Advocate for diversity in sports entertainment industry

ALL ELITE WRESTLING

Darius Lockhart of Charlotte (right) added entrepreneur to his wrestling résumé by starting ASÉ to promote wider diversity in the sports entertainment industry.

Professional wrestler Darius Lockhart saw the need for racial equality in sports entertainment, so he did something about it.

Growing up in Charlotte, Lockhart fell in love with wrestling at 12 years old. Inspired by North Carolina professional stars like the Hardy Boyz, he started training at 17 to follow his dream of stepping inside the ropes.

“I was trained by George South and Cedric Alexander who is a current [World Wrestling Entertainment] superstar,” Lockhart said. “I did some training overseas in England a little bit after that after graduating college. I did attend UNC Greensboro from 2013 to 2017 and have been traveling the world wrestling ever since.”

Lockhart has a professional record of 9-16 with two wins in the National Wrestling Alliance. But, in a sport with predetermined outcomes, Lockhart started to notice an ever-present reality.

“There has been a major disparity upon race in most all entertainment,” Lockhart said. “In professional wrestling, Black entertainers have been kind of pigeon-holed for the past 50 or so years. It is one sport where you can have predetermined outcomes and then for some reason Black wrestlers only have so many wins and you see us not being as successful.

“A lot of that has become very obvious to me.”

Lockhart saw the opportunity to make an impact and highlight Black wrestlers. He started his own wrestling company, ASÉ (pronounced Ah-SHAY) which means “life/force energy” and “the power that makes things happen and produces change.”

“I decided to take action into my own hands,” Lockhart said. “I wanted to curate a place where performers of color or performers of any marginalization wouldn’t have to deal with not being understood or have certain ceilings because of a lack of equity amongst the business.”

Lockhart takes pride in the startup because he was able to create it from the ground up on his own.

“I put some money aside and saved up business fund investments,” he said. “From there I started funding this dream out of pocket because it was something that I felt was necessary. Enough people had asked for it, so it was something that was needed in the industry and I felt that we deserved a place to be celebrated where we were held down in so many other places.”

ASÉ debuted its first wrestling show in December at Grady Cole Center and hosted Black History Month meet-and-greets with former wrestlers of color in February.

The company’s name has African roots and embodies what Lockhart sees as his brand.

“This resonates with me,” he said. “The fact we’ve created a space where people feel empowered and feel seen proves to me that we are taking steps in the right direction. If people see that we are building something while all working together as one community, there is no telling what we can do. I think that is really the core of ASÉ.”

Lockhart doesn’t like to look too far into the future, but feels big things are ahead for ASÉ and the wrestlers involved. He wants to leave a lasting legacy.

“I just want to continue to grow,” he said. “Hopefully we move outside of North Carolina and test out other places. Really, just to be able to continue to make moments and memories and create something that even if it lasts five, 10 or 15 years or even just two, it was a body of work that we can all be proud of.

“We want people to feel this was really powerful and good work; regardless of identity politics, it was just good work. It was good professional wrestling, good content and good storytelling. I want that to be the legacy after five to 10 years.”

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