I think what a lot of people ignore is the face in that position at the top of the card isn't always about earning respect, or talent, or charisma.... While there have been some ridiculously talented black performers... their own achievement in the fictional universe of the WWE isn't the entire issue...
There are a LOT of black faces in the audience. Thousands. Millions. After all of these years... don't they deserve to see a face like theirs as the champion? It's fiction. Choices govern what happens on that screen an in that ring.
People have pointed out that, in their opinion, WWE has had no black performers that can perform at the level of Austin, Cena, Hogan, Hart, etc.
Someone countered with the fact WWE controls their own recruiting and training, and has decided who they've hired/booked for the whole of their existence... that perhaps there may be an aversion to hiring specifically talented black performers. That may or may not be the case.
What I want to point out is that while one may feel the black performers on the active roster aren't on the LEGENDARY level as folks who have held he position at the top... this doesn't at ALL mean any one of them, with proper treatment, booking, timing, build-up couldn't thrive in the position... it doesn't mean that in this FICTIONAL world... The CHOICE of putting them there(when earning is relative and at the whim of only a handful, if more than one, person/people) can actively be pursued, and handheld, with the same delicacy put into Roman Reigns.
One doesn't have to look far to find that the "opportunities" some performers have supposedly been handed and floundered have been purely in name... that many of them such as Henry and Booker T weren't NEARLY as protected as even a Ryback has been.
I've seen someone point out the non-Anglos that have been in the top spot and stated it as clear evidence the WWE doesn't book with a racist slant. There is such thing as being racist against a certain type of folks and not just everyone who isn't what your particular persuasion happens to be.
It's to the point where it's not so much a question of being openly racist, with intent... perhaps it's not... but when the possibility is voiced regularly, and with examples of catalysts for this line of thinking, one begins to question where the effort to show an open mind goes? Instead fans are given token examples of who's been pushed within the history of the WWE... and not why someone can't have something, now.
These are just questions your fellow fans are asking... they're valid. They're based on experience. Immediately shitting on the genuine concerns of your fellow fan in regard to a VERY real and VERY tangible social matter is just irresponsible... at LEAST.