The migration of the WWE Network to NBC's Peacock streaming service has seen racist content removed from the archives.
In January, NBC Universal reportedly paid in excess of $1billion for the right to have Peacock be the exclusive home of the WWE Network in the United States.
The WWE's own streaming service was launched in February 2014 as a platform for all manner of the professional wrestling giant's content - old and new.
Subscribers had access to the monthly pay-per-view shows, as well as access to their archives which included content from defunct promotions like WCW, the AWA, Smoky Mountain Wrestling and ECW.
However, the migration to the Peacock service has come with a major review of the content originally housed on the WWE Network.
Peacock subscribers quickly twigged that some content previously available was missing from its new home.
For instance, 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper's match with 'Bad News' Brown from Wrestlemania VI was absent. That match was instantly controversial for Piper's decision to paint half of his body black for the event in Toronto. Piper also donned a sequinned glove and mimicked Michael Jackson.
Piper had also donned a half-black face in interviews leading up to the event, referencing Black Power and Nelson Mandela.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyQrQGVt3F0&ab_channel=AllOutofBubblegum
Also missing from Peacock is an interaction between performer John Cena and company owner Vince McMahon at 2005's Survivor Series.
McMahon used the term "Keep it up, my n****?" as African-American performer Booker T (and real-life wife Sharmell) looked on.
Such instances of racism are sadly not alone in the WWE cannon.
The company's Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development, Paul Levesque was among a group to wear black face for a parody of the African-American 'Nation of Domination' faction in 1998.
The build-up to Triple H's Wrestlemania XIX match with Booker T in 2003 was also laced with racist overtones.
According to sources, NBC Universal is reviewing all 17,000 hours of WWE content to ensure it meets their standards and practices code.
Given the frequent allusions to race and sexual activity of the late 90's/early 00's 'Attitude Era' in the WWE, it's likely to mean large-scale editing of the content.
Indeed, such edits have already made their way to this side of the Atlantic.
The deal with NBC Universal only covered the United States territory, leaving the WWE Network as a stand-alone entity in places like Ireland and the UK.
But subscribers like author John Lister have noted the Piper-Brown match from Wrestlemania VI, and McMahon's use of the n-word, have also been scrubbed from the platform.
Piper-Brown has now been removed from the WWE Network site, including in the UK. Still in the thumbnails but when you play the video it goes straight from the previous match to the next one.
— John Lister (@johnlister) March 26, 2021
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