Darius Lockhart On Trying Out For EVOLVE, Gabe Sapolsky Telling Him He Didn’t ‘Get It’

In an interview with Muscle Man Malcolm (via Fightful), Darius Lockhart spoke about his tryout for EVOLVE and being told that Gabe Sapolsky didn’t ‘get it’. He also talked about how things can be made better for black wrestlers in the industry.

He said: “Ownership and being on both sides of the curtain. There are people coming up in the executive positions, coming up in the boardroom. We need more like-minded people who can see that and see us for who we are. When there is no one in the room who looks like you, it’s hard for them to tell you who you are. It’s easier to not be pigeonholed when there’s someone in the room who understands that you’re more than a stereotype or another black wrestler or a quota-filler. I’ve done seminars, I did a seminar at EVOLVE, we had a great match and killed it, I was very proud. At the end of it, Gabe Sapolsky looked at me and goes, ‘I don’t get it.’ Because he didn’t get it, I didn’t get it. That’s just it because someone doesn’t get it. There’s no shade, it’s one of those things where if you’ve lived a certain life and a certain path, you’re only going to be able to see life from so many points of view. When you’re willing to communicate and talk with others, then you can start seeing how life is different but also just as valid as your experience with others. Once you get us in that room who can say, ‘Nah, this is what this talent is trying to be, you don’t get it, but there is an audience that does get it.’ When there’s a person that can fight for our vision who is not going to shut it down because their point of view doesn’t, make sense of it, that’s when we’re going to get somewhere. When people aren’t comparing Private Party to Street Profits and they aren’t letting us do more than rap. Ownership is the next superpower we need to obtain. Ownership is what plenty of us do obtain, but we need to keep amplifying it and make sure people get behind it. Empowering that ownership and people behind the curtain making decisions that will be there as well.“