Muhammad Hassan's Character

Firewalkwithme

I don't know whether or not to be shocked by how Hassan is being portrayed on WWE but I can tell you that it disgusts me. It was bad enough with La Resistance and the whole 'French Sympathiser' crap J.R. and The King came out with but this is far, far worse. All the Hassan character is doing is inciting more hated towards muslims in the U.S. I'd like to see him become U.S Champ myself but that's for another thread!

By the way, at Wrestlemania XX I stood and cheered loudly for La Resistance to make a point about their negative portrayal based on their supposed nationalities. I thought someone might take a swing at me but it didn't happen

D-FENS

It is offensive, but so were a lot of angles over the years, not least Lita's miscarriage and Snitsky's subsequent mocking with the pram etc.

Or Kane getting jiggy with a corpse or Bossman robbing a Big Show's dad's coffin.

I know a lot of people died in 9/11 but so did a lot of people in the Gulf War, Vince still ran with the whole Slaughter thing for about a year.

I guess this topic ties in with the thread about taking wrestling seriously.
Personally, I enjoy Hussain wrestling, but when he or the other little gimp is talking me just fast forward (I rarely catch Raw live).
Basically, I turn a blind eye when WWE is being out of order with its storylines; always have, because I don't want to stop watching wrestling altogether because of it.

Although it should be pointed out that Vince has no problem portraying Americans badly as well, whether it be hicks like the Godwins or Skinner, or Upper class snobs like IRS, Dibiase or Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

Firewalkwithme

I think the world has moved on since the days of Sgt. Slaughter and besides, he was a white christian American, not a muslim. What do you think the reaction would be like if it were a Jewish character being portryed negatively? I agree with you when you say it's better to turn a blind eye sometimes but I just feel this angle goes too far.

The Fitz

the guys not even a muslim, he's an american

Firewalkwithme

fitzer666 wrote:

the guys not even a muslim, he's an american

He is a muslim and he is American.

The Fitz

Despatch wrote:

He is a muslim and he is American.

apologies.

Firewalkwithme

No apology necessary!

gimmick

The Mohammed Hassan character shows Americans for extactly what they are - thick as pig sh8t morons.

If you note with Hassan, he isnt anti-American, he is anti american attitude. Nothing he says is inflammatory, all he is doing is echoing what real muslims think in the real world. Americans are suspiciuous of all Muslims due to total lack of education, and misguided nationalism. For the love of God, Daiviri even recieved death threats on his own message board/guestbook. see here

From visiting, the above msg board, I know alot of the regular posters are very embarrassed by the way their fellow americans treat Hassan.

I too would love to see him win the IC/US title, and if Raw is back here anytime soon, I would hazard he will get a great reception.

Firewalkwithme

Not sure he would get a great reception, most fans are like sheep and they will cheer or boo whoever they are told to. It bugs me that if you actually read the translation of what Hassan or Diaviri say, it's not all that exciting but they way they scream and shout out their message on tv makes them look like they are threatening another 9/11.

D-FENS

Truthfully folks, if we really found it offensive, we'd stop watching Vince McMahon’s product, and none of us appear to have done that.

As for world moved on since Slaughter, indeed it has, but the concept for both characters is the exact same.

And the Sarge may have been a white American but on screen he may as well have been Saddam himself the way he was portrayed. And Colonel Mustafa and General Abnan were not American, nor was Volfoff.
All just the same as Hussain's present day gimmick.
Created to provoke hatred from the American audience.
And it works, and we all still watch.

Stalfos

Despatch wrote:

Not sure he would get a great reception, most fans are like sheep and they will cheer or boo whoever they are told to. It bugs me that if you actually read the translation of what Hassan or Diaviri say, it's not all that exciting but they way they scream and shout out their message on tv makes them look like they are threatening another 9/11.

threatening another 9/11, thats a bit too far. I think that Diaviri is hilarious when he is at ring side at Hassan's matches shouting and screaming like when he fought Jerry the king and J.R was there supporting king, Diaviri shouts "stup up J.R you fat wind bag"

I may have thought i was offenise when he first came into the WWE but now it's not that bad cause they got all the crap the WWE did to hype the whole thing e.g. speeches and debates over with.

Firewalkwithme

I find it hard to watch when Hassan is on, I usually switch off for a few mins to be honest. I guess this kind of angle will always be around in wrestling no matter how tasteless it is.

Brow

I would have liked them to try and make a face out of him but alas they took the easy way out and made him a cheap heel.

Stalfos

If he was a face, then he wouldnt have talked about the injustice muslins face in america. It could never work as face characters angle which begs the question, Where does he go when this gets old and boring? One can say the same thing for months on end

Brow

I dunno. I meant they could have done different promos and stuff. Not release them promos and then try and make him face. If he doesnt take off as a singles star then i see the tag division looming.

Magnolia_Fan

whats the big deal?..Nikolai Volkoff?, Sgt. Slaughter?..All the long term wrestling fans still remember their Angles so why shouldn't they try it again. For a long time WWE have been trying to tap into what made them so succesful first in the late 80' and early 90's and I actually relished the introduction of La Resistance I thought it was pretty funny with FIFI...then they made them Canadian and killed it.I like Hassan but I really Dhaivari he's very animated he could be a great manager even when this gimmick dies off and I'd say Hassan could last maybe as a mid card wrestler and eventually turn face

RebelRockChick

How is it tasteless , as someone metioned earlier he echoing what most people in his characterised position think , obviously exaggerated for purpose of character , but to be honest anyone turning off because they are offended need to get a grip and get a life , if u were offended by this then ud see hardly any wrestling at all so , half naked women, might have a heart attack there , blood , damn gonna collapse soon id say.

Firewalkwithme

RebelRockChick wrote:

How is it tasteless , as someone metioned earlier he echoing what most people in his characterised position think , obviously exaggerated for purpose of character , but to be honest anyone turning off because they are offended need to get a grip and get a life , if u were offended by this then ud see hardly any wrestling at all so , half naked women, might have a heart attack there , blood , damn gonna collapse soon id say.

It's offensive because it promotes hated towards muslims and people of Arab decent. If you notice how J.R. refers to outside interferance from Diaviri, he makes it sound like terrorisim - and the Yassar Arafat style head scarf is a bit much too.

Stalfos

Despatch wrote:

It's offensive because it promotes hated towards muslims and people of Arab decent. If you notice how J.R. refers to outside interferance from Diaviri, he makes it sound like terrorisim - and the Yassar Arafat style head scarf is a bit much too.

Yeah but he also keeps saying that "this man does not represent the Arab
community" aswell. I think your taking this a bit too far. It's the WWE, it wont change the world, blame the media fot that.

Firewalkwithme

stalfos wrote:

Yeah but he also keeps saying that "this man does not represent the Arab
community" aswell. I think your taking this a bit too far. It's the WWE, it wont change the world, blame the media fot that.

In their defence, yes they do say that he isn't a typical Arab and they have 'their own agenda' but do you really think the American fans listen to that disclaimer? They just see him as the evil 'towel head' the WWE want him to be and you are right when you say the media is to blame for that too.

Pigman II

gimmick wrote:

The Mohammed Hassan character shows Americans for extactly what they are - thick as pig sh8t morons.

In fairness I think you should replace 'Americans' in your above sentence with 'wrestling fans'. After all WWE are just creating angles that pander to (or in this case get a reaction from) their target markets with everything they do. They've been doing in during every war/time-of-hostility that America has had since the 1950's so I don't see why anyone would suddenly expect them to stop now - as tho the wrestling industry (or its fanbase for that matter) had suddenly acquired a level of sophisitication ... lol.

Kencu

The WWE are hardly changing American attitudes here guys. People in America already have this distrust of the Arab community. Regardless of whether it is stupid or not (which it obviously is IMO), Hassan is not changing anything. The WWE doesn’t have the power to change trends. In fact a look back at its history shows that Vince is the ULTIMATE sheep.

When it was obvious that ECW crash TV style was what the fans wanted he went with that. He went with the 80’s Soft Rock phenom and created Rock N Wrestling. He has always banked on US Xenophobia as a major source of generating Heel heat. And that’s not just Vince. How is Hassan any worse than the Iron Sheik?! And who’s getting voted into the Hall of Fame (as meaningless as it is)? I believe it’s the Sheik.

Vince is just trying to make money. This is no political statement, it’s just a character on a FICTION based TV show. It’s no more offensive than having a German called Hans (Germans, who are always portrayed as the bad guys) as the main villain in Die Hard!

Firewalkwithme

To be honest I thought that wrestling had left behind those kind of storylines with the advent of the Attitude era. Wrestling seemed to be more about personalities for a while until La Resistance hit the scene. I guess it's a way of getting cheap heat, I don't like you because you're French/muslim/gay (I forgot about Billy and Chuck)

oneofakind32

IMO Hassan isnt nasty enough to be a good heel, at least not internationaly. Most of the points I have seen him make are ligitimate but americans (Bush voting ones atleast) dont feel as though they are. If he came to Dublin in April I'd cheer for him. I think the WWE need to go alot lower (Maybe some referances to 9/11) with his insults to get him some real heat internationaly but then the WWE would have some seriously bad feed back from the American public who are having touble finding the line between fact and fiction and Hassan's death threats would mount. Right now Hassan just seems like an Arib American trying to fight his corner and not someone who would be concider mean and sadistic no matter what his backround

R.D

This portrayal of Muslims/Middle Eaterners is being treated with more respect than many similar gimmicks from the past.(The Iron Sheik, The Sheik, Adnan El Kassey) Their anger is valid, and they are supposed to get us riled up. Much of what they are saying is true, and that may anger some folks. It does bother me that people boo as soon as Daviri starts speaking Arabic, but that is more ignorance of the fans than the portrayal by WWE. I feel JR has done a good job of defusing alot of the generalization by saying that Muhamed and Davari don't speak for all Muslims or Arab Americans. I wish they would keep all talk away from the War, because these characters are Muslim Americans and should respect our troops, and that one I place fully on WWE. Then again, this is the company which turned Sgt. Slaughter into an Iraqi sympathizer and had an Iranian in the Iron Shiek as an Iraqi. One thing people have got to understand about wrestling is it has always used stereotypes for gimmicks. Every Geran wrestler goose stepped, every Indian wrestler did a war dance and tomohawk chops, most black wrestlers spoke Jive, Japanse wrestlers were always portrayed as beady eyed, dastardly cheats, Samoans have been portrayed as savages, Arabian wrestlers have been portayed as maniacal terrorists with pointy shoes etc. The funny thing is most of the above gimmicks were rarely portaryed by wrestlers who were really that ethnicity, which to me further underscore the credibility and reinforced the stereotypes they were playing. I may not like what is being said, but at least the charcters are not caracatures of stereotypes.

Firewalkwithme

R.D wrote:

I wish they would keep all talk away from the War, because these characters are Muslim Americans and should respect our troops

Our troops?

R.D

Despatch wrote:

Our troops?

Sorry dude, force of habit - moved to Ireland just over a year ago from the States...

DannyAu-Yeung

Thought he'd been better on Smackdown to be honest. Seeing as they were the brand that was out entertaining the Americain troops.

Would actually love to see him in the near future going against Americas Olympic Hero Kurt Angle.

Brow

I think he's good on RAW for the moment. RAW needs some good heels and although i hate to see them generate negativity out of this issue using him, he's good on RAW as a heel.