different ethnic backgrounds for higher positions in AEW. He also didn’t mention what he plans to do with talent already signed to AEW like Sonny Kiss, Jay Lethal, or Emi Sakura. It also contradicts his point that there isn’t a diversity or representation issue if he has to build a stronger and more diverse representation in AEW.
Regardless, Khan plans to make progress this year, and fans will have to wait to see what those plans are.